Can someone teach me how to take pictures of guns?

[MBTcustom]

I have built a high end rifle and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm hoping to use this rifle as advertising fodder. The very best thing would be if I could let every single prospective client hold this baby, but since I built it for a member here, I will only have it for another week.
I need to take some really great pictures!
I have been pretty pleased with my camera (I think it's called a Canon Powershot) but I'm really looking for any tips you fellers might give me on lighting, and props.

I was taking pictures inside with a blue felt background, but it just doesn't look good.
I have taken some pictures outside, but sometimes the light is good and sometimes I get glare. or too much shadow. I need some basic 101 tips for how to use the light to my advantage.

The blue felt had to go. I started trying to take pictures in the woods out back, leaning the gun against a tree etc, but sometimes it's hard to find the gun in amongst all the darn foliage (they don't call this The Natural State for nothin!)
Then I tried leaning guns up against the fence. It's weathered, and I thought it would look neat, but it was just too "plain jane".

The best picture I ever took was with my I-phone whilst waiting for bambi to mosie by.
The props are awesome, the lighting was perfect (not that I know anything about lighting) but the gun and the camera was a ***.
76516
Here's another picture I took with the I-phone:
76517
The props were OK I guess, but the light that day was kind of gloomy and it was drizzling.

I would really appreciate any tips that you great fellers and gals could give me, or links to helpful information. I'm classically trained as an artist so I should be able to put your advice to use.

[btroj]

Good photos require a good camera, a tripod, and the right lighting.

Taking good photos of guns is as much an art as building them is. Composition is part of the trick but the lighting must be just right. Not too harsh to give glare but don't want shadows all over either.

Know any decent photographers? They are your source of info. Would you ask a photographer how to checker a stock?

[HangFireW8]

Guns are hard. Glare is a big problem. You need a large light cube, lots of indirect lighting, long exposure times, tripod, no camera mounted flash.

You are on a short timeline, hire a pro. You are a small business businessman. Find a local camera shop or portrait shop and offer cash plus gun work in exchange. Forget about the chains.

[MBTcustom]

Thanks for the advice fellers. I was actually hoping that a photographer would weigh in and throw down some die hard tips for how to set up the lighting and the shot.
Things like "make sure the light is coming in at such and such an angle" or "wait until dusk and make sure the gun is always pointed at the sun"
You know, tips! LOL!
Thanks for the help though. I am racking my brain trying to think of somebody I know who might have experience shooting pictures of things like this. I'm drawing a blank.

[country gent]

One of the nicest I have seen was in the rifles case with all the accurments in thier places and the rifle there in the green felt lining. Use the "extras for the rifle ammo, loading equipment, bullets, tooling ect ect. Keep a theme to the picture. Then its just getting the lighting right and the angles right.

[KCSO]

My Dad was a crime scene photographer and had a big bottom lighted boz with a white plexiglass sheet to set the guns on. The box was surounded by reflectors and his speed graphic was tripod mounted. I have never even approached his level of photography, but if possible I always take at least one picture of the new owner holding the gun and smiling.

[bangerjim]

I have been "soul grabbing" for over 40 years...had 2 darkrooms in the houses previously. Now everything is digital and done Photoshop!

Actually that "gloomy" lit day was just about perfect for good photos! You do NOT want direct sunlight.....EVER. Some of the best photos I have ever taken were on totally cloudy overcast days.

You need INDIRECT DIFFUSED lighting. If you have ever done a seating for a pro photo shoot, you will notice the umbrella reflectors they use with soft light on all the time and then a bounce flash when they take the picture. That allows them to catch any glare before the shot. I have a couple bounce flash attachments I use for portrait-like work. The flash points UP and the light bounces off an angled white plate onto the subject. No glare or flare...just diffused lighting.

The iPHONE is a great muti-functional thing...and it works for a phone too! (go figure) The entire family has them. But it is NOT a "good" camera. Yea, it has 5Mpix resolution...but thru a lens that is the size of a dot! NO f-stop or focus control. And DIGITAL zoom only. My good digital camera has FULL SIZE interchangable lenses to capture all the light and do accurate optical zooming....not digital zoom.

Best suggestion is to look at some photos you think are really what you want and try to immagine lighting above and behind the camera, coming from above, diffused and not direct. Background should be monochrome of some pleasing color if you do not want the "woodsy atmosphere" look like in your two above samples, which for a firearm presentation, are pretty good. I will leave that choice up to your preferences!

bangerjim

[MBTcustom]

Thanks Jim. Now I'm going to PM you and pick your brain! LOL!

