How to photograph handguns (Updated for 2013 post #3!)



Time to give back to the Calguns community!



Maybe you wonder (or maybe not!) how people get their nifty photos done. Problemchild and Ken Lunde have this down cold - they are the local experts. I've seen others post pictures that leave a little to be desired, so hopefully this will help us all get a little bit better.



Getting started



First, you should assess your equipment. Point and shoot digital cameras will work ok but aren't ideal. You don't have a lot of control over the camera and what it's doing. Digital SLR's on the other hand, place a lot of flexibility into the hands of the user. If you are serious about taking a lot of studio or product photos, you should consider getting a digital SLR, as the better results will be imminently noticeable. I use a Nikon D70S with the standard 18-70mm kit lens. You don't need to spend a lot of money buying specialized lenses or anything like that - the kit lens, as you will see, generally works fairly well.



Second, you should consider the types of pictures you'll be taking. I enjoy studio shots where I can control lighting and the overall environment. This helps to ensure consistent, repeatable images which suit my purposes just fine. For the purposes of this posting, I'm going to talk exclusively about "studio" pictures. Don't use a flash! It kills the photo and makes it look just like a point and shoot consumer photo.



Your "Studio"



I've set up a small light box in my computer room. It looks like this:







The light box is made up of PVC pipe, to form a box shape, then it is draped with an inexpensive white bed sheet to serve as a light diffuser. I then used an old calendar, flipped it over to the white glossy side, and taped it to the rear of the light box to form a ramp-like shape. This serves as the white background. Different colors can be used, as well as fabrics, if you so choose.



I purchased two small 60 watt lamps from Target at $5.00 each on sale. I am using a Home Depot clamp light to provide illumination from the top of the light box. For nearly all shots, you should consider using a tripod (as above) or somehow stabilize your camera to prevent camera shake. You don't need an expensive tripod, all you really need is one that will hold the camera without tipping over or dropping it, and allow you to make minor adjustments as needed. Make sure that wherever you put your light box, you close the drapes or blinds. This prevents excessive sunlight from leaking in, if you're taking pictures during the day. Else, take pictures at night, and you won't have to worry about this problem.



It is possible to take photos of objects without a light box, but you have less control over lighting and you can't soften it as much. I recommend light boxes for generally all small photo work.



Total cost for your lightbox studio above should be no more than $30 to $50.



Do you "need" professional studio lights? Well, you certainly could get some - Ken Lunde uses a set of Lowel lights as he's stated here before. What this does is gets him a known color temperature, which he can then set his camera to match. I've found that if you use incandescent bulbs (the standard round ones in most homes) and use the incandescent white balance on your camera, your photos generally will turn out ok.



Let's talk about how to set up your camera. I will cover two cameras - point and shoot, and digital SLR.



Your Camera Settings



Here are the settings I use on my Canon S400:

Manual mode. This allows you to adjust some of the settings below. White balance set to incandescent, or match it to your light bulb type. EV can be set to +1, or +2, depending on the subject matter. Dark objects look good if you EV +2 and Photoshop the brightness and contrast later. Setting EV brightens up an image, making dark colors contrast better against a white background. You'll need to experiment with this setting to suit your product photo needs. Flash turned off. Flash is the #1 enemy of good close up product photos, as it creates hot spots. Our goal is to produce consistent, even lighting, without washing out any particular part of the object being photographed. Use high resolution and lowest compression available. This will give you plenty of pixels to work with later, during post-processing. ISO 200, or as low as you can go. Use your LCD to gauge how the image will turn out before you snap the picture. Obviously, this will use up a lot of battery power unless you have an AC/DC adapter. Because these cameras often determine aperture on their own, you'll need to play around with the focus to make sure you are getting the right parts of your product in focus. This may require pressing the shutter button halfway to get the camera to focus, then looking at your LCD to ensure the image will turn out as you'd like.

Here are the settings I use on my Nikon D70S:

Aperture mode. This setting allows me to pick the depth of focus as it relates to the product being photographed. Generally speaking, for items that have depth or are longer, I like to use a smaller aperture (a larger aperture number, such as f/22) to allow more of the item to be in focus at once. The downside is that the shutter must stay open longer, which necessitates a tripod and consistent, bright lighting. In aperture mode, the camera will choose the proper shutter speed to produce a properly exposed photo. You won't need to worry about picking a shutter speed. Often the f-stop I end up using is in the range of f/22 or higher. White balance set to incandescent, or match it to your light bulb type. I then tweak it to +3 for my light box setting. This is done with one of the parameter wheels on the camera. At a white balance setting of +3, this gives me a color temperature of 2700 Kelvin according to the Nikon D70S manual. EV can be set to +1, +2, +3, or anywhere in between, depending on your needs. Lighter objects tend to photograph better if you don't adjust this setting. Darker objects benefit from a higher EV as it helps wash out the background to white, creating a nice contrast. You should experiment a little to find out what setting works best for your subject material. Sharpening mode normal. You will do all of your sharpening in post-processing, which is ideal, as it gives you more control over your results. RGB color saturation set to as high as possible, this is my personal preference to give more vivid colors. Use high resolution and lowest compression available. RAW is good, but I generally just use low compression. ISO 200. Timer mode. This allows the shutter to fire without any camera shake, even on a tripod. This is the only way to get completely sharp images unless you have a remote or fire the shutter remotely. I also use Nikon software to trigger the shutter using my notebook PC, which helps tremendously. Tripod. A tripod is a must have for taking photos with a digital SLR. Manual focus. I let the camera auto focus first, then turn off auto focus to manually tune. For the duration of the session, I usually leave auto focus off. Remote control. I now mostly use Nikon Camera Control to remotely fire the shutter. This eliminates the need to use the timer mode, plus I can transfer images directly to my hard drive, skipping the memory card altogether. This saves time and allows me to instantly begin editing the photos I've taken. You can also name them anything you want automatically and track/reset the numbering scheme via software, which is helpful if you don't want to bump up the counter in the camera because the camera's image counter stays static while you are using the control software.

