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Thread: Question on katana dents

  1. #31
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    alternative analysis...

    Inputs - Hawaii, hula girls, beer, tidal wave, iaidoka, boat.

    output - drunk iaidoka on boat getting knocked around by hula girls' hips during nukitsuke due to her losing her balance due to tidal wave...

    final result - headache and chatter marks in blade...also nagging wife who wants to know why a girl was on your boat...
    Tim Hamilton

    Why are you reading this instead of being out training? No excuses accepted...

  2. #32
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    I was thinking, for the purposes of taking photos, can't you apply something either to the dents or the surrounding surface to make them stand out? I'm thinking that if you rubbed a crayon across the surface of the mune you might be able to highlight the dents without having to get all fancy with shadows.
    Best regards,
    Bruce Mitchell

  3. #33
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    alternative analysis...

    Inputs - Hawaii, hula girls, beer, tidal wave, iaidoka, boat.

    output - drunk iaidoka on boat getting knocked around by hula girls' hips during nukitsuke due to her losing her balance due to tidal wave...

    final result - headache and chatter marks in blade...also nagging wife who wants to know why a girl was on your boat...
    Best laugh we've had all weekend, Tim!! Mahalo!!

    Not a bad idea, Bruce. Now all I have to do is persuade one of my grandkids to loan me a crayon.... I don't seem to keep them around any more.

    Tried your light-box idea, Brian, but can't really pick up the shadows that way. Did find out that it's fairly easy to go cross-eyed after about 15 minutes; Linda offered to take a photo of my , but I decided to focus on a instead.

    I was going to bring the iaito to our local sword society meeting, but got rained out this morning in jodo to the extent that a hot shower was vastly preferable to an air-conditioned room. Probably don't let drowned rats into the building, anyway....
    Ken Goldstein
    --------------------------------
    Judo Kodansha/MJER Iaido Kodansha/Jodo Oku-iri
    Fencing Master/NRA Instructor

    "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it'll annoy enough people to be worth the effort."

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken-Hawaii View Post
    ...Tried your light-box idea, Brian, but can't really pick up the shadows that way.
    Hmm, skim lighting is a standard technique for showing small surface details: orange peels, weathered skin, etc.

    Just to be sure we're on the same page; I said a soft box, not a light box/light tent. Was that what you were using?

    Soft box:



    Light tent:



    Light tents are no good for bringing out crisp shadow detail; they're intended for just the opposite.

    The best soft box for this purpose would be a somewhat specialized version called a striplight:

    Last edited by Brian Owens; 8th March 2010 at 10:24.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  5. #35
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    Sorry for the delay in responding, Brian - had to fly back to the mainland to help out a very ill family member. Couldn't even bring my iaito to train .

    Okay, I see what you're showing me for the softbox, & that isn't what I have. My setup is more like a tent with diffused light throughout; couldn't figure out how to get specular highlights with that rig. I also have a lightbox that I used to use to view slides; haven't tried that as yet. Could that serve as the strip light you described?
    Ken Goldstein
    --------------------------------
    Judo Kodansha/MJER Iaido Kodansha/Jodo Oku-iri
    Fencing Master/NRA Instructor

    "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it'll annoy enough people to be worth the effort."

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken-Hawaii View Post
    ...I see what you're showing me for the softbox, & that isn't what I have. My setup is more like a tent with diffused light throughout; couldn't figure out how to get specular highlights with that rig.
    Yeah, that wouldn't work at all; those are designed NOT to make shadows.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken-Hawaii View Post
    ...I also have a lightbox that I used to use to view slides; haven't tried that as yet. Could that serve as the strip light you described?
    Maybe. You could use some black paper to cover most of it, and just have a thin but wide strip of light coming out from it.

    If you have a tripod, so that you can get sharp long exposures, you don't need a really bright light like a strobe. That being the case, you might find any manner of long, thin lights would work: flourescent tubes, automotive work lights, etc. The key is to have the light skimming across the blade.

    There used to be a good Web page on sword photography, but I can't find it. If I run across it again I'll post a link to it.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Owens View Post
    There used to be a good Web page on sword photography, but I can't find it. If I run across it again I'll post a link to it.
    I found this, http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/swordphotography.htm
    which has lots of information on composition but not so much on lighting. It was the only page I found through the first 50 or so search results on Google that wasn't a stock photo site.

    -Beth
    Beth's Buki
    Walk softly and carry a big stick.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by BJohnson View Post
    I found this, http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/swordphotography.htm
    which has lots of information on composition but not so much on lighting.
    Yeah, I found that one and many others that weren't the one I was looking for. The one I'm thinking of showed his setups using a glass bench to set the blade on, black backdrops, the light and camera positions, use of polarizers, etc. It was on technical photography, rather than on decorative or "art" photography.

    Maybe this summer, when I have more free time, I'll do my own blog on the subject.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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