[gnoahhh]

Good advice, all. The only thing I might add is a solution for positioning a gun in front of the back drop. Since external supports detract from the photo, a friend of mine made a support that consists of a steel rod fixed firmly in a vertical position. The rifle is slid onto the rod, up through the bore. The photo is made with the gun hanging vertically, with the camera oriented accordingly. Where the rod pokes out of the muzzle, he photoshops it away, somehow- don't ask me how. (If an image doesn't require Dektol, stop bath, and fixer to process, I'm lost!)

[waksupi]

Check with Track of the Wolf. They used to have a small book on photographing firearms. If you have looked at their catalogs, the pictures are very clear.

Also, google photographing firearms, lots of topics available.

[MBTcustom]

Thanks for the advice fellers.
I will check out TOTW and see about that book Ric.

I am happy to say that I found an excellent photographer right here in Conway.
Her business is Jackie Romine Photography, and I would just like to say on behalf of the employee here at MBT: "I highly recommend!"
She has all the equipment and an extremely rustic and versatile studio. She took 65 pictures and charged me a pittance.
Her work is now posted in my thread in Special Projects forum.
She was so reasonable and skilled, I might as well stick to the I-phone and take everything I care about to her. In fact, that is the plan.

[HangFireW8]

Great outcome!

[quack1]

Incase you want to try to take your own, my set up is cheap and easy. I'm no photographer, but always have liked to play around with photography. My pictures aren't first quality, but aren't too bad for a simple camera and set up.
I use 2 dual tube florescent lights diffused with a piece of white sheet stretched over them, about 45* to each side of the gun, have the gun standing vertical, (muzzle down) about 2 feet in front of a wall that is painted flat white. The camera (an under $200 Canon powershot), is on a tripod and set for manual. I set the aperture at F/8, use the delay timer, use the spot light meter and take a reading from about a foot away from the butt. The exposures are pretty long and I get the gun to fill as much of the frame as I can. On the finished pictures, I crop right to the end of the barrel to remove the stand that holds the gun up (don't have photoshop as I'm pretty computer illiterate and probably couldn't figure it out.
A couple examples.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/IMG_0195.jpg (http://s291.photobucket.com/user/1quack1/media/IMG_0195.jpg.html)
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/IMG_0192.jpg (http://s291.photobucket.com/user/1quack1/media/IMG_0192.jpg.html)

[Just Duke]

Best time to take a pic is first thing in the mourning or late in the evening with just enough light so the flash doesn't go off.
Indoors I like red or blue velvet. Best thing to use is a light box indoors though. Their cheap to make.
Also I take my pics of the rifle upside down then flip the pic.


http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/M-14/MULITCAMM141.png~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/M-14/MULITCAMM141.png.html)


http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/M-14/MULITCAMM143.png~original (http://s921.photobucket.com/user/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/media/M-14/MULITCAMM143.png.html)

[Any Cal.]

Thanks for the advice fellers.
I will check out TOTW and see about that book Ric.

I am happy to say that I found an excellent photographer right here in Conway.
Her business is Jackie Romine Photography, and I would just like to say on behalf of the employee here at MBT: "I highly recommend!"
She has all the equipment and an extremely rustic and versatile studio. She took 65 pictures and charged me a pittance.
Her work is now posted in my thread in Special Projects forum.
She was so reasonable and skilled, I might as well stick to the I-phone and take everything I care about to her. In fact, that is the plan.

I would say that you stand to lose money by hiring her vs. learning how to use your camera. You know what parts of the gun you want to emphasize, and what appeals to other gun nuts. Her pics aren't anything you couldn't out-do even with the camera you have. If the right pics make a difference of only 5% of the price of the gun, you may very well stand to come out ahead not only on the price of the photography, but also in making a quicker or better sale.

A good picture shows off the product, and creates a desire for it. With just a bit of intense learning, you could get that.

On a side note, if you had the desire to get into it yourself, I have some rough looking gear I would throw your way for the cost of shipping, if you have a place to put it. Not fancy AT ALL, but would give you more options for getting some decent pics.

[MBTcustom]

I appreciate it Any Cal. but this photographer is perfect for me. She is an artist like me and we just started working together very well from the second I walked in the door.
She took the shots that I wanted, and worked with my needs all the way through and then charged me a pittance.
She took 40 photos, edited 25 of them and put all 65 pictures on a disk for me and asked for $25. I have to say, I had trouble keeping my mouth closed. She was using an $800 lense!
Now that I know what works, I could go to her establishment with 5 guns, build up the set the same way, and take 3-4 pictures of each one, pay my 25 bones, and walk out happy.

[HangFireW8]

Goodsteel,

You also found someone with a high volume local business that can refer business to you. Did you leave business cards and take some of hers?

[MBTcustom]

You betcha! Her dad will be by later this week.

[HangFireW8]

You betcha! Her dad will be by later this week.

Well, there you go! While I'm all for DIY, even if you give her Dad a discount you're coming out ahead on this one. And the next one...