photo editing software

B

Brad Lilly

Moderator and Awards Boss
So what's everyone using for photo editing software? I'm trying to adjust my lighting levels on the cheap. My setup is washing the colors of my knives
 
Are you looking for windoz based or Linux based photo editing software? Photoshop for Windows does most everything, and Gimp for Linux is pretty strong - both have a decent learning curve.
 
Anytime it is overcast...is a good day for product photos. Sometimes artificial light can be a booger to adjust while that nice even overcast light is pretty easy to work with.
 
Smallshop said:
Anytime it is overcast...is a good day for product photos. Sometimes artificial light can be a booger to adjust while that nice even overcast light is pretty easy to work with.
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Yep, I try and use a light box usually but a lot of the pictures I take are actually on the tailgate of my truck with no sun shining on them. I also hold a piece of white construction paper over it, moving it and looking at the camera display till it looks good.

I use a pretty good camera but not over the top, set on a tripod. I set it to macro and 10 second timer, then when everything is just right, hit the button and let it count down.

I've found that Damascus is the hardest to get a good picture of, especially in a light box.
 
I started using Gimp back when I was running Linux as an OS. Now I use Gimp for Windows. It is very versatile, and it's free.
There can be a bit of a learning curve with any of these feature-packed software packages, but Gimp has always treated me well.

If you're having trouble with your lighting setup -- and you're willing to try something completely different -- I'd give light painting a try. After watching the video below a few years back, I have gone almost completely to photographing my knives this way. The guy in the video does a lot of fancy editing, combining multiple shots/exposures; but this is seldom necessary. All I need for my shots is a dark room, a tripod, a DSLR that allows me to manually set long exposures, and a nice flat light source (I use my iphone or ipad with a softbox app). With a bit of experimentation, this method allows me much more control of my lighting. I've also found it much easier to get good exposures on my hamons.


I'm still growing in this style of photography... but, for me, it's way easier -- and I get much better results -- than with a light box.
Best wishes.
Erin
 
Now THAT is impressive! Makes me think of my days in a darkroom where I could "burn" and "dodge" parts of a negative to improve. I'll have to try some of that. I've found knives to be among the hardest stuff to photo.
 
Erin Burke said:
I started using Gimp back when I was running Linux as an OS. Now I use Gimp for Windows. It is very versatile, and it's free.
There can be a bit of a learning curve with any of these feature-packed software packages, but Gimp has always treated me well.

If you're having trouble with your lighting setup -- and you're willing to try something completely different -- I'd give light painting a try. After watching the video below a few years back, I have gone almost completely to photographing my knives this way. The guy in the video does a lot of fancy editing, combining multiple shots/exposures; but this is seldom necessary. All I need for my shots is a dark room, a tripod, a DSLR that allows me to manually set long exposures, and a nice flat light source (I use my iphone or ipad with a softbox app). With a bit of experimentation, this method allows me much more control of my lighting. I've also found it much easier to get good exposures on my hamons.


I'm still growing in this style of photography... but, for me, it's way easier with face swapper-- and I get much better results -- than with a light box.
Best wishes.
Erin
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For affordable photo editing to adjust lighting levels, many users recommend using GIMP. It's a powerful and free open-source software available for both Linux and Windows. GIMP provides a range of features for adjusting colors, brightness, and contrast, making it a practical choice for enhancing photos without breaking the bank. Give it a try and see if it meets your needs for improving the lighting levels and color accuracy of your knife photo
 
I use Lightroom by Adobe. It offers a robust file tagging & finding system. The ability to control lighting, remove blemishes, etc., is amazing.
Unfortunately, its price many indeed break the bank.
As a side note I've found using a light box combined with a rear slave flash coupled to the camera provides an interesting level of contrast and shading. In both photos I adjusted light temperature, shading, and exposure among other aspects. The use of Masking to remove "scratches, blemishes and lint" was used extensively.
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Example of Lightroom features. This program is very complicated, though easy to use at the entry level. It is frequently used by professional photographers - which I'm not!

Before
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After
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Back in the '90s I used PhotoShop and really liked it. Since I'm now Linux user I've not learned enough about Gimp to actually make use of it. Looks like you've got the photo stuff down pat - good job
 
I recently inherited over 1000 family photos, many well over 100 years old. I'm in the process of learning Photoshop, Lightroom and Luminar Neo to work on restoring them.

While I'm at it I plan on learning product photography as well. I bought myself a Canon R6 Mark II and a Canon L Series 100mm Macro lens to work with. I also have a lightbox and a few other things to try out.

It's going to take me time to figure anything out because I don't want to stop knife making to concentrate fully on the other new hobbies. Just scanning the photos alone is going to take quite some time.

As I take some photos and work on then in the various software I will try and put up some info...just remember I said this is going to very slow going.
 
Chris: You got a project ahead of you. I admire you saving those old photos. Seems like too many folks these days don't value the old stuff.
 
Chris, it looks like you've jumped in to the deep end of the photo pool. With that equipment and software you'll have a lot of "fun" wandering the digital highway.
As I mentioned one of the light box methods that I've really found useful is setting up my cannon and flash in a slave mode to create various levels of back lighting & contrast. I handhold the external flash in the rear of the box (or outside) and the handheld flash is fired when the SLR flash fires. It's surprising how that method affects the lighting. I'm sure not an expert photographer, but I'm able to bumble my way through the process.
I'm not happy with the way a lot of software pricing has changed. So much of it is now on a subscription basis, including Adobe's family of software. The Lightroom / Photoshop software is now about $10/mo., just like a leach sucking blood, not a lot at one time, but it goes on forever!
 
KenH said:
Chris: You got a project ahead of you. I admire you saving those old photos. Seems like too many folks these days don't value the old stuff.
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MTBob said:
Chris, it looks like you've jumped in to the deep end of the photo pool. With that equipment and software you'll have a lot of "fun" wandering the digital highway.
As I mentioned one of the light box methods that I've really found useful is setting up my cannon and flash in a slave mode to create various levels of back lighting & contrast. I handhold the external flash in the rear of the box (or outside) and the handheld flash is fired when the SLR flash fires. It's surprising how that method affects the lighting. I'm sure not an expert photographer, but I'm able to bumble my way through the process.
I'm not happy with the way a lot of software pricing has changed. So much of it is now on a subscription basis, including Adobe's family of software. The Lightroom / Photoshop software is now about $10/mo., just like a leach sucking blood, not a lot at one time, but it goes on forever!
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KenH - Family history and memories mean a lot to me. I grew up in southern Ohio with five generations of family living within 50 miles of each other. I hope to get my kids and grandkids interested in out family line...

MTBob - I have a habit of jumping in the deep end with everything I do...I've read up and watched videos on slaving the flash and I have a flash that has that ability. Now it's just time that's the issue. I have Luminar Neo that allows you to buy it outright. I'm hoping it will allow me to drop the monthly Photoshop fee. Tons of YouTube videos on it...
 
MTBob said:
Josh, that's a terrific photo. With that quality of a photo, it certainly makes me wonder why I bother with Lightroom!
But, I've got to ask - how did you do the serrations?
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Thanks man!

I made a cad file and had a custom wheel made. I grind them on a vfd powered grinder under coolant
 
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