So what say you?

Turn the flash off?
Too much light?
Darker back ground?

Thanks man.  

That's much better than your group photo.
Giving the cameras sensor enough light to work with is a good thing.

After a little post processing tweaking:

purty!

Quoted: Giving the cameras sensor enough light to work with is a good thing.

I am using twin 500 watt halogen lamps on a tripod with the camera mounted in betwen them.  

too much vice

Quoted: too much vice

The vise is what makes it!

Quoted: too much vice

Kind of like getting your toes in the picture.....


They all look the same to me. My monitor is about to go out, so all pictures look too dark

Nice AR.
The yellow isn't very tactical tho'.  





Gun Photo How To...

Taking pictures of your firearms is easy. Taking good photos of your firearms isn't much harder.

Here's a few suggestions...

1. Familiarize yourself with your camera. Learn how to turn off the flash, set the white balance and focus manually.

2. Turn Off The Built In Flash. The majority of pictures will look better under natural light. Hold the camera still as available light exposures can be slow which could lead to blurry photos. Sometimes the flash looks OK and it doesn't hurt to try using it.

3. Choose a simple background. A sheet of white paper for handguns works well. A concrete floor makes a nice background for rifles (try not to get your feet in the picture). A single piece of OD green or Black canvas makes a great background for multiple shooting scenarios.

4. Choose good lighting. Take the photographs where the existing light is bright. Near a window or outside at the shooting range are good places. A 500 watt shop light is a great light source for shooting indoors, it can be used directly or bounced off a white surface to produce a more diffuse light source.

5. Take some time to think about the image before shooting it. Look at the firearm from different angles to find the view that looks best to you. Try using props and backgrounds that make sense to keep the photo from looking too contrived and to help establish a setting that suits that particular weapon. Adding tactical gear, ammo, knives and other suitable items to the edges of the image can really spice things up but it is easy to overdo.

6. Learn to use a photo editing program to perform contrast and color adjustments. If you take the pictures by a window the images will probably turn out kinda blue. Use a program like photoshop to remove some blue and add some snap with a contrast adjustment.


Here is a pic of an AR taken on Auto exposure with the built in flash of a Nikon Coolpix 990. The image was shot from upon ladder which helps the flash spread out and allows a longer lens to avoid distortion.  Tight cropping and placing the rifle on an angle help add drama.


Here is a picture of a Kahr pistol taken next to a large window using auto exposure with the flash turned off and a small white card (folded envelope) to bounce some light on the grip. A white sheet of paper was used as the background and the image propped to support a 'daily carry' theme.


These window shots look good but can be a little 'flat' in contrast and also a bit blue. This daylight IS blue in comparison to an incandescent light bulb. Adding  an incandescent light  to this shot would look yellow in the picture. Try to keep all light sources the same color temperature, IE: all daylight or all incandescent.


Outdoor, 'real life' shots often look best but there is a place for studio type images as well. Using controlled studio lighting, it is possible to light up all the important details. It also makes it easy to keep the unwanted stuff in the dark. For firearms, try to get highlights on the black stuff and light to dark gradations on the silver stuff. This was shot with the Nikon 990 and strobe lighting but could be duplicated with 3, edison based 150w household spotlights.


A studio photographer might choose to use a large format 'view' camera. These accordion shaped cameras provide flexibility in setting the plane of focus to make everything sharp ...or just the part you want sharp, sharp. View cameras also distort or correct perspective in the same way a slide projector on a movie screen distorts when somebody moves / twists the screen.
In this example the lens is looking 'up' at the base of the magazine but the perspective has been corrected so the muzzle end of the barrel does not appear to 'fall away' and instead stays visually upright. The focus has been limited to only the flat top surface of the pistol keeping the table and props out of focus.


Any firearms photographer worth their salt should know who Ichiro Nagata is. To simulate one of his most popular looks, use red and blue gels on two lights from either side skimming across the set.


Here is the set for the above images. Three Speedotron lampheads. One through a diffusion panel made of translucent plastic film (tough rolux) on a wood frame. the other two are low and from the right and left. All lights have 'grid' attachments to restrict the beam to a spot. Notice the black paper on the diffusion panel. This helps the scene from being over-lit by further blocking the top light.
The camera pictured is a Sinar P view camera with a Sinar 54 digital back attached with a sliding adapter made by Kapturegroup. The lens is a Rodenstock APO Digitar 90mm.


Modern digital cameras are capable of taking great pictures, even inexpensive ones. Many of the pictures we take are only intended to be viewed online or on a computer. These images would likely look good at web sizes regardless of the camera used. The Nikon Coolpix 990 used here has a 3+ megapixel sensor which is fine for web use but when zooming in the image begins to pixelate which makes it unsuitable for print work.


Todays professional photographers are required to invest heavily in their equipment to get the highest image quality for print and advertising uses. Image sensors are available as large as 22 megapixels with larger sensors always around the corner. These sensors combined with ultra high performance lenses  have been able to provide a level of quality as good or better than their best film based counterparts.


To sum things up, keep it simple, experiment with light and make sure there isn't a tube of Preperation-H in the background.

********** Always Practice Safe Photography **********
******* Make Sure Firearms Are Unloaded First *******



You may use these images for any non profit purpose.
You can contact me at the AR15.com forum via IM to cugir

Quoted: To sum things up, keep it simple, experiment with light and make sure there isn't a tube of Preperation-H in the background. ********** Always Practice Safe Photography ********** ******* Make Sure Firearms Are Unloaded First ******* You may use these images for any non profit purpose. You can contact me at the AR15.com forum via IM to cugir

Heck, I'd just hire you for some glamour shots of my toys!  Those pictures are great!  I like the red/blue effect on the Kahr.  I also love Nagata's work....

Great post cugir.  That gun porn post almost made me rub one out.

That's awesome!   Great photos and tips!  Thanks much!    

I'm going to throw my camera away now....

Quoted: too much vice

More Cow Bell!!!!

Thanks for the compliments.

The original photo thread fell off of GD archives.
Here's a couple more how to pics that are self explanatory.

You can use an old shower curtain to make a diffusion panel as pictured to use with shop lights.

Quoted: The original photo thread fell off of GD archives.

Photography & Photoshopping Gun Photo How To...  

I think your thread is still there  

Excellent tips cugir.

Here is a photo I took before reading them. I don't think it came out too bad but some dust removal may have been appropriate first.

This is with a small camera, a Nikon S1, which makes it harder to take photos without flash and being able to hold it steady.
Use of the timer and a tripod might work but it's not very feasible to keep that kind of equipment in a motel room.

ETA: My Corel 10 skills are a bit lacking also or the resolution would be better. I liked Paint Shop Pro more for resizing but need to learn to use Corel.

took this tonight, I like my cheapie camera, but my talent pales in comparison to you guys..