Clearly, photography is an artform. One needs to be both skilled, educated and have that natural disposition to do it with any success. My wedding photogrpaher from Dec of 07, is a police officer, full-time on the SWAT team who just happens to have a degree in photography. He turns a little side profit and intends to begin a full-time career in photography once he reaches maximum retirement formula.

Any I don't have the photographic gene. I look at photos from collectors like JR, and wonder how they can accomplish these works of art? How can a person photograph a dagger in such a way as to really create a piece of art, aisde from the artistic quality of the dagger itself?

So, this is probably the best I can do. I don't have the fancy light box, the pro-eBayers have nor a fancy camera. Run of the mill digital camera, 4 mega pixels, 12 zoom with mcacro setting and 2 tripods of varying size. That's it.

So hats off to JR and everyone else who could quite thier day job and photograph daggers of a full-time basis.

A photo of 2 badges.

I think you did great , I realy enjoy to take pics of my own collection, has almost become a hobby itselfs.
Best, Hakan

These look great!I was lucky enough to "marry" into a good camera that my wife owns. She still rolls her eyes when she sees me struggling with close-ups and what i am trying to take pictures of ie: (catch/pin/hindge)!

Thank you guys for the nice words. I try my best to make it happen.

Regarding close-ups, i bought a very small tripod from Fry's Electronics , which has a very low setting of 2.5". That distance works quite well for photoing hinges, beading on crosses, and so on with the super macro function. The key for me is to utlize the timer and keep my shaky hands off the camera. I've been learning a few tricks here and there, but still, i'm no Picasso

I think they look great too! With items on black backgrounds you can usually darken the image slightly with your camera software to make the subject really stand out.

Regards
Russell

Here's a photo of a recent acquisition. This photo is from under natural light, outside. Clearly the photo is much cleaner, no odd glare, and camera ultimately reacts better to this type of light. Indoors, we use high energy efficient bulbs, which is a travesty to photo under. I may need to purchsae some good blubs strictly for photography.

Wow,that`s one NICE bayonet!!

A bit closer. The grip assembly and minty leather frog.

What has been the value trend with the dress bayos during the last few years. Undoubtedly, value and cost have risen, but as exponentially as typical daggers and sabers? Precentage wise between, say the year 2000 and today? How about the type (both in maker) and wehrmacht branch, assuming the Luft frog legitimately belongs to the bayo, influence demand/value typically? Army vs. Luft and so on.

You need to be careful when evaluating a piece by photos alone. You have to look THROUGH the photography to see what's really there. We have all seen bad photos of great items. But you can also take a great photo of a so-so piece and people will gush over it. It's really just lipstick on a pig.

That's true and certianly dependant on ones photographic ability and equipment/software don't hurt either.

I typically don't take the best photos. Over the years i've picked up bits and peices and find what works and what doesn't work.

That being said, in my experience, if I photo a bad piece it'll look bad. If I photo a nice item it typically won't look that special either. But every now and then I'm able to snap something with just the right light, and just the right background. But, this is the oddity, not the norm.

The bayo is a really nice one. Good or bad photos wouldn't break 'er. It's a very nice example and the photos on this one don't really lie.

If you want to see some horrid peices with even worse imagery, just let me know

That's a beautiful bayo - nice pics!

Regards
Russell

Yes... I neglected to comment on the bayo. Very nice indeed. I sold off my bayonet collection a few years back but I still appreciate them.

Yes fellas, it's a nice one. I'm usually the quickest to point out the faults of the pieces I own. As my collecting tastes have become refined and contained to mostly one area, my finer peices are typically of that particular group. Everynow and again, I like to pick up something I don't have just add a bit of a "flare" to bring the collection back to earth and keep it well rounded...or as well rounded as I can. I always fall victim to the pieces I enjoy most, over and over and over again.

Thank you for the comments friends. My knot treatment is just about complete and I'll try to get some decent photos of the before and after knot, just to illustrate how well, or poorly it worked. I will say that the outcomes are good, but not quite as good with this knot as the outcomes of my treatments of standard heer saber portepees.