Knife Photography

[Ivoryman]

Excellent bone color.

[TripleF]

Love how this came out......

[Quick Steel]

Fine photo of a fine looking knife. EOs are a favorite;carrying one today.

[Dinadan]

Very nice composition, Scott!

[Ivoryman]

Great shot Scott, and great knife. Nice scales, shield, EZ. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

[TripleF]

Thanks fellas

[Ivoryman]

Tom's choice is my choice today

[TheMadHungarian]

[TheMadHungarian]

Turn of the century Case/Bose Sowbelly with Winter bottom bone scales.

[TheMadHungarian]

2009 Queen/Schatt Morgan Double stamped BFC SFO Sheepsfoot Barlow

[313 Mike]

Very nice pics gents,....Madhungarian, clever withe the Stealie on the apple....

[Ivoryman]

MadHungarian, where do you get the apples with the Grateful Dead skull inside? Dang, I want one of those. RIP Jerry of course.

[TripleF]

Lighting looks good on this 34OT

[kamagong]

[jmh58]

All of Yinz are knocking it out of the park!!! John

[Tsar Bomba]

That a MOP whittler, kamagong? Outstanding! Very fiery pearl.

[kamagong]

Thanks. She's cherry, apart from some minor chipping where the shield was inlet.

[Jtx]

Pal Cutlery Co. - Long pull 3" candy stripe pen.

[Just Plain Dave]

Sweet knife and pic!

[gsmith7158]

After the storms came through today , I had some pretty good light so I took Some pics of my Favorite Old Cases.

[LongBlade]

A few pages back Besthear (Tom) was asking about knife photos etc and the discussion came up regarding using a light box as suggested by Mark Zalesky's article on knife photography which Tom posted a link so anyone interested was able to access it. Based on that article I changed my approach on knife photos - just to be honest I had been taking photos of fishing flies for years and tried to adapt that technique to knives... well knives do not absorb light as flies do and because of that and knowing late day light (or indirect light is best) I built a light box as suggested in Mark's article... $14 for materials and done in a heavy cardboard box. The light box has 2 flood lights - one of each side and aimed at the ceiling of the box which is lined with white paper (I used white plastique poster board) - both with a 150 watt bulb. The light box disperses or scatters light so basically no reflections and as they say "what you see is what you get in photos"...

Here is just one example where I recently had a prior setup photo and the new setup... maybe this will help some folks so I am posting it... lots of you have great photos and already know the benefits of a light box or indirect late day light (impossible for most of us in the Northern States to shoot outside in winter - thus this was a way to produce the same indoors) so apologies to those - just trying to support a previous discussion on here for those learning...

This is the knife in the prior setup using direct light but not focused upon the knife - note it produced light reflections and exaggerated aspects not observed with the knife in hand:

Mark side Tang Stamp;

and now with the light box:

Mark side Tang Stamp with light box:

Hope this is helpful to some...

[gsmith7158]

A few pages back Besthear (Tom) was asking about knife photos etc and the discussion came up regarding using a light box as suggested by Mark Zalesky's article on knife photography which Tom posted a link so anyone interested was able to access it. Based on that article I changed my approach on knife photos - just to be honest I had been taking photos of fishing flies for years and tried to adapt that technique to knives... well knives do not absorb light as flies do and because of that and knowing late day light (or indirect light is best) I built a light box as suggested in Mark's article... $14 for materials and done in a heavy cardboard box. The light box has 2 flood lights - one of each side and aimed at the ceiling of the box which is lined with white paper (I used white plastique poster board) - both with a 150 watt bulb. The light box disperses or scatters light so basically no reflections and as they say "what you see is what you get in photos"...

Here is just one example where I recently had a prior setup photo and the new setup... maybe this will help some folks so I am posting it... lots of you have great photos and already know the benefits of a light box or indirect late day light (impossible for most of us in the Northern States to shoot outside in winter - thus this was a way to produce the same indoors) so apologies to those - just trying to support a previous discussion on here for those learning...

This is the knife in the prior setup using direct light but not focused upon the knife - note it produced light reflections and exaggerated aspects not observed with the knife in hand:

Griffon XX W Blades Open DSCN6322A copy.jpg

Mark side Tang Stamp;

Griffon XX Worcester Tang Stamp DSCN6395A copy.jpg

and now with the light box:

Blades Open DSCN5333.JPG

Mark side Tang Stamp with light box:

Tang Stamp - Mark Side DSCN5400 - Version 2.JPG

Hope this is helpful to some...

Lee could you show a pic of your light box or give a link to that post?

[jmh58]

After the storms came through today , I had some pretty good light so I took Some pics of my Favorite Old Cases.

Those are SMOKIN!!!!!!! John

[LongBlade]

Lee could you show a pic of your light box or give a link to that post?

Greg - Here's the link to the article : http://ep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/knifeworld/photoarticle.pdf .. no doubt better than just seeing a photo of mine..

No doubt worth reading - my light box is the same shown in the article with Mark standing in front of it with camera (the home budget variety ) - he showed only one flood light clipped to bottom but I have one on each bottom side (8" floods from home depot that take 150 watt incandescent light bulbs) - though he does note 2 flood lights in the article side note for how to build it... Basically I just took a 20"x30" heavy cardboard box and glued the white poster paper on all sides - cheap ($14 with glue ) and easy to make - makes a big difference in my view... maybe not exactly professional but so much better than my previous pics which originally I thought were not bad but reflections etc became a distraction.. hope this helps!! (PS - I learned the hard way that fishing flies with feathers and fur absorb light while knives reflect it.... so while direct lighting worked well in my past I had to take the new approach for knives)...

[jmh58]