I'm sure the topic can get very involved but I'm looking for tips on the average guy taking some pics with his average digital camera, Cannon Power Shot A620 in my case. I've tried the set and shoot settings with limited success. Should a person play with the shutter speed and aperature priority? Close ups are the worst and this camera should do better than I'm getting. I'm not the most camera savy person as you can tell. I see some great digital pics of guns here, any tips?

The key thing is what kind of light are you using. If you have a couple of reflectors with bulbs in them you can use those. You shouldn't aim them directly at the rifle though, but rather a bit from the side to give roundness to the object. Remember, you are trying to put a three dimensional object on a two dimensional piece of paper.

Probably the best light for somebody that doesn't have artificial lights is to use skylight. You can get it on the north side of a building, or in the early morning or late afternoon when there is no direct light shining on your object, but there is open sky above your object.
Try taking stuff outside and use the auto setting on your camera. If you still do not get decent pics you could go with a manual setting. Basically, the inverse of the ISO at f16 is a sun setting, and you would go down from there depending on how much shade or shadow you are in. So for example, if you set your camera for an ISO 125 photo and you were in direct sun, you would use a shutter speed of 125th of a second at an aperture of F16. The darker and darker it gets (the less light) you start either opening your f stop or using a slower shutter speed. Good luck.

I find my rifle pictures are better when I use a tripod and use available light(no flash).

Hang up a white bed sheet between the rifle and the light source (the sun) and used diffused sunlight for your main lighting. Avoid direct light and bounce some down the length of the rifle to give it some depth and contrast like 22WRF mentioned. You can do that with some white poster board and/or some aluminum foil sprayed with a bit of spray glue to make it a bit duller and not so harsh.

I am not a very good photag, so use this or dont

if you want to take good gun pictures, but perhaps don't care if it's magizine quiality, here's some handy tips

1: gun should have a dull finish (not reflective) blue or green backdrop, for contrast and tone
2: if taking pictures indoors, with a flash, NEVER align the flash perpendicular to the stock... this will result in a strong flashline

3: if at all possible, strong, but indirect lighting... cloudy day, under a shade tree in strong light, or, late or early, align the gun/cam to be "off" one of the 1/8th points, not a cardinal point.. that is, do NOT have it laid out N, E, S,W, rather NE, SW, etc.

4: use a tripod.

jeffe

That is the wrong camera for the task at hand. You REALLY need a Digital SLR with a wide angle lens to achieve optimum results. If memory serves my your A620 has a 35/140mm lens. In the digital world there is a crop factor of about 1.6 due to the smaller sensor size in digital cameras which actually makes the lens a 56/222mm. This is just for starters.

First you build a light box!

Either bounced, scrimmed, or diffused lighting. Use a background that will not overpower your subject.

The camera you use should be one with a good piece of glass (lens). Bracket you photos if possible ie over and under exposures.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
That is the wrong camera for the task at hand. You REALLY need a Digital SLR with a wide angle lens to achieve optimum results. If memory serves my your A620 has a 35/140mm lens. In the digital world there is a crop factor of about 1.6 due to the smaller sensor size in digital cameras which actually makes the lens a 56/222mm. This is just for starters.

I disagree. for purposes of putting photos of guns on the internet, and for printing photos up to size 8 x 10 the camera you have is plenty good. You don't need huge files for the internet, and huge files take up huge space on your computer and take tremendous time to upload and download. I have seen very nice 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 photos made from 2 megapixel cameras. and 35mm is plenty wide for decent internet shots. Moreover, you don't need an SLR. An SLR would help you to frame the photo easier, but for your purposes you don't need one.

Once again, experiment with your lighting, and see if that doesn't help you.

I'd sure LIKE to have a digital SLR, but they cost-nearly as much as a new rifle!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mauser98:
I find my rifle pictures are better when I use a tripod and use available light(no flash).

I worked in the motion picture business for allot of years and one of the standing jokes about Directors of Photography was that they preferred to use “available lightâ€...EVERY available light they could get their hands on!

DSLR is not necessary at all. Most digi's can do a very creditable job and as been said, lighting is what makes it.
A very cheep setup are those aluminum reflectors and 100w bulbs. The reflectors can be had many hardware stores/Home Depot etc. for about $6.00 each.
Anything that can reflect light can be used for distributing and fill. White paper, white plastice garbage bags, cloth all will diffuse the light lessing hot spots. DO NOT use the onboard flash.
Firearms soak up a lot of light so watch your background and not have something too contrasting. Most cameras have a white balance adjustment, play with yours to get the results you want.
Play with aperture and shutter speeds. Small aperture#= wide iris opening=small/narrow focusing range. The opposite for big aperature numbers.

There are a lot of technique books out there to give you some ideas.
Good luck and have fun,
Don

quote:

I disagree. for purposes of putting photos of guns on the internet, and for printing photos up to size 8 x 10 the camera you have is plenty good. You don't need huge files for the internet, and huge files take up huge space on your computer and take tremendous time to upload and download.

Who said anything about huge files? Yes I shoot everything in RAW & then convert to TIF & make any corrections then convert to JPEG but for the average guy just shoot in JPEG to start with.

A couple of keys have already been mentioned - a tripod and ambient light, but I'll add a few:

- Always, always use a tripod. It bears repeating.

- "Never push the shutter yourself; let your timer do it." It removes the minor joggles that become important when you want sharpness.

- Use of available light is a lifetime's study. You're shooting the hardest possible subject - shiny cylinders (barrels) and shiny balls (bolt handles), and you will get reflections unless you build the "Light box" or hang a sheet just right. (Even so...)

- Get more depth of focus by backing away, then shooting with the telephoto capability.

- Put it on a simple background, like a blue tablecloth. Nobody really wants to see your dog on the bed with it, for instance.

- Concentrate on the interesting parts. A full-length photo of a rifle will show little detail, so be sure to have a detail shot of the action.

- Download use some free photo manipulation software, like Gimp. Some basic automated tools, such as "unsharp mask," and contrast/brightness balancing makes a world of difference. The ability to add multiple shots within one picture will allow you to post multiple views, sides, etc, on just one posted pic. It's nice for showcasing the details of the wood and action along with the full-length pic.

I'm nowhere near being a pro - I just got tired of producing awful firearm pictures. It's remarkable how a little improvement will help.

Jaywalker

Mauser98 said it best. Use a tripod and no flash. the exposure will take alittle longer. But with the tripod, there won't be any blurring.

Ever tried to hold a scope with some movement. Same with a camera.

Great tips, I really like the timer idea and the suggestions for lighting. I'll try and figure out a way to mount it to my tripod.

Bill, I can hold a beer and row in class 3 rapids and not spill a drop but give me a pistol with a scope and I can hardly hold it on the bullseye.

Will blue and green colored backgrounds blend in too much with a blued rifle?

Use a tripod and the camera's built in remote release.
If possible lay a nice sheet or blanket on the ground outside during a period of "cloudy bright" lighting. The clouds diffuse the light so it wil help to evenly light up the object. If your camera has a built in flash try to set it to fill flash mode and set it to underexpose by about 1 stop. This will help to brighten up the dark areas without over powering the hi lights.

Also, invest in a polarising filter for the camera lens. This does help to control the glare off shiny surfaces.