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I appreciate this new forum a whole bunch. Now is the time to start contributing to this new forum.
I would ask that all of you guys that have posted SOTD pics let us know what camera's, settings, lighting etc. that you have used.
Tell us what worked AND! what did not work.
I look forward to learning something useful.
Thanks to all. :)
Some of the best, most accurate pics I have taken of straight razors was done outside, on my patio, with an 8 ft umbrella. During a summer month when the arc of the sun was high. The umbrella blocked the direct rays of the sun so that all the light was indirect. I was using an older cellphone so the quality of the optics was not spectacular and I had no special software to enhance the pics.
The razors were some I had just purchased but had not cleaned up in any way. They had some patina, rust on a few etc. but the indirect lighting seemed to be the key.
The pics were very accurate of the color and condition of the razors. I was very surprised.
My buddy in Phoenix who has dabbled in photography a bit said that reflected light was best when shadows and glare are to be avoided.
Do any of you guys use reflected light? Photo tents? Special software?
I posted this before but here it is again in this forum. An excellent tutorial by Walter Sorrels, (How to Photograph Knives.)
It is a good starter tutorial without a lot of expensive, fancy equipment or photo jargon. Lots of good information, watch this video a couple times.
Second is another great tutorial by Phillip McCordall, (Photographing Knives and Cutlery product shots)
This tutorial has some great examples of bouncing light with colored card stock or foam core. And lots of good tip on lighting.
One of the sources I read about photographing knives, said, it is all about photographing and manipulating light.
(How to Photograph Knives.)
(Photographing Knives and Cutlery product shots)
I am no photographer but the thing I’ve found most helpful is natural, indirect sunlight.
I don’t have the time to faff about so take photos on my phone, but using sunlight makes all the difference to me.
I use a Canon EOS200D with artificial light only and manual settings.
The problem i have is getting a true likeness of the razor. It is easy to make a razor look better than it is and i do not want a customer to buy a razor from me and hold it up next to the online photo and say, "What is wrong with this picture?"
On the flip side of that i also get photos that also make the razor look worse than it actually is. Blemishes which may be extremely faint to the naked eye can really pop with a high quality photo.
I have learnt alot from youtube guides but class myself as a total novice.
More interesting than taking photos for me is working with Adobe Photoshop , and Premiere pro. My skills are growing the more photos / videos i take ..
Thanks
One of the biggest takeaways I got from the McCordall video was bouncing light with a dark piece of foam core or cardboard on a shiny blade to knock down the light and for example bring out an etch or tang stamp or not highlight a flaw.
Also bouncing light behind the item, even using a small card, 3x5 or business card to place the light exactly where you want it, to get the effect you want. Different color 3x5 cards will defuse light differently. Experiment, so you can spot direct the light.
Also, a damp microfiber and or damp paper towel work well for cleaning and dusting, removing fingerprints and air born dust as does a can of air and a clean paint brush.
Use a tripod and camera timer for rock steady pics.
I use a Sony a6400 mirrorless camera with a Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS lens, I always shoot on manual varying between shutter priority and full manual, I prefer to shoot my SOTD outside if possible, my ideal lighting would be an overcast cloudy sky, giving me a lovely diffused light making for a more well balanced even exposure, not too many highlights, my advice study your composition crop tightly on your subject keep it interesting to many items in a cropped still life doesn't work, whatever your main subject is the razor that's where you aim and focus should be, I also think it's important to look at photos and study composition ask yourself what is it you really like or dislike about a photo, If you want to improve your SOTD photo then study them take out what you like and make it work for you, I would also put a big emphasis on understanding your particular cameras WB settings, I have almost 600 images on Instagram mostly SOTD shots, but quite a few of my portraits and landscapes, If you like to take a look I will leave you a link to my page.
https://www.instagram.com/mrbedlington1959/