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)