I didn't find the topic elsewhere, so starting a new one: To photograph a rifle/shotgun what background have you found that best shows the firearm? The variety of things I have tried either cause the gun to be washed-out looking, too dark or too much competition from the background to focus on the topic.

Ray,
I’m not a pro, just a hack. However IMHO, shooting pix is much like shooting rifles. There is a lot to be said for having an accurate rifle, good glass, familiarity with your fire arm and practice.
Exposure, aperture, shutter speed, light and the ability to do post photo processing of RAW images all go hand in hand. Many times I’ll take a dozen or so images using different exposures, apertures and magnifications. My workhorse lens has become the Canon EF 24-70 F2.8 L II.
I have upgraded my camera body to a Canon 7d MkII. It has a crop frame sensor, but one of the things I particularly like is that it has two discs. I set on to record JPEG images, the other RAW images. I’m not using lightroom, but Canon Digital Professional.
You don’t state whether you are taking pictures of specific portions of a rifle or the whole item.
Here are some different shots…..

Animal skins and fur make good backgrounds








Tapestries work











Contrast is good.












Natural settings I like















depth of field and magnification can make a big difference as to where the eye is drawn......















flash can be interesting.





To me the thing is to be creative, shoot lots and lots of shots changing different modes, speeds apertures, and most of all, have fun.

ya!


GWB

I don't like to use red or blue or black because the rifle is usually red,blue and black.

A solid color keeps the file size significantly smaller too.

canvas







vinyl - pleather (bounce camera mounted flash)







very busy background

Above are some good examples. I think the darker grey is closing in on what I am seeking- that is, no background to draw attention away from the subject and similar saturation/density of color so that the subject doesn't end-up being under or over exposed- so if I could determine a way to reduce/eliminate shadows.

A wooden post outdoors is probably the easiest way to get the best pictures with the least fuss. Canvas works well indoors but it takes a lot of light. If you search, there are some threads from the professionals that show the light boxes etc that they for studio shots.

Ray,
You have a PM from me.

Dave

Okay, here is my 2 cents........

I think it depends on WHY you are photographing them.

Insurance records? Magazine cover? or For Sale photo.

Many of the photo's above are well suited for a magazine cover, but not real helpful for insurance records or a sales photo.

I used to sell a lot of stuff on eBay before the Commies took it over and it became a Chi-com outlet store, and i did a lot of experimenting with background colors.
What I found for gun parts, scopes, magazines, etc, was that a yellow background brought out the detail of the item best. It was also eye-catching when scrolling through the thumbnails and definitely got more views. For Coins, Jewelry, and anything silver, I found black to be the best background. Household stuff, and small antiques, I used orange, yellow and light blue.. whichever gave the best contrast for the item I was trying to unload.

To give you an example of how effective presentation can be, I bought a lot of scopes with poor photo's and descriptions, and resold the same material within weeks on the same venue (eBay) and made money.

I got the colored background poster boards from an arts and crafts store for a buck or so a piece.