Author Topic: Tips for taking better pictures  (Read 1066 times)

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Offline Double D

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Tips for taking better pictures
« on: March 19, 2007, 05:25:17 PM »
Tips for taking better pictures
 


Watch your back ground. We don’t want to see the new flower bed the wife’s making we want to see your cannon.


Watch your foreground. The best angle to take outdoor pictures is with the sun at your back.  Watch your shadow and tell the dog to get lost.


Remember you are taking a picture of the gun not the country side, get close. Look in the view finder and  look behind and in front of the gun.


Don’t shoot down on the gun, shoot your picture closer to the level of your gun.


Shooting straight sideways makes the gun look flat.  Shooting into the  sun causes reflections and puts the side in the shadow.


Take pictures of smaller guns slightly elevated and from an angle.


Sometimes the physical surroundings just won't let you get everything right.


Don't fret.  Your Photo software can help you.  Learn to use the crop feature of you software.


You can use the crop feature to take out the trash.


But what about the shadows.


Not great but better. Using the contrast controls of my software I lightened this picture up.


Experiment.  I got way back and zoomed in on the muzzle.  Needs some sand bags or a barricade of some sort, but you get the idea.


Pictures taken on the work bench in the shop with the normal shop clutter in the background are no good either. 


When taking a picture indoors, be sure your light is coming from indoors.  Light streaming in for an open door  or window is no good.  And never take a picture with a large window in background, it just becomes a mirror. 
 

Indoors make a photo table to take pictures on.  This is piece of billiard green cloth t-shirt material bought at the fabric store, thumb tacked to the wall and draped over a table.


Cropped from the above photo and using nothing but the over head fluorescent lights.


Details can be interesting also.


Best place to take pictures of your gun is on the Range. You can also see the difference between a digital and scanned in chemical photo.


Nice cannon, but how big is it?


The first time you post pictures include something in the picture for scale. A powder can is nice.

Offline Double D

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Re: Tips for taking better pictures
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2008, 09:22:25 AM »
Well guys time to get you ready for next year, I thought I would bring this post back to the top.  Shortly after the first of the year I will open the Pictures worthy of a Calendar 2010 post. 

Before that I will open a disscussion about some issues  that come up when doing the poll and making the calendar.   

Some of you have a good grasp how to make a nice cannon and take a good picture of it.  Others of you just know how to make a nice cannons.

I'm no professional photographer but do understand the basics.  If you are new to photography and read the opening post above your will find some basic information to make your pictures just a bit more "worthy".