overhead ceiling fan lighting, 4 of those energy saving lightbulbs that are all twisted up.

Something to be aware of with the shop lights is color balance. If possible, I'd suggest shooting RAW and using a grey card so you can correct any color shifts during post-processing.

.

I recently did this image for a post in GD. I figured it'd be a good one to dissect.



The setup involved propping an AR up on top of a couple nylon gun cases. Bricks were used to gain height on the rear case and a film can held the flash hider up off the nylon so it didn't create a distracting dent.
I used my digital view camera setup with a 47mm digital Rodagon lens.



I wanted the lighting to be dark and moody. I knew that meant a small sliver of light but I also knew it needed to be a broad light source to carry a reflection along the whole length of the rifle.
I accomplished the lighting with a small 'striplight' softbox which I further restricted by taping the flaps closer together to reduce the amount of light and the size of the light. This was on a Speedotron strobe head at 1200 watts.
This was not enough and I had to add 2 black 'flags' to further block light to create  the soft 'sliver' of light I was looking for. In the end, very little direct light is hitting the rifle as the light is pointing straight at the flags.
The light looked good but it needed a kick. I added a small 7" 'grid' reflector on another light head to skim across the rifle from the right but not hitting the nylon bags. This was at 400 watts.



I feel the image turned out pretty good and it was a less than complex setup.

Lets see if we can recreate it with non pro photo gear.

Here's the setup with a Canon 5mp point n shoot.



Using the skylights above the set we get a nice image . The angle matches perfect but the lighting isn't even close.



We're going to need some artificial light. I'll use my $20 home depot light. This is an incandescent type halogen light which requires the correct 'incandescent' setting on the camera and the blocking out of all existing daylight. I was able to cantelever out the light above the set by swapping out parts on the light. Some 'diffusion material' (tough rolux) was placed in front of the light.
This is important because it creates an effectively larger light source which gives us more white stuff to reflect in the black rifle. It's not as big as the softbox but it'll do.



Here's the image. It looks alright but it's overlit.



We'll add some black cards to the light to help create that 'sliver' of light look. We'll also need to add another light from the side. This will be a 50 watt reflector type household bulb in a desk lamp fixture. The reflector type bulb helps throw the beam across the rifle while not spilling too much light on the sides. A small black card was placed in front of this side light to block light from the front corner of the nylon bag.



Here's the shot with both lights



It's close but we're missing those nice dark gradations on the mags. Simply holding a card by hand to block the light at the time of exposure adds the final touch.



After a little more tweaking of the position of the top light and adjusting the exposure to make the image lighter overall gives us this which is getting quite close.



A little work in Photoshop allows us to correct the color and darken the edges of the frame.



Here's the original with the studio lights again



Just goes to show what can be accomplished with $25 worth of lights and a large measure of patience.
The little Canon 610 looks great. 5mp goes a long way, especially on the web.
Though for print usage, the larger studio digital cameras cannot be beat.



BE CAREFUL WHEN PHOTOGRAPHING FIREARMS. MAKE SURE ALL GUNS ARE UNLOADED AND ACCOUNT FOR ANY LIVE AMMO ON SET.

What a fantastic thread.  I bought a Canon Powershot A95 last year.  I've been tinkering a little bit, but I'm still learning how to use the damn thing.  Here are some that I've taken.  Some by sunlight (through a window) and some from bathroom lights...

This is my desktop right now.

tag

Great thread.  tagged.  I've never before tried to post a pic.  How do you do it??

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=5865

I took this the other night with the Digital Rebel.  Lots of lint in the pic.

This is really great info - I think everyone here can learn something from one part of it or another.

My only "add" would be if you don't have a light table or other improvised setup, plexiglass on a white background can work well for the "white" shots.  

- Canon 20D - 24-70/f4 L

This is  a quick and dirty picture I took after customizing my newest handgun.  I cleaned up the image using GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) as best as I could.

Invisiblesoul

Fun thread.  It inspired me to go take some pics of guns.  Not everything worked out tho  this one wasnt bad:



eta: cugir.. amazing..

My first attempt.  This is so much fun.

here is my crack at it with a Sony CyberShot 3.2 mp and a 60w desk lamp

6.1 megapixel outside light/overcast only

20iner, you can really make some simple changes to your images to clear up the blue cast and really make the images sweet. Hope you don't mind my examples.

