Jean Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 I tried to take some pictures this morning with my new tripod, my new "rotule", my camera Nikon D 7000, Lens a Nikon 105mm macro. It is a futatokoromono of shishi dogs. You will notice the fine nanako. Quote
christianmalterre Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Dear Jean, Question: they seem to be set onto the nanako? how are they fixed? attached some try(i actually do play equally with making close pictures) do use an Canon EOS 600D with standard objective... It´s an Tabacco-pouch knob... Christian Quote
Ed Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Not bad attempts Jean. With so many tiny angles it is difficult to prevent light reflections as in your first shot, second one looks better. Nice details. Macro photography can be fun. Years ago before the digital age I had a 35mm with macro tube. I had hundreds of photos and slides of plants, flowers, bugs, etc., etc. and mostly they all were taken in my own yard. A small area becomes a huge space in the macro world and there are so many things living right at your feet you never pay attention too. Quote
Jean Posted December 5, 2012 Author Report Posted December 5, 2012 Hi Christian, I have absolutelly no idea. Probably glued. I think Ford has a better idea. The Shishi on the Kogai has a length of 2,3 cm. What is interesting are the details given by such photos. It shows the quality of the subject and shows things invisible without magnifying glass. Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Gentlemen, your macro shots are something to see. Congratulations. Over on the International Netsuke Society's forum there is a presentation section where getting the best photography close-ups of Netsuke is discussed. Various threads: http://netsuke.websitetoolbox.com/?forum=13819 Quote
Ford Hallam Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Dear Jean,Question: they seem to be set onto the nanako? how are they fixed? Christian these are an excellent example of 'sue-mon' zogan. I actually wrote a little bit about the technique on my forum a short while ago, I re-post it below. ...where the nanako can be seem to actually go underneath the applied decoration it's not inlay but applique. Early Goto work on kozuka and kogai was often done in this way. The decoration was made a bit like a menuki and attached to the ground by means of a peg, 1 or more, that passed through the body of the piece and was riveted on the back. In those case the nanako was carried out beforehand. There is some disagreement among collectors as to terminology but I call this type of applied decoration (by means of a peg) sue-mon Most western collectors use sue-mon to refer to large areas of shallow relief. Jingo work in brass for example and classic Heianjo inlay are both called sue-mon by most collectors and dealers. I disagree with this usage and prefer to stick with the definitions actually given by Japanese metalwork artists. Satsuo Ando (in the glossary of the Raymond Bushell collection catalogue. 1981) describes Sue-mon thus: "Sue-mon : is the technique used on kozuka, kogai and tsuba of inserting thin pieces which are already pre-shaped and fit to size either by straightforward inlay or by knocking in, where the piece to be inserted is carefully given a short plug on it's back that, when fitted into a suitable cavity on the base and knocked in from the back of the base, expands to hold the whole inlay in place." The pre-shaping referred to was described to me by my teacher as being essentially a bit like uchidashi work and not simply cut out pieces. True sue-mon is virtually unknown on tsuba though, for obvious mechanical reasons. Quote
Jean Posted December 5, 2012 Author Report Posted December 5, 2012 Thanks a lot Ford for the info. Quote
jamesicus Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Nice pics Jean and Christian. I like to use macro images wherever possible. In "the olden days" (pre-digital cameras) I photographed all of my Roman coins in macro mode using a Nikon SLR and a photo stand with excellent results. For me, a rock steady camera hold, remote shutter release and careful clean-up (housekeeping) of the subject and background in order to avoid stray debris were the main determinants for best quality macro images. Having said that, I have now become lazy and impatient and I wield my inexpensive digital camera somewhat cavalierly when taking close-up pictures for my web pages -- I set macro mode and rest my elbows on the kitchen counter top (there is excellent diffused natural lighting in our kitchen). Then, holding the camera as still as I possibly can and holding my breath as long as possible, I snap it off - sans shutter release. I know this is awful technique, but my photo taking sessions are hurried affairs these days due to my somewhat fragile health and sometimes overwhelming calligraphy commitments. Actually the results are not all that bad: James Quote
jamesicus Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 .......... Actually the results are not all that bad ......... As a point of interest the other macro images in this series are on my shishi fuchi/kashira page accompanied by descriptive text. ....... I must retake the tsuba images - they are too fuzzy due to poor technique. James Quote
christianmalterre Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Yes,indeed... the more you experiment with this,plus all those possibilities photoshop or other programs do offer you-you do enter an field you could pass hours and hours... It´s an fascinating thematics! Thank you Ford of course-this clearifies a lot ! Just for fun one of mine "Macros" i do like most... Mimi of an Yagyu Tsuba. Cheers Christian Quote
Marius Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Great for taking pics of hagire Pic is out of focus as it was shot freehand. But the hagire is quite visible... Quote
Ford Hallam Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 close up of a the sort of battering a chisel takes when carving hand made steel. The face of the chisel is 4mm across. and a close up of the carving and modelling technique on a famous Yasuchika. This image taken hand held recently when in Tokyo. I use a Canon 60D. It's got brilliant HD filming capabilities too and a handy flip out high resolution screen with the capability to focus by hand on a hugely magnified image and I use a Canon 60mm f 2.8 macro lens. A tripod and remote shutter release cable are essential for really sharp close up images. Quote
christianmalterre Posted December 7, 2012 Report Posted December 7, 2012 Dear Ford This is an excellent picture here! The quality of the iron,plus this very minute work,really does come out here. Yes-certainly(and obviously)Yasuchika here....(what else-LOL!) You made an good shot! Me Quote
jamesicus Posted December 9, 2012 Report Posted December 9, 2012 I have found IrfanView to be an extremely easy to use and powerful facility for cropping and resizing images - and it is a free download. James Quote
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