Making a knife
Feb, 2015Views
159
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Awards
Fall Award 2020
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
Lincoln's New Salem State Park. This is a restored log cabin village with a general store, cooper's shop, blacksmith and a number of log cabin residences. Lincoln lived here a number of years before becoming a lawyer, politician and of course president.Time
New Salem State Park was having a Frontier Days with numerous re-enactors dressed in period costumes baking bread, plowing in the field, spinning yarn, even making their own medicine, and in this photograph the blacksmith is making a knife. The photograph was taken in the afternoon with sunlight streaming through the open door.Lighting
I wanted the glow of the hot knife and the natural available light so I couldn't use any external light source. A flash would have overpowered the knife and changed the dynamics of a scene from the past.Equipment
I shot it at f/5 at 1/100th sec. at ISO 1600 with an 18-250mm zoom Tamron lens at 32 mm. I used a Nikon D80 without a tripod.Inspiration
I love New Salem State Park which preserves the 1800s life of these pioneers. They had to make everything themselves and lived a precarious life.Editing
This was shot in RAW format, with Adobe Camera Raw processing before taken into Photoshop. Because it was shot at 1600 ISO, there was some "noise" reduction necessary as well as setting the white and black points, shadow detail increasing and some vibrance and saturation increase.In my camera bag
I take my Nikon D80 with the 18-250mm lens, a polarizing filter, a skylight filter, a Sunpak flash, my tripod and an extra battery. I use the polarizing filter almost anytime I'm shooting outdoors for richer colors, but when I don't use it, I have the skylight filter on. I am ordering a neutral density filter to add to the mix.Feedback
Try to match the lighting with the mood of what you want to portray. Don't let the light become a distraction but support the subject matter. Think carefully about the subject and choose an aperture to provide appropriate depth of field.
