Photographing weapons - the details

[Jens Nordlunde]

Photographing weapons is not easy, but luckily many of us have digital cameras, so pictures can be taken again and again with different kinds of light, and from different angles, and the pictures can be seen moments later; from this we can learn how it is done best. The days when films were used are over, and I for one do not regret it.

Some of the pictures shown on this forum are good to very good, but unfortunately there are others not so good, and /or showing too few details. Please bear in mind that when you ask from where a weapon is, or how old it is, it is very important to show as many details as possible.

I think the attached picture is a relatively good example. The hilt shown from the front, and on the left quillon you can faintly see something missing, the detail is shown on the right bottom picture – a missing hand guard. The disc is shown from the top, but not from the underside, as there is nothing to see – it is blank, but had there been something, this should have been shown as well.