Sword Photography is hard... (but fun)

[ChrisM]

Another attempt at sword photography, this time about 90 minutes of playing last Sunday. 2 Lights, some large scrims, and a black background. 

 

Some simple editing in Photoshop (mostly B+W, to remove color casts), and then a silly background thrown in as I play with the new AI Masking features. 

 

 

Still not getting the "right" results I want, but the chase is fun and entertaining...

 

//Chris

[kissakai]

I always fail so good luck

All the best images I've seen are on a black background

[Ken-Hawaii]

PM sent, Chris.

[ROKUJURO]

It must be difficult to avoid reflections on the blade, but for a good presentation, I think it is crucial. 

[snort]

Chris, I feel your pain. Mirror like objects are very difficult.

A polarizing lens will help cut down on reflections.

Use soft lighting (bounce light off white reflector) from two angles.

Grev is correct, a dark background for shiny things is best.

 

Photoshop is great (used it for years & years) but will not rescue images that have not been adequately staged.

 

george

[vajo]

Chris you made a good picture. Hamon is clear and i can see the hada.  

 

Btw it is a nice sword.

[ROKUJURO]

Then it must be my old eyes!

[rkg]

Swords are a bitch to shoot well - its all about light/reflection control....  You have to control pretty much every reflection the camera can see.

 

Polarizing filters aren't terribly helpful here - Metal surfaces mostly produce a direct rather than a glare reflection, so just a polarizer on the lens doesn't really do much unless you do the cross polarization thing and polarize the light source as well - and you're down so many stops on at that point you're usually better off doing something else.

 

Have fun,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

[reeder]

Very difficult.  I still can't figure it out.  LOL.  Tried numerous things for years and no matter what I do or how good it looks on my computer (to my eye) they get compressed and lose all definition when I upload them to eBay (for the ones it's time to move on from).

[jeremy]

Definitely not an easy task. I've tried myself for years albeit with nothing more than camera phones, still can't make them look good

[Ken-Hawaii]

 

ried numerous things for years and no matter what I do or how good it looks on my computer (to my eye) they get compressed and lose all definition when I upload them to eBay

Brandon, one thing that many people forget is that when you do anything to JPG files, you lose data. So the trick is to only use lossless formats (PNG, TIF, & PSD) until your very-final image, when you save it as a JPG.