Tosogu Photography Question...

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

I was wondering about the best way to photograph a antique katana koshirea. Should I photograph each part or the whole thing at once? The koshirea is a matching, original, and almost complete so one photo together might be nice. Most of the koshirea is soft metal with the exception of the tsuba. Any advice, references, or examples would be helpful. I will have the koshirea on display at the upcoming Baltimore Japanese Sword and Cultural Show in late September at my display table. Thank you all for taking the time to reply. The photos will be used for my own reference and to facilitate online discussion on NMB.

[Pete Klein]

'Koshirae' on AOI:

 

[cspage]

David, I have always enjoyed the photography on Moses Becerra's website. Not only do they give a clear depiction of the koshirae, but also, in the more artistic images, lend a sense of the experience one might have actually handling the koshirae, looking at it from different angles. Obviously a very professional job. http://www.nihontoantiques.com/fss564.htm

 

Colin

[Brian]

As Pete hinted....the first step is to call it koshirae and not koshirea (which rhymes with diarrhoea and urea) :lol:

 

Brian

[Stephen]

[Soshin]

Hi Brian R.,

 

Funny day with the typos. :lol: My wife found my pronunciation of that word even funnier being Japanese. I need to do some work on the tsuba as it has a minor rust issue over the long holiday weekend. I will also do some research in regards to the tsuba. I will take photos of the other fittings over the weekend and arrange a composite image. I will be sure to rename all parts with funny sounding names. :lol:

[rkg]

David,

 

It kind of depends on what you want to do with the images. My favorite thing to do with a decent koshirae is photograph the complete koshirae as well as all the pieces like was done for that uchigatana koshirae book by the Tokyo national museum. I think its important because its VERY helpful in understanding the piece, but few people who put these pubs together are willing to spring for either the number of shots required per piece or space in the publication to show all the images, so...

 

Koshirae are a pain to light well because, like fittings, you often don't want to use the same lighting on every piece (what is cool highlight that gives shape on one piece blots out something critical on the next piece, etc), you sometimes need a LOT of grip to show off everything well in one shot, etc.

 

Best,

 

rkg

(Richard George)