I have noticed photos, particularly from a few individuals, of nickel guns that don't seem to have the reflection problem that I have. I even tried outside under a clear blue sky, result, blue gun. I enjoy taking photos of older S&W handguns, but this reflection thing has got me. The 29-2 in the two photos here has a finish about as close to perfect as I have seen on a used gun, but you would never know it from the pics!

Any suggestions?

DLB

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A light box to diffuse the light.

Outside on a slightly cloudy day.

Multiple flashes from converging angles.

Hell, I don't know. I have a hard time getting good gun photos and the shiny guns are real tough.

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Tripod, light box, custom white balance and manual settings for exposure and aperture.

What is a light box?

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Youtube will show you how to make one. You will also see what they are and how they work. Don

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Thanks Don!

David

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Be Kind! John 3:16,14:27

The light boxes allow you to control reflections a little easier...

Amazon.com: light box photography

Indirect light as much as possible... this was done with a translucent tupperware box (clear/white) with tissue paper taped on the sides....



This one was done on a snowy day (outside, LOL!!) on the couch.. you can see that I still have a lot of reflections present... the depth of field needs to be larger and I could have gone 1/3 stop brighter. So it really helps if you have manual exposure controls on your camera.



The darned blue guns are the hardest to photograph!!

P.S.....

TRIPOD!!

P.P.S....

single square of tissue taped to flas to act as a diffuser.

Angle & reflection.
This is one of my favorite pictures of a S&W model 10, Detroit Police revolver.
Happened by accident, but tought me something.

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daybreak with no flash. plain old Digital cam. Still not close to some of the guys work

You can make a diffusion scrim by assembling a stretcher frame (for stretching canvas for oil painting) and attaching velum or other diffusion material over it. You can make it any size. The parts are sold individually. I would suggest at least 20"x24". Keep it as close as possible to the gun. Keep anything of color away from the setup and use white matte board to reflect white into the gun from other angles, as needed.

You can see an example of mine (a nickle model 27) at Creativeshake.com - JimMeyerPhoto.com - Ads Corporate People Architectural profile
I used a 6'x6' diffusion silk and plex mirrors and white cards. The camera was a few feet back to show no distortion and allow the diffusion to be quite close to the gun.

I hope it helps. Lighting can require some experience but the principles are simple. Place the lights for the specular highlights (reflection areas), expose for the diffuse highlights (the lit area facing the camera that are not reflections) and adjust ambient conditions for the shadows to control contrast.

I'm still practicing but I got some good ones using a light aimed across the gun. I hung a white cloth over the bulb to dampen the brightness a bit. Sometimes the color changes to a gold hue, which I like.





sometimes the lighting is truer:


Like I said, I'm practicing. Can't see to get it the same everytime.

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An example of a light box


and the resulting photo