I just finished my first attempt at making a light box for taking photos of my S&Ws. I got the plans online. The 624 came out ok, but every time I tried to shoot a blued gun it came out way too dark. Do I need brighter lights? I'm using two lights, one on each side and I'm using one sheet of white tissue on each opening for a diffuser. Any help is appreciated. Lee

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NRA Cert. Inst. RSO

What camera are you using?

A DSLR can have the exposure offset to compensate.

Remember, the camera is dumb, it thinks EVERYTHING is 20% grey



If it is much different the camera needs to be told.

It depends on the camera's internal metering settings. If you're averaging, the high contrast with the dark revolver and light background, will cause the meter to underexpose the subject. If your camera has a center-weighted, or spot meter setting, you should use that. The only downside, is that the metering system will overexpose the background. That's a fact of life. Bracket your exposures, both .5, to 2 stops over, and then do the same .5, to 2 stops under. Go in .5 stop increments. You'll need to be able to manually set your exposures.

You can also bounce the flash from the walls and ceiling, and it will expose based on the subject in the light box. You can also try a combination of both flash and continuous lighting.

The exposure on the stainless steel gun is very good. Good contrast and not losing detail.

All of us experiment until we get the results we want. Then, write down the settings and set-up, and do it that way to keep your results consistent.

My camera is a Panasonic Lumix. It's a pretty nice camera and I'll never be able to make it run like it could. I usually leave it on auto-focus. I'm thinking I should try lighting thru the top window which should eliminate the shadow. My lights are just two small natural light desk lamps I got at Costco.

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NRA Cert. Inst. RSO

Just keep trying, it will come to you.

I bought this two light kit with the light box from Ebay for $59 delivered.



Your setup is perfect, just buy the biggest CFL's you can find.

I bought the kit, because it came with big bulbs.

If you get a big "glare" on a gun, try pinning some black paper inside the tent where the glare is coming from.

OH, yea, we want pics!!

When needed, I use more lights. The type of floodlights I used to use when working in houses at night- They make a 'daylight' light that seems to work ok for me.,have used four lights as well. JMHO

I set up my workshop with ceiling florescent 6500K bulbs. Under the cabinets over my workbench I have 6500K lights. I also have a desk lamp with a daylight bulb. When I get a new gun, I take photos by clamping a piece of white poster paper to the bench and curve it up with a rear support. The lamp allows me to tune the shadows. This was taken at f11, ISO200 and 1/13nd sec from a tripod. I then cropped and enhanced the color balance using the histogram in Photoshop elements. I like how the markings on the barrel jump out. I had just put the grips on after I won them in a Karma here. The finish is unusual. It is Electroless Nickle, a very hard material.



Here is a blue 21-4.



Photoshop lets you correct the contrast and correct what would be a poorly exposed shot.

I took this shot of the super moon and the original photo was over exposed before I adjusted to what you see here. The darker areas that you see here were white in the original.

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Corripe Cervisiam

I normally don't want to use florescent lamps for film photography. The color/temp is too inconsistent, even with a proper filter, and actually fades quickly with use. The CFLs I've tried were even worse. That's why I'd bought actual photo-flood bulbs.

Most the photography I'm doing now is digital, so it isn't as much of an issue. I can usually make adjustments in post-processing on the computer if necessary.

I tried pointing the lights into the box for reflected light. They came out a whole lot better. Before:

After:

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NRA Cert. Inst. RSO

Try matching the reflectivity and color of the background to that of the gun.

The camera is having a hard time with two distinctly different regions to take pics.

This happens when you take pics after a snow storm.

The white overpowers the camera's capability.

It was not dark out when I took this pic.

Once you nail the correct exposure, it should not change if the gun finish changes. Once you get a good shot/exposure set your camera to manual exposure and use that exposure for all your shots, assuming your set-up (lights) remain at basically the same distance and the ISO is the same.

As others have said, leaving the camera on "auto" exposure will usually not work well especially with a white (or black) background. If you have a more neutral background (color wise) auto could work ok.

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Lou

I started with a white background and found it washed out the stainless steel and when to a dark gray background. Now I use a medium red and that seems to allow both blued and stainless to show up well enough but now the cocobolo wood grips look brown. I'm not sure you can do this really well without swapping backdrops as needed.

To my mind, lightboxes are too complex, too finicky for proper exposure, and usually not big enough for longarms as well as handguns. I've never used one.

Instead, I use a sheet of white countertop material and shoot outdoors in the shade or on a cloudy overcast day. The light will be "soft," the white balance easy, and you can shoot virtually any size or length of gun with your camera. No fussy setup, either. Here is a pic of my rig and some examples:

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

If you set the white balance manually (if your camera allows) try different values until you get the colors you like, then always set the camera to that white balance with the same lighting etc. All the colors will be correct regardless of the background color (or gun finish).

I use incandescent's and the WB I like is around 2800K but this will depend on the type of lighting you use.

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Lou

I forgot to add that I use the Home Depot CFL bulbs that used to come in the blue and white package. I say used to because they have recently changed all the colors on the packaging… (sigh) So now I don’t remember if they are the super bright white or what. I do know that the simulated day light bulbs do NOT work for this effort. And they were expensive.

Oh, and I thoroughly enjoyed that recent Galil article. That was a great read.

Your camera has a lot more features than you are using. I do not know what specific model you have, but this site has a lot of detail on cameras. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 Review: Digital Photography Review

You will notice that there several letters on the dial on top of the camera. One is an A. This setting lets you set the aperture setting and the camera will decide the lens speed. The larger the aperture, the deeper the field from front to back will be in focus. It may be necessary to use a tripod with a high setting because the camera will leave the lens open longer than you can keep it still. You can also set the ISO lower to get less graininess and higher to get a faster exposure.

On this page Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 Review: Digital Photography Review, you can find the exposure settings. By adjusting higher or lower numbers, you can control how bright the photo will be.

There is a lot that your camera can do. I just mentioned a couple of items.

If you are new to photography, I recommend that you get a good book on the fundamentals.

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Corripe Cervisiam

This might be a little confusing. The larger the aperture NUMBER (the smaller the actual hole in the diaphragm), the deeper the depth of field.

I stand corrected. I should have caught that.

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Corripe Cervisiam

John is of course correct-- I will use natrual light when I can-- Cloudy days are preferred, at least by me, as is a more natrual surrounding. JMHO-

1. How big is your light box? I built one based on plans I got here, but it was too big for the available lights. Unless you're planning on photographing LARGE things in it, make it as small as your subjects allow.
2. Use AT LEAST 100W daylight balanced CFLs.
3. If you can, set a custom white balance.

I don't have time to attach any now, but 1 and 3 above made a VAST difference is the quality of my tabletop/macro photos recently.

Thanks for all the good advice. I had forgotten my No.1 rule..when in doubt, read the directions. I set the dial to "Macro" and am now trying some other tweaks. Using a tripod, a 2 second delay and the results are a lot better. Thanks again, Lee.
Baby Chief:

Chiefs Special Airweight:

Pre27:

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NRA Cert. Inst. RSO