What's the best way to take a gun photo?

[hightime]

Seems like an art to me. Some pictures here show good detail and the full lenght. I can't seem to figure it out. Do you stay back a distance and zoom in to fill the frame? How about lighting? Maybe outside on an overcast day. Bright lights don't work for me.

Owen----------becuse-eye-ustacud

[Pitchy]

I`m a camera dummy but outside without flash on works best for me, inside by a window no flash most the time especially if there are reflective parts.
Side view of rifle so it just fits in frame seems best for me.

[adirondakjack]

Best is outside, no flash, non-reflective background (wood, a blanket, etc), and yes, stay back a bit. A tripod helps a lot.

I used to sell small antiques and collectibles on Ebay. When doing indoor pics, I used at least two FLOOD lights (not spotlights, flood lights) placed so the lighting came over both of my shoulders to limit shadows, a non-reflective background (a piece of leather dyed light tan was a favorite) a tripod and the camera's self timer. Getting rid of any possible shake and tons of light is key to crisp pics.

[airedaleman]

And PLEASE make the first shot of a firearm an overall of the RIGHT side of the subject. That's the side with most of the interesting and/or identifying characteristics. Then do details in close-ups...

[gamekeeper]

Don't forget the slippers!

[Ironwood]

Two of the most common errors I see on the forums is "not enough light" and "getting to close to your subject". To get good sharp photos you have to work at it a bit.

Not enough light leads to dark blurry photos caused by camera movement. You need to pay attention to what your camera is telling you. Your shutter speed needs to be at least 1/60th of a second. 1/125th is much better. More light = faster shutter speed. There are a few ways you can accomplish this. Check your owners manual.

Every camera lens has a minimum focus distance. If you get closer to your subject than the minimum focus distance your photo will be blurry even though you have enough light. Some lens will focus down to less than an inch. Others might have a minimum distance of 8 or 10 inches. Some point and shoot cameras have even a greater distance, into feet. Again check your Owners manual.

If you can't get outdoors to take your photos or you are wanting to take a photo at night there's still hope for a good sharp photo. Most cameras now days have a feature where you can control the "White Balance" It will be a little light bulb something like this. At that setting your camera will compensate for the light put out by household lights. You will still have to satisfy the above conditions. Does this sound familiar? Check your owners manual to see if your camera has this feature.

When you can't meet the shutter speed, as someone said above, use a tripod. If you don't have a tripod. Any steady flat surface, that you can hold your camera against, while the shutter is open, will usually give you a sharp photo.

Sorry I got carried away. Anyway, I hope this helps you with your photos.

[olyinaz]

For gun shots I think staging is a huge part of it. When I see the photos that are staged with appropriate objects such as gun leather, a horse blanket and saddle, or outside on an old wagon wheel or up against an old split wood fence, I always think it looks great even if the lighting or crispness of the photo is not at maximum. In the shade outside on a sunny day is fantastic but cloudy days work too. Direct sun is difficult, but it can work if you work to minimize shadows and bright reflective spots. Inside with good lighting and a tripod works great, but you do have to adjust for white balance as the other fellow mentioned. Inside with a flash is the most difficult but even it can work depending on what you're trying to accomplish. Indirect flash is virtually a must (bouncing the flash) and multiple flash units are preferred.

Here's an inside flash photo that I took for a self-portrait when someone asked me to post a photo of myself and I was feeling squirrelly:





Lighting and minimizing shake are key in my view!

Most of my gun photos are lame because I usually can't be bothered with setting up and going for the nice staged shots like Kirk wows us with. I intend to work on that once a few of my other pressing time-consumers roll off my back.

Have some fun with it!

Best,
Oly

[Ironwood]

Wow! Beautiful! I need to ask, was your reflection in the recoil shield part of the staging?

[Griff]

Oly,

Great self-protrait!

Much of it is the camera, 6 megapixels is about minimum to get ine detail. A "macro" is also almost a must. Most of the better cameras habbe a "preview" button that really helps you see the shot before you snap the shutter. A tripod and cable release great if your camera has the necessary connections. Whebever possible use the high quality or hi-def setting.

Setting or background reallly do make an impact on the overall pic. "Busy" backgrounds detract from the subject, still-lifes look best with solid backgrounds and only one, maybe two other elements in the frame. But, "snapshots" can also be great. Remember this, if YOU like the pic, who cares what others say? I've won two different phootography contests, both with pictures others told stood NO chance of even being acceptted. One of a bird that in it's final form looked more like a pencil drawing than a photo, and the other of the moonrise over Death Valley that was sightly under-exposed and greatly over developed and the blown up to about 50 times the size of the 35mm negative.

Lastly... take LOTS of shots, with digital there's NO processing fees, so expense ain't an excuse. Although I still carry around my Nikon slr, I rarely use it unless I'm working on a photo project that requires film... and I've been known to use a whole roll for just one shot. My next camera will be a digital Nikon that'll accept my slr lenses. Remember, LOTS of pictures, keep the ones YOU like!

