Photography and best tips to improve

[Paz]

So I've been testing lighting and photography and have tried to really get the best images I can. Using lamp light and flash. 

 

Please try to enjoy this late shinshinto piece (maybe).  They might not be that great.  Focused on Hamon and kissaki. 

 

And I would like to know what are the best photography practices to bring out the best in characteristics?  Ie lamp light ect.

[Rivkin]

Depends on a blade. Generally shinto and shinshinto are simple, do not need angled blade, they just need a decent source of light from a side and a camera looking down below. Light source the main quality is its size. When you inspect a blade sometimes very point based light like a flashlight does very well, but for photography a tube usually does ok.

 

P.S. its seldom acknowledged that just how a blade reacts to light from a side or a difference of how it looks from a side versus from above - its enough to date the blade with very good precision. Nie forms very differently in Edo period and Muromachi also has its "thing".

[Paz]

Would the surrounding make a difference? Ie brighter walls ? Or would you cover them up with a dark or black cloth. 

 

I will try what's been suggested. For example I'm trying to capture the ashi on the hamon. 

 

Regards 

[Rivkin]

Not really except no other sources of light within 4m from the blade. It helps with contrast a lot. Ashi on shinshinto are capturable with side light, you might put it a bit towards the mune though, but still directing it at the blade.

[PNSSHOGUN]

 

[DoTanuki yokai]

I think it is impossible to show all at one picture because to see different things you need different angles of light and from where you look. I have made over 10000 pictures of blades with so many different setups and tried many things and actually I’m at a point where I think pictures that are taken like one would examine a blade bring me the most joy. 
Then you have to know what you want to show and how to see it in hand then I replace my eye with the camera but my eyes can definetly handle the contrast better then my phone camera can. 

My DSLR can handle the contrast much better but the whole shot is much more time consuming and static what makes changing angles and get what to want to see a difficult task. 
I made some pictures last weekend with my phone while examining one of my swords. 
Espacially for the Jinie I think videos work much better because they are sometimes showing up only in one angle on a konvex surface what makes it impossible to photograph in one picture. 
Tell me what you think about them thanks. 

[Paz]

Yep I tried something similar. I used a lamp and managed to get some decent results on a koto. Koto steel seems contrast well compared to shinto as mentioned. Using a dark background. The below is trying to use a lamp and black surface on a shinshinto. 

[Brano]

The topic of how to take pictures of blades is repeated here regularly

Above all, it requires the right equipment for photography and PATIENCE

 

Maybe some will not agree with me, but forget about the camera in your mobile phone

 

You shoot in "bad" lighting conditions (longer shutter speed), you need to capture very fine details (low ISO)

 

I recommend a dark room to minimize reflexion from the surroundings

 

What you need: a tripod, a camera with full manual control (focusing, ISO setting, aperture, shutter speed, white balance ...), ideally a high-quality macro lens of at least 70mm (I use 180mm), a remote shutter release is a good aid against camera shake

 

For photographing from the top, I use two flat LED light sources (left and right) if I want to photograph the blade without reflection

( I couldn't find a way to insert photos between the text, so the photos will be at the end ) 

 

However, you can also use a spot light and even by slightly changing the position of the light (its reflection from the surface of the blade) you will achieve different photo results

Different light sources (LED, halogen, classic light bulb, warm LED, cold LED...) achieve different results

Likewise, the distance of the light source from the blade changes the result of the photo

So experiment and what suits you best

 

Several spotlights for shooting at an angle

The same applies to choosing a light source as I wrote above (type of light, light temperature, distance from the blade...)

 

And then achieving the "correct position" of the blade is sometimes a difficult task

You have two options: move the lights and camera, or the blade

Sometimes a change of position of only a few millimeters is necessary to achieve the correct reflection of the martensitic structures

 

The hardest part is taking the first few good photos

Then you will only get better

But it requires PATIENCE

 

 

 

 

 

[Paz]

@BranoI agree and this is where the difficulty comes in. We are using our brand new mobile phones, and a 1k plus camera is going to do so much more lol. 

 

We're trying to get the minute details with ios or android cameras. Which are great, but are not going to capture the details an expensive camera will. 

[Matsunoki]

Depends so much on the lighting. I took these on a quite old iPhone XS Max using just daylight. 
Tap the images to get a better look. Not sure how you would improve on them 

[Matsunoki]

….and another thing that makes the job so much harder than it needs to be is some of the horrendous Hadori polishes that we see all the time. It’s often very difficult to see anything underneath it with the sword actually in hand let alone with a camera.

Many of the swords for sale on Japanese websites look very dramatic in the images with their high contrast polishes but you haven’t got a clue what the hamon or other activity actually is…or even if there is a hamon at all. 

It also helps no end if you can have someone else hold or manoeuvre the blade while you look at it through the phone/camera screen. As soon and the light falls on it in a way that reveals the details you simply press the button. 

[Rivkin]

7 hours ago, Matsunoki said:

Depends so much on the lighting. I took these on a quite old iPhone XS Max using just daylight. 
Tap the images to get a better look. Not sure how you would improve on them 

 

That looks like shinshinto. For whatever reason Suishinshi Masahide rendered Hosho style in this way with drastically different steel layers and everyone else in shinshinto seemed to follow. It reacts well to white light (directly from above), reacts well to sidelight, its relatively insensitive to all conditions.

Challenges begin when its Kamakura, complex utsuri, nioi based hamon with plenty of ashi.