This was shot in a totally dark room using a Nikon SB-700 speedlight as light source. The image was created with the 1974 neo-noir film “Chinatown” in mind, specifically the scene in which a man flicks a knife and cuts open Jake’s (Jack Nicholson’s) nostril.

Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Tokina 100mm f2.8 AT-X Pro D Macro
Aperture: f/22
Shutter speed: 0.5 second
ISO: 100
Conversion to monochrome using Topaz Black+White Effects, additional processing in Adobe Lightroom 5 and Adobe Photoshop CC. The gleam on the knife blade was added using Topaz Star Effects.