How to photograph weapons...

[phlarris]

I constantly see really nice gun photos.

Can any of you kind people please give me some hints & tips on how to get those nice photos.

Thanks

Phlarris

[Windhund Nick]

Do you mean how to MAKE the photo's look sharp and detailed, or how to post the photo's ? ?

Nick.

[phlarris]

More making the photos sharp, and the lighting needed to pick out the detail.

Thanks

[Windhund Nick]

Hi phlarris, Well depends on the object really, have a nice dark wood K98 for example then place it above a light backround. The camera choice also is important, those pixels have to be pretty high for a decent close-up, and practise practise practise........makes perfect. Here is my K98 for example, nothing fancy but the final image is more than satisfactory.

Good luck and show us your images soon

[geopop71]

Firearm photos

My expeirience with photography has allways been this, either open shade out doors, under a tree, near a wall, out of direct sunlight. Indoors, no direct strobe, use some kind of translucent scrim over the object, strobe above.
They sell light boxes made for just such picture taking for small items or guns.
Of course, a good camera, either digital or 35 mm. I used to do wedding's, and open shade out doors and bounce light indoors was the best lighting.
I found it impossible to take a decent pic of a firearm using direct flash, it allways over light's some thing. If possible, open shade is the cheapest way to go. Another way is a white background with a white low ceiling (white paper) and bounce the strobe up to the ceiling. By low I mean just a few feet up, takes some imagination on how to arrange it, using sticks or wire.
Hope this helps Geopop

[stevezz1]

Hi Phlarris,
As geopop said, bright sun-light is a killer. An over-cast day is what you need, it produces a much more even light.
Or if you have to take your shots in doors use window light with a sheet over the window to defuse the light and a reflector (a piece of white card will do) positioned opposite to bounce some light back into the shaddows.
One 'must have' is a tripod. If you don't have one, go out and get one right now......

This applies to any shots of your collection, you don't want a huge highlight bouncing of a helmet or cap insignia or your best dagger.
Good luck.

Steve.

[phlarris]

Hi Phlarris,
As geopop said, bright sun-light is a killer. An over-cast day is what you need, it produces a much more even light.
Or if you have to take your shots in doors use window light with a sheet over the window to defuse the light and a reflector (a piece of white card will do) positioned opposite to bounce some light back into the shaddows.
One 'must have' is a tripod. If you don't have one, go out and get one right now......

This applies to any shots of your collection, you don't want a huge highlight bouncing of a helmet or cap insignia or your best dagger.
Good luck.

Steve.

Thanks for the ideas. Being in England, an overcast day shouldn't be too hard to find

I'll try it out, and you may even see the results on one of the other threads.

Regards

Phlarris

[geopop71]

firearms photos

phlarris:
One more thing to add, you must use a small aperture setting on your camera, like f/22 or f16, even if it means a slow shutter speed, like the man said use a tripod. defused window light is a good as well. Any thing but direct strobe light.
The small apeture will ensure a sharp picture, with every thing in focus. geopop

[Von Hoth]

while we're on the subject, how do you photo those closeups of the stampings on guns. I have a 6 Megapixel camera and still can't get upclose clear shots.

do you guys have super mega resolution? or is there a trick?

[leondes]

To do closeups, the pixel rating of a camera has little to nothing to do with it. It has to do with how close the camera can focus on an object. Most modern mid to high end digital cameras have a macro setting for closeup work. You can also look into using magnifying lenses. I use the macro setting on my camera most of the time. But I also have magnifying lenses that work without the macro setting and use the optical zoom capability of the camera.

Here is a link to pictures of a sear on a P.38. If you are familiar with that part, it is rather small. The pictures make it look very large. These were taken with 12x and 24x magnifying lenses.

http://lmd-militaria.com/page716.html

Regards, Leon

[Von Hoth]

oh, i see. I thought I was a pretty good gadget guy but never heard of the Macro setting.

thanks for the tip, one of my two cameras might already have that feature. (i never read the books, LOL)

thanks man.

[Ronnie Fry]

Thanks to

Geopop, stevezz, and leondes for your knowledgable replies!! I guess I need to try a reflector for my strobe. That might help...

r

[Greg Sebring]

I always try to use a tripod...especially if the light is not perfect. If you have to slow things down or open them up, it's hard (for me anyway) to hold "statue still" for that crystal clear shot everytime.

Greg

[P08]

while we're on the subject, how do you photo those closeups of the stampings on guns. I have a 6 Megapixel camera and still can't get upclose clear shots.

do you guys have super mega resolution? or is there a trick?

My brother found an unusual solution to this. First he installed the digital camera on a tripod. Then he placed the gun on a table/chair whatever is the correct hight compared to the camera and then placed a magnifying glass between the camera lense and the gun. Please notice that it's not a normal magnifying glass but a special one that our father uses when painting small scripts on his model trains However the results obtained through this method were excellent!!

But in general it's very hard to take good pictures of weapons. I'm certainly not good at it

[leondes]

Hi,

One problem with the tripod is that to take really detailed pictures of a gun, especially a rifle, you have to move the camera around and take the pictures from different angles, sometimes to be able to see a marking and sometimes to get the light reflection just right.

I use really bright lights (6,000 watts total) so that the shutter speed is fast enough that I don't get a blurred picture. I use a stand or tripod for some items. With a magnifying lens, I use a stand. That way I can use the delay feature of the camera to eliminate all movement.

Here is a link to one of my rifle pictures efforts: http://lmd-militaria.com/page48.html

Regards, Leon