Gun photography

[butchlambert]

This is the fixture I made. You can change out different sizes of pins to match the bore and put shrink wrap on them to protect your barrel bore.

 

[butchlambert]

All the photos look great but, I like the blue back ground best. I have a nice Nikon, but find myself using my phone for most, if not all of my photos for adds. I don't have any special lighting and that is the biggest issue my images have. Poor lighting.

You are correct. If you don't have correct lighting, you are up the creek.

 

[Papa Charlie]

This is the fixture I made. You can change out different sizes of pins to match the bore and put shrink wrap on them to protect your barrel bore.View attachment 1151039

So do you orientate the rifle muzzle down for the picture then rotate afterwards for viewing?

 

[butchlambert]

So do you orientate the rifle muzzle down for the picture then rotate afterwards for viewing?

Yes Sir.

 

[T-shooter]

The idea of an exercise of this nature is to shoot the scene and get it right in the camera, not fix a mistake in Photoshop. Anyone can do that.

Don't get me wrong, I do use a lot of different programs when looking for special effects but I make ever effort to get the lighting right without resorting to computer corrections.

It's a shame that no one teaches film photography anymore. Why bother with lighting when you can simply relight the entire scene with a digital program. Kids with a cell phone can shoot beautiful photographs and even correct them right in their smart phones.

I applaud the OP for his efforts to do things the old fashion way.

I do to. Getting things right with just the camera is almost a lost art. Especially film photography. I'm 67 and it's been so long I've forgotten a lot of what I knew. Still, getting things right with a digital camera takes a bit of skill. I started going digital even before I got my first digital camera in 1998 by scanning in photos. Looking back it was a pathetic 1MP Kodak camera with not enough resolution for any quality work and in today's money would cost about $650.

 

[Fast14riot]

All the photos look great but, I like the blue back ground best. I have a nice Nikon, but find myself using my phone for most, if not all of my photos for adds. I don't have any special lighting and that is the biggest issue my images have. Poor lighting.

Lighting is the most important aspect of photography. That, however does not mean it has to be expensive! There are so many DIY lighting modifiers out there that can be made for free or very little. Sheets, white walls, table lamps, paper, pretty much anything can be used to make light look better.

 

[Intheshop]

Cell phone that I barely know how to use.

 

[DngBat7]

Here is a shot I did as an exercise in lighting principles, using the inverse square law, this image was shot with no backdrop.

View attachment 1150971

I think your pics look fantastic!

The idea of an exercise of this nature is to shoot the scene and get it right in the camera, not fix a mistake in Photoshop. Anyone can do that.

Don't get me wrong, I do use a lot of different programs when looking for special effects but I make ever effort to get the lighting right without resorting to computer corrections.

It's a shame that no one teaches film photography anymore. Why bother with lighting when you can simply relight the entire scene with a digital program. Kids with a cell phone can shoot beautiful photographs and even correct them right in their smart phones.

I applaud the OP for his efforts to do things the old fashion way.

Unfortunately art and creative directors want finished files within days now. Unless your super famous, you will have no clients shooting film these days.

 

[Kratos]

A couple of mine at opposite ends of the caliber spectrum.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

A couple of mine at opposite ends of the caliber spectrum.

View attachment 1151163View attachment 1151164

Is that a bat EX?

 

[Kratos]

Is that a bat EX?

Yep, 50 BMG built on a BAT EX 2.0. The chassis was a big mistake, but I was seduced by the short wait time. I'm probably going to order a McMillan Super 50 BR soon.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Yep, 50 BMG built on a BAT EX 2.0. The chassis was a big mistake, but I was seduced by the short wait time. I'm probably going to order a McMillan Super 50 BR soon.

Awesome!

 

[Fast14riot]

I think your pics look fantastic!

Unfortunately art and creative directors want finished files within days now. Unless your super famous, you will have no clients shooting film these days.

Thanks!

Thankfully, I live just 800 yards from a professional film lab. When I was developing my own negs, I could have contact sheets scanned and proofed same day. The thing with digital is for the last 15 years, it suddenly made everyone a photographer. Without the cost of film or time of development, it was simply a matter of firing off 1000 frames and getting a couple good ones, whereas we used to have 36 frames per roll to hope to get 1 good one.

Funny, these days when I'm shooting film, I use my digital body for chimp shots like a Polaroid used to be used! Talk about coming full circle.

@Kratos awesome rigs! Nice use of DOF and lighting.

 

[jrm850]

Still playing with a different method of posting.View attachment 1151038

I LOVE the tang on that rifle.

 

[Zero333]

 

[Zero333]

 

[T-shooter]

Thanks!

Thankfully, I live just 800 yards from a professional film lab. When I was developing my own negs, I could have contact sheets scanned and proofed same day. The thing with digital is for the last 15 years, it suddenly made everyone a photographer. Without the cost of film or time of development, it was simply a matter of firing off 1000 frames and getting a couple good ones, whereas we used to have 36 frames per roll to hope to get 1 good one.

Funny, these days when I'm shooting film, I use my digital body for chimp shots like a Polaroid used to be used! Talk about coming full circle.

@Kratos awesome rigs! Nice use of DOF and lighting.

There is an art to it. Most (not professional) photographers are simply picture takers. Point and shoot and it is what it is. And I hate the idea pf a phone being a camera. Granted some of the pictures don't look too bad until you zoom in. At pixel resolution, I have yet to see a decent one. I know several people that own DSLR's, leave the in Auto mode, and have never changed a lens. With a digital DSLR, you need to understand shutter speed, ISO, aperture, depth of field, and sometimes manual focusing. And also proper lighting, not just using the camera mounted flash. But I do like the ability to take many pictures and keep just the better ones. For any quality work, I shoot in RAW which captures everything the lens can take in and you can post-process it later. In camera .JPG files leave a lot to be desired, usually the dynamic range is clipped on both ends and the camera's software determines what the picture should look like as far as noise control and sharpness sometimes leaving halos in higher contrasting areas.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Fast14riot]

When I'm shooting digital, I nearly always shoot in RAW+jpeg to save both. The jpeg files are much quicker to go through looking for what I want, then I can load the much larger RAW files to view further.

 

[butchlambert]

I LOVE the tang on that rifle.

It has extended tangs top and bottom.

 

[master_photog]

I'm a big fan of long exposures and a dim flashlight. Spray the flashlight's light perpendicular to the camera in a dark/unlit room (the darker, the better). Use side and top light, no frontal light. Side, top and rear light will provide shadows and dimension. Front lit subjects makes for boring photography, people or things. Be careful with rear light as you'll want to avoid direct light into the lens.

When the room is lit, put your camera on the tripod and get the item in focus with your lens. Once your focus is set, change the camera or the lens to manual focus. This will keep your camera from attempting to RE-focus when you hit the shutter button to take the long exposure.

I like 15 second exposures in a pitch black room and an el cheapo flashlight. The cool thing is, is that you can walk in front of the camera during this time to get to the other side of your subject.

Very cheap way to go if you have no studio lights. You need a tripod, a flashlight and a camera that can do long exposures.