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Kunisuke Naginata Test Image

rkg

By rkg
in Nihonto

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rkg Mentor

rkg

Posted
Posted

Hi,

 

I haven't posted any sword images here in a while, so here's a test shot I did of my Kunisuke naginata.  I was in the process of testing a lens (sigma 50mm 1.4 art).  Sorry about not showing the other side, but I had limited time and the rig was set up to shoot this side, and...

 

http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/kunisuke_nag_test.jpg

 

Best,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

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Darcy Mentor

Darcy

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Posted

Hi,

 

I haven't posted any sword images here in a while, so here's a test shot I did of my Kunisuke naginata.  I was in the process of testing a lens (sigma 50mm 1.4 art).  Sorry about not showing the other side, but I had limited time and the rig was set up to shoot this side, and...

 

http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/kunisuke_nag_test.jpg

 

Best,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

 

 

It's an excessively difficult subject and you pulled it off with perfect results.

 

Just my opinion for what it's worth.

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Darcy Mentor

Darcy

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Fantastic picture!!

 

Is there any "how to make better sword photos" for a rookie like me in the board?

 

Richard and I started developing nihonto photography together .... 15 years ago? Given that nobody was telling us anything. 

 

We exchanged ideas and kept poking away. Richard went and learned great ways of doing kodogu and I kept on with swords. 

 

There is no way you can just get a brain dump from either of us to give you this kind of result. Even if we told you everything you would have to practice it for years. When a blade comes out looking natural and beautiful as he shot it, you guys react and can see it's beautiful.

 

What I see is every major trap that was set by this blade that he did not fall into. This is a very hard blade to shoot. To come out like this is highly admirable. Not a lot of people are doing things as we do. What we do is honest and hard. I have been training Ted for half a decade as well. A lot just use a scanner and you see a flat deadish looking thing that has been enhanced severely with photoshop because the scanner does not see what the eye sees so they have to make some illusions.

 

This kind of photography is an artform. It is constantly improving as both technical skills and artistic merit increase and experiments are done. It is excellent work. I can highly recommend having Richard shoot your swords. and it's nice to have for your wall or for one day when you sell it to be able to use an image like this so someone else can see what you have. Vs. the nightmare shots you will take with your point and shoot.

 

If you really want to shoot like this set aside 15 years, a lot of blood, swear and tears and be prepared to learn from your mistakes.

 

Easier to just send to Richard and ask him to shoot your blade. There are only 3 people in North America who can do this correctly now, I think. Me and Ted and Richard. Everything else is a grade less at best. Some of these people grabbed spilled knowledge I threw out there when I thought it was all about people helping people. Without that they'd not have been able to leverage out of the bottom rungs. 

 

Richard's work was peer work and his insights helped me a lot and I hope mine helped him too. He is an expert and especially in tosogo.

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rkg Mentor

rkg

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Wow... 

 

Thank you for the shout out Darcy - I just try and do my best... :huh:  Yeah, that was a while ago... And actually, the quality of Darcy's work on swords is what I aspire to now.

 

Chris, the short answer is that its a pain to do - you are basically photographing a mirror, which can be challenging.  There are several different ways to light pieces, depending on what you want to see or not see, how the piece has been polished, etc.  And while they are actually a little more "formulaic" than tosogu, you -still- sometimes end up having to stop and experiment, change lighting methods (sometimes radically), etc depending on the piece.

You only "know" how to shoot a particular type of piece until the next one comes in with some different peculiarity that usually doesn't hit you until you have that "WTF!!!??" moment when you look at the images on the screen...

About all I can offer is that its all about light control...
 

A lot of what passes for good images seem to be a compromise between showing enough to get the piece sold while minimizing problems.  Here's an example - this is a piece I bought last fall.  This shows three images, the seller's and two of mine which I downsized to match in size.  One is one of my really high resolution images (it looks a little darker because I had processed it differently (to display large)) and the other was a another test image using the sigma lens (I know, I can call it the "eye of Raw" :laughing: ) - I didn't bother to clean the image up as it was a test, pretty dusty, I screwed up and there's a gobo shadow on the nakago, etc).  And before you get on my case, the seller's image WAS marked as public domain, so....:

 

http://www.rkgphotos.com/facebook_stuff/yasuaki_compare.jpg

 

The seller's image doesn't show (either at all or so it "registers") all the little nicks in the blade up by up by the shinogi line in the monouchi area and a bit below, it becomes more painfully obvious that the maker was doing a hosho utushi (ware/loose hada in habaki area, though to be fair you quite often see this -somewhere- on a period hosho piece), and my favorite - the thumbprint.  On the other hand, you also don't see the activities/cool hada very well either - its actually pretty nice in hand...

