Keris that are jewels
 

Always a frustration trying to take decent pictures in museums, especially when objects ae kept behind glass and with that "anti-picture" reflex light.
I intended to bring pictures of a few keris that are shown at Lisbon Museu do Oriente, in an exhibition dedicatd to jewels from the India (discoveries) route and what i got, after deleting most of them, is as little as posted here.
Remember that the examples exhibited belong to the jewel category, weapons coming second.
I hope it was worth trying :o

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Certainly worth trying Fernando. I think you did a fine job shooting through the glass. :)
The ivory keris is interesting. I think more likely the tags second suggestion of Eastern Java than Bali. Was there no sheath displayed with this one?

There was a couple other fine examples but the photos are miserable :shrug:.

This one has no sheath and is the only one belonging to a different owner (collector?).

Too bad. I always wonder when i see keris like this without a sheath. You would have thought the previous owner would have been able to appropriately dress it.
The hilt seems very much a Bali style, but the blade does not. Also it carries a Javanese mendak so my guess is that this was dressed for Javanese wear once. :shrug:

Hey you gave it a shot. I think what you have been able to post are great! Thank you (Mil Gracias!) :D

Meu prazer, José :cool:

Hello Fernando,

to avoid reflections from the flash, do not photograph in a 90° angle to the glass.
Try an angle of 45-80° and you can use the flash through the glass.

I never used the flash in museums until one colleague of mine told me this little trick and it works fine.

Best wishes Roland

Flash is often discouraged or outright prohibited at museums as it is considered bad for pigments with prolonged frequent usage. Cameras have come a long way on light sensitivity an low-noise high ISO use. The real trick is shooting at the right color temperature for the lighting (since auto-white balance is still not very accurate in artificial light) or shooting in RAW files so that you can easily adjust it in post-production.