Gun Pr0n 101

On By Tom LindsayIn Uncategorized

One thing about being a nerd my age is by now I have quite a large collection of neat hobby stuff. In a previous life, I dabbled quite a bit in photography, back when photos were taken on something called “film.” For a while I even had a neat deal going – I took pictures of people’s weddings, and they paid me money, and I bought photo equipment with the money, and the IRS said it was okay.

Well, I don’t take photos for money any more, but I still have the lighting equipment. So I decided to haul some of it down from the attic and set it up in the workshop.

Click to embiggen

Here are some results of my attempts. I think Oleg and Yamil can relax.

Bucky, my Browning Buck Mark

The Duke, my Glock 21SF

The Glock family

Sergei, my SKS

There were more in the session, but I think I need a different camera and more patience. Look for more examples in future posts.

Oleg, you made it look so easy at the Blogger Shoot. Unfair.

3 thoughts on “Gun Pr0n 101”

  1. The one "secret" I have found to photographing guns is light… lots and lots of light. From lots of sources. And diffuse if you can. You are definitely off to a good start with the light umbrella thingie, but it does not hurt to use a tripod and an extended-length shutter – does not really matter how long it stays open, and the more light the sensor has, the more it can do. 'Side from that, RAW file formats are great, and some kind of touch-up software like Picasa or whatnot.

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  2. I've been playing with photographing guns for a little while and I've picked up a few tricks.First, if you want to do some web research, google up "product photography" as that is essentially what we're doing with the posed static shots. I found some good tips on light set up, etc, that way.My other main suggestion is for you to try using a light box. That would diffuse the light and avoid the heavy shadows in some of your photos. I think that would work better then the umbrella for this purpose.I just built a DIY lightbox out of a cardboard box and tisssue paper. I'm still experimenting with it and haven't got anything I'm willing to post yet. It does look promising though. I think I just need to add more lights and I'll have it. I'm probably going to buy some cheap work lights to really light up the subjects.My next lightbox is going to use muslin from the fabric store as the tissue papers rips too easily in use. The best gun photos I've taken were outdoors on an overcast day. You can't always get that though.Btw, since I don't think I've commented here before, good to meeet you at the Lucky Gunner shoot.Rob ReedMichigan Firearms Examiner

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