I have been trying to get reasonably cheap lights for photographing my knives. One of the major &*(&*^$!! problems is getting my subtle damascus patterns to show well. Right now I am using 2 500w halogen lights and 2 100w incandescant "full spectrum," bulbs aimed up at white paper on the ceiling, with mixed results. I am getting a yellow cast and I am having to fiddle around in Photoshop to get decent results. I am using an Olympus D360L. I could eventually upgrade but not for a while... :-)

Are there decent inexpensive options/ set-ups? Other advice?

I must say I am very happy to see a forum devoted to this subject!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Jonathan A. Loose
www.jloose.com

Jonathan,

Welcome to the CKD, brother ... For those of you who don't know Jonathan yet, introduce yourselves. Jonathan is a hell of a knifemaker. His website is a killer production too! My kind of man!

Check this out:

http://www.customknifedirectory.com/Knives/ArtExotic/JLoose/JL_bird-0301.jpg


Actually, I need the same info too. I'm glad you asked this question, because I've been shooting knives and products all night and have come to the conclusion that our lighting setup sucks!

I want something cheap and also portable. Does anything exist like that? Where can I buy it? Online source?

:smokin:
Alex

Lighting can be a real pain sometimes. Too much, too little, bright spots, dull spots...all manner of problems.

There is a product called the cocoon, I have never used it, but it seems to be very neat in the way it works. Looks simple enough, and should probably work with the lights you have.

here is where I saw it. www.knifeforums.com/ubb/F...00028.html (http://www.knifeforums.com/ubb/Forum39/HTML/000028.html)

Jonathan, With Damascus I find that a dark background will help the Damascus "pop" the dark veins of damascus blend into the background, but the light veins really stand out, of course a dark background isn't always good for the rest of the knife.

Some of you might have missed a box that Terrill showed and explained. It should help solve your lighting problems. The whole idea is to bounce soft light on your subject. THe box accomplishes this very well. I have made a similar box and some of my results can be seen at www.stevekorn.net A little knowledge of photoshop or a similar program can help.

Steve, your e-mail is bouncing back.

Alex

Steve you are showing as an unregistered user.

Thanks Mike, there was a glitch in ezboard. I thought they fired me. ;)

I'm fixing to take a picture of me drop-kicking my lighting setup off a 10 story building ... if I can break onto the roof, you all don't want to miss this!


:(

Alex

Alex, get out your checkbook. I followed RTodd's suggestion above, talked to the folks at Calumet, and laid out $150 for a piece of plastic called the "cocoon."

I don't want to say this too loud, because everybody will be a pro knife photographer if I do, but it's all you need. Works with available lighting - daylight, fluorescent, incandescent, candles, flashlights, whatever- as long as it's bright enough to get a good exposure.

The secret to knife photography is even lighting, and a white background for the knife to reflect. The medium size one is big enough for what we are doing. Takes 6 people to zip it together, but worth the effort. The knife/Glock pic on the Electric Fencepost gun control thread was taken in the cocoon. Good stuff.

Don, I looked at your pic....that looks really great. Are you able to lay a different color material on the bottom as a background, or does it have to remain white?

Richard, you can lay a piece of fabric or whatever in there with no problem. I think the beauty of it, however, is that it reflects white from all directions, giving you the evenest possible lighting. I had no trouble clipping an image in Photoshop and putting it on a background layer of my choice. That gives me infinite composition possibilities. You ought to see that knife immersed in flame, or framed against the Northern Lights! Dynamite.

Don, Don't tell anyone, but I'm fixin to get me a cocoon too. Sounds like an easier answer to lighting problems. As soon as I get it I will give a report......don't know if I can find enough zipper assistants. ;)
Steve

I'm not kidding about the zippers. Alex's "Argggg!" was nothing compared to what I went through putting that hummer together!

This is what I was referring to regarding the addition of backgrounds after the pic is taken:
http://www.cowlesknives.com/forumpix/deserttalon.jpg

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Hmmm... the cocoon thing sounds interesting and within my price range. Going to have to hop over to the site and take a closer look. Another suggestion I got was to filter the light *through* a white cloth- it was suggested that one 500w halogen would be enough by this method. I haven't had the time to experiment.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp So far I have settled on blasting two 500w halogens up toward a ceiling about 5 ft above the photo surface (small A frame house up here in Vermont...) I am also using two 100w "full spectrum," incandescents aimed up at the ceiling. I have covered the ceiling and walls in nice white paper, which seems to reflect an ample amount of diffuse white light. Only problem is keeping my head/ shadow out of the reflection on the blade.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Got the 500w portable lights at Home Despot for $9 bucks apiece, btw...

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far...

-J. Loose
www.jloose.com (http://www.jloose.com)