More Colt Rail Gun 1911 photography

[TGO David]

Here are some more current pics of my Colt Rail Gun showing the Trijicon sights that I installed and the VZ Grips "Recon" grips in black and grey G10 that I installed.  I took some fine grit sandpaper to the grips to knock down just a tiny bit of the harshness.  As they came out of the package, the grips would leave little pin-prick marks on the palm of my hands and were just too aggressive.  After a few hits with the sandpaper, they are perfectly grippy but not harsh.

 

The holster is an inside the waistband design by Tom Thurner at TT Gunleather.  Tom's one of my favorite holster makers and I've got several of his pieces now.  I'd easily put them on par with anything from Milt Sparks and the added advantage is that Tom currently only runs about 6-8 weeks behind on production.  That'll probably continue to change as word keeps getting out about him, but I'm happy to send more business his way.

 

At the bottom of this post you'll also find some info about the photography itself, for those of you who are interested in the technique and equipment used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography:

 

 

I've had a few folks see some of my photos, compliment the quality of them and ask what I took them with.  I am certainly not offended by that and understand the desire to know more and the reflexive belief that whatever you're shooting your pictures with surely couldn't produce the results you're seeing on screen.  While I do not consider myself to be a pro at this by any stretch of the imagination, I have spent the past 15 years or so exploring the craft and consider myself to be marginally above average as an amateur photographer.

 

With all of that said, I thought it would be fun to show what you can do with a little post-processing and a photo taken with equipment no more elaborate than an Apple iPhone 6.

 

The following two shots were taken today with my iPhone 6 at around 4:00 PM with ambient sunlight on a very cloudy day.   Clouds make an excellent source of soft ambient light which is key to getting a photo without distracting shadows or blown-out highlights.

 

I then pulled the pictures into Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

 

• I increased the images' contrast using Lightroom’s ToneCurve settings and by adding significant sharpness using the Detail settings.

• I then exported the image to Adobe Photoshop CS5 and to used the Content Aware Spot Healing Brush to clean up the surfaces of the objects, removing any dust, dirt or blemishes.

• Lastly I cloned the background layer and sharpen it using the High-Pass Filter settings and then blended the layer into the background by selecting the Overlay mode to add an “edgy” quality to the images and bring out more of the the texture and details.

That's pretty much it other than to add a bit of vignetting to soften the edges of the photo and then slapping on a watermark.   :)

 

 

 

You can find the post-process steps I mentioned above and a lot more outlined on this excellent blog post:

https://jefflynchdev.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/one-light-product-photography/

[peejman]

Nice pics and thanks for the processing info. I wondered how you got such sharp images from a phone. Hand held or do you have a gorilla pod type base?

[TGO David]

Completely hand held.

 

I'll break out the Canon 7D DSLR and lenses soon and shoot some with it too.  Whenever I use it, if the light isn't strong enough to shoot low ISO without dragging the shutter, I do use a tripod.  The results from that setup are insanely detailed and blow those pics above out of the water, but only at full resolution.  And if I'm not using them for prints or print media, there's almost no reason to go to those pains.

 

The iPhone 6 does a staggeringly good job provided you feed it a well lit subject.  The downside is lack of manual white-balance controls, but the phone itself does really good at auto white balance under all but the most difficult of conditions.

[Erik88]

Great pictures and great looking setup there. I love the grips. I've been trying to figure out what color VZ's to purchase and you're making my decision more difficult. 

[TGO David]

I have a set of Hyena Brown VZ Operator II's coming to me sometime this week.  I figure it's kind of like deciding what wrist-watch, tie or shoes to wear.  It's nice to have options.   :)

[R4MBO]

Great pictures and great looking setup there. I love the grips. I've been trying to figure out what color VZ's to purchase and you're making my decision more difficult.

I think I was on their site every day for a couple of weeks before finally settling on some. Had to google pics of the ones I chose actually on a gun before I ordered them. Went with the Aliens in Tiger Stripe for my Sig 1911 extreme (added a one piece MSH/magwell too). They did not disappoint!

[Oh Shoot]

BeeYooTiFul heater, man!

 

.....

 

The holster is an inside the waistband design by Tom Thurman at TT Gunleather.  Tom's one of my favorite holster makers

 

Btw, it's Tim Thurner. ;)

 

- OS

[Guest Moody]

Man, that is sweet. I know what you mean about the grips, as I used sandpaper to knock down some G10s that are on a Colt 1911 of mine. Thanks for sharing - I find myself using my iPhone 6 more than my D800 these days, lol.

[TGO David]

BeeYooTiFul heater, man!

 

 

Btw, it's Tim Thurner. ;)

 

- OS

 

Stupid auto-correct.  Of course you are right.

[DWARREN123]

Pretty gun and great pictures.   :up:

[hipower]

It's already been said...but have to echo the comments on your Colt.

 

Man, that thing is gorgeous!

[JPR1959]

I'm surprised there isn't a Pony emblem on your pistol.  I thought it was a requirement to be a Colt.   :usa:   Either way nice pics and pistol.

[R4MBO]

That second pic needs to be on the VZ website!

[btq96r]

...and the bidding will start at $1.  :D

[TGO David]

I'm surprised there isn't a Pony emblem on your pistol.  I thought it was a requirement to be a Colt.   :usa:   Either way nice pics and pistol.

 

I was surprised at that also!

 

Thanks for the kind words all.  No bidding on the Colt, though.  ;)

[Rhodewarrior]

I like that backstrap, did it come on that model or did you have that done?

[TGO David]

I like that backstrap, did it come on that model or did you have that done?

 

That's an Ed Brown part.  Didn't come with the gun but readily available from Midway USA and a host of other sources.

[Fourtyfive]

Drool ....

[john455]

I am not a big 1911 fan but that is one awesome looking weapon.

[nightrunner]

Looks amazing!

That front strap though, looks stippled. Where did you get that done? Any specific pics of that? How do you like it versus standard checkering?

[TGO David]

Looks amazing!

That front strap though, looks stippled. Where did you get that done? Any specific pics of that? How do you like it versus standard checkering?

 

It's actually just rubberized grip tape.

 

http://www.guntape.com/default.asp