An answer to your Gun Photography Questions!

[JWFilips]

One of the most important things you need to remember about photography;
The Angle of Incidence Equals the Angle of Reflection!
Lets's say the light source hits the shiny subject at 45 degree angle the reflection of that light will come off the object at and opposing 45 degree angle which forms a total angle of 90 degrees!
I know a heck of a lot of photographers that never learned this.

Over the years my Boss has sent me out on numerous occasions as a "lighting consultant" for film crews making local movies and videos because the lighting crew ( if you call them that), couldn't figure out how to light a scene!
I aways have had a saying ( which he hated me repeating) "Those that can't , teach!"

 

[Loren]

Jim, Thanks for sharing your lifetime of experience!

Here are a couple of the airgun stocks I make.
I was pretty happy with these two for my rookie skills and Iphone on a tripod.

But then struggle at times getting good color and being to dark or washed out.

 

[JWFilips]

As I mentioned Adobe Photoshop Is great but it is best to get the exposure , lighting etc in the camera...This way the quality will be the best.
Many times a PhotoShop worked image can degrade quality of normal digital cameras unless you are shooting in "Raw Format" which is akin to shooting an original negative. I shoot exclusively in Raw Format but that is because it is my job....However I do have a personal small Point & shoot Canon camera that has that feature ( I use that setting). Raw Format images get processed in Photoshop not the camera ( hence the term Digital Negatives )
Many cameras allow you to shoot in Tif format which is the next best thing ( but it is processed in the camera)

But most cameras shoot JPEG format...It is called a lossy format because the image uses jpeg compression that reduces the size of the stored file!
This process used an algorithm to throw away similar pixels in the image on compression but tells what ever program that opens the file to try to rebuild what was thrown away! That is not good for quality! However It does use a compression ratio scale from 1 to 12
1 is smallest file size (lowest quality) and 12 is Highest quality ( largest file size )
If you camera uses jpeg format always choose Highest quality Largest file size from you camera menu

 

[JWFilips]

But then struggle at times getting good color and being to dark or washed out.

Washed out is mostly dealing with the Incidence = Reflection angle I just wrote about above.
If you can place you background farther behind the gun it will go out of focus better
I would have to know how you are lighting your set to answer the "too dark" part ...usually it is an exposure thing because the camera light metering system is fooled by the majority of the light background

 

[Jeff H]

I don't Want to come across as a Know it all! Just want to help folks with any photography issue the haveday

First - THANK YOU for sharing your hard-earned knowledge.
Second - I do consider you a "know it all," but not in the derogatory sense implied with that particular epithet.

I am amazed at the photos people can take with their phones these days and resent how hard I had to work, back in the day, to achieve something which is so easily achieved today. But, I have a really cheap phone with a crappy camera, and if it's not overcast, my pics suck - bad. I still have to work to get something even somewhat acceptable to convey what it is that I hope to convey. Your generous help is VERY welcome to me.

I remember your work. I also remember knowing that it didn't just "happen." I was struggling with real film and a few Pentax SLR bodies and wondered how many frames you had to expose, develop, scrutinize and fuss over before you made the image convey what the mind thought it should see. Taking pictures of guns is a bigger challenge (to me) than most other subjects.

 

[Loren]

Lighting is fluorescent shop lights above and then an LED shop light held by hand behind the camera trying to get good light on the rifle.

I basically hang a sheet from the ceiling and let it drape onto the workbench. I need to set up a photo studio space, but just do not have the room at the moment. Temporary and portable is best for now.

Would you recommend a different color than white for a background?

I appreciate the feedback!

 

[JWFilips]

Lighting is fluorescent shop lights above and then an LED shop light held by hand behind the camera trying to get good light on the rifle.

I basically hang a sheet from the ceiling and let it drape onto the workbench. I need to set up a photo studio space, but just do not have the room at the moment. Temporary and portable is best for now.

Would you recommend a different color than white for a background?

I appreciate the feedback!

The standard Fluorescent light produces green light! Human eyes are most sensitive to green that is why they look white!
LEDs are most times blue.....Watch the mix of different color temperature lights! Your camera seems to have did a good job of balancing the color!
If you see the camo on the stocks not looking correct the mix of lights can explain this!
Make yourself a set of Fabric light panels an place in you set and place the shop lights to shoot through them! Then watch for glare coming back to the camera lens and move the shop lights and panels accordingly!
Your Fluorescents produce the hazy sky fill light and your shop light in the panel will be like a hazy sun main source!
A good working set up!