Here's some on the light table.  A few pieces of 11x17 paper to tone down the flourescents.  There are 1.6 sec exposures at f30 or thereabouts.

And here's some more miscellany, taken on my desktop with a 60 watt incandescent.  These and the above were all taken with my new Nikon D50, which I really like.





And two more on the lightbox.

Very cool guys, very cool.  I will post some of my photos a little later.

Here is my Blue Bird.

And here is my Yellow Orchid taken at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus Ohio with a hand held Canon 10D using the on camera flash.

Pink Orchid...

Well, here are a few pictures I did outside a few months ago.  I just came across this area and have learned quite a bit from the tutorials here.

These pictures were taken outside, it was an overcast day towards sunset.  You can notice some of the colors (the sky had an orange hew to it).





I have a few more but I have to resize and upload them.

Here are a couple more.

There's lots of good pictures here..........but I've always been kinda partial to this one........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v368/sotwmc/407687.jpg

http://www.doradointeractive.com/glock2.jpg

glock 26

8.5x11 sheet of paper, window, olympus e-500 with a tripod, its a small size scaled way down for myspace

Originally Posted By sotw: There's lots of good pictures here..........but I've always been kinda partial to this one........ img.photobucket.com/albums/v368/sotwmc/407687.jpg

Looks like her "Cannons" are ready to fire.

Here's a few I took this morning; I really like the overall "grayness" of the pics...







Whaddya thunk?

So, with my Canon Powershot A610, I can take great clear pics with the help of Adobe?  Here's a couple of the best pics I've ever taken of gun parts:

Indoors
Inner markings of an XM177 stock latch:


Comparison between BFI and RRA bolts:


Outdoor
Stocks:


Great thread for taggage!

ETA:  Wolf_Spyder.  Those are amazing macro shots!

first attempt at shooting a pistol in a light box.
http://www.pafoa.org/forum/imagehosting/63245ce0483c84f2.jpg

I need to make a bigger box. Iwould also like to try with some colored lights.

some nice pictures in here.  i need to invest in a light setup now lol

here's a couple pictures, gun sitting on the kitchen counter..

http://www.eh-online.net/images/misc/IMG_2886-1.jpg
http://www.eh-online.net/images/misc/IMG_2893-1.jpg

I just stumbled into this forum....never been here before - awesome!

Here is the master of handgun photos.....with his instructions.

Dr Ken Lunde's Pistol Page

A few just for fun......

http://www.tamparacing.com/photopost/data/500/glock_1.jpg

http://www.tamparacing.com/photopost/data/500/glock_2.jpg

http://www.tamparacing.com/photopost/data/500/glock_3.jpg

a few recent shots with my new light box.  

Originally Posted By vanilla_gorilla: Oh so tagged. Thank you.

+100

My contribution.  Still a bunch of work to do.  I'm just trying to get used to these new lights.  I'm not happy with the brightness and contrast, but I'll work on it.

great thread.  

So cugir , or anyone else that can anser, what are the essentials to start a small "studio" in my garage?  I currently have a canon S3 IS, it's no DSLR but as close as I'll ever have.  
I saw a mention of a white paper/board with plexi-glass on top of it.  Wouldn't the glass make a bad reflection.  I have a small tripod but I would guess I'd need a taller one for those overhead shots as well as some lighting.  What exact ype of lights are needed.  Preferrably somehting from Home Depit, Lowes, walmart, etc.
And then some more white paper or posterboard to use to "soften" the lights?  Is that what you're using it for?

thnaks for any other info.

Any ideas on how to take these three things and make a good photo?

gun
poster
bayo

Very nice!

I have some work to do.

BigDozer66

M9

Great thread!  I love taking pictures with my new Panasonic 7.2 Megapixel.  Since I bought it in April, I have taken over 3000 pictures with it....

One thing I'd like to add is:

If your camera has the option for taking a black & white picture, try it sometime.  Black & White seems to give an edgier feel or more class to pictures that would otherwise just be very bland.

For example...





And here are some others I took...

Sony DSC-H1 5.1 MP (Ruger Vaquero/44 MAG)