Taking high quality pics of your guns..

[hawk45]

Just got a DSLR and pretty green with it.. still learning (lots to learn). I made a 30x30x30 home micro studio out of some PVC, a bleached thin white sheet and some lights.

I see lots of high quality/professional looking photo's guys have done of their guns. I'm interested if anyone can share their expertise on setup and technique.

Thanks,
Hawk

 

[Oro]

What we have found to work well is similar to what you are trying (the light box), but cheaper and more transparent.

1) Get a large cardboard box
2) Cut out the sides like windowpanes, except one (the bottom).
3) Tape white tissue paper (like gift paper) on the inside walls.
4) Cut a piece of white paper board to fit the bottom

You can get all the materials for $3 at the craft store/pharamacy. To use it, position two lights on either side of it. The tissue paper allows much more light through than a white sheet, and you can get better light transmission with household lights (like a reading lamp) instead of high-power ones that a sheet will require. The tissue paper also diffuses the light better than a cotton sheet - it's strands are much finer.

A DSLR is definitely the way to go - here's a before and after photo I took in the house with the lightbox and without. Both are shot with a Pentax *ist D and a 35-70 zoom, 3.5~ lens.

1) Typical indoor shot before light box:


2) With tissue paper lightbox:

 

[Japle]

Always use a tripod and a remote shutter cable.

The box oro described is good. I use a transparent plastic storage box with white wrapping paper taped to it.

 

[smilin-buddha]

Very nice looking Gun John

 

[Oro]

Always use a tripod and a remote shutter cable.

+1 on that. The tripod helps a lot. Also, if your DSLR has a built in flash, experiment with that, also, as a source for fill light. At certain angles it will wash things out, but often it is very helpful.

If you don't have a remote shutter cable and you find yourself at a low shutter speed, set the camera's self-timer and step away. Just as effective.

 

[marshall3]

Take a hundred photos, and keep the five best.

 

[armoredman]

Ditto on that last one!

 

[jad0110]

As others have said, a tripod is very important. Probably more important than the camera itself. Also, another option is to take pictures outside on an overcast day. The following pics were taken outside, on a gray overcast day with a tripod using an older Canon PowerShot A95 (5 megapixel) ... not the best pictures you'll see on THR, but they turned out decent:











These photos were taken indoors with the same 'dated camera, with several different lamps turn on throughout the room:

 

[skwab]

does anyone have a picture of the box?

 

[pith43]

Tripod is a must when shooting without flash. Use the smallest aperture you have if you have control over it (f-15 to f-22 works well). As stated above, directionally diffused light works very well (overcast).

If you use flash, play with different distances from the subject. Too close and you get huge reflections. Too far away and the image will be too dark.

Clean the gun well. Dust, fingerprints, and smudges will show up big time.

Edit:
Should never post in a hurry

Actually, overcast would be considered diffused (totally diffused) light. This can produce very nice results. Directionally diffused light would be, say, the light coming from a source (open window would be an example), but the subject wouldn't be place in direct light, rather , set back a little so that it receives light coming from a certain direction, but not direct light. This produces some subtle shadows that can look very nice.

 

[Oro]

does anyone have a picture of the box?

Give me a few minutes, I'll take a picture of the box...

Ok, here's the concept.

1)Light from as many sides as possible, diffused through the tissue paper for maximum dispersion.

2) slick white cardboard bottom for even background - the tissue looks all "crinkly"

3) tripod for maximum stability and framing.

Here's the box:


My other 1/2 originally made this to take cocktail photos, she likes to create new ones and blogs regularly about it.

Care for a "Little Italy" (a Manhattan variation)?


Or maybe a Pisco Sour?

 

[sturmgewehr]

Here's my setup:



Here's a sample:








The lightbox is a $29 deal I picked up from Amazon.com. It's really pretty cool, I used a home made one for quite a while but this one manages the light so much better.

The camera is a Canon 50D with a 580EXII flash and two Menards special shop lights with 100w bulbs. That's a Bogen (Manfretto) 3001 tripod with a 804RC2 head. It does the trick.

 

[MaterDei]

I'm enjoying this. Keep them coming!

 

[Oro]

Here's my setup:

Hey Sturmgewehr - that's cool. Nice as I bet it folds up neatly when not in use (we stick our home-made unit over the china cabinet - kinda tacky!).

Where did you get that?

 

[sturmgewehr]

If you mean the lightbox, here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/XPRO-Studio-P...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1232941365&sr=8-2

I guess it was $39... my memory isn't what it used to be.

Yup, it folds up into a little tiny thing and can be put in a camera bag. It also has internal anchor points so you can hang things with fishing line. The top opens up so you can suspend things through the center too. It has velcro to hold the colored sheets (comes with 4 - black, white, blue, gray). Over all it's a nice package for $40.

 

[mindwip]

Sticky!

 

[Trebor]

There have been several good photo threads in the last couple years. Anyone interested should do a search and also check out the "image matters" sticky.

 

[Kind of Blued]

This is good stuff. We're talking diffusion and QUALITY of light here.

Once you figure that out, and you're getting into perspective and composition, think "less is more".

Figure out how to use depth of field to your advantage, and how to use the frame to make a point. Something that I like to do is to decide what my favorite part of the object (gun) is, and photograph that part only.