 

[JWFilips]

remember your work. I also remember knowing that it didn't just "happen." I was struggling with real film and a few Pentax SLR bodies and wondered how many frames you had to expose, develop, scrutinize and fuss over before you made the image convey what the mind thought it should see. Taking pictures of guns is a bigger challenge (to me) than most other subjects.

Most of the film I shot was 4x5 and 8x10 Most but not all was color transparency with a good share of B&W I processed both and also ran the darkroom. I probable helped Polaroid corporation make a good profit. B&W polaroid was used to proof the set ups! Sometimes it took 20 pieces
to get the shot correct.
Now days I shoot with a 45 megapixel digital back on my studio camera directly into the computer! The computer monitor is what I proof with ...
shoot , change ,shoot, change Then when everyone is happy with the shot. It is marked to Keep and the ones leading up to that shot are trashed!
Awhile ago we tried to calculate how may images we have made & being conservative was close to one million

 

[JWFilips]

I'm not hardly a photographer, barely know which side of the camera to point to the object. I have come up with a few photo's though that impressed me if no one else. Every one of those pictures was taken in full natural sunlight. Seems cameras do like natural sunlight.

Hi Rick,
Not sure what the subjects of you photos were But I have done may good photos in full natural light! I did not mean They don't like natural light I was just talking about trying to get good photos of complex surfaces of a product or item!
Heck Ansel Adams didn't use a light panel! But he also did not photograph the complex surfaces of an object like a 18th century firelock rifle.
It is about solving complex lighting issues

 

[JWFilips]

OK, Let's say you do not want to get so complex in photographing a gun! well just take it outside to the north side of a building! Soft shadowless light.
Not real exciting but you will have a very good image! Photographing in the "shade" without any sunlight is the easiest thing you can do!

 

[Loren]

Jim, thanks for tips and sharing the article.

 

[fiver]

if your using a fluorescent lamp you can mix types of lamps they use.
sunlight contains blue and yellow light waves and fluorescent tubes are available in a spectrum of colors.
they just look white when the whole box of them is sitting there, but if you read the label you'll soon see they come in blue,yellow and white.
a mix of blue and yellow will help even the tones out and produce closer to sunlight light waves.

also you can use a whiteboard, or a chunk of campaign sign to reflect light into the shadows.

a white back round will wash out the colors on stuff, not because of the color per se but because of the colors it reflects and it also back lights the object making the shadows deeper.
better to put the object so the white bounces off/to it and use side lighting/reflecting to wash out the shadows.

 

[Brad]

What is your preferred SLR lens for this type of photography? How critical is aperture? Depth of field?

 

[JWFilips]

fiver,
I was referring to standard Cool White fluorescent lights. They are usually the the most found in standard shop lighting. & yes you can mix the types to get you the best color for viewing.
In in my shop I use one warm white and one daylight tube in each fixture.

Absolutely correct about the white reflectors & was going to cover that in a future post, along with their counter part, Black cardboard absorbers.

While you are right about the composition of "white" The rest is not necessarily true.
There is "white" and then there is "beyond white"! Once you go beyond where white is the white background can over power the subject by etching into the subject. Photographic white is reached at a point of 249-250 on the exposure scale! Many folks go beyond white and blow out the backgrounds & that is why that tends to wash out colors ( the background is way too over exposed for the subject!)

If I'm shooting on a white background for a rifle the background white paper is a good distance away from the rifle. This way I can control the lighting on the white background and make it just that the lightest tone of gray or the first point of white ...If you go any brighter it will do what you said. The rifle is set up independent of the background vertically On a stand holding a metal rod that is covered with gaffers tape. The muzzle of the rifle is slid over this. There are full length fabric panels that can be moved around the subject and back and forth the lights are set up behind these diffusion panels and are fully movable also
As far as dark shadows; there are none with this type of lighting! You actually have to create the shadows you like, by reducing the light where you need them and likewise brighting the light where you need highlights; otherwise the lighting will be flat and not very interesting ( similar to north light outside......you get a good image but not a great image!

 

[JWFilips]

What is your preferred SLR lens for this type of photography? How critical is aperture? Depth of field?