[oic0]

If you have a little point and shoot, they have very small sensors and will always do poorly in low light unless some big technical advance comes along. The larger sensor cameras like SLR and DSLR can get away with a lot more lighting wise. You can have a bazillion megapixel camera but if the sensor is small the image is going to lack detail at low light levels and flash usually looks bad because it is so directional. Outdoors works pretty well. Your house might seem bright but try to read your cell phone screen. Now go outside in daylight and try. I bet youll notice a difference unless you live in a glass house.

[adirondakjack]

Olyinaz is right about staging.

I've gotten great comments on a few pics that were just snapped, no tripod, my shakey hands, no real prep, 5 MP camera on "auto", etc. It was all about the composition.

[Old Savage]

Oly - fantastic - Kirk has a challenger and I don't think Kirk has done anything that sharp. I am downloading it before Hobie deems in unsafe and what if Weiner find out about this.

[gak]

Coming from a real amateur who is far from perfect in these regards, but from a viewer's or buyer's perspective, I ++1 that many (many) folks do not use enough light and that is perhaps the most frequent complaint. Even if you still do not have the most artistic composition, that one component is critical. It is (almost) not possible to have too much--vs too little--lighting, especially if posting on an auction or other classifieds site. As someone said, with multiple tries possible especially with digital, there's almost no excuse these days, especially regarding lighting. Look at your "proofs" before posting! That said, I've got to walk some of my own talk now - dang!

[6pt-sika]

My little Nikon is 6.2 and is about 7 years old ! It also has Macro . And I shake a certain amount !

But I take ALOT of pics with it and seem to do pretty well with detailed pics for Gunbroker !

I take pics indoors and outside depending on what they may be of !

All ya gotta do is keep trying and sooner or later you'll get the knack . Besides it doesn't cost anything other then battery life to take them and delete them if you're not satisfied !

[El Chivo]

Old Savage where are the chicks with guns photos?

[Gobblerforge]

Also to go with the above, dust can realy show on a close up. Compressed air works great for final cleaning.
Gobbler

[mod71alaska]

I've been looking for better ways to take rifle photos, so I'm taking in all your good comments, Guys.

I will add that using a camera with "image stabilization" makes a big difference, if you don't use a tripod. Also, edit photos to adjust the exposure, sharpen, etc. using your computers photo application, such as iPhoto on the Mac. Sometimes it helps to make final tweaks in the quality of your pictures.

[harry]

This web site has alot of tips and setups for low light and just using your camera:
http://www.tecca.com/columns/?column=di ... graphy-101
WY2000

[Hagler]

Owen,

I took these pictures inside, and used a photo editing program to help me adjust them. Some of them were taken with manual setting, instead of automatic settings (click for a larger size):






The following were taken outside, with bright, full sunlight:



Practice is the key. I am always learning.

Shawn

[Ben_Rumson]

Now for the ole threadkillers post...
It seems there’s lots of times when you just need a quick pic for illustrative purposes and are not trying to compose a nice photo with your camera, but need something better than what cell phones usually produce.. Yech!... The thing is for me it was simpler & more expedient to learn to use flash....It’s always with the camera anyway and you can't always be outdoors or get enough natural light indoors when you need it...Like at night time for instance...or it’s stormy out there ... Rigging up/arranging & experimenting with lighting is a process/art in itself...Why not learn to use the light that comes with the camera to start with? Flash eliminates shake/blur from a slow shutter speed/low light and no tripod is necessarily needed... The other thing is get the auto focus feature most cameras have now days to do what you need... Like get the subject in focus and not the stinkin’ background in focus!! ... For those of us who don’t have a SLR.. learn how to trick auto focus to get what you want!... That is, what you want in focus, in focus!!...The best trick (and I’m sure this has got to be a common longtime expedient) I’ve figured out with MY camera for a in focus close up of a smallish object and not what’s a foot in back of it, is to use a large enough object next to the actual subject for auto focus to lock onto, then remove that object when the camera is still locked on the area where the actual subject is and then snap the picture....I wanted a close up of the logo on this

M1 carbine safety (I guess I could have removed the safety )...But after some experimentation, I wound up holding a piece of notepaper next to the safety so the camera locked on it (the camera emits a beep when it’s locked on and in focus) removed it and took the pic..I also used high resolution so that the details would be sharp enough and cropped the pic down to a postable size... YMMV

[Hagler]

...also, sometimes photographing the markings can be a pain (click to enlarge):



...so, I fill in the letters & symbols with chalk, or baby powder:



Some photographers may highlight them with a crayon.

Shawn

[salvo]

I found I get OK photos shooting outside in the shade, (Digital camera, low pixle) at sundown/sunrise or overcast. Just do not have the equipment for decent flash photography and sunlight seems to harsh.