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Post by sankojin on Nov 24, 2017 20:07:27 GMT
I have been looking all over google and other search engines with no luck. I have been trying to get a good photo of a full blade of Rick Barretts or simular smith hamons. Something along the lines as this kind of photo www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/kantei/kantei450-2.jpg. Or if someone could recommend to me a good way getting a blade photographed in this way as I have a Rick Barrett blade and I have come nowhere close to being able to get a good photo of the hamon. I have searched for ways of getting good photos of hamons and I have tried doing this but I lack the know-how and a good camera. Any help that people can offer would be very much appreciated.
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Post by jrock on Nov 24, 2017 22:22:24 GMT
Best way I've found is to be in a darkish room with a lamp. Angle the blade so that the hamon "pops" out. Attachments:
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Post by DigsFossils-n-Knives on Nov 24, 2017 22:51:40 GMT
I'm not sure, but if I were to guess, AOIJAPAN uses a very long scanner or pieces the pics together.
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Post by randomnobody on Nov 24, 2017 23:28:57 GMT
I believe a typical bed scanner is the best approach. I managed to get some decent shots of a few hamon (nothing really showcasing much activity, as the polishes just weren't too task) by using a bright light and turning my ISO down low.
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Post by vermithrax on Nov 24, 2017 23:51:45 GMT
Best way I've found is to be in a darkish room with a lamp. Angle the blade so that the hamon "pops" out. ^^^^^^^^ Best way to do it. A full shot of an entire blade will be difficult to get without a large scanner like Aoi uses.
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Post by treeslicer on Nov 25, 2017 3:47:17 GMT
Nice simple question you asked. If any of the words or concepts I use below are unfamiliar, if you have Google available, please look them up. Since this is going to be a question of general interest, I'm going beyond the OP question to try to give a decent answer.
A sword or knife hamon is a collection of differing crystalline structures oriented in different directions. What you see in a hamon is dependent on the angle and collimation of the incident light, as well as on the point of view that you are seeing from, similar to how patterns of reflective glitter trapped in lacquer or plastic change as you turn the object with the glitter in it, or how the chatoyance in a tiger's-eye ring set changes as you turn it. There is no magic way to see it all at once, or to catch it in a single cell-phone or point-and-shoot photograph. Taking a number of shots of specific, limited parts of the sword from different angles will work to an extent, and will be all you can do without a DSLR with fully manual modes and interchangeable lenses and filters.
Photographing hamon as seen on sellers' web sites is done with professional equipment including at least a Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera (DSLR), telephoto lenses, various filters including directional polarizing, a cable release, and a tripod. Directional studio light sources are also used. You will also notice that the professional sword layouts from top-end nihonto sellers include multiple views of the same areas in both color and in black-and-white, which differ in what part of the hamon is visible. This is where light direction and filtration come in. Archival and forensic photography is an art of its own. I'm certainly not going to try to condense it into a single post, but the few pointers below will help you get better photos of your swords. This discussion assumes that you have access to a DSLR1, telephoto lenses, a tripod, and a cable release to minimize vibration. First I'm going to describe daylight full-length shots of the whole sword (which is quicker and much less aggravating than trying to do a close-up photomosaic), then take a flyer at hamon detail close-ups through hadori. These are two entirely different situations.
To begin with, you need a well-collimated light source2, and the most available one is sunlight. After traveling 93 million miles, the light rays in sunlight are parallel for all practical purposes, so I recommend that you take your pics outside on a sunny day.
Arrange some way to fix your sword in different positions to photograph it3. I'll leave this to your individual ingenuity, but note that trying to get a spouse or buddy to act as a stable remote-control positioning vise may lead to friction. Whatever you use, make sure that you can rotate it in all 3 axes to get different lighting angles, and get it to face in different directions as you move your camera position around it.
Set your tripod-mounted camera up as far from the sword as you can get it, and still zoom in to get a full-frame shot of the sword from end to end. The point in this is to minimize perspective distortion as well as to get even lighting. To minimize focusing problems, use a high F-stop. I'd also advise using as low a film speed4 and as high a pixel setting5 as you can manage, for maximum detail. Part of the reason for the cable-release (as well as the tripod) is facilitate long exposures to allow all that.
Once you have your set-up done, start taking photos and playing with different angles to see which angle shows what. Again, exercise your own ingenuity. For details of activities and such, that can be caught in normal light, zoom in and vignette them. You'll probably wind up with around 20 photos (10 of each side at different angles) to select from (or many more if you're as picky as I am).
