Antique Tsuba at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston -- myArmoury.com

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Flash photography was not allowed, so the results are mixed, Mac

All photos - T. McDonald, 2006

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Gabriel Lebec · myArmoury Team

Hi Mac,

Thanks for posting these pictures. I've seen published photos of many of these before, but to have slightly angled photos gives a lot more information about their three-dimensional qualities. Aoi Art sometimes gives 3/4 view photos of tsuba, and the effect is comparable; makes me wish high-quality pro publications would follow suit.

Have you been to the BMFA before? How was the trip? Enjoy the Japanese arms?

Shawn Shaw · Posted: Thu 23 Feb, 2006 11:13 pm Post subject:

Nice photos!

Since I am fortunate enough to live right outside Boston, I've been to the MFA and seen this exhibit. I wish the MFA had more examples of weapons and armor. Every once in a while you run across a ceremonial dagger or two...but not much beyond that that I have seen.

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Hi Gabriel

I'd visited the MFA years ago, probably high school, so this was my first time back in sum 30 years!
My wife and I were actually there to take our teenage daughter, & her friend, to see a Rock 'n Roll poster exhibition, called
Light My Fire: Rock Posters from the Summer of Love , but I use any and all excuses to checkout A&A.

As I'd suspected, and as Shawn mentioned above, there was a very limited number of arms & armour to see.
Years ago they used to have a room with some nice stuff, as I remember viewing, but it seems it's fallen victim to the times, and delegated to the storage room.

The Japanese display was the only little concentration of A&A left on display, as anything else, as Shawn indicated, was just scattered and mixed in with other displays.

But as little as there was in this department it was still cool to see it .... I just wish they allowed flash photography as alot of the displays are not in the best of lighting conditions to shoot .

Here's a few more pics ... - Mac

*All Photos- T. McDonald, 2006

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Photos - T. McDonald, 2006.

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

All Photos- T.McDonald, 2006.

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Photos - T. McDonald, 2006.

3. Sword- Late Cypriot, about 1600-1400 B.C., Bronze. General Funds 72.406

11. Spearhead - Late Helladic III C, about 1200-1100 B.C.
Perhaps from Macedonia in Greece, Bronze. Edwin E. Jack Fund 64.512

12. Spearhead- Late Helladic III C, about 1200-1100 B.C.
Perhaps from Macedonia in Greece, Bronze. Edwin E. Jack Fund 64.513

13. Spearhead- Late Helladic III C, about 1200-1100 B.C.
Perhaps from Macedonia in Greece, Bronze. Edwin E. Jack Fund 64.511

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Lee O'Hagan · Posted: Fri 24 Feb, 2006 8:05 am Post subject:

Beautiful stuff pictured Mac,
Thanks for sharing,
Cheers,
Lee.

Edward Hitchens · Posted: Fri 24 Feb, 2006 8:11 am Post subject:

Wow Mac! Those are all gorgeous! Thanks for posting these!

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Fri 24 Feb, 2006 8:51 am Post subject:

Great photographs but personally I feel that flash photography is unpredictable when shiny objects are concerned or glass is between you and the object: A lot of hot spots / overexposed and cast shadows.

In any case your photos give a lot of information about the 3D aspects of the objects being shot at a slight angle.

Very low light is a real problem but if they allow a light tripod longer exposers should be able to give good results anyway.

At least with digital cameras you can see right away if the photo is useable if you do use a flash as opposed to a bad surprise with film developed later and TOO late to reshoot.

My experience is mostly with film cameras but the principal is the same as far as lighting is concerned.

Thanks again for the very interesting Picts.

Alexander Ren · Posted: Fri 24 Feb, 2006 9:29 am Post subject:

Wow, beutiful pieces. The pictures look pretty good to me as well despite the poor lighting.

Thanks for sharing... Alex

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Thanks, guys !

Aye, sometimes situations work better without a flash (especially when you've mastered the manuel settings).

Still being a novice with this Canon Digital Rebel I tend to use the auto-focus settings alot, and find when I use the flash-off setting alot of photos are slightly out of focus, despite my best effort ?

Guess I'll keep working at it :-) Mac

Gabriel Lebec · myArmoury Team

In low-level light without flash, it's not an issue of focus but of exposure time. The fancy camera mechanics compensate for a little bit of movement, but not much at all - if you take the photo by hand, it's going to be extremely difficult to get good quality. Tripods are pretty inconvenient for a museum, however, and some don't really allow them (traffic safety). A good compromise is a monopod. Even with a monopod, color correction in a museum setting is a pain. Takes a lot of careful fiddling with the camera and photoshop to reliably suck away all that yellow... Basically, I sympathize and am impressed with the quality of your pics, shooting museum displays can be very frustrating.

The canonical wisdom regarding a camera's onboard flash is that it's the absolute last thing you want to use.... it does have uses and can enhance photos in certain conditions, but most of the time it has a pretty negative effect.

Even if there aren't many arms, those ancient Greek spearheads are in astounding condition. [Disclaimer: I'm stating my personal reaction, not an informed opinion - I know extremely little about arms and armour from this period).

-GLL