Photography is mainly an issue of dealing with light. Therefore, the result of a good photograph depends on how one sees the light in relation to objects, and how the object is isolated for total highlight, which is generally the case of good photography for identification. I have written another article which deals with composition. There is no harm in looking at it, but it shouldn't distract us from this main target. So let us begin.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR CAMERA?
It is a common belief that, even for the internet, the better the camera the better the results.
Well, I don't think this has to do with how many Megapixels does a camera carry, but rather what are the light conditions. But let us focus on the camera. I own two, and I used the lesser one to take these photographs. So let's take a look at it.
Click on the image to view my old Canon Powershot G3 with a maximum resolution of 4.0 Megapixels, which is more than enough to take photographs for the internet.

What we need here is to understand its potentialities among which is the metering system. It offers the Automatic mode, the P for Programme Mode, the Tv for the Shutter priority mode, the Av for the Aperture priority mode, and finally the M for Manual mode, plus some other features like Portrait, Night Scene, Short Movie, etc.
Still it does not mean much if there is no good lighting conditions because I strongly recommend never to use the dreaded flash.

If by any chance you have not studied your camera manual, and are the type of point and shoot, it pays to get really acquainted with it through the manual. Take down some notes as shortcuts to some features you find important to have at hand.

LIGHTING CONDITIONS
Natural light is the best light source. It is everywhere and it reflects from everywhere. Direct light and reflected or bounced light are very important matters to consider.
Just make this experiment: As you are seated in any light conditions, preferably natural light, look for a non-reflective object such as a your own hand. See at which side your hand is illuminated. Then take a piece of white paper and place it on the shadowed side of the hand and bring the paper closer and move it further away, and you will see how bounced light affects the shadowed part of your hand.
Outdoors: To photograph a sword, always choose a shaded area which has abundant light. Never take a sword picture in bright sunlight. On outdoors, make sure to position the sword and yourself in such a way so that your shadow does not affect the area to be photographed, although shaded area is always diffuse light territory. Just make sure that you are not too close to a green or yellow or red brick wall because color will bounce with the light into the photo area. That is why, a sword needs a plain white background, because it will show if there's any color cast and because by being a neutral background becomes a registration of the sword, it's passport picture. That's what we are aiming at.
Indoors: In the right time of day, a large window provides abundant light source.
I do strongly reccomend the set up below, made of two 24 x 36 inches styrofoam boards which I used in front a a much smaller window of just about 78 inches wide and oriented to the South, which does not allow for direct sunlight.

All the sword pictures shown in this page, were taken with a minimum of set up and time, and only with available light. styrofoam is light, rigid and white. Note that at the time of day I took the left set up picture you can see a reddish cast on the white background. It would be better if I could have avoided it, but it is obvious that the wooden floor is reflecting its cast in the white. Then, when I zoomed in for the right picture, it was not there anymore.

PHOTOGRAPHIC TIPS

Because the light source should not be direct sunlight, both indoors or outdoors,  it is important that you select the right photographic mode of your camera.
Below are comments and examples that illustrate the situation:

FRAMING
Remember that this is all internet.
Your monitor is horizontal, so you should be aware the most of the monitors are regulated to 800 x 600 pixels and less are configured to a 1024 x 768 pixels.
Therefore, when taking a picture always think of this picture on your left and the diagonal line. Our eyes have grown to understand and identify a picture that crosses the screen diagonally, and it also allows for a larger image of the sword to be seen.

 

AVERAGE METER READING

In indoor conditions, sometimes you will have enough light but because of your camera settings are set on Average Meter Reading it will then make a reading of the light background and the darker sword. The meter then gets confused and it does an average reading that will result in a compromise which will not render a satisfactory result, because what we want is a very good exposure for the sword.

USING FLASH - A NO-NO!

The resource to flash is not the best solution. As you can see there is a burst of light in the center of the image which happens to be in the center of the blade. Then the picture becomes darker, more well exposed. The light seems like a circular burst, same as the water circles generated by a stone thrown into a lake.
If by any chance you cannot avoid it, then try wrapping the flash (if it is a pop up type) with one layer of Kleenex. If it still shows some difference in lighting, use two layers. The Kleenex acts as a difuser.
But do this only as a last resort.

USING SPOT METER

Most digital cameras have the symbol of spot metering which is the same for all cameras.
As the word says, spot meter is another method of analyzing the light as seen in the camera. When the spot meter is activated the viewfinder will show these brackets [  ] inside the center rectangle.
How to use it: you should place the camera at the right distance, from the sword then, with the spot meter ON, use the center area of the monitor to simultaneously focus and measure the light of the blade, making sure that the camera is set on the Programme Mode.
By pressing the shoot button halfway, the focus and the spot metering are activated.
Once you have heard the beep, then without depressing the shutter button, compose and shoot.

THE RESULT

Now compare the result. Althought with shadows, the sword is now well exposed and in my case my light source is very small as described above.
If your light source provides better illumination, then the result will be even better. Please read the next paragraph on detail.
Also note the maximization of the sword in the reccomended diagonal position.
Using the same method you can actually photograph a detail, by moving in.

THE DETAIL

Now it is just as said above, only with an extra trick. Place the sword on a stoll, use some books to hold it in place so that the sword hangs out above the background. Follow the same procedures and shoot
Because the sword is darker than the background, it requires more light, either by more exposure time or by opening the diaphragm.
In either case, the white background is then over exposed becoming whiter. The wider the light source and reflectors, the better the sword will be lit.
   

SAVING FOR WEB

The internet picture should not be uploaded unto a server as finished, whether it is 72 dpi and 700 pixels x 525 pixels. The pictures I have uploaded here are very light. They vary between 25.4 KB to 30.6 KB and this is achieved by saving in Photoshop as Save for Web, but this I can do. However below is a tutorial on specific areas of Photoshop.
   

A BRIEF AND SPECIFIC TUTORIAL

Click on the image on your left to access ADOBE

 

  

The last complete picture above is repeated here. Although it is now perfectly acceptable, it can be further worked by removing the background.
Let's see how, if you have Photoshop. If you don't, that is okay.

The Magic wand can be seen active in the image on the left. See the toolbox on the left and the highlighted box for the magic wand? Use it by selecting it and then clicking on the background. It may not select everything, as there is a value to how extensive is the selection. I usually choose 20 to 25. By keeping one left hand finger pressed on SHIFT you can keep adding selection areas to the background until the entire background is selected as you can see by the ------ line around the sword.

Now go to the Menu, select Image and then Brightness/Contrast.

Now you can see that in the Brightness/Contrast I have mobed the brightness cursor all the way to 100% and the background became white. Only the selected area is active, so the sword area is not active.

Sometimes there is still a light shadow. I removed it by selecting the brush and making sure that it was with white color.
Another way is to choose EDIT then Fill, by choosing white color.
Now it is done and it is time to Save.

To save for web select EDIT then follow the Menu. A four windows menu will pop out showing 4 different windows. Select the top-right and in quality choose 50%. then save it with a reference name-number.
   

IMPORTANT - FOR THE PRESENT PROJECT, IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH PHOTOSHOP, DO NOT ATTEMPT IT. TIME IS  PRECIOUS. I CAN DO THIS ONCE YOU SEND ME THE PHOTOS WITH THE CORRECT CODE