Anyone else into firearm photography?

[Max713]

I'm a fan! Been a professional sports photographer for years, been getting in to shooting firearms recently, as my collection has been growing

_MAX3682 by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

_MAX3186 by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

_MAX4224 by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

MAX_0332 by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

_MAX3766 by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

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[thirtycal]

Very nice. Your skill shows.

Thirtycal

 

[MilitantBEEMER]

Very nice! What kind of hand guard and flash hider are on the 2nd AR? I really like the looks of that with the Leupold Fire Dot

 

[UserNameInUse]

I'm never happy with my results but I'm trying real hard.

My current struggle is trying to make shiny metal look shiny in the photo. Matte surfaces are so much easier to deal with. I've shot polished blued guns in a light box and had them look matte. Turns out, to look shiny you need reflections. Duh!

Then you need to make sure you don't get a reflection of the camera or your face in the gun. Here I am shooting from behind board that has black and white areas to create some reflections.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Very nice. Maybe you could try a can a Spam next ala Warhol.








just kidding!

 

[Max713]

Very nice! What kind of hand guard and flash hider are on the 2nd AR? I really like the looks of that with the Leupold Fire Dot

Thanks! 15" BCM KMR Rail, Silencerco ASR Flash Hider.

 

[Joe Link]

Nice work! Just found out the girlfriend has a Nikon D40 which she rarely uses. She also has a couple of lenses (this and this) and an external flash. Any tips for those of us with zero experience?

 

[RicInOR]

This guy is, sorta

The Yankee Marshal (@theyankeemarshal) • Instagram photos and videos

@Joe Link
He's also made some videos, including a couple on retouching your gun photos.

example:

 

[H2O MAN]

Not professionally... getting everything in crisp clear focus is a challenge for me.

 

[Oryguner]

Now you done it.....I think I do more shooting with the camera than actual trigger pullin.
This could go on for days......

 

[nammac]

Nice work! Just found out the girlfriend has a Nikon D40 which she rarely uses. She also has a couple of lenses (this and this) and an external flash. Any tips for those of us with zero experience?

Either lens will work, depending on what your photographing and you distance from the subject. Wider angle lens (18-55mm) for long guns, to be able to get the whole long gun into the frame... The telephoto lens (55-200) would probably be best suited to small arms and close ups...

If the flash has the ability to be tilted up, that'll provided more even flash coverage and less of a bright spot reflection on the subject. If it has a diffuser panel that's even better for softening the flash and producing more uniform light...

Larger f stops (larger number) on the lens produce more defined backgrounds, smaller f (smaller numbers) setting on the lens produces a softer, more diffused background...

Back when cellouse film was in vogue, I was a bit of a photography hobbyist... Today, all my photo shooting is via the iPhone...

This shot is with an LED shop light and the seat of a step stool out in my shop, it's all about managing light and shadows...

 

[etrain16]

Nice work! Just found out the girlfriend has a Nikon D40 which she rarely uses. She also has a couple of lenses (this and this) and an external flash. Any tips for those of us with zero experience?

A couple of recommendations, coming from someone that has shot portraits and weddings for a number of years - avoid the flash whenever possible. Use natural light whenever possible. In fact, I pretty much never use flash, even indoors - I'll get near a window or if necessary, shoot under a tungsten or fluorescent light and color correct in software later. I shoot outdoors as much as I can because the light is simply better than anything you can duplicate artificially. Also, use a tripod whenever you can as well - having a very stable platform will help tremendously. Some other random suggestions:

• when shooting something like a gun, shoot as many different angles you can picture - move around the subject, shoot high, shoot low, shoot close up and further back - with digital, you can afford to take a lot of shots and sort them out later. You'll be surprised how much difference varying the angles can make in getting a photo that doesn't look too 'static'.
• try varying the backgrounds, especially outdoors - concrete, grass, wood, rocks, moss, lots of interesting backgrounds that help the gun stand out
• avoid shooting mid-day in direct sunlight, far too much contrast between the bright areas and the shadow areas. Stick with overcast days, or in shade, or even better, early morning or late afternoon/early evening light.
• use a good post-production software like Adobe Lightroom - that way you can worry less about things like color temperature, contrast, etc - you can clean them up later and really make your photos pop. When I'm short on time, I will use a freeware like Fastone Image Viewer which does a really fantastic job processing batches of images with adjustments and resizing. I almost always adjust things like color (color temp), contrast, saturation, exposure and sharpness.
• try photographing with and without accessories, such as magazines, in various operating states, such as slide locked back, bolt open, etc.
• clean your guns before you photograph them - watch for things like fingerprints or even lint - which I missed on this gun until after I viewed the image on the monitor:

Some other photos of guns I've taken recently:

 

[mcfoto]

I'm never happy with my results but I'm trying real hard.

My current struggle is trying to make shiny metal look shiny in the photo. Matte surfaces are so much easier to deal with. I've shot polished blued guns in a light box and had them look matte. Turns out, to look shiny you need reflections. Duh!

Then you need to make sure you don't get a reflection of the camera or your face in the gun. Here I am shooting from behind board that has black and white areas to create some reflections.

View attachment 282617

Like this?



Commercial studio photographer with 35 years of experience here. This was done on my kitchen table. The secret to managing reflections is NOT to shoot straight on (or down). You can then give your gun a nice clean surface to "see." In this case, the white ceiling with a flash bounced into it.

 

[CountryGent]

Very nice pics, etrain16.

 

[nammac]

Gun porn, I likey!!!!

 

[UserNameInUse]

The secret to managing reflections is NOT to shoot straight on (or down).

Like this?

I'm particularly satisfied with this one. It is pretty obvious looking at the cylinder it was taken at an angle.



BTW, Joe Link, the light box you got is the one I have. It is good for some things, but for guns I have stopped using it. You don't want to eliminate reflections.

etrain is making me think I need to be a little more creative with backgrounds.

 

[Kruel J]

The photos here are amazing. The only camera I own has an Apple on the back.

 

[teflon6string]

The photos here are amazing. The only camera I own has an Apple on the back.

Even those work pretty good observing the hints above about lighting, backgrounds, angles, accessories, setting, various stages of dis-assembly, etc.

Really great pics guys!

 

[Kruel J]

Yeah, it does ok for what it is I guess. Someday I'll buy an actual camera.

 

[Member 5605]

I'm learning photography and guns are a nice inanimate object that doesn't move so it's easy to photograph. I like wide open f-stops though..