Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by michael cassani on January 17, 2010 at 16:03

Hey there Johnny. Looks like you have come a long way in your lighting skills. My photography professor would always say that "a camera is something you talk through." I always keep this in mind when working with the camera. I do have some suggestions regarding your lighting set-up. One thing that is very useful is a good sized sheet of foamcore. 1/4 inch thick is fine. You can cut this up into pieces and stand them up around the knife to fill shadows and reduce brightness range. The other thing you could try is to take the one strobe head on the left and lower it down to almost table height and remove the diffusing material. You may be familiar with grids or honeycomb attachments for the strobe reflector. Speedotron makes them as well as many other brands. this will give you a very directional light that will really help to define the handle material much better. Some other little lighting tricks: use some mylar or even aluminum foil and crumple it up so it has lots of wrinkles in it. this is a great tool for modifying light and filling shadows. Another is to use small mirrors to bounce light around the set. hope this gives you some new ideas. i have worked in the field of commercial photography most of my life and love playing with light to create mood. talk to you again and enjoy the table top photography.

Permalink Reply by James R. Buck on January 17, 2010 at 16:36

Johnny,
What lens or lenses do you use?, I use a Canon 20D and Love it, My wife has a 5D, but I find the 20D best for knives up to about 10 in. in length, the 5D works well on longer pieces.

Permalink Reply by Johnny Stout on January 17, 2010 at 16:44

Thanks Michael...I do have a couple of the grids for the strobes that I occasionally use, but the other tips you gave I'll have to try.


Johnny

Permalink Reply by Johnny Stout on January 17, 2010 at 16:48

James, I use several, but my main lense is the 28x135mm kit lense that cam with my camera. I had a Canon 24X70MM L lense but didn't get the pictures from it that I thought I should. I ended up selling it but wish I had it back now.

Permalink Reply by Johnny Stout on January 17, 2010 at 16:49

Thanks Kyley.

Johnny

Permalink Reply by James R. Buck on January 17, 2010 at 17:05

I use mostly either a 50mm macro lens or a 100mm macro, but I have to move the camera a lot in order to fill the frame, I just bought a new 24-105 for my wife's 5D and have not used it yet, but I think it may be a good option. It is the lens that comes with the 5Dd Mark2 kit if you buy the kit instead of the body only. It is a professional grade lens and a little pricey, but may be a really good choice. I will let you know after I have a chance to use it some.

Permalink Reply by Johnny Stout on January 17, 2010 at 17:21

James, with my limited experience I've found that a telephoto lens is the best type for knife photography. I've talked to some of the professional photographers that specialize in knives, and they are all using some variation of a telephoto lens. You should really like the 24-105 and should see a big difference.

Permalink Reply by michael cassani on January 17, 2010 at 21:41

i kind of fired off a quick reply before rushing out the door this afternoon. the mylar should be "silver" mylar. you can do the same thing with the mylar as i described with the aluminum foil. crumple it up and then straighten it out again so it's flat but not completely flat. you can then staple it or stick it to a rigid piece of cardboard or foamcore. you could use spray mount too. you've got the diffused light figured out pretty well. the real trick that will really elevate your photographs to a new level is mixing diffused light with "raw" or direct light. shooting outdoors (what we called gods light) when photographing cars in Detroit is definitley a good alternative and overcast days are indeed the days that offer the most beautiful and subtle effects (especially for highly reflective objects) like cars and knife blades. Photogrphing jewelry presents many of the same challenges and is usually a specialty in the commercial photogrphy industry. i guess the best way to contribute to our group is by doing some videos.

Permalink Reply by michael cassani on January 17, 2010 at 21:54

Hey James. If you're using Canons the best lens (in my experience) has always been the 105 micro-nikkor. it may be called something different today but that focal length gives you some working distance from the product and has the close focusing capabilities too. A 50 mm macro is fine too but you have to get the camera so close to the object that sometimes you will see the camera reflected in the object. Lighting is the paramount concern that will define your vision from all others. good luck.

Permalink Reply by Johnny Stout on January 17, 2010 at 22:12

Michael, if you make videos I'll be the first one in line.

Johnny

Permalink Reply by Johnny Stout on January 19, 2010 at 12:18

James, I use several, but my main lens is the 28-135mm kit lens that came with my camera. I had a Canon 24-70MM L lens but didn't get the pictures from it that I thought I should. I ended up selling it but wish I had it back now.

Johnny

Permalink Reply by Trent Rock on March 2, 2010 at 0:42

What is the "ball joint " thing?
Where did you get it?
I need one of those
Does it attach to the "regular" camera/tripod mount?

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