Loco Al Posted January 29, 2014 Report Posted January 29, 2014 My aim is to start a thread about intimate sword photography. I'm an amateur who has the photography "bug". I'm not a pro. I have been envious, as I am sure many of you are, of the photos of swords on commercial websites. Not just envious of the swords themselves, but of the quality of the photos in which they seem to have magically captured detail in the hamon which often eludes amateur photographic attempts. Some websites are more accomplished than others with regard to producing lustful photos that really show off the activity in the hamon, and some have their own unique style. I'm not talking about the clinical looking, large format, photos which show both sides of the sword full length. Those likely require more specialized equipment or scanners to produce. With regard to the more creative style of photos, I have seen it said at least once on this forum: I wish I could take photos like that! The truth is, you probably can. The ability to take good photos of a sword need not be the sole purvey of the professionals. You don't need a lot of expensive equipment (fancy lights, soft-light boxes, etc.), unless you're really serious. All you preferably need is a DSLR camera, but I'm sure you can produce nice results with a point and shoot camera as well. Someone recently tried to start a thread with the title: hamons and hada pictures of nmb members. He was asking members to share photos of their own swords' hamons. He was politely directed to some links of popular commercial websites, where he might indulge himself. I thought his request was somewhat unreasonable myself, since not all members may wish to divulge what swords they have and share photos of same. But even if you did wish to share such photos, perhaps you feel you don't have the equipment or the ability necessary. The trick to capturing the hamon is all about light and angles, not expensive equipment. You have to be prepared to experiment a bit, and take lots of photos. What better way to truly admire and appreciate your sword. What follows is an avalanche of photos of a photogenic candidate I found hiding in the closet. An Ichimonji. The camera is a Canon DSLR. Some were taken with a 100mm lens and some with a 24 - 105 zoom lens. For some of the photos I also used a polarizing filter to help cut glare, but that is not necessary. A tripod is a must, as is manual focus. The room lights were off. The fancy "studio light" was nothing more than a 500 Watt Stanley work light. The seductive black fabric background was a plastic landscaping fabric. For the orange looking photo I had used a flash bounced off the ceiling in addition to the work light. The photo that looks a bit black-and-white was an experimental infrared photo (not so exciting). I may post a picture of my pathetic "studio" and the light set-up later. As I learn more from experimentation, I am happy to share my knowledge with you. Please also share your photographic tips and tricks with me. Perhaps we might have a section dedicated to photographic technique one day. Alan Quote
cabowen Posted January 29, 2014 Report Posted January 29, 2014 Nice photos. The blade is not too bad either! Quote
runagmc Posted January 29, 2014 Report Posted January 29, 2014 I'm not sure I'd want a coarse material (at least it looks kinda coarse) to rest my highly polished Ichimonji on, though. Other than that, nice job. Also, if you search the forum, there have been some pretty extensive threads on photography I think... Quote
Darcy Posted January 29, 2014 Report Posted January 29, 2014 Pretty good results! I suggest using some silk for the background... Quote
Robert Janssen Posted January 30, 2014 Report Posted January 30, 2014 For those interested in Nihonto photography: In this youtube movie there is a short demonstration about Nihonto polishing AND photography by leading polisher Okisato Fujishiro (and his son). This was demonstrated at the MET museum as part of an exhibition in 2009. I found both aspects of this demo interesting, although lacking real practical instructions for photography. Enjoy! Quote
CSM101 Posted January 30, 2014 Report Posted January 30, 2014 Maybe you find this more interesting then: Some things are well explained, some things are interesting and some things I do different. Uwe G. Quote
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