Let's look at some samples!







Note: Gun above has been sold, so I don't have it any longer.











Your Post-Production Editing



All of my images are processed through Photoshop. Here are the steps I take:

Start with your full resolution image. Auto color, auto levels, auto brightness and contrast. Start with one function and examine your image. Do you like the results? If not, move on to the next and try again. Compare and contrast the results with these automatic functions of Photoshop. Typically, one of them will produce results that improve the image's appearance. If not, it's time to go manual. Brightness/contrast. I typically increase brightness by +25, and contrast by +10 or +15. This helps to wash out the white background and to contrast the product sharply against the background. The result typically suggests that the product simply "floats" in space on your website, assuming you are using a white background as well. Apply filter "sharpen image". This brings out the detail of your product a little. I usually don't over sharpen, as it makes your image turn out grainy. Resize for web viewing, if appropriate. Erase leftover artifacts. Sometimes the background doesn't always wash out. If this is the case, then I go through with the eraser tool and clean up the image a bit. Save or rename your final photo. Hi all,Time to give back to the Calguns community!Maybe you wonder (or maybe not!) how people get their nifty photos done. Problemchild and Ken Lunde have this down cold - they are the local experts. I've seen others post pictures that leave a little to be desired, so hopefully this will help us all get a little bit better.First, you should assess your equipment. Point and shoot digital cameras will work ok but aren't ideal. You don't have a lot of control over the camera and what it's doing. Digital SLR's on the other hand, place a lot of flexibility into the hands of the user. If you are serious about taking a lot of studio or product photos, you should consider getting a digital SLR, as the better results will be imminently noticeable. I use a Nikon D70S with the standard 18-70mm kit lens. You don't need to spend a lot of money buying specialized lenses or anything like that - the kit lens, as you will see, generally works fairly well.Second, you should consider the types of pictures you'll be taking. I enjoy studio shots where I can control lighting and the overall environment. This helps to ensure consistent, repeatable images which suit my purposes just fine. For the purposes of this posting, I'm going to talk exclusively about "studio" pictures. Don't use a flash! It kills the photo and makes it look just like a point and shoot consumer photo.I've set up a small light box in my computer room. It looks like this:The light box is made up of PVC pipe, to form a box shape, then it is draped with an inexpensive white bed sheet to serve as a light diffuser. I then used an old calendar, flipped it over to the white glossy side, and taped it to the rear of the light box to form a ramp-like shape. This serves as the white background. Different colors can be used, as well as fabrics, if you so choose.I purchased two small 60 watt lamps from Target at $5.00 each on sale. I am using a Home Depot clamp light to provide illumination from the top of the light box. For nearly all shots, you should consider using a tripod (as above) or somehow stabilize your camera to prevent camera shake. You don't need an expensive tripod, all you really need is one that will hold the camera without tipping over or dropping it, and allow you to make minor adjustments as needed. Make sure that wherever you put your light box, you close the drapes or blinds. This prevents excessive sunlight from leaking in, if you're taking pictures during the day. Else, take pictures at night, and you won't have to worry about this problem.It is possible to take photos of objects without a light box, but you have less control over lighting and you can't soften it as much. I recommend light boxes for generally all small photo work.Total cost for your lightbox studio above should be no more than $30 to $50.Do you "need" professional studio lights? Well, you certainly could get some - Ken Lunde uses a set of Lowel lights as he's stated here before. What this does is gets him a known color temperature, which he can then set his camera to match. I've found that if you use incandescent bulbs (the standard round ones in most homes) and use the incandescent white balance on your camera, your photos generally will turn out ok.Let's talk about how to set up your camera. I will cover two cameras - point and shoot, and digital SLR.Here are the settings I use on my Canon S400:Here are the settings I use on my Nikon D70S:Note: Gun above has been sold, so I don't have it any longer.All of my images are processed through Photoshop. Here are the steps I take: Last edited by Turbinator; 06-02-2013 at 10:06 PM ..