Here's a photo I took just the other day... both knives belonged to an Army veteran who served in Vietnam.

Sometimes you can just get lucky with a shot, other times you can shoot, rearrange and shoot again and never really capture the right image. I think I got a little lucky with this one.... I used the bamboo to give a simple background and also a southeast-asia feel to the image.

I used a standard light tent - about 3' square. I keep the tent set up in the garage that has regular overhead fluorescent bulbs. However, my main light is two spot lights on small tripods - one on each side of the tent. This is a similar set up that most people use.

The lights can be aimed right at the subject or slightly upward. It really depends on what you're shooting.

For this shot, I used my cell phone, believe it or not! (iPhone 6) I have a very nice Canon camera and a heavy duty tripod that I usually use for nature shots, but my cell phone is proving a lot easier to use in the long run. I emailed the image to my computer and made minor adjustments. I cropped it a bit and darkened the overall lighting to make the black background go completely black - which hides the fabric pattern. My background is a piece of black fabric that is not very reflective.

One thing that helps with the cell phone - I shoot and then immediately review the shot. If it's not right, I adjust the lights or in this case, move the blade a bit to fix the reflection. Sometimes, the angle of the shot makes a difference... whether you shoot straight down or shoot from a lower position. I do like to "fill" the complete frame with whatever I'm shooting. Cropping the picture helps put more focus on your subject.

Thanks for looking!