Taking Photos of your guns

[jtischauser]

What is the best way to take good gun pics? I am just using a cheap video camera for the pics but I think my lightiing is what is sucking up my pictures. What do you ugys do to get good lighting? Anybody use a light box? If so where do I get a decent one and what do I get.

 

[Burk Cornelius]

My wife uses a cheap light box I bought her from Epperson ($40 ?) It is great for smaller items like guns. It gets rid of all the shadows and really looks professional.

 

[jtischauser]

Can you fit a rifle in there?

 

[Burk Cornelius]

Can you fit a rifle in there?

Negative ghost rider. Ours is only about 18"x18"x18"

 

[jtischauser]

I wonder if you could expand it?

 

[Burk Cornelius]

You could probably make one similar to it with a sheet and some wire hangers. Kind of a redneck lightbox

 

[MISph1t]

This site: DIY Photograpy has lots of info on building your own softboxes and lighting stuff. You can build some nifty stuff out of the white foamcore stuff you get at Hobby Lobby.

The biggest thing is getting the light off of your camera (don't use the built in flash). Get a couple of shop lights (the kind with the silver bowls) and use the white foamcore to direct the light where you want it.

What you are wanting to do is considered product photography. Here is another good site with info: Table Top Studio

Product photography is an art in itself, but you can use a few basic techniques and get some good results.

 

[pyplynr]

My good gun pics, I trade my cousin (who just graduated college for photography) trigger time for his badass camera and know how. I haven't had him do any of my latest guns cuz I wasn't finished with them. We did some sweet archery photos for one of his tests in college. I'll post em up when I get home to my computer sat nite.

 

[jtischauser]

This site: DIY Photograpy has lots of info on building your own softboxes and lighting stuff. You can build some nifty stuff out of the white foamcore stuff you get at Hobby Lobby.

The biggest thing is getting the light off of your camera (don't use the built in flash). Get a couple of shop lights (the kind with the silver bowls) and use the white foamcore to direct the light where you want it.

What you are wanting to do is considered product photography. Here is another good site with info: Table Top Studio

Product photography is an art in itself, but you can use a few basic techniques and get some good results.

Good stuff, Thanks!

My good gun pics, I trade my cousin (who just graduated college for photography) trigger time for his badass camera and know how. I haven't had him do any of my latest guns cuz I wasn't finished with them. We did some sweet archery photos for one of his tests in college. I'll post em up when I get home to my computer sat nite.

How much does he charge and where does he live?

 

[bsdubois00]

I did not build this lightbox but helped with instruction on building it. The photo I edited after he played with the lightbox. This was done by a person with not much photography skills at first and with a little tweaking good photos can be done.

 

[dennishoddy]

Good info! my gun pics usually suck. I've learned something today.

 

[pyplynr]

Here are a couple of the pics my cousin did for one of his assignments in college. He said the theme of the assignment was "people and nature". I need to get him out and take pics of my guns that I've finished.

He played with a filter or something and did this to the 2nd pic

 

[dennishoddy]

Very nice!

 

[soonerman]

Lately I've just been using my iPhone haha but the lightbox setup is nice I may have to put one together

 

[HMFIC]

I did not build this lightbox but helped with instruction on building it. The photo I edited after he played with the lightbox. This was done by a person with not much photography skills at first and with a little tweaking good photos can be done.

What kind of editing did you do on the second pic? Did that light box do enough to make it look like a full white background without any shadows?

I've tried and tried to get correct lighting for photos like that but mine always end up with something wrong. Maybe I'm not using enough lights though?

 

[bsdubois00]

The original photo had the white sheet in the background - I used the wonderful magic wand in PS to remove anything white - since the gun is black it easily picked up the sheet and removed it.

not hard at all - if you wanna send me some pics that you took I can possible head advice

 

[redneck1861]

Jesse, my grandmother is a professional photographer, and her office is in Piedmont