Some are photos of the actual knife but most are not. If an item is numbered, e.g., "xyz knife with desert ironwood #2," "abc knife with colobolo #5," "efg knife with sambar stag #3," etc., the photo shows the actual knife. Some knives displayed only have one in-stock, e.g, "knife X with amboynia and red liners"; in such a case, it *might* be a photo of the actual knife but the photo is intended as a likeness. Especially when it comes to nice burls and the like, it may be the case that only one such model in that handle material was sent to each dealer, and all of the dealers use the same photo taken by Bark River. Knives with more common handle materials tend to have multiples in-stock, e.g., black, green, or natural canvas micarta or blaze orange G-10. In these cases, obviously the photographed knife is simply intended as a likeness -- although the actual knife you might purchase should be very close in likeness. Still, there may be variations in features like grind height and the precise shape of the scale upfront (does it come almost all the way up to the grind line, like in the photo, and is it more or less rounded?).
If you have any questions especially regarding particular knives handled with woods, burls, and other natural materials, you should just write to the dealer to ask. They might be able to send a photo of the actual knife, if they're not too busy. Both KSF and TKC are great to deal with; can't go wrong.