Brad,
If I were to use an SLR for this photography I probably would choose a fixed length 100 mm Macro or a small zoom starting at about 70 mm to (whatever) But you probably can do it well with the standard 50 mm. Stay away from wide angle lenses they distort the image too much!
In my studio with the white cycwall ( it is 40 ft wide by 60 feet long ) I have a lot of room and like to use a longer lens because if the any blemishes in the background the will go out of focus. Standard Digital SLRs are usually sharpest at f 8 to f 11

Since I do this stuff for a living I have very expensive equipment at the studio ( my old boss spoiled me!)
So when I do this photography I use a 45 megapixel Phaseone Digital back on a 6x7 Mamiya Pro 67 camera body Using fixed focus 110mm, 150mm lenses. It is a reflex camera so you compose as you do with a 35 slr
It is tethered to a Macintosh workstation and and I fire the camera from the keyboard.
The image comes in directly into the Phaseone- Capture One Pro software as a 120 megabyte "raw file"
additional composition and cropping is preformed there along with fine tuning of the exposure if I was a little off and also inspection for sharpness & color correction.

I use 35 mm slrs here at home and for location jobs

 

[hporter]

Jim,

I suppose your camera's image sensor size would impact the preferred focal length (assuming we are talking digital cameras for the most part)?

For example, If you are shooting a full frame DSLR vs a Micro 4/3rds SLR, a 100mm lens will be much different due to the conversion factor for the image sensor size.

I shot all my firearms for an inventory record in a 48" soft box with 400ws strobes and couldn't use my 100mm Canon Macro FD lens adapted to my Canon Digital Rebel Xsi because the focal length was too long to work within the confines of the soft box opening with the sensor conversion. With it's APS-C image sensor, the 100mm lens was actually 150mm.

Lately I have enjoyed using a Fuji X30 camera to shoot stuff in the soft box, because it can go full manual, has a wide angle zoom range and I can really crank the shutter speed up to eliminate ambient light impact. Much simpler to color balance with only one light source.

 

[JWFilips]

Jim,

I suppose your camera's image sensor size would impact the preferred focal length (assuming we are talking digital cameras for the most part)?

For example, If you are shooting a full frame DSLR vs a Micro 4/3rds SLR, a 100mm lens will be much different due to the conversion factor for the image sensor size.

I shot all my firearms for an inventory record in a 48" soft box with 400ws strobes and couldn't use my 100mm Canon Macro FD lens adapted to my Canon Digital Rebel Xsi because the focal length was too long to work within the confines of the soft box opening with the sensor conversion. With it's APS-C image sensor, the 100mm lens was actually 150mm.

Lately I have enjoyed using a Fuji X30 camera to shoot stuff in the soft box, because it can go full manual, has a wide angle zoom range and I can really crank the shutter speed up to eliminate ambient light impact. Much simpler to color balance with only one light source.

You are absolutely correct: sensor size determines focal length !
When I shot is the studio with my Phaseone P-45 back, the sensor is a full 2.25" x 2.25" so it is huge ( So are the files)
the 35 digital slrs I use the Nikon DX size sensor
Yes Manual exposure is the way to go...No surprises ! Manual focus also! Yes I only use same color light sources

 

[fiver]

i figured you'd get to the lights.
i just kind of wanted to bring attention to things around the house regular guys could use.

simple stuff like sheet colors, colored paper, garbage bags, and light bulbs they probably have sitting around.
oh and toes.
everyone has toes, and it seems like most guys like to get them in the picture especially if they wear sandals.

 

[KeithB]

Found out that you can trigger the camera on an iPhone with voice commands. I can mount my iPhone on my old tripod and trigger it remotely. Being somewhat ham fisted not having to touch the phone to take a picture is IMHO a great idea!

 

[hporter]

oh and toes.
everyone has toes, and it seems like most guys like to get them in the picture especially if they wear sandals.

That might be another topic to discuss, photo editing software. That's how I keep my toes out of the frame, by editing them out of the photo using software.

It is also the easiest way to fix white balance/color balance issues.

Jim mentioned Adobe Photoshop, but as good as it is, I find it too expensive for the average person not making their income with their camera. I bought and upgraded Adobe Photoshop for many years until they got into the paid subscription model and with no option to just buy the software at a one time price.

I am glad I did because I found several photo editors for the Mac computer that are inexpensive and do most of what I need them to. For example Pixelmator ($40), Affinity Photo ($55) and Acorn ($40).

I own all three but use Pixelmator the most. I wish I could upgrade to the pro version, but my operating system is too old.

And while experimenting with the Linux operating system, I found a couple free programs that seemed to be quite capable.

And to add to Keith's post - there are also cheap iPhone remotes that look like your car's remote for the iPhone available on Amazon. I picked one up last year so that we could get "everyone" in group photos. I probably have close to, or more than, 50 cameras - but it is funny how the phone camera becomes the most used one in the bunch.