Getting those cute little close-ups with the squiggly white hamon leaping out of the hadori polish is a specialty spotlight and filter technique which can be nearly duplicated with a narrow-beam, high-intensity LED flashlight used outside at night with the positioning set-up and tripod referred to above. Move the light around and observe the sword until you get the contrast you want, then fix the light and snap your shot at each point that you want a detail of.
I hope this post proves helpful to someone.
1. Some single-lens "prosumer" cameras will be able to do telephoto macros (which is what I'm describing) as well. If you own one, check your manual.
2. Or yes, you could match lenses and light sources to take advantage of distortions, but nobody here who isn't already a pro is going to have that sort of gear handy.
3. ........And they won't have a gantry or any of that either.
4. Virtual, of course. It's the "ISO" setting on your camera.
5. You can reduce it to something internet-friendly later by cropping and reformatting ("Save for web") in Photoshop or some other photo-editor software.
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Post by Robert in California on Nov 25, 2017 16:58:23 GMT
Wow! Thanks!
Since wonderful (cough) Photoshop demands $400 per year to ransom our photos from past reviews (and future), it is not a good option for low volume user such as me.
I plan a review of the Sinosword/JKoo tamahagane sword Van Yang is having made for me. I don't know how to put photos in a review now (only used Photoshop and that is no longer an option). How do I get pics into a SBGuide review here now? Thanks!
RinC
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Post by treeslicer on Nov 25, 2017 17:06:46 GMT
Wow! Thanks! Since wonderful (cough) Photoshop demands $400 per year to ransom our photos from past reviews (and future), it is not a good option for low volume user such as me. I plan a review of the Sinosword/JKoo tamahagane sword Van Yang is having made for me. I don't know how to put photos in a review now (only used Photoshop and that is no longer an option). How do I get pics into a SBGuide review here now? Thanks! RinC Photoshop is a software by Adobe with lots of old copies (particularly of Photoshop Elements, which is all you need) floating around cheaply. I believe you're thinking of the Photobucket online so-called-service. The SBG forum has an "Add Attachment" button in the upper right hand corner of the post edit window. I always just use that to upload photos, rather than linking them. After editing them in Photoshop Elements, of course.
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Post by RaylonTheDemented on Nov 25, 2017 21:14:32 GMT
Wow! Thanks! Since wonderful (cough) Photoshop demands $400 per year to ransom our photos from past reviews (and future), it is not a good option for low volume user such as me. I plan a review of the Sinosword/JKoo tamahagane sword Van Yang is having made for me. I don't know how to put photos in a review now (only used Photoshop and that is no longer an option). How do I get pics into a SBGuide review here now? Thanks! RinC I have been using IMGUR since Photobucket let us down, find it easy to use, and I'm computer illiterate. o7
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 25, 2017 23:46:24 GMT
You can check out Walter Sorrels’ guides here
Pt 1 - how to photograph knives
Pt 2 - how to photograph a katana
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Post by sankojin on Dec 11, 2017 17:50:53 GMT
You can check out Walter Sorrels’ guides here Pt 1 - how to photograph knives Pt 2 - how to photograph a katana Thank you very much for these videos. They helped out a lot. Though I still need a decent camera before I could do this. The only camera I have is my phone and it's lens is broken so all the photos I take with it are blurry. treeslicer Thank you for taking the time to write all that out. I really was amazed at how much of a response I got for asking this question. So thank you again for all your help. Dose anyone have photos of a blade already of Ricks work they might be willing to share with me? If not could anyone recommend a place that can do a full scan of my current blade? Or can recommend a photographer that has the skills to do what Treeslicer talks about in his post?
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Post by Verity on Dec 11, 2017 20:05:36 GMT
You can check out Walter Sorrels’ guides here Pt 1 - how to photograph knives Pt 2 - how to photograph a katana Thank you very much for these videos. They helped out a lot. Though I still need a decent camera before I could do this. The only camera I have is my phone and it's lens is broken so all the photos I take with it are blurry. treeslicer Thank you for taking the time to write all that out. I really was amazed at how much of a response I got for asking this question. So thank you again for all your help. Dose anyone have photos of a blade already of Ricks work they might be willing to share with me? If not could anyone recommend a place that can do a full scan of my current blade? Or can recommend a photographer that has the skills to do what Treeslicer talks about in his post? Where are you located? Usually unless you are close sending a blade around for photography is not cost effective. (If by unlikely chance you are in WA, I could do it). EDIT for clarification: I don’t have a large bed scanner like Aoi uses but I do have a VERY high end DSLR (Canon 5D Mk III), a litany of lenses (high F-stop L class), and high quality studio lighting, soft boxes etc.
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Post by sankojin on Dec 11, 2017 22:38:05 GMT
I live in San Diego. Could you send me a pm of how much you charge?
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