How can you photograph damascus and get the pattern to show with out getting glare ?

Face the knife straight on - one light left at a 45* down angle to the knife, one light right at a 45* down angle to the knife and then tilt the knife to precent the blade. Put something in the background (gray shirt board or what ever) to reflect instead of the white. The pattern should pop out.

A mirror finish on a knife WILL reflect - so give it something to reflect. To show a pattern give it a neutral reflection to cut the glare and show the pattern.


This is not exactly fair because the knife did not have a mirror finish. That and it was on location at a hammer in, but it shows the pattern of the knife well. Sunny day, but I moved into the shade, moved and watched the knife till it showed what I wanted, then pushed the button on the camera. Alan you were there and watching. :wink:



This will show how just a little different tilt on the knife improves the image.


The reverse side of the same knife.

All knives were made by Billy Merritt.

If you have a working scanner you can use it to directly scan it.

Alan,
What kind of material is in yout blade?

Glenn, Billy's last name is Merritt. He wanted me to email you a while back to tell you but could'nt get thru.
Thanks, Steve

Fixed Billy Merritt's name. Thanks
Tell him we still use his work to show others the quality he produces.

Steve, the blade in the picture follows Billy's 5 steel and 75 layer pattern :wink:

Alan, I spent a lot of mine and Glenns time getting pics to look right,,,Some basics for you,,Damascus is easier then mirror finished stainless. The pic you posted had a glare problem..figure out where that came from and it will get better. My guess is it is from a flash. It is hard to predict what the flash will do to a pic unless you use it a lot. Make a three sided tent kind of thing maybe two feet each direction,,,Anything will work for frame , cover it with the material they make womens slips from..cloth supply has it be the yard. Use three lights one from each side one from the top. I use 100 watt bulbs in a clamp on reflector,,,put them all on a plug in strip with a switch, easy to turn off when you are not ready to shoot. Turn them all on and study what they do to the blade,,if you like it, turn the flash off and do a test pic. If you need more light fold about three layers of the same cloth and hold it over your flash,,,,If that does not help e me and we will try something else....

Rich, Thanx for the advice. I'll give it a try and let you know how it comes out. :wink:




And with a little help from some friends . . . another photo.


Here is the finished knife. The bolster is nickel. The guard and pommel are blued steel. The handle is wood wrapped in leather and sealed with polyeurithane.The overall lengthis 9 1/2 inches. The blade is 5 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide at its widest point.

The damascus is 75 layers of 5 different steels, a combination taught to me by Billy Merrit.

Photo and text added by Glenn