The need to produce quality prints is vital to an artist's career, especially early on when an engraver should be building a portfolio of their engraved work. Preferably photos should be either 8x10 or 9x12 and worthy of submission to any magazine publication.
Consider that you as the artist will attend knife or firearms shows in order to promote your services. More often than not we as engravers do not have the luxury of time to create engravings for ourselves as display pieces. Even if we did have several for that very purpose we would soon find that we no longer wish to be represented by older work that we've done. Granted some pieces if they are exceptional in quality are worthy of presentation time and again. However it is more likely that we wish to display
new work and therefore we will need to rely on our portfolio. In most peoples eyes your photos will be a direct reflection of
your abilities. We ourselves know that the actual product will always look better than static photos, subtle nuances will be lost. Therefore we must at least present our photos in the best light possible.
Professional photo services specializing in knives, jewelry... are very expensive in fact ridiculously over priced for what is produced. Most beginning engravers simply cannot afford the cost of a single print, let alone a series of prints and shipping your items back and forth to photographers increases the chances of lost, stolen or damaged items. Lets not forget the loss of time due
to shipping delays when that job should be resting in your client's hands and a paycheck in your pocket.
I've refused to pay the high cost demanded by professional services, I've seen prices range
from $100 and up for a single digital print and as much as $200 to $400 for a non-digital print. This is highway robbery plain and simple. A Tungsten light system with a 3 foot soft box and any average camera with manual settings such as a Nikon... with a fairly good 1:2 lens will do a reasonable job, with an adapter that same lens will bring a 1:1 ratio for macro shots. We are not speaking of a sophisticated system so you can't expect top grade photos but you can expect decent detail and sufficient quality for magazine publication as well as for your portfolio.
A test roll of multiple exposure settings will define the proper exposure times and lens openings. Once that is achieved each job will be reasonably close and all that is required is proper lighting of the object via reflectors or other means. After some time it becomes fairly standard and paying several hundred dollars for a couple of prints is ridiculous.
Personally, I have always refused to pay these prices whether I can afford it or not especially when I myself know exactly what the expense and time will be to produce an entire roll of 32 prints in 8x10. Mind you, an expensive print by a specialty photo firm will be of higher quality, this goes without saying. The real question is how much of your commission do you wish to hand out to another service just so you can have a decent photo?
Repeat this 10 times and you will have spent enough money to have purchased reasonable used photographic equipment and with practice will yield you sufficient results for personal presentation in your portfolio as well as sufficient quality for submission to magazines.
Granted, most professional services dealing with knife, firearm photography will automatically send a copy of the print to the appropriate magazines as part of your expense. However I believe it is best when you write a small profile about yourself along with a description of your work and send it to editors on your own. Imagine how many prints are being sent most likely in bulk by photographers onto editors, is this how you wish yourself to be represented? I believe there is nothing better then handling the business on your own terms therefore controlling all that you accomplish, providing that the quality is sufficient. Many find this hard to believe. It is not only possible, it is factual that virtually all needed promotional work can be achieved with limited expense. Enough so that even one who is barely able to afford the needed tools may still be able to promote world wide with limited expense if the Will is strong and they shall be of clever mind.
Think before you spend as there is always another way.
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