Photographing guns

[1776 Rebel]

I see very many photos of guns on this and other forums that need significant improvement. They are either out of focus, washed out, too dark or have invading feet in them . I also have my Google Reader pointed to Oleg Volk's blog. Since he is a professional photographer, the quality is superb as to be expected. It shows. That is why companies pay him money. But I asked a while back on his blog for some tips, just to lift the general level of us amatuers up a bit, and he blew me off. Oh well, that's life and it's his right.

So in furtherance of bringing everyone up to a somewhat higher level of photographic artistry I suggest the following: Why don't we post our best photo on this thread, regardless of firearm type. When you do, please include a description of what camera you were using and its settings and also how you lit the scene. If we are cordial to each other we might even suggest how to reshoot the picture and then post again so as to see the improvement.

Anyone up for this?

[Rob Pincus]

FWIW, I do a lot of photo work (amateur) and I think a lot of the problems come from lighting issues and reflections... I specifically don't do a lot of gun glamour shots because they are difficult.

 I know Oleg and he has the right gear & lighting to bring out his skill and knowledge. If I really need to take a decent picture of a gun for a magazine article or something, I try to do it outside in natural light with no glare on the gun from direct sun.  Here's one that I took on the fly last year during a course of a very cool commemorative Glock that a student & friend was using. I've taken no less than 10,000 pics in the last year during courses (really... 6+ frames-per-second helps and there are a lot of learning points captured during those bursts....), this is one of the few "good" gun pics I actually got..... and I probably took 20-30 trying to get it.
.

Cannon 40D, Portrait auto-setting, 20mm wide angle lens, freehand, late afternoon sun at my 7-8 O'clock IIRC...

-RJP

[MikeBjerum]

Most of my photos are Motorola RAZR V3m.  However, that one just went in the box, and if I ever figure it out the next will be from a BlackBerry Curve.  If I can't figure the Curve out you will not be seeing photos from me.

P.S.

Leave the cat claws out of this.  I need those to give perspective, but after seeing Marshall without a hat I do believe we need glare control 

[mosbear]

This one was taken with the old Canon G3, macro mode, manual focus on trigger. Natural lite in the shade.



One can click the magnifying glass to see the full size without distortion.

[tombogan03884]

Canon A75 "Power Shot" set on Auto. Over head light and flash.

[Sponsor]

[1776 Rebel]

Mosbear I clearly get the idea that a diffuse light source helps in eliminating high spots or shadows. Nice photo but when I blow it up you can see some blur. Have you used a tripod? My hands aren't what they used to be and I've given up taking handheld photos (even vacation stuff). I bought a manfrotto tripod that is extremely light.

Pincus, on your shot it brings up the wide or long subject. In particular a rifle or like yours where you have a person and gun. It looks like the raking shot pays off. You get the whole subject in a dynamic pose as opposed to a "flat on" shot. I like that effect. Again do you do all your shooting handheld?

Any of you use supplement lighting? I bought from home depot a clamp on light shade of aluminum. I bought a photo bulb (BBA 250watt)for like 5 dollars from the photo store. It seems to help in attacking shadows from opposite direction of my camera (nikon coolpix 4200 with a built in flash). I just clamped it to a ladder by the subject.

[Rob Pincus]

I have tripods and a nice monopod (monfrotto's both), but I rarely use them... most pics are on the fly. I do have a very small folding tripod that I use a lot with the timer or remote for groups shots and photo-ops while running around.....

-RJP

[m25operator]

Good topic, there are some good tips on AR 15 dot com, and natural sunlight, always seems to be the best, I too used an old fashioned dome type clamp light, but with a compact fluorescent  bulb, it did not give me the results I wanted.


Natural sunlight.


inside the house. Built in flash.


No flash again, but up closer, using a dome lamp for illumination.


Inside obviously, flash and a dome type lamp.
pictures taken with a Kodak, 5 megapixel pocket digital camera.

[mosbear]

Mosbear I clearly get the idea that a diffuse light source helps in eliminating high spots or shadows. Nice photo but when I blow it up you can see some blur. Have you used a tripod? My hands aren't what they used to be and I've given upjavascript:void(0); taking handheld photos (even vacation stuff). I bought a manfrotto tripod that is extremely light.

..................................................

Guilty as charged, no tripod. BTW when things are blown up, there is always a blur

[1776 Rebel]

Mosbear you should see my photos (I have to figure out how to upload them to the forum, I guess I have to post them on photobucket or something like it first) ! Blur doesn't begin to describe the 'artistic' effect I acheive

M25 I like the revolver shot with the moon clip. A white background seems to help eliminate some of the shadows again. In trying to figure out a way to flood the scene with diffuse light a photographer friend told me of "light boxes". But they can be quite expensive. A couple of hundred dollars for something that would hold a rifle for instance. So I looked around on the web. I came across this homemade light box setup for less than 40 bucks. Take a look at some of his fotos. They are gorgeous. That is what I would like to get with a firearm. Great clarity, no unwanted shadows and a floating appearance to the gun.

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent