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  #1  
Old 10-21-2006, 01:38 AM
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Buddy Thomason Buddy Thomason is offline
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Every knife presents a lighting challenge

...at least for me they do. Getting all the reflective surfaces properly lit and avoiding unwanted shadows, specular highlights and oddball reflections is definitely something to practice. Here's my practice result from today. How does it look?



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  #2  
Old 10-21-2006, 07:48 AM
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Not bad at all. My only suggesstion would be to lighten the shadow slightly. You're making it look too easy Buddy!


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  #3  
Old 10-21-2006, 08:34 AM
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On a scale of 1-10 I'd give that a 9. The lighting is perfect to me. My shadow tolerance appraises that one fine.

The lighting on engraved knives is different. One needs to really display it well. And you did. But in doing so you haven't lost the all-important blade bevels (excellent job!) and the amount of highlighting on the stag is perfecto.

I would have been VERY happy with this image, myself! Bravo.

Now--why not a 10? The only aspect I could possibly *try to*improve is a different color background. It is too close to the stag to show a lot of distinction. I say try to, because even I miss this or can't improve it often.

I beat a path to the back of my tent for EACH and EVERY shot I take readjusting the lighting. Even for the multiple insets on the same knife, I change it. No individual setup is perfect for all, if you are really studying the lights and reflections. As you well know....

Coop


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Old 10-21-2006, 09:27 AM
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I personally like the shot Buddy. My untrained eye scans over the photo and doesn't pick up on the dark shadow or background color. I do see the placement of the knife which I really like, and being able to see the contours of the blade itself is a big plus for me. I am wondering about the shadowing of the engraving in the bolster. I'm refering to the shadowing that's cut in, not "peaked" in. Seems like the larger leaves at the end of the scrolls should be highlighted a little more with cut in shadowing, but perhaps this is how the engraver desired it to be. Overall Buddy, a 9.5, since there's always room for improviment (but I don't know what that would be!).


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  #5  
Old 10-21-2006, 12:18 PM
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Thanks for the consultation, guys!

Robert - I see what you mean about the engraving and, as you suggest, it is what it is. Not much the photographer can do.

Coop - Agreed on the background. Over time I've realized that most of what I have isn't very usable. I need new stuff and hope that my experience, especially over the last year or so, will help me expand my options. I tried some complimentary colors and nothing that I had clicked. Still, I was pleased to get the separation between handle and background that does exist. I used some gaussian blur in Photoshop (on the background) to help with the separation but it was mainly the lighting angles that provided what separation there is.

Terrill - You've reminded me of something and I can't recall where I saw it so I'm unable to give credit. The diagram below shows what I did and why the shadow is so much more intense at the tip of the blade. Additionally I lost the edge of the bevel to darkness as the curve towards the tip begins. On the other hand the lower handle and guard surfaces got plenty (to my eye) of reflected light. The reflector I was using is flat, accounting for the rather abrupt cut-off of reflected light. Here's my thought: Construct a curved reflector using some kind of bendable material covered with foil and mimic the curves of whatever knife is on the table and see how that works.



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Old 10-21-2006, 01:40 PM
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Buddy,

Your diagram is EXACTLY how I would have positioned the lighting. I generally stagger the heights and distances accordingly. Nicely displayed.

Funny, your voodoo or mojo is ethereal: As I was shooting the latest set of dealer knives today, I came upon another instance where I needed light in an arc.

I thought to myself: "Hey? Why not bend a piece of something and attach the mirror contact paper I have to it. Hmmm....."

THEN I come up an hour later to read your post...!

At this point on this particular image we are really nitting picks. Overall it needs little else. I'll try to come up with a few lighting comparisons to display the distinctions, too. Be patient.

Coop


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Old 10-22-2006, 08:15 AM
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Buddy, you can wrap tinfoil around a thin piece of cardboard to get your "bendable" reflector.


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Old 10-22-2006, 05:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terrill Hoffman
Buddy, you can wrap tinfoil around a thin piece of cardboard to get your "bendable" reflector.
Ready-silvered card makes a tolerable reflector, very portable too.

One advantage of tinfoil is that you can crinkle it or scrunch it up first so that you don't get unwanted reflections on your subject. Not that it's going to be an issue in a light tent but it is useful in other situations.

Roger


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  #9  
Old 10-23-2006, 11:52 AM
waredbear waredbear is offline
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This is a very nice picture. One to be proud of. I try to read the post before I scroll down to see the knife or in this case, the picture. As I scolled down I noticed the brown sort of lepard skin background. My first thought was...finally a background with meat (texture). My smile increased as I scrolled further and saw how the blades handle colors matched the background. The colors are close enough to complement each other but not a perfect match to where you would loose any knife detail. This makes for a very professional picture in my book.
I will have to agree that a tad more light on the bottom would have eased the shadow a little thus giving more detail on the bottom of the handle.

Thanks for sharing your work.
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