 

And Darcy's point about photoshopped pieces is sage   Some are really bad - the one that sticks out in my mind is a Nambokucho period wakizashi that was sold on a (now deceased) dealer's website with glorious images - Darcy actually ended up reselling it later as a consignment, and in his images it almost looked like a different piece as Darcy's images told the truth - the originals were apparently either heavily photoshopped to remove issues/lit to hide problems/something.  I wish I had saved the images for my own reference.  On that note, I guess I should also point out that on the Kunisuke above, there is a masking error on the mune I didn't as clean up (the jaggies)  - ya gotta love being in a hurry I guess... 

 

Best,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

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Jean

Jean

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Posted

Very good Richard, I have the tutorial Darcy's edited years ago, I shall never use it but I like reading it to see all the obstacles one must face to photo a nihonto. Congrats to you,Ted and Darcy.

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w.y.chan Proficient

w.y.chan

Posted
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Fantastic picture!!

 

Is there any "how to make better sword photos" for a rookie like me in the board?

 

 

You can try exclude ambient light to prevent the reflective surface of the blade bouncing light back so shoot in dark room. Place lighting so it comes in at an angle on the blade to capture the blade details so you be better off using several lights that covers left, right, top and bottom. There are other techniques that involve flags to block stray lights. You can experiment starting with a small blade. You don't even need a super expensive dSLR or expensive lens, the lighting is the key.

 

 

Wah

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w.y.chan Proficient

w.y.chan

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Richard's photos are excellent and one would expect a lot of trial and error to succeed to shoot something like what we usually see in books and I could not blame him if actual technique are kept, as someone said it is indeed an artform.

 

This may not look as nice. It is just a frame grab from a video footage I was grading for a potential nihonto trailer. As lighting goes this is completely the opposite with plenty of ambient lights being overpowered by a very strong light behind me, this method reveals the jigane but not the hamon. I've included a pyrotechnic while exploring a possibility of adding special effect ;-)

 

http://m1.i.pbase.com/o9/86/459686/1/163336331.pKxuB1Eo.ScreenShot20160530at09.49.04.png

 

 

Wah

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Brian

Brian

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Just use a scanner, Vajo. It's a lot easier and much less time consuming.

 

Then you won't have to be told to "shut it down on the NMB" regarding photography tips.

 

Alan

Resorting to old habits? :doh:

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Marius Grand Master

Marius

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Richard, you are a master!

 

Only those who have tried to photograph nihonto have an idea how much experience and work is needed to deliver such results. Your picture is absolutely impressive.

 

WOW!

 

:bowdown:

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vajo Grand Master

vajo

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Just use a scanner, Vajo. It's a lot easier and much less time consuming.

 

Then you won't have to be told to "shut it down on the NMB" regarding photography tips.

 

Alan

My english is too bad to understand clearly what you wrote. Sorry...  :-?

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Alan F Contributor

Alan F

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Posted

My english is too bad to understand clearly what you wrote. Sorry...  :-?

 

Hoffentlich nicht. Das war ein Insider-Witz, in schlechten Geschmack.

(Hopefully not. That was an insider joke, in poor taste)

 

Richard's photo is impressive. At first glance, one might think that it was a scan. But when one realizes that it was a photo taken with a good camera, you have to appreciate that there was much experimentation with regard to the perfect lighting setup (and camera settings).

 

Alan

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Darcy Mentor

Darcy

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Richard's photo is impressive. At first glance, one might think that it was a scan. But when one realizes that it was a photo taken with a good camera, you have to appreciate that there was much experimentation with regard to the perfect lighting setup (and camera settings).

 

Alan

 

Richard is a highly talented photographer who also does amazing pro style photographs of kodogu that would be suitable for publishing in any Japanese publication. This is as you guess a result of much experimentation. A decade and plus work goes into being able to take a photo like that unless someone is going to take you by the hand and walk you through everything that is important. And nobody did that for Rich. 

 

The big trick is that you need to care about it enough to devote the time and the brain power to trying to get it perfect. It's the most ridiculously awful photography subject I've encountered in my entire life, trying to get a sword to photograph well. 

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Bazza Grand Master

Bazza

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I have a friend whose hobby is high definition, large scale black and white photography.  At work one day (long ago) he said he was looking for a new challenge.  I suggested Japanese swords and lent him one of mine.  Despite his clear talent in the medium and style of his choice after some considerable time he gave it up and returned the sword, mission unaccomplished.  I have another friend whose wife is a talented photographer and wants to "do" one of my swords.  I just know it isn't going to work out...

 

BaZZa.

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