Tips on blade photography help

[Singeblister]

I have a small set up, and I use a fujifilm compact digital , I put it on a tripod and use the time delay to take pictures with no flash using a daylight blulb, my question is , in the below picture what would you do to not get the reflection in the blade , I have tried holding up black cloth but I just cant get a clean picture of my knives, any advice would be great. I dont usualy have this problem as most of the knives I make are considerably smaller than this.

reflection I dont want

and holding up the black cloth

 

[Squidders]

It looks like you're very close to the blade with your camera... try moving it further away and zooming in optically (never digital zoom)... if you're in a small space you're always going to get reflections off highly polished surfaces... the further away the objects being reflected are, the more out of focus they will be and the less obvious.

Also, adding a second light source to the right of the shot will help to reduce the strong shadows being thrown behind the knife. You might also put some thin paper or white fabric in front of the lights to help reduce any glare and soften the light.

I hope this helps.

 

[BigShot]

I've got no direct advice, but I had an interest in silverware a while back as someone I knew asked if I could shoot it - I couldn't, but found a lot of useful information.

Search for photographing silverware on google and you'll find some good advice. Black velvet ("there's no substitute colour or material for this") seemed to be par for the course, along with white walls and minimal clutter (or some sort of lightbox/white drape to avoid clutter in the reflections.

Looks like a nice knife and some nice scenery too. I look forwards to seeing the good shots

 

[Squidders]

http://photoguide.tiono.com/ This link may also be of use regarding photographing small objects like knives as opposed to large mountain ranges - after all, it's hard to make a mountain range with lakes look bad even if you try.

 

[Singeblister]

Thanks for the quick responce guys , If I zoom in from a way off wont I lose picture quality ? I have my box lined with black cloth so I will change it to white and try the zoom in thing and see what happens thanks agian for the tips

 

[Squidders]

if you zoom only using the optics of your camera you should suffer no real ill effects in the quality.

 

[FGYT]

please read bearing in mind i dont know much about Photography but the following seems to make sence to me

with mirrors its all about angles
if you move the camera left the reflection will be what ever is to your right
i would guess you want to use as little angle as possible ( this is where a zoom will help) to make the photo look as square on as possible you could also lay the knife back but this again will lose profile shape

and yes the light is a little harsh and a spot you need to replicate good sunlight on a cloudy day with a diffuser and maybe more than one but less bright lights

also opening up the apature would shorten the Depth of field which should ( i guess ) throw the reflection out of focus and maybe make it blurry enough
T hough that might not be possible on your compact you could try Macro and go closer ???? this may have a similer effect

ATB

Duncan

 

[AJB]

To light difficult objects like this probably your best bet is to try using a light tent...

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent/

...switch your flash off and set your light balance to tungsten. Reflections of you can largely be avoided by filling in the front of the “tent” and just poking the lens through a hole.

Another technique you could use is Subtractive lighting...

http://www.lighting-essentials.com/subtractive-lighting-creating-drama-with-contrast/

...although this link is a bad example for what you’re trying to do I’m sure you can find something – Google is your friend! Essentially use the reflective nature of the blade to your advantage and position some black card to be reflected in the blade (or white for a different look, but that will then become a reflector and add to your lighting).

But in general, as already said, it’s about moving stuff about until you can’t see your mush in it
Oh and the greyness of your background is due to your on camera flash blasting it, a light tent (with an open back) would fix this, but in general, move your background further away from the subject!

 

[Bernie Garland]

Take some knives to middlewood and get Gary wayland to take them for you Thats what i'm gonna do

Bernie

 

[hedgepig]

You need to try to balance the light. You can do this in a number of ways - bouncing your flash, using multiple light sources, using reflectors etc.

As you have a compact with a fixed flash (with presumably a fixed output) then you could try the following as a starting point for experimentation.
1. Diffuse the flash by putting some thin white paper or plastic over the flash - the thinner the better.
2. Place white card to the left and right of the subject.
3. Have a light above the subject.
4. Keep the rest of the room darkish.

