A few things that help my results:
I try to shoot in the shade--best on an overcast day.
I take LOTS of photos, and choose the one(s) I want on my computer's big screen--NOT on my camera's tiny screen.
I view and edit photos using Photoshop Elements 12, and sometimes do a fair amount of adjusting.

Buck is absolutely right when he advises:
Try not to shoot with the flash mode on so you don’t wash out details in the subject.
Try not to use a shiny surface as your background.
Shoot outside on an overcast day for best detail.
A tripod will help steady the camera.
… and "film" is cheap.

I have no idea on the manufacturer of my light tent or lights as they were purchased from the Captain when he decided to upgrade.
Camera is a Canon T4I-New Lens recently Purchased Canon EF 24-150 mmF/4L.
Tripod is a Cullman.
Setting is F8 to F11--Iso is either 200 or 400.
I use Microsoft 2010.
Pictures to follow..
What I know is Thanks to Buck and Captain.
I'm glad this finally got going as I hope to get better.LIght tent is on my dining room table .At some point I plan on putting it in my spare room permantly
Thanks to everyone that has posted so far,

Great idea Buck
Here is my economy set up.
I have a Canon G10 compact high end camera (at the time) that was a hiking camera before the dust got into the lens. I sent it back for a new lens and now it is indoor only use.
I use manual settings and set the white balance for incandescent lights.
I made my "light box" out of 2x2 lumber, dowels and an old white sheet. I use the inexpensive clamp on lights found at most home improvement stores. Currently, I have a tile as the background on the bottom.
The software that I use in IrfanView which is a viewer program that allows one to optimize and resize among other things
http://www.irfanview.com/
Here are photos of my setup, a Model 14 and the camera settings

Peter

Mr. Buchanan was kind enough to lead me to this thread, so I'll post up how I take knife photos. I have been into photography for a long time, and most of this gear I did not buy specifically for knife photography. It is studio lighting and modifiers for portrait photography. But it turns out to work pretty well for both.
The flash head is an Einstein E640, with a Mola beauty dish installed on it. And I put a diffusion sock on the dish. I then shoot that through a translucent disk that is part of a Wescott 5-in-One Recflector kit. The intent is to spread the light out, make it softer, and provide a white material to reflect back off of the knife blade.
This shot was taken with a Canon 1DMkIV, 24-105 lens.
1/100 shutter speed, f/10 aperture, 200 ISO.
I use Photoshop CC to edit my photos, and consider some sort of photo editing software a MUST to get the most out of your knife pictures.
Well, here are the pics. Hope they help a little, and if there are any questions I'd be more than happy answer.

Maybe it's not very helpful to most of you but here is my setup anyway - my access to professional studio equipment helps a lot

The camera is a field camera Sinar p2 with 90mm or 150mm lenses by Rodenstock or Schneider and a 80MP digital back from PhaseOne.
For lighting I use a flash with two slim-lights and a board from the top that has a matte-silver cover. It is mounted on an extra stand so I can move it up and down and adjust the angle. The slim-lights reveal textures and create sharp outlines and the cardboard produces an even reflex on the blade with a nice hotspot. Sometimes I add an extra spotlight for even more texture or color.









Maybe that helps a little bit and I’ll happily answer any questions

Wow!
Could you post the final picture of the knife, please?
Thanks,

Thanks, David. It's in the Model #8 thread:

This is probably going to get me laughed at, but here goes.
As a photographer I am a total novice, light boxes and fancy cameras are wasted on me, I would expect to get perfect result first off, or I would pack them away and never use them again.
My brother in law is a professional sports photographer so I asked him what I needed to take good photo's of knives. He replied with some indignation, that to post low resolution shots on the internet I needed nothing more than the equipment I had and good lighting. So here goes please try not to laugh.

Setup.
A piece of grey upholstery vinyl draped over the lounge room couch,
Light - Soft lighting app on up to 2 tablets and 3 phones but usually only use 2 as with this photo.

Camera
A point and shoot OLYMPUS u-TOUGH 8000 camera on a small tripod, set to manual, auto white balance, ISO 100, flash off, sometimes have to set to macro to get focus, use the timer so as not to bump the camera.

Other
Various white reflector cards and clamps. mostly I just hold them in my hand to get the right reflection on the blade.



Software
PhotoScape (freeware/Shareware)

Ausblade: Actually that is a perfect setup!

and it looks like it is working, Nuthin to laugh at here folks...