I may have stumbled on the formula.

[aarondhgraham]

Hello SaxonPig,,,

those last two pics were very nicely done,,,
Bouncing the flashes off of the ceiling did the trick.

Look at the side-plate of the Winchester in post 1,,,
See how the reflection from the direct flash washes out the color,,,
You can also see the reflection as a washed out highlight along the stock.

Now look at the pics in the post before mine,,,
See how the color of the metal isn't obscured by that reflective highlight.

That's what people mean when they say a more diffuse light source.

It's difficult to relate in a few paragraphs,,,
What it takes a semester of lighting classes to learn,,,
But by bouncing the two strobes off of the ceiling you made a "large" light source,,,
That is what eliminates or lessens the reflections that obscure the true color and texture of your subject.

You did that very well in the two photos above this post.

Aarond

P.S. Associates Degree in Commercial Photography talking here.

P.P.S. I thought the expression was: "Norman Pig" and "Saxon Dog",,,
From "The Adventures of Robin Hood"

.

.

 

[SaxonPig]

Name came from a former girlfriend. I used to belong to a... er, social club called the Saxons and she once described us as a bunch of Saxon pigs. I have used it as a username from my first computer experience 15 years ago.

 

[CraigC]

I usually prefer outdoor shots in natural settings but those last two in post #25 look great.

 

[SSN Vet]

On the last two pics.... you need to press the sheets.

It looks like you've been rolling around on them, making love to your fine rifles

 

[rswartsell]

Not something a "Norman Pig" would countenance, but a "Saxon Pig"? Being a Saxon myself........who knows?

 

[Bill_Rights]

Saxon Pig,

All your photos look great to me. You said:

I think I have the formula worked out.

OK..... I read post after post, with bated breath, waiting to find out the "formula". What is your formula? Can you use another camera to take a picture of your set-up? Or sketch it?

 

[I6turbo]

In my experience, taking the photo outdoors makes getting a great shot of a gun about 10x easier and more likely for most people, especially if you pick the right time of day for the lighting. Indoor shots usually either look dead, or they have various problems as discussed above. An experienced photographer can get good indoor results, as may a lucky novice, but the rest of us will usually end up with mediocre results.

 

[mgkdrgn]

Shot this about an hour ago for an auction listing

 

[jim243]

Still not right.

Much better, but as I see it, your lighting is fine, but the back drop is too white and does not give enough contrast to the pictures. What your camera is seeing is the white back drop and adjusting it's self for the additional amount of light off the white backdrop.

Jim

 

[SilentStalker]

Not a bad start for sure. I am just going to echo what others have said. Get away from the onboard flash. The pics, while they are not bad, look to flashy, if that makes sense. You would be surprised what you can do with some creative lighting and experimentation. if you do not want to go that route then I would at least try and bounce the flash off of the ceiling and I will do you one even better. Get a milk jug, cut a section out in the the shape of your flash but over size it a bit so you can but the corners so that it can be folded in such a way to fit over your flash. Tape it on to your flash, then use that while bouncing the light off of the ceiling. You will probably get much better results. You may have to set it up on a tripod though as this can be tricky as your shutterspeed will probably be much slower than before.

Several softboxes is what you really need but most of us do not have the money or room to invest in that unless you are going to shoot a lot. I am probably going to make or buy something fairly soon myself as this is more of a semi-pro hobby for me but the more I do it the more I want to learn. Anyways again good start, keep at it.

 

[merrill]

DubbleA, those pictures are first class. Creative use of light. Saxonpig, yours are good also, but judging from the sheet which I assume is white, your photos are slightly underexposed. If the flashes are not dedicated to the camera, then the camera cannot control the flashes' output and that is good. The idea of bouncing light off the ceiling gives very soft light. Putting kleenex over a flash head does little to soften light. Softness is governed primarily by the relative size of the light source. One popular gun photographer that many of us know uses one huge soft box as his main source. The sides of the soft box are about 5 feet each. His ceilings and walls are painted white.

 

[bushmaster1313]

I like a nice background for my BBQ guns: