Taking gun pictures...........

[hightime]

I'm learning. It sure isn't easy, but I getting some that work. I'm looking forward to doing all my guns in the next few months. Here's a good start.
100425

[Hickory]

Light is your friend, not from a standard flash.
Soft or diffuse light is the best for taking stills.
Take many pictures from different angles, the
more pictures that you take, the better your
chances of getting one really good or great photo.

[TXGunNut]

Nice, can't seem to get the hang of it myself. I used t subscribe to Shooting Times back in the day because they had an awesome photographer, your photo's composition reminds me of him. Sadly, he died about a year after I began subscribing and if it hadn't been for Mike V's articles I would have cancelled. When he left, I did.

[xs11jack]

I am at best a snapshot picture taker, but my pictures have improved a lot since the advent of digital cameras. I can take a bunch of snaps an delete the worst of the bunch then save money on printing paper. It is fun to experiment and sometimes that too improves my abilities. So don't take one or two shots and give up, take a bunch and think about what you did in each one before you take the next one.
Ole Jack

[6bg6ga]

I'll take the one in the middle. Nice pictures...gun porn

[hightime]

Yeah light. I see I had window light reflecting on the '73's stock. Like you guys said keep taking pictures. My nephew gave me the knives and gave me the idea to make the composition.

[Pb2au]

Understand your lighting. That is the key.
Your picture is a nice one to be sure. (that 73 is a beautiful rifle BTW). But, if you notice, the background is going soft. Meaning it is slightly out of focus. The ones in foreground are nice and sharp.
Not knowing what camera you are working with, what you want to do is work with a small aperture. (Bigger F stop number). The smaller the F stop, the more light you will need. So, more ambient light and or a longer shutter time.
If you are working with a point and shoot type camera, look for a landscape type setting.

[smokeywolf]

Two gents I can think of right off the top of my head that take excellent photos are KirkD and Duke Nukem. You might search their posts and study their pics.

[Doc Highwall]

Use a light tent and a tripod.

[northmn]

One thing I have thought of is to have a kind of studio or a set of backgrounds if you are into pictures. Mine are not all that great as my cameras are relatively inexpensive. Still, although I am not a pro by any means, I love the pictures I take as they are a personal reminder of the good times. I recently started preserving those memories and really wish I had the photos of good dogs long gone, deer shot back when and game birds taken. I accept the fact that my pictures do not impress others, they are valuable to me. Does not mean I don't need or want to improve as some are pretty rough, just feel that none are wasted effort.

DP

[Big Rack]

Many years ago the owner of Track of the Wolf put on a seminar at Friendship about photographing guns. His best tip was to spray with a "dulling" spray which he said was available in artists stores and was a wax which would polish off. Anyway it kept the glare off so all detail could be seen. Seems to me he also held the rifle upside down with a rod in the bore against a light cloth background. Of course I assume this was done to illustrate his catalog.

[MtGun44]

I go outside and make a tent with a white sheet. Bright, diffuse and correct
color light helps a LOT.

Bill

[Wayne Smith]

And be careful of your backgrounds. At first glance I thought your derringer had no stocks.

[Uncle Grinch]

Small f-stop, i.e. f8 or higher, give greater depth of field, but require a slower shutter speed or more light... bounced flash, window, etc.

[Tom Myers]

That is a good start. Now that you are getting some good photos, you need a means of cataloging, storing and retreiving the best images.

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[hightime]

That looks like good stuff. You're right.

[doc1876]

dadgum purdy. tell you nephew that he did good on the knives they look great

[ofreen]

As was mentioned, correct light is the key. Decent photos can be done even with less than fancy equipment. These shots are with an old Canon SD500 point and shoot. They were taken on the back deck on a glass table in the shade on a cloudy bright day.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r172/ofreen/m29-2.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r172/ofreen/k22_zpse01fa0ec.jpg

[Blammer]

background is critical to light and a good photo.

too "light" of a back ground or too much reflecting stuff or too dark of a back ground also make it difficult.