I promised folks pictures of this one (it was made for me to go with my antiqued Knight). The two together (sword and scabbard) totally twist my tail. I still haven't let go of it (people laugh at me for taking it home at night and bringing it back into work with me the next morning) and it has been a couple of weeks now...

http://albion-swords.com/swords/albion/nextge...abbard.htm

Best,

Howy

---

 Attachment: 42.07 KB

Kevins work is becoming very impressive. That's a beautiful sword and scabbard you have there Howy. The antiquing on the hilt really completes the look.

Very nice :D

The Wife laughs at me for sometimes bringing one of my swords out into the living room at night so I can enjoy them while watching TV. I guess were just a strange and rare breed :\ :p

Very nice work on both sword and scabbard!

Strange... my partner found it very disconcerting when I started honing my katana while we watched "Lone Wolf and Cub". She even asked me to stop it!

I don't trust myself much with the swords 'in public'. I'm too clumsy and the cats are too fast for their own good. I do mock-fence with a walking stick while I'm using the hall phone though, which is kind of embarassing when you get caught at it.
That whole sword and scabbard/suspension outfit looks gorgeous!

I saw this during my relentless clicking around Albion's site earlier today. That scabbard looks fantastic as do all the other custom designs Kevin is cranking out. It is nice to see historically accurate scabbards to match historically accurate swords.

That is a very good look. I like it much better than the standard knight. And I'm not normally a fan of intentionally antiqued swords. It's not overdone, it's just perfect. It looks just like a knightly sword may have done in it's working life. Normally when people antique their swords they make them look excavated. That looks real, very real. Like it has been at your side for a decade or so.

Hope you are planning on making that finish an option.

A Baron with that look and light brown grip may be just the thing for me. A more natural light might show off the finish best. Like the picture on the top of the thread. Those studio lights are a bít on the bright side.

Sword and scabbard look great! I can't wait until my Duke starts to get that look from handling.

After seeing the pics of the scabbard and speaking with Eric and Kevin last night, I am already starting to save my pennies for a custom scabbard.

Try shooting on an overcast day. You could also try the same setup as you used for the picture of the knight in it's scabbard. That turned out great. I don't think you need a whole row of pics to show off an optional finish. One good pic of the hilt should do it.

I like the fact that the hilt has a different look under different lighting conditions; to me, it reinforces the character the hilt treatment bestows on the sword it self. I like the way you decribe it Howy. If this becomes an option in the future I will defintely get it on my next Next Gen purchase.

Howard;

A suggestion for product photography.

Short of getting a professionnal photographer I would suggest using "Spun glass in front of your light source to diffuse the light. Another solution is to use large white card and use only reflected light making sure to block all direct light coming from the studio lights.
Also the results can be better using two sources of soft light: One spot (Hotter) light to bring out detail, surface texture, hollow grinding etc... A second fill light to keep the shadowed areas from being too dark.

The two lights should be on dimmers: By playing with the relative intensity and positionning of the lights you should be able to get just about any result you want.

If you want to get fancy you could add a small but intense light source and, again using a dimmer and playing with positionning, you should be able to get control of were and how intense the specular lighting is. ( Reflexions can help in understanding the shape of metal objects like swords if they don't wash out the rest of the image by being too intense.)

At least with film cameras (Don't know about Digital cameras YET!) I take a meter reading on a neutral gray card then put the camera on manual at the setting obtainned on the gray card, and use that as my setting. (I also bracket the shot one F stop lower and on F stop higher.)

I would NEVER use the flash as the results are totaly not under control.

Finally, once digitized I would use photoshop to correct contrast and intensity and/or add lens flares or intensify/subdue hot spots. (Maybe isolate the sword from the background used for the shoot and replace it with a better or standard background.)

Hope this helps, best I can do without being there. (Did a lot of T.V. studio lighting in a previous life......Joke.)