After re-reading Steven Dodd Hughes "Custom Rifles in Black and White", I thought I should try a few B&W Rifle pictures. Obviously I'm not to his level yet but I enjoyed the experimentation.

M-70 7mm Rem Mag Custom:






Pre-64 M-70 9,3x62 Custom:






I hope you guys like the pics. I think the tripod level on the last 2 was a little better. Other Constructive criticism's welcomed.

Thanks again for the inspiration and ideas Steve...............................DJ

Very nice job. Nice rifles too.

Here's a couple more pics:


Dakota Model 10 7mm Dakota:






Kimber 8400 French Walnut:






........................................DJ

very nice, which lens are you using for those pictures?

quote:

Originally posted by lb404:
very nice, which lens are you using for those pictures?

Hey LB, Feeling better? I was using the 24-70L on the tripod. I made a little background out of a cardboad box and a white sheet. How do you like the Black and White?..............DJ

Another one:

M-70 458 Lott:







.............................DJ

Well, if you want some criticism.

1. Any wrinkles at all in the sheet are a distraction. Also, any shadows are a distraction. (easily removed by moving the gun farther away from the background)

2. White makes it look too contrasty. A light grey would be better. (achieved by moving the gun further away from a white background as light falls off with the square of the distance

3. Perhaps a bit more light on the top of the barrels. They are too dark. Looks like you might be underexposed by about a stop. I would take a light meter and meter everywhere on the gun to make sure my light was even)


4. That 9.3 x 62 is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!

Beautiful rifles, and very good photography. I generally like B&W photography.

However, that said, it just doesn't do it for me. A big part of the beauty of wood stocks is the color and that format just doesn't do it justice.

Now maybe if they were synthetic stocks...

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
Well, if you want some criticism.

1. Any wrinkles at all in the sheet are a distraction. Also, any shadows are a distraction. (easily removed by moving the gun farther away from the background)

2. White makes it look too contrasty. A light grey would be better. (achieved by moving the gun further away from a white background as light falls off with the square of the distance

3. Perhaps a bit more light on the top of the barrels. They are too dark. Looks like you might be underexposed by about a stop. I would take a light meter and meter everywhere on the gun to make sure my light was even)

Good points all, thanks for the input. These were my first experiments with the background. I think I need to elevate the gun in the background. On the later shots I had the tripod set too high, when it was in the middle of the gun the exposure was more even. I also need to figure out a strobe setup instead of just relying on light from a glass door. More experimenting to come. Maybe moving further the gun further from the background and shooting a larger apeture I was shooting f/8 to make sure and have the whole gun in focus.

I think I could just edit out the background entirely and they might look better too, just haven't figured out the best way to do it and taken the time too.
But again thanks of for the input, it's how you learn!..................................DJ

DJ

If you are going to do Black and white you don't need "strobes" because you aren't worried about color temperature or subject movement. You can go to your local Home Depot or Lowes and buy a couple of those clamp on light reflecors that take regular incandescent bulbs. Try to get the largest reflectors you can find. Use each one at about a 45 degree angle to the gun, one on the left and one on the right (that is if you are standing the gun straight up and down on a glass rod through the front of the barrel).

F8 is fine. For close up work even a smaller f stop would be better (you said larger aperature, but remember that the larger the number is the smaller the aperature is) Just lengthen the shutter time and use a cable release so you don't have camera shake. So for example, if you were using F8 at 1/125 second, instead try
F11 at 1/60 or f16 at 1/30, etc.

That 458 Lott needs to come home to papa. Been gone way to long a I feel its longing for an Africa trip. "Baby come back"! You can blame it all on me!!!

DJ, great guns and photography.

Dj-good pics and some nice looking rifles and good pics.

Steve-typical SDH photo quality there!

Could you please explain a little more about the newspaper trick? What does that do to help you-is it because of the wide contrast between the print and background that you get a better focus lock?

Or maybe manually focusing and can then get a better idea of where your focus really is because of the contrast of the print and the different letter size you mentioned?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

BTW-like the whiteline pads you are now putting on your custom shotguns!

quote:

Originally posted by SDH:
There's just something about B&W although I've retired both my medium and large format cameras.

SDH, Have you gone digital know? If so I'm curious what equipment you've started using. Good to hear from you again...........................DJ

I had a pleasant feeling looking at the pics until I got to the Kimbers.

edited with thumbsplus.

I redid a couple of the pics backgrounds. Do these look better?






Lots to learn in Photoshop!....................DJ

They look a lot better.

The next time you shoot try using a small light to the side and behind the rifle. Maybe 45 degrees to the rear if you are shooting the rifle vertically, or behind and above if the rifle is horizontal. You don't need much light. If it looks too strong place a semi transparent gel of some kind (shower curtain works) over the light to reduce the intensity a little bit. What you want is a nice highlight on the top of the barrel without making the whole barrel look white. That will give the barrel some contrast, which psychologically translates into interest.

If you don't have an extra light you could use a small piece of mirror or something else that is shiny on a stand to reflect the light onto the barrel. Yu could also use a mirror in the back to add just a small highlight to the top of the stock as well.

You could use the sliders to lighten things up just a hair.

WRF, in Photoshop it's pretty easy to change the background color to whatever you want. I think the pure white is too light and contrasty, Maybe halfway between the gray I used and the pure white?.................DJ

I'll get a picture of the lights for the M70 pic above. There are some hot spots. I used my basement 4' 4 bulb shop light and 2 2' 2 bulb lights mounted on a board facing the rifle from below.

This one was inpromptu, I put a 1 quart plastic container over an SB800 flash facing up. Suprised at the results.

I can't see your pics from work. I'll take a look tonight.