You 'll need to fiddle about a bit to get it right though.

The lighting in this shot was a normal bulb from above with a flash bounced of a wall - its not perfect by any means but it illustrates the point about balancing the light falling on the subject from various angles.

 

[Tadpole]

Personally if you cannot do the shots using natural daylight, I’d suggest you either get a "light tent", worth it if you plan on taking lots of shots of shiny things, or make one from a largish cardboard box, lined with white matt crafting card.
You can just use a largish child’s hoop and cover it with white cloth. Make a hole just big enough for your lens to go through. The cloth will diffuse the flash. And the cloth will hide nearly all the unwanted reflections
If the flash still shows on the highlights double the thickness over the flash but not the sensor.
Does your camera have a hot-shoe on the top or any facilities for off camera flash units?

 

[C_Claycomb]

I only ever photograph my knives with natural light, in the garden, on a day with a little cloud cover. I only have a very simple point and shoot camera, and no tripod, but I reckon that the results are more than adequate for the level of work that I produce. (examples are scattered around here and BB)

Now if I was into making Bowies selling for £2000 I would want much better pictures...

Kamsingh (sic) on BB is set up to take knife photos and offers the service for a fee, or did the last time I checked. He takes pretty nice photos too.

These are some good pages. They are about photographing knives specifically.

http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=58

Pay close attention to the top "Sticky"
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=26


The bulbs mentioned are hard to find, but they are available via the internet. Finding lamps and such as cheaply as the Americans do seems a tall order though.

Without a light tent you will be fighting with reflections, even outside. With my simple cheap set up I avoid using a flash like the plague, ditto using electric light, even the so called daylight bulbs that I have found in non-photographic stores don't do the job, they aren't bright enough for one thing.

 

[Cobweb]

Metal is pretty hard to get right, so don't become too down hearted, what you need to do is get a large white sheet and put your light through that, next you need to think about angles, the angle of incidence (where the light is coming from) = the angle of reflectance (where the light will go)

So knowing this you need to make sure the white cloth is covering all of your reflective angles. then shoot so the white is reflected in the blade.

Sounds a lot harder on paper, but once you start to play about with it, you'll see what I'm on about

Links of interest:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/ (off camera lighting)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Light-Scien...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224859170&sr=8-1 (great for instruction on how to light metal, glass, pretty much everything)

http://www.diyphotography.net/ (go though and read about how to make cheap softboxes, light boxes and everything else)

Just a few but I hope they help... good luck it too me a week to get the angles and what not into my head, thinking like playing pool or snooker helped a lot

PS: If you are not using flash, but common household bulbs, set your White Balance to Tungsten (little light bulb symbol) and purchase a tripod. Your exposures will be long, and no way can you hand hold at those speeds. You can pick up a cheap tripod for a couple of quid, I recommend getting the heaviest one possible, it cuts down on camera shake. Alternatively, if you take a DIY light box outside and face it away from the sun, you should have enough light to work by.

 

[Cobweb]

So I figured, my last post is a bit confuzzling, I'll post some pics and a description...

Without any kind of diffusion (no white sheet) & on camera pop up flash.
Quick Note: I added the cutlery to illustrate the shine, my knife has had the vinegar treatment and is dull now,
the spoon is pretty pointless but on the pic below shows how refection can happen in spherical and semi-spherical objects.

With a diffusion screen over main room window - white plastic table cloth I got two for a pound.
No Flash, the camera had to go onto a tripod as the shutter speed was far too long for a sharp shot. If you can view the exif info, the setting are still intact
If you were taking a pic of the spoon, another piece of diffusion would be needed to cover up the reflections coming from the cameras direction,
personally I would chuck it into a light tent (like this one) add another piece
of paper and cut a hole in it for the lens to stick through.

