RW Spanish Point 7/8 Kudu

I was showing Lynn some pictures I took of one of my razors recently because I was pretty pleased with the way the photographs came out for a change and he told me to post 'em here, so... here they are and I hope you like them. I'm still thinking I'm going to have to upgrade cameras soon, though, because I don't feel I get the kind of clarity and color that I'm used to with my SLR. Either that or my technique still needs a lot of work. :(

http://custom.straightedgerazors.com...orkedback1.jpg

http://custom.straightedgerazors.com...orkedback2.jpg

http://custom.straightedgerazors.com...orkedback3.jpg

Now that is a beautiful blade. Love the work on the spine and tang

I LOVE the razor, but the pics are bad.

Think about using special setup for taking pics, that is discussed in couple of threads here, or (maybe the best solution) wait for overcast sky, get a white piece of paper, lay the razor on it, and overexpose from .5 to 1 stop. That will give very good results. Avoid taking pics on direct sunlight, like the case here...

cheers,
Nenad

I've got to see if this camera will allow bracketing, Nenad. I agree. I've yet to take what I consider "good" pictures with this camera even with a lightbox and tripod. It's actually pretty frustrating. I was hoping that I got enough camera to get the job done but I'm wondering if it just isn't up to the task. I find razors particularly challenging to photograph at any rate. I'll try what you suggested, though, if I can adjust the f-stops on it. Thanks for the tip. The razor, itself, was very nice and I expect the recipient to be very happy with it because the pictures, as always... well... SUCK.

Now dis is a very bootiful piece of art woik.......Nice Robert!!!!!

Lynn

Just an awesome looking razor.

Oh ya... hard to argue with a piece like that :D

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Wannaaaaaa.....

Erhm. Yes. this is a very beautiful razor.

Beautiful razor, Robert. Wow.

On the photo thing: What camera are you using? Unless it's a really crappy point-and-shoot, and I mean like <$100, you ought to be able to get better shots than that.

Nenad is right about the sunlight thing. The hard thing about razors is that they are so shiny. The range of brightness from the shiny steel to the darker scales is usually more than even good digital cameras can handle.

The goal is to have the lighting as even as possible. The sunlight in your shots looks very artistic, but direct sunlight casts hard shadows and thus will make the range between dark and light even more extreme.

Have you tried shooting under a florescent light? I can get some decent shots that way. My best results have come from using an SLR and off-camera flash. I bounce it off the walls and ceiling; I haven't built a lightbox for myself yet. :)

There also seems to be a good bit of noise in the photos--that's the grainy appearance--which may be caused by the camera underexposing the dark areas in an effort to keep the bright areas from being too bright.

Josh

Thanks, guys... I was thinking that the broken sunlight might have toned it down enough, but clearly that's not the case. So I'm back to the drawing board on that and will try the tips you guys have offered. I've got a Canon powershot A520. I'm just not getting the most out of it, I'll bet.

Robert,

That's a pretty decent camera. You should be able to get very nice photos with a little practice.

Incidentally, I thought the shots were actually pretty decent from an artistic/compositional standpoint. But since you're showing off a product, the goal has to be flattering the subject, not channeling Caravaggio. :D

A couple of other tips: Be sure to keep your ISO low. Some cameras default to auto ISO, which means you don't have control over how much noise is in the photo. Compact cameras tend to get pretty noisy over 400 ISO.

Try setting the camera to manual, too, so you can control exposure. Under soft florescent lighting, I might set the camera to ISO 200, with an aperture of f/4 and a shutter speed of 1/15 or 1/30. Use a tripod, and look at the LCD to judge the exposure. When it looks good, it is good. :)

Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Try setting the camera to manual, too, so you can control exposure. Under soft florescent lighting, I might set the camera to ISO 200, with an aperture of f/4 and a shutter speed of 1/15 or 1/30. Use a tripod, and look at the LCD to judge the exposure. When it looks good, it is good. :)

Josh

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I was wondering about that! I haven't tried manual settings yet but it looks like it's the ticket. But yes, I was wondering if the LCD display was really a good indicator of actual exposure. That will help a lot, I think. Now I'm ready to play with it some more. It's gotten to where trying to take pictures of the razors has been just an onorous chore. So now I've got some things to try for better results. Thanks a bunch. :)

The LCD on most digicams is a decent way to judge exposure. The best option is to turn on the histograms, especially if you can get seperate ones for all the channels. But it takes a little practice to read those... :)

You want to look at the overall exposure. The main danger with digital cameras is blowing out the highlights. In English, that means that the bright parts of the photo (light glinting off the blade, for instance) go completely white. When that happens, you lose detail and you can't get it back later.

The goal is to keep the highlights low enough that the camera can record them while also casting enough light into the shadow areas so that they don't turn into black blobs with (you guessed it) no detail. :)

Soft, even lighting helps maximize the detail across the different tones.

Good luck,
Josh

AHA! Yep, I've experienced both burnout and blackout. I finally did come to learn that a n improperly lighted digital camera image can't be simply "fixed" in my photo software for exactly the reasons you just said. Here's a question, though.... do you prefer close camera work at the macro level on your razors or getting farther back with the telephoto?

It's funny when you realize that even digital wizardry has its limits, no? :)

On the macro vs. telephoto thing, it depends what you're trying to accomplish. If you want to show a detail, like an etching or a bolster, definitely go macro. You want magnification in that case.

But for showing the whole razor, it's usually better to back up and zoom in. The proportions this way look more natural. Try looking at something from six inches away, then look at the same object from a distance. See the difference?

When you're photographing very close to an object, the nearest part seems to grow in prominence compaired to the other parts, which are farther away. That's why a wide-angle shot from close to your face makes you look like you have a huge nose. (I actually do have a huge nose, so it's just that much worse for me. :) )

Standing farther back deemphasizes the difference in distance between the closer part of the razor and the farther away part, because that distance is dwarfed by the several feet between you and the razor.

Portrait photographers use telephoto lenses to render faces with more flattering proportions. They stand maybe eight or 10 feet away and zoom in a bit. :)

So that's a long and somewhat confusing answer to your question: Yes, stand back and zoom in.

Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PapaBull

.... do you prefer close camera work at the macro level on your razors or getting farther back with the telephoto?

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If you move the camera away from the subject by using a longer lens you will gain depth of field and get the whole razor in focus (more accurately, within the range of the depth of field). If you try to work in the most commonly understood Macro mode and have your lens right on top of the subject your depth of field might only be a mm or so.

For watchs I use a 100 mm Macro at a distance of 18 to 24 inches and a cocoon type lighting tent to provide even lighting. A lot of people use a translucent trash can with external lighting to accomplish the same thing.

I'll try to post some pics later.

Robert,

I came to photography with a Nikon SLR back in the 80's ( :eek: ) and now use Fuji Digital. I did some photographs of my razors to post on a website and the macro settings were horrible....if I wanted to shoot the maker's name, great - but not for decent photos of the blades. I even had the camera on a tripod. In the end, I opted for hand-held and zoom...using good marksman technique (breath, let out half, fire, release the rest) I got some decent shots. I am using a black velvet background (velvet in a poster frame)...next time I may put the blades on the velvet on the floor and use my large tripod, keeping the camera 4-5' from the object....seems like it will work better. Also direct flash is just as other have said...in the exposure the razor disappears due to the reflection from the blade...got better results with a halogen desk lamp.

Your razor, no matter how good the photo, will look amazing!!!!

:bow

Greg