Photography Tips

Lately I've noticed some gorgeous Busses caught in less-than-flattering pictures. You know the shots I'm referring to -- the ones with hotspots caused by using the on-camera flash for lighting, out-of-focus fuzziness, splotchy shadows obscuring details or even whole parts of the knife, and overly bright washed-out (or alternatively too dark) pics hiding all that Busselicious beauty.

So in the selfish interest of having nicer looking photos to drool over, I compiled the following links to knife photography threads and webpages. With very little effort or cash outlay, you can create pics that will do your blades proud. The example pictures, information, and links in the following threads should serve as a starting point for improving pics of your bladed beauties. The next step is then, of course, "Practice, practice, practice!!"

Beyond the camera itself, the next-most-critical pieces of gear for knife photography seem to be:

Diffuser:

A light diffuser like a lightbox or light tent is the BEST and cheapest improvement to your knife photography you can make. If you've got something as simple as a white trash bag (or any other translucent container/sheet), you've got the makings for a light diffuser. Look around for other, more unusual materials to use -- there are lots of options. Think outside the (translucent) box. Adding reflectors to your setup makes the diffuser an even more powerful and versatile tool for knife photography.

Tripod:

Use a tripod to compensate for the slow shutter speeds that can be induced by using indirect diffused light. Even a lightweight tripod can make a huge difference in eliminating camera movement blurring your photos. Thrift stores (Goodwill, St Vincent De Paul, Salvation Army, etc), garage/yard sales, and flea markets can be sources for a workable tripod on the cheap. Insure that the tripod's lock-up is tight, so it will retain the camera where you position it.

Another tip for eliminating motion blurring is to use the camera's timer to trip the shutter. This removes camera jiggle caused by your finger mechanically pressing the button as you take the shot.

Controllable lighting:

Photographic quality is largely about composing the light striking the subject of your shot. As shown in some of the links above, even very rudimentary fixtures can be used to achieve good results.

If you use artificial lighting, get daylight temp (about 5000-6500 degrees Kelvin) bulbs. This eliminates the color shift caused by photographing under regular incandescent (makes yellowish pictures) or flourescent (makes greenish pictures) bulbs.

These daylight temp bulbs can be found at home centers (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc) and a bazillion vendors online, among other places. Daylight bulbs are available in both incandescent and flourescent formats. The flourescent daylight bulbs come in both tube and screw-in (like a house lamp) type bulbs. This allows lots of options for lighting your knife photography setup.

For beginning knife photographers, here are a few basic tips to help you along. Note that these are general suggestions that *usually* help create pleasing informative knife pictures. They are not dictums from on high carved in stone.

Fill up the frame with the knife.
We want to see the beauty of your knife. By filling the frame with the knife, we can see it easier. If the knife covers only a small percentage of the frame's area (i.e. itty-bitty knife stranded on a wide sea of background) or is surrounded by a lot of distracting props, it gets lost visually. By filling the frame with your knife, it has more impact on the viewer and details of the knife are easier to see.

You can do a couple of things to get the knife to fill the frame. One way is to zoom in on the knife, assuming your camera has zoom capability. The second way is simply to place the camera closer to the knife (effecting a mechanical zoom) before focusing the lens on the knife.

Compose the picture with diagonal lines or curves.
There are two reasons for doing this:
- The first reason is that a diagonal line or a curve is more dynamic to the human eye than a strictly horizontal or vertical line.
- The second reason is that the dimension of the frame from corner-to-diagonally-opposing-corner is longer than from one side to the other (think of how the hypotenuse of a triangle is longer than the other sides). By placing your knife along this longer dimension and zooming in, you help fulfill #1 above (fill the frame with the knife).

Show a side profile of the knife.
Straight-on side views of your knife quickly provide the most essential design information for the knife -- its profile shape. That profile shape conveys quicker than other views the shapes of the blade and handle, plus their size proportional to each other. If you want to add artistic distorting perspective shots that emphasize individual features of the knife, that's your choice. But don't get tricky before providing the basic straight-on side shot of the knife to show its profile shape.

Distorting perspective shots or macro zoom shots can be effective if there is a particular feature or detail of your knife that makes it noteworthy and that you want to highlight in the viewer's mind, i.e. engraving, spectacular steel or handle material patterning, unusual contruction technique, etc.

Another technique that can be effective is to use multiple pictures (or multiple exposures of the knife in a single picture) to show various aspects of your knife (engraved bolsters, handle material patterning, etc). The easiest way to put multiple exposures in a single picture is to use a digital graphics program. Adobe's Photoshop is the current standard for such consumer graphics editing program, although other similar programs exist.

Knife photography forums

Knifenetwork.com (formerly Custom Knife Directory (CKD)
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=26

KnifeForums.com
http://www.knifeforums.com/ubbthread...t=&Board=UBB39

Add-on tutorials and information:

A tutorial from a woodworker's viewpoint of shooting pics of hand tools
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthr...Number=1920348

Another thread on photography from a woodworking perspective
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthr...Number=2751984

The tutorial site that Bobcat linked the jewelry lesson from
http://ir.webphotoschool.com/
An informative thread initiated by Murray White here on BFC
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh....php?p=3358160

Table of contents page for tutorials on digital image structure and post production manipulation
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

Quick tutorials on photography principles and the operation of your digital camera
http://www.photoxels.com/digital-pho...tutorials.html

Setting up a photo studio on-the-cheap
http://www.designinflight.com/04July...the_cheap.html

Cheap lightbox made of tagboard & tape by Steve Korn
http://www.knifenetwork.com/workshop/tut_box_korn.shtml

Thread with some home studio setups from a couple of people who get very good results
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=32604

Under $10.00 knife photography setup by Bruce Jensky
http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/sh...hp?tid/757530/

Photo composition tutorial (two pages long) using Japanese swords as subject. Recommended reading!
http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/swordphotography.htm

Technical tutorial on photographing hamon accurately
http://www.nkb.ca/articles/photography/index.html

Light diffusion tent improvised from a white kitchen garbage bag and two desk lamps
http://img62.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p41700067ai.jpg

Setup of 3 worklights and a sheet
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=403561

Mirrored paper background tip
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=405599

Very quick 'n dirty (and CHEAP!) photo lightbox
http://photodoto.com/index.php/2006/...own-light-box/