 

[sturmgewehr]

I agree, the most important aspect of this type of photography is light.

Just about any modern digital camera (mid-range) will allow you to make the necessary adjustments to maximize the sensor sensitivity to light (ISO) and to adjust the shutter speed (TV - or shutter priority mode). The key is to first have the right kind of light, plenty of it, then to adjust your camera accordingly. Most point and shoot cameras will do this for you automatically, but if you have the option to do it manually it gives you a little more creative control (see my first picture of the XDm).

As a general rule, avoid the built in flash at all costs. It almost always causes the subject to be over exposed and to have harsh shadows.

I used a home made lightbox for a long time that looked pretty much just like this one.

http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

Others prefer this type:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4666546_build-homemade-light-box-photography.html

A tripod is usually necessary due to the fact you'll be using slow shutter speeds. Lightboxes give you well defused light, not super bright or harsh light... that means you'll have to step your cameras shutter speed down without a direct flash. Again, your point and shoot digital camera will typically make all of these adjustments for you. But trust me, it will slow the shutter down to the point that any hand movement will cause the image to blur ever so slightly. Tripods can be purchased at Wal-Mart for $20-$30. These won't be super high quality units, but they'll get the job done.

 

[pith43]

Edit:
Should never post in a hurry

Actually, overcast would be considered diffused (totally diffused) light. This can produce very nice results. Directionally diffused light would be, say, the light coming from a source (open window would be an example), but the subject wouldn't be place in direct light, rather , set back a little so that it receives light coming from a certain direction, but not direct light. This produces some subtle shadows that can look very nice.

An edit to my previous post. Didn't proof read before I hit the submit button

This image was shot in a studio with 2 different light sources.
1) A main light, coming from top / front.
2) A fill light, at about 1/4 intensity of the main light, coming from top / back.

The background was black, mirror finish piece of pexi-glass. It was hell getting this shot right, the black mirror showed every microscopic piece of dust, and the dust would settle within a minute or two of cleaning. I finally ended up just working on getting the light right, and then used compressed air to clean the area just before each shot was taken.

This is a scan of an original print, and loses some of the detail in the shadows, but still looks decent.

 

[hexidismal]

A lot of other posters have mentioned good info in regards to lightboxes. Personally I use that thick white elmer's posterboard for disposable lightboxes , but I'd like to mention something else to the OP that hasn't really been addressed.

No matter how good your environment and camera is, anyone interested in modern photography should probably learn at least a basic understanding of photo manipulation software. I can assure you that every pretty gun picture you see in a magazine or other publication has been post-processed to one degree or another. Abode Photoshop is the generally considered the optimal professional solution. It takes a little learning, but particularly with recent versions even absolute amateurs can achieve some startling results with even a bare minimum of understanding.

 

[skwab]

Thanks for all the info and the pictures of your setups - and I agree with Hex - I know any pic I post has been edited somewhat. You don't necessarily need a 700 dollar Photoshop CS3 (or the newest equivalent) but there is a slimmed down version called Photoshop Elements - about 99 bucks, that works very well for most situations amateurs need - more user friendly too.

 

[sturmgewehr]

Good point about post processing.

You don't need CS4 (CS3 or any of the previous releases). You can download a free application that's very popular in the photographic community called GIMP.

http://www.gimp.org/

Check it out, you'll like it.

I use primarily Lightroom 2 for adjusting exposure and doing sharpening, contrast adjustment, color adjustment and simple cleanup of things like dust and other imperfections. If I really want to get creative, I use Photoshop CS3.

But I would use GIMP if I didn't have Photoshop. It's quite powerful and available for OSX and Windows.

 

[edrice]

Lots of good suggestions and there are other also effects that can be created. Some have suggested using an overcast day which is something I like to do. Here are a couple of shots of my father's old WWII 1911 (which is actually of WWI vintage). I took these outside in front of a stucco wall and used an f-stop that would give shallow depth-of-field to blur out the background. (also known as "bokeh" in photo terminology)

I stuck a wooden dowel up the magazine well and held it in my left hand while "shooting" with my right. I then used Photoshop to clone out the wooden dowel to give it a floating effect. This can also be done sticking the dowel up the barrel, as in the case of a revolver, or if you want to have the magazine inserted in a semi-auto. Then all you need to do is rotate the picture to horizontal or whatever angle you'd find effective.

The tripod suggestions are always good ones but not quite so necessary anymore if you're using a DSLR with anti-shake (image stabilization). The one I used at the time was the Sony A100, which goes a long ways towards obsoleting the tripod. And most compact digicams are getting image stabilzation these days. On most of my hikes and backpack trips, a tripod is a burdensome thing and stays home.





Ed

 

[sturmgewehr]

Trust me, my Canon 50D has image stabilization but even with that at shutter speeds in the 1/60 or slower range it doesn't help much. Unless Sony has figured something out the big names like Canon and Nikon haven't figured out yet, then we're a long way away from obsoleting the tripod.

For shooting stationary subjects like handguns in proper light, you won't always need tripod. But I can assure you, if you look at the EXIF data on my XDm shot you'll see what my shutter speed was. I'll give you $50 if you can shoot a picture that clear without a tripod at that shutter speed.