Week 6 Photo Contest CLOSED for entries - STAGING a Photo

BossDog

KnifeDogs.com & USAknifemaker.com Owner
Staff member
Week 6 photo contest is CLOSED for entries.
This week is all about the prop's and adding to your knife picture.

Staging can help or hurt a knife picture.
Throwing guns and bullets into a knife picture doesn't always improve a knife picture.
Staging can be backgrounds, prop's, border, frames, etc. Anything in addition to a knife or complementing the knife picture to tell a story.

The best staged photo's tell a story. The worst simply throw a bunch of stuff into the picture.

Good luck...

Week 6 is about Staging a Photo

Your week 6 photo contest entry should have some element of staging.

Staging or dressing up your photo's is what this week's contest is about.
Coop took this one for me. He matched the leaf colors to the liners on the knives and the colors in the wood handle. He pushed the saturation colors in the leaves to make them nearly glow and give it some punch.

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Here is a laughably bad staged picture. I spent 15 minutes just trying to hide all the golf ball logo's. I can't recall what I was going for here but I failed to achieve it.
I can tell you I live right next door to a golf course and we have golf balls landing in our yard all the time so I needed to put them to use I guess..
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Ok, I'll break the ice. And, I know you guys think I'm taking pics of the same knife over and over, but I promise I'm not. I'm just making the same knife over and over! I have an old tall cable spool out behind my shop that I use as a shooting bench. It's pretty common to have a lot of gear and multiple guns out at once, so I had to resist the temptation of too much clutter in the pic. Tried to keep it simple.
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Here is a pic I took a John Barker Hokkaido. I used the Titanium background, machine screws and micrometer to convey elements in the knife and the precision involved. I had to use different reflectors to highlight all of the different facets of the blade. I was pretty pleased with the results.

 


Bruce Evans (beknives) Gentleman Gambler's boot knife with faux tortoise handle.
The watch is my grandfather's and the poker chips, my dad's...
 
This very special knife, "Freedom's Steel," was auctioned off for $25,000 at the annual NRA convention a couple of years ago in support of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution - the "right to bear arms."
I made a bunch of images for them to choose among and use. This one was not chosen but to me it was the image with the most powerful statement. I wanted the image to speak to the price of freedom - fathers, husbands, fiances, sons who gave their lives in defense of America's freedom.
Obviously, most knives don't offer an opportunity to make such a powerful statement using staging and presentation. Still, IMHO, staging a knife properly should make some sort of statement about the maker's intent and inspiration for the knife. The sum should be greater than the parts, so to speak.
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Here goes. I really like using props in my pictures, to me it just sets off the knife and gives you a sense of what it might be used for.
This one is a knife I just finished. The old rod n reel and the wooden lure where my grandfather's. I used my cell phone again and my crapy light box.

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This very special knife, "Freedom's Steel," was auctioned off for $25,000 at the annual NRA convention a couple of years ago in support of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution - the "right to bear arms."
I made a bunch of images for them to choose among and use. This one was not chosen but to me it was the image with the most powerful statement. I wanted the image to speak to the price of freedom - fathers, husbands, fiances, sons who gave their lives in defense of America's freedom.
Obviously, most knives don't offer an opportunity to make such a powerful statement using staging and presentation. Still, IMH staging a knife properly should make some sort of statement about the maker's intent and inspiration for the knife. O,The sum should be greater than the parts, so to speak.[QUOTE.]


I've always liked staging but at the same time felt that it detracts from the knife.
This changes my out look.
 
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Finished this little EDC folder recently so thought would try a staged photo with it. Pictured are some tools of my trade, HV gloves, cable cutters, wire .. I'm a master electrician and have always carried a knife of some sort through the years and will carry this one, though I am in mangement now and rarely get in field anymore. The book is my 2014 code book that gets the most use of all these days...
 
J. Neilson recurve hunter with scrimshaw by Mark Schaukowitsch...




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Mini bowie - pearl - engraved with gold pins. Nikon D100 - 50mm Macro lens

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This knife holds a few firsts for me- it is my first framed handle, my first (finished) dagger, and first PKA award winner!

Like most of my knives, I took this picture sitting on some rocks in front of my house. I like to take my pictures on cloudy days, since the sun won't reflect directly off the blade or any other polished part as much. The clouds help in diffusing the sun. I used an 8 megapixel camera phone since I don't have a nice digital camera.

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this was a large, almost machete-like knife I did a while back. The idea I was going for with the picture was something to use in the field. I've always thought it was a really neat pic.

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Here's my entry. This knife was shot in early morning with natural light not in the light tent. I was asked to make this knife look somewhat traditional. The curly maple in natural color kind of has a stacked leather look. I tried to stage it with things that a mountain man or trapper might have on his person. The striking steel is what I forge my worn out files into rather than throwing them away.

 
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