Hey Everyone! I'm becoming a big knife nut...and have noticed that alot of knife makers like to "pose" their finished pieces. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. To me, "less is more" has always been my mantra. Keep your backgrounds simple, let the knife sell itself! If you are adding in all kinds of fancy background props, it seems to 1. diminish the value of the knife by having to add in "candy" all around it, and 2. it distracts away from the main focus which is the knife itself. NOW...I'm not saying don't pose your blades. I like to show a shot on a clean white background, and then a "real world" in use shot. This real world shot is definitely posed, but I use minimal background distractions and subtle blurs to bring the focus to the knives.
Below you can see my main selling image on a white background.
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This was taken with an iphone 5! In fact 90% of my photography is done with my iphone. It's got a terrific camera, and with a couple of editing apps, you are done in no time.
The white background is a hunk of white poster board from target (3$?) and a I used some fine fishing line to suspend the knives for a cool "floating" look.
Lighting is key, but not difficult at all. This image was taken at night in my basement. I use two clamp lights (silver cone looking things) from home depot. They're like $8 each. One has a "cool white" light bulb and the other has a "warm white" bulb. I place one on one side, and one on the other. This gives you a nice balance of lighting and makes editing a breeze.
Below is my "posed" shot.
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I use blur to bring focus to the center of the image. And with a few FRESH props, I try to make it FEEL like the potential buyer could see this same scenario in his/her kitchen. That's about it...for now!