Bullseye 2620
Member
A lot of us admire the great gun photos that Doc44, Sabre, fyimo, 29-1, and many of the other contributors make to this board. For this quality work, a professional studio lighting set-up, even a simplified one involving a light box, is required.
Many of us don't have the inclination or the skills to emulate the that level of perfection. This post suggests a method that can come close.
The attached two photos were taken in natural light only, on a desktop. Afternoon light (3 p.m.) from a west-facing window filtered through white mini-blinds three-quarters closed, was used as the main lighting source. This works because the walls in the room were white and reflected back a lot of light, which permitted the soft, diffuse indirect lighting of the front of the gun, although the most intense light source is behind it. Also, there is a north-facing window in front of the gun, behind the photographer, that provides a secondary source of indirect, diffuse illumination.
That's all there is to it! I just took my Sony point-and-shoot, framed and focused the shot, and then tripped the trigger. All hand held, no tripod, although that would help if you have one.
The key, learned from the wonderful light-box photos, is soft indirect lighting of sufficient intensity to illuminate the dark areas of the picture, without over-exposing the highlights and blowing out the bright areas of the picture.
That's my $0.02. Hope this helps.
Bullseye
Many of us don't have the inclination or the skills to emulate the that level of perfection. This post suggests a method that can come close.
The attached two photos were taken in natural light only, on a desktop. Afternoon light (3 p.m.) from a west-facing window filtered through white mini-blinds three-quarters closed, was used as the main lighting source. This works because the walls in the room were white and reflected back a lot of light, which permitted the soft, diffuse indirect lighting of the front of the gun, although the most intense light source is behind it. Also, there is a north-facing window in front of the gun, behind the photographer, that provides a secondary source of indirect, diffuse illumination.
That's all there is to it! I just took my Sony point-and-shoot, framed and focused the shot, and then tripped the trigger. All hand held, no tripod, although that would help if you have one.
The key, learned from the wonderful light-box photos, is soft indirect lighting of sufficient intensity to illuminate the dark areas of the picture, without over-exposing the highlights and blowing out the bright areas of the picture.
That's my $0.02. Hope this helps.
Bullseye
Makes me want to just go out and buy a cheapo. They seem to do better anyway.
