Knife Photography

TripleF · Post by **TripleF** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:38 pm

I've seen some magnificent pics of knives in fantastic settings on here. If there isn't a thread already for this I thought I might start one.

Post your knife pics.....

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:42 pm

Nice thread and pics,3F

...........I wish I had some to contribute...but my photography skills are definitely lacking.

jerryd6818 · Post by **jerryd6818** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:03 pm

I don't know if it's my camera, my camera settings, me or a little of all three but my pictures SUCK. I see 3F's pictures and the pictures 46, Willie, J2shoes and others take and think how professional they look. I'll bet that's it. Everyone has hired a professional photographer and is passing it off as their own work. Sneaky devils.

TripleF · Post by **TripleF** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:11 pm

jerryd6818 wrote:I don't know if it's my camera, my camera settings, me or a little of all three but my pictures SUCK. I see 3F's pictures and the pictures 46, Willie, J2shoes and others take and think how professional they look. I'll bet that's it. Everyone has hired a professional photographer and is passing it off as their own work. Sneaky devils.

Dang

ya just can't fool anybody anymore. LOL

PS - I take all my pics with a 3.2 megapixel Canon Powershot

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:33 pm

ForensicJim takes some good pics also...

I use a Canon Power Shot as well...but mine is a 8.0 megapixels. I have it set so the pics are taken in about 3.0 MP.....if not it takes forever to upload.

Toejammer · Post by **Toejammer** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:03 pm

Hey TripleF, that ad knife looks familiar

Question: do you guys use the macro setting when shooting pics of knives ?

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:14 pm

I do..

I guess I don't take bad pics....just plain pics.

...I don't use backgrounds or props.

allmightyoz · Post by **allmightyoz** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:48 pm

tell u what... old olympus semi manual digital from before 2000 with 2.1 MP takes better pictures than a 2007ish cannon point and shoot. Personally, I use Macro for hard to see or light stampings on things, but the focus has to be just right or else it screws the picture. macro is the only way to go for ultra close ups of light stamps. Macro is not the way to go for a picture of the whole knife... ISO is super important too, a picture that should be golden can be a turd if your ISO isn't right.

Seems to me the problem with the point and shoots is that they try to do all of these things automatically and give the user little control, as they work pretty well for taking pictures of people, they lack in landscape and detail photography.

and one more thing... never use autofocus if you do it manually!

johnny twoshoes · Post by **johnny twoshoes** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:09 pm

TF, Very nice pic.

Jerry,
I hired a professional to teach me, so I couldn't have done this on my own. When I first started adding pics to this site, they were less than satisfactory, but I wanted to share my collection, as time went on I got a little better, but I never got a consistent product from picture to picture.

johnny twoshoes · Post by **johnny twoshoes** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:13 pm

After I got some training, and I truly learned the abilities of my camera I got a better product.

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:38 pm

Nice pics,Caleb!!

Toejammer · Post by **Toejammer** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:57 pm

very nice pics there, I need to get more creative. I like the glove and the bolts shots !

coffeecup · Post by **coffeecup** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:28 am

Toejammer wrote:very nice pics there, I need to get more creative. I like the glove and the bolts shots !

I suspect this is a point where I'll draw some fire, but given the thread I can't resist speaking up. The pics are great, really--and I'm writing that as someone who in the past did product shots for catalogs, magazine articles, and stock. But WHY BOTHER TO DO SUCH REALLY NICE WORK THEN PRESENT IT IN A FORMAT/SIZE WHERE IT CAN'T BE PROPERLY VIEWED????

When pictures are presented this large, you can't see the entire image at once. You wind up side-shifting, scrolling up and down, and generally unable to see what the photographer worked so hard to present.

Please re-size the pics to fit a standard screen (as TripleF did with his pics sized to 640x480 pixels), or upload the photos to a forum album so you can post a thumbnail that links to a full-sized pic without all the forum impedimentia (as Johnny Rotten did with his 1309x980 pixel image).

Jim

Miller Bro's · Post by **Miller Bro's** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:37 am

I agree with Jim

I have a 22" computer screen, and I am still scrolling left to right to see some of these pictures

trail · Post by **trail** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:43 am

Or alternatively, don't click on the "place inline" button that shows up after you upload the picture. That way a smaller version shows in the thread. If you click on it once, it opens to a size that maximizes the picture within the constraints of the screen, and if you click a second time, it opens the picture to full resolution for viewing close details.

