Home Forums Gear Photography How to Photograph Firearms

Tried a search and did not find anything. Has there ever been a post regarding "How to photograph firearms?"

Lighting, background, etc.

In my attempts, I either seem to have bad light or use the flash and get reflection.

Personally, I'd set it up so the serial can't be read in an enlargement. Something as simple as scotch tape can possibly break up the light enough to make reading it impossible.

Things come out best for me if I wait for a bright day outside but keep the subject in the shade. A light tan or plain buckskin background keeps ones focus on the firearm.

A deer or elk hide like 1Minute suggested makes a nice background. I see many using a white sheet, but that really messes the exposure and the rifle appears too dark like a black blob with lost detail outlined by a dark shadow. Use a tripod. With the rifle in the shade, you might try using a silver sunscreen for a car windshield to reflect a diffused light upon the rifle. You night have to play with the white balance or temperature in PP to warm up the photo if taken in the shade which may give a blue tint.

Thanks for the tips.

I use red felt stretched across a piece of plywood and then have white tag board behind it to reflect behind so I have less shadows. It has worked pretty well for indoor photos. I'm not an expert though.

Way back when Ken Howell started a series of posts on photographing firearms. I don't recall if he very finished it because there more than a few "I know a better/right way" posts generated. I didn't understand theses posts seeing that Ken has had such a long and strong presences in the community. Heck he was an editor, columnist/photography and ballistician who developed his own cartridge line.

i have found a "sweet spot" that during the day is about perfect for photographing small objects ,guns ,etc. its on my back deck ,it has a white ceiling so i always get good light.

use a "daylight" flourescent bulb to get good color for indoor pics.

2 things you don't want.

1 is flat lighting
2 is harsh soot and chalk type lighting.

you want nice directional type light and then you want to fill in the shadows so that you have a nice 3 to 1 lighting ratio.

you can find this by finding some good window light, or by using a flash with your camera, but not by using the flash on the camera.

And then, you want to fill in the shadows by using a reflector on the other side of the light.

Another good thing to do is to go to the hardware store and pick up a few clamps that have rubber on them that you can use to hold your guns in place while you photograph them. You can put the clamps on a couple of chairs, or whatever, and then on the ends of the gun to hold it. You don't want the gun directly on the background if you can help it. Another thing you can do is to put a strong wooden dowel on a base, and stand the gun on the dowel by putting the dowel into the barrel. If you are careful you will not hurt anyting. You will then have the gun standing straight up and down and you can crop it right at the base thereby showing the whole barrel.

I downloaded the sections that Ken Howell posted, and asked him a couple of follow-on questions. I use one of the light boxes you sale for sale in the catalogs for smaller items and a home made rig outside. I recall Ken had one that used a section of parachute to diffuse sunlight on rifles.

jim

I like the idea of the wooden dowel to suspend the rifle, and the chute for a diffuser.