Firearms photography

[Claven2]

With a little patience, it's amazing what one can do... Using a white cloth to diffuse a light source indoors can be a godsend. This photo is taken that way:



In photography, when shooting a closeup, if your camera has the setting, lower the f-stop down as far as it will go and you'll get a sharp subject and a soft background. Photo enthusiasts call this effect "bokeh":


Anyway, you get the idea. All are taken indoors with a tripod and a diffused (white cloth) manual flash setup. Camera is an Olympus E330 with an f2.8 35-70 lens.

Information

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[Stevo]

Regarding resizing pictures:

If you right-click on the image while it's still stored on your computer you should see an option called Resize. Select Resize and click Medium. This automatically resizes the image into a smaller new file. It can then be uploaded to your photo host in a format that will remain consistent without having to manually select the resolution or image size.

It's the size I use and displays like this. Image is 640x480 resolution and aprx, 77kb.



This one is also 640x480 (you get this size every time you resize to Medium) and about 60kb. That's me on the left.

[Rodfac]

Thanks for saving the afgan as your avatar, Rick. I'm pretty well all at sea today with the loss of a dear friend and CSP as well. Rodfac

[Rodfac]

Just trying the new format. Rodfac

[Stevo]

Rodfac,
Pasting the image location on your computer into your post won't display the image here. It needs to be uploaded to Milsurps/CSP directly or linked from a web host.

How do I upload or post images? (click here)

How do I use PhotoBucket to display images? (click here)

How do I post pics? - A tutorial by Wally (click here)

Hope that helps ...

[Pete]

Does this mean that brightly colored Afghan blankets are no longer the Jouster CSP standard for the background of firearms photographs? Another venerable tradition has died and is "Gone With the Wind."

[Johnny Peppers]

Another hint is to photograph your guns right side up. An upside down picture of a gun is like trying to read a book upside down. If you have to photograph it upside down to get the lighting right, flip it right side up before posting.
If you are shooting your camera on automatic, don't use a white background. If the white background composes most of your photograph your camera will expose the white correctly, underexposing your subject. As others have mentioned, a matte background of a neutral color will generally expose correctly on automatic. Most point and shoot cameras have exposure controls, so you may have to play with exposure to get you subject correctly exposed.
I used 35mm for years, and even though the camera had automatic exposure, I always read my closeups with a hand held meter.

[Rick the Librarian]

Johnny, I also came from the 35mm days. I didn't have a light meter, but would bring my camera right up to the item I wanted to photograph and use the whole camera as a "light meter". Not effective as you actually using a light meter, but better than nothing.

The thing I continue to enjoy about a digital camera is the "instant feedback" you get on photos. No waiting for development of prints. And, a heck of a lot cheaper!!

[stonewall56]

You have some good pointers here. There's actually someone that's asking for photo help on this page (M1903). I see that you have this as a sticky on this page, I think it would be a good idea to have a sticky on all the pages.

[Rick the Librarian]

Two suggestions:

1) If you have a shady part of your yard outside, that works pretty well. "Light shade" works well.

2) Inside, near a large picture window, but not with direct sunshine coming through.

A tripod and self-timer is invaluable, too.

As far as background, I got a neat idea from John Beard - go to a fabrics store and buy a large sheet (maybe 3x4") of gray felt. Use that as a background and it works almost perfect.