Gun Pron - How to take photos?

[Guest DRO]

My photography skills are rudimentary at best, though I have a decent DSLR. Can anyone give me pointers on shooting photos of my guns? Backdrops, camera settings, lighting, etc?

[Jasongar8]

I am excited about this thread because we have some really good photogs here on TGO. And I need all the help I can get with my picture taking skills.

[Guest DRO]

I agree! I'm always impressed by the photos others make. I'm looking forward to some good advice, hopefully.

[peejman]

I'm certainly no expert, but here's what I know... photography is all about light management. Lenses are more important than the camera (and tend to be priced as such). No camera can take good pics using a crap lens.

If you're using the built-in flash on the DSLR, back up from the subject and use the zoom or digtally crop. Close-ups with the built-in flash tend to over/under expose and throw ugly shadows. Ring-light flashes or dual off-axis flashes work very well ($$) for close-ups. No flash can work too if you've got decent ambient light and a very steady hand or a tripod. If using the tripod, use the shutter timer feature so you're "hands off" when the shutter snaps. This allows the camera to stop shaking.

Bland, non-reflective backdrops work well for highlighting the subject. That said, there's something to putting an object in a particular situation to highlight it (e.g., hunting rifle leaning on a fence post). Controlling the depth of field (area in sharp focus, related to aperture size) is important in those situations. Rifles are particularly hard to photograph because they're so long and skinny.

It's basically lots of trial and error... move the subject around several different ways, move the lights around several different ways and learn what works best. Digital is wonderful for that since you get instant feedback and can simply delete the ugly ones.

Here's some good info... Digital Photography Techniques

Edited February 22, 2011 by peejman

[Guest bkelm18]

Yep, lighting will make or break a photo. Natural sunlight during dawn or dusk, or having light filtered through various papers will help tremendously.

[JeffsSig]

Tip # 2:

Take more than one shot (picture) of the item you are photographing . Like take 3 or 4 or more form the same angle with (as mentioned before) the lighting set different. Then you can find the best picture and use a good Photo Shop program and dress them up. Even with most cameras the zoom will work just fine but get a close to your item as you can. Not blocking or making shadows from your lighting.

[Daniel]

Weapons Related: How to Photograph Firearms and Gear

[eapking]

They have lots of things on eBay for "light boxes". They have white opaque walls that you shine a couple of lights through. It helps to cut the glare off things. May need a tripod as well to put camera on. Your speeds can get a little low and a tripod really helps stabilize pics.

[strickj]

No camera can take good pics using a crap lens.

Incorrect. One of my favorite and most used portrait lenses (70-300) was under a 100 bucks. Super sharp with great bokeh.

I've also got a point and shoot that will take just as good of a photo as a dslr.

As mentioned, lighting is the most important part. You can pick up inexpensive flashes on Ebay, like Vivitar. Just stay away from anything that's no-named from China! You can also pick up inexpensive triggers on ebay... or an optical slave if your camera does not have a hot shoe. I typically use at least three Nikon SBs to get items completely and evenly lit but one simple off camera flash can work great for gun board posts. Another easy way to light is using those clamp on reflector things that you can get at the hardware store. You can use several of those with CFL lights and a cut up white bed sheet pulled across the front of the reflector. The sheet will act as a "sock" and will defuse your light and give you softer shadows.

I absolutely despise light boxes. You can only put small items in them and you're unable to control any of your lighting with them.

I always use seamless backgrounds or cyclorama walls. with those, I have total control of the lighting and I'm not restricted on the size of the item I'm shooting. Not to mention trying to store one of those things.

As with my AR below, it would not fit inside of a lightbox:

(shot on white seamless at f8 1\200 iso100, lighting was IIRC, two shoot through umbrellas left and right and a bare flash or reflector infront for fill)

The only draw back to using those instead of a light box is trying to get your paper flashed pure white. If you don't have a light source dedicated to the paper, it will come out gray-ish (see Para pic below)

A cheap and easy "DIY" way to make a cyc is using the back side of a large target, BTW.

You can also lay a piece of glass down on top of your paper or use colored plexi to give you a reflective look. these usually require some post editing to remove the back edge of the glass and any impurities in the surface though.

(shot for a client on black seamless and glass.f10 1\125 iso 100 with tripod, lighting was two soft boxes left and right and a white reflector in front)

Notice the almost wet look reflecting under the beer. This trick can be used with any color paper, and not just black.

One of the biggest problems I see with folks photographing guns is their way too shallow depth of field. When shooting objects, you generally want the entire thing to be in focus.

Not just the front. To get total focus, you want to shoot with at least an f10 in most cases.

The only time that you would use a shallower DOF (f3.5 or a 1.8 prime lens for instance) is when only part of the object is meant to be the object of the viewers attention.

This was shot to show the lack of scratches\grit\etc on the barrel notch thingies to show that the gun was brand new:

(f11 1\200 iso 100 at 180mm. only one flash was used since it was only going to be seen in the Trading Post which is why the BG is not pure white)

A shot like this is perfectly acceptable since only part of the object is meant to be of the viewers attention.

A shot of a complete gun where the grips or the barrel is out of focus while the rest is sharp, is not acceptable since the shot is intended to show the whole gun... thus, the viewer, should be able to see the whole thing in focus.

Edited February 23, 2011 by strickj