The diffusion pegged to the curtains

Overall view (including tripod).. Excuse the mess
The thing resting on the legs of the tripod is a tri-grip reflector, they are great for portraits but if you just doing still life then a
bit of tin foil stuck to a bit of cardboard works just as well, remember to crumple the foil before sticking as this will reduce hotspots.

Final pic.
This could've been a lot better, with attention to composition, detail, perhaps a darker background on some
posing blocks/beanbags but I'm a lazy bugger

Okay, not too lazy, this is a better comp but I did it to illustrate how to get a shine on the edge,
I simply turned the table 90deg towards the light and propped the blade up to reflect the white sheet.


I learn better with pics, I hope no one thinks I'm trying to hijack the thread, and I hope this proves useful to someone

--

Ps, If you turn the blade away from you, your reflection will go away! ... :| I'll post a pic so you can see what I mean... hang on a sec

Okay so here they are:

This is with the surface directly facing the camera, I didn't use flash, but I stood right close to the window ooh pretty blurry trees

This is exactly the same shot with the surface turned away from me a bit.
The reflection is dark, because I didn't have any lights on in the room, if I did, you would
be able to see the reflection of the room.
To avoid this, add another bit of white material in the space where the reflection is coming from.

Remember: angle of incidence = angle of reflection.

This technique will work any which way.

For the one's you posted singe, I would suggest tilting the knife up or down a bit, you will also increase the perspective, which helps people to see the knife in 3D (kinda)


​

 

[Mesquite]

I learn better with pics, I hope no one thinks I'm trying to hijack the thread, and I hope this proves useful to someone
​

No hijacking there Cobweb.

It made a lot more sense to me seeing you explain things with the pictures Thanks for the explaination

 

[Cobweb]

Thanks for the thanks, I like pictures lol. I'm glad it's helped out as well. Photographic lighting is a bit daunting, especially if you're not up on the terms used
Pictures speak a thousand words.

Ps, I'm all for DIY, the prices photographic suppliers come up with is extortion!

Talk weird today I do :twak:

 

[Singeblister]

Thanks very much for all the help guys I can see I will have to make a light box and or some white boards , This is the first blade I have had a real problem with as its a foot long ( bigest one I have made to date ) the blades I usualy make are around 3" lol , I have had a play around and the image is getting better I think its the best I can get right now with what I have at the moment what do you think ? it seems to have gone a bit grainy, I used to have them done profesionaly but i cant cover the costs these days

this ones a bit better |?

 

[AJB]

No probs mate - if in doubt take it all outside on a brightish but slightly over cast day - God's key is always best!

 

[Cobweb]

You're getting the hang of it, when it clicks, it clicks

Keep your camera where it is and try turning the whole set up towards the light more, if you are getting hot spots, try moving the diffusion in some more, to make it (the light) appear larger on the blade.
Edit: It looks as if you are using a piece of paper for the diffusion, well done in thinking outside the box, you could try taping a few sheets together to create a larger source... Move the paper screen in closer or move the light back so it illuminates the whole paper. It's all about the apparent size of the light source.

Remember metal is like a mirror.

The grain is caused by either a high ISO (400, 800, 1600) or by underexposure which is brought up in photoshop.

If you can meter, then meter for the reflection and increase the exposure about a stop and a half.
Try to get minimal detail in the blade, make sure the handle is exposed well.
By the looks of it, you could try twisting the blade down a bit to get more of the reflection in the top half of the blade.
You may need to do a bit of Dodging and burning to get it spot on, but you are doing really well Keep at it!

Photoshop Actions : http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35010

 

[Singeblister]

Thanks I managed to get hold of a box today to make a decent size light tent out of , I just need to find room to do it now , I am sitting here surounded by wet gear which I hope will be dry for next weekend lol
I dont think I can turn up the exposure on my camera its not up to much , the iso is a choice of 200 400 or 800 the grainy image was set on 800 so that explains that