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My fiance designs his own knives & I have the task of photographing

them which I find quite difficult. Any suggestions or advice is

greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Hi Ingrid, hmmm . . . tough call. It depends on what you/he are trying to portray. If it's 'photo-real' shots that sell by being an accurate depiction of the knives, then I'd say you're doing ok; for example I might emphasize the side-lighting a touch more in the shot above, but that's just playing around the edges (no pun intended). If, on the other hand, we start playing with why people buy knives from a craftsman cutler - that's a different story. For instance, let's assume that your husband's name and quality are understood - then you can afford to get a little more creative - maybe a sepia tone and shot against an old advert for Winchester or something like that speaks differently about old-time values, craftsmanship, the frontier spirit, etc - a rusty hurrican lamp would help a bit. If it were in black micarta and satin-finish stainless with a modern blade shape - grab a slate tile, coat it with cooking oil (I kid thee not) spray with a windex bottle and go for a 'caving' (I think Americans call it spelunking - there's an elegant word for you) look - maybe throw a head torch slightly out-of-focus in the back of the shot. In other words, tell a tale. Personally, I think I'd be encouraged to think about what the different tools he makes say to the buyers/collectors and ask myself what imagery I could afford to play around with. It's a first class area to be doing work around (I mean . . . imagine if he made wooden spoons) and I'd be coming up with some variants to show him and see what he can cope with. Hope that helps and I hope I get to see some more creative shots (as in less 'real')from you on these pages. Happy snappin'

Clive,

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I will certainly give it a try.