I browsed to find the picture below, then clicked on "add the file", and once it uploaded I did NOT click on "Place Inline". This way, the picture shows as a large thumbnail. If you click once, it scales itself to fill the screen, maintaining proportion of length to width. If you click twice, it opens to full 1840 x 1608 pixels.

knives-are-quiet · Post by **knives-are-quiet** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:45 am

A lot of what makes those pictures look so good is laying out the background.
Color and texture in the background create a mood that enhances the main subject in the picture. What the background consists of also enhances and give the subject meaning.
A knife with a background of rustic leaves and a woodland setting make you think camping, hiking and survival in the great outdoors. Take a picture of that same knife on a plain piece of white paper and all you see is an old knife.
I learned this from my Father who was a photographer for the Army in World War 2.
Before the War he did photography for advertisements.
He is in his late 80's and always has a camera around his neck.
The camera I use is one of the first digital camera's. Sony Cybershot DSC-P30 made in the mid to late 90's.
Was given to me by my Dad 15 years ago when he purchased a new one.
Still works great and take perfect pictures.

J W

trail · Post by **trail** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:47 am

Oh, by the way, I really enjoy seeing all these pictures. The level of photography here at AAPK has increased by leaps and bounds just in the last couple of years.

Owd Wullie · Post by **Owd Wullie** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:01 am

Thanks Jerry.

I never cease to be amazed at Caleb's abilities.

Johnny, it sounds like we have pretty much the same camera. Mine is an 8 mega-pixel Canon Power Shot Pro. It has a great macro and super macro setting. Takes a while to learn all the bells and whistles but "film" don't cost anything with a digital. I take all my pics at the biggest size the camera will shoot. I also have an assortment of photo editing programs. By running at the high end of the resolution, I can crop the size down to make it more manageable for uploads and viewing yet still leave a lot of resolution available if someone wants to down load the pic and fluff it up for closer viewing.

The flash can be your friend or your enemy. It's more often than not my enemy.

Mine has three settings for power and I usually run mine on the lowest setting just to fill in where a shadow might have been.

I have no light box. I do most of my stuff in the shade. Seems to work better for me. Caleb has given me some ideas for backgrounds. Now all I have to do is make it happen.

As it is over 100° outside these days, I don't spend any more time in it than I have to.

This was taken in the shade of my front porch around mid-day.

woseyjales · Post by **woseyjales** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:09 am

I reckon main tips I figured out
in my relatively short knife picture taking hobby
has been to use a tripod and whenever possible
use outdoor natural light.
Rest seems to be just sweating the details and
play around to see what you can create.

At least now we don't have to pay for development
to see our mistakes....and successes.
My basic philosopy that seems to be working out okay is
after a knife shoot, upload the best four to photobucket,
delete the other 24.

Heck, used to be I couldn't even spail amatoor
photomographicator now I are one.

A few favOrites if I may.
PW Navy Barlow on blue trunklid

Trapper....& hunter

[/color]

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:17 am

Wow....windows pc's must be a lot different than Mac's when it comes to the browsers....cause His biggest pic is only 9.5 x 9.5....and my screen is 21.5 .

Hey Willie....mine is a Power Shot SD1100 IS Digital Elph.

BTW....Great pics,Fella's!!

big monk · Post by **big monk** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:25 am

You guys "'Amaze"' me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

johnny twoshoes · Post by **johnny twoshoes** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:30 am

JR, I suspect we have the same computer.

I love my huge Mac, my pics barely take any of the big screen away so it doesn't bother my viewing, but, if it can't be enjoyed at this size, I'll change it.

johnny twoshoes · Post by **johnny twoshoes** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:46 am

I hope these are better.

johnny twoshoes · Post by **johnny twoshoes** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:54 am

I had no idea the pics were so big and taking up the screen. I never had a problem, but I'll make sure to change the rest of the pics before adding them to AAPK. If this is a good size for you guys, it'll do for me, sorry about the bad viewing.

Here are a few more.

johnnierotten · Post by **johnnierotten** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:57 am

I've been using Macs for over a decade now..Love'm!!

Caleb..I use the color sync utility to size them down....45 to 50% usually does it.

Awesome pics ,Bro!!

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