Ok guys, I have a luger artillery barrel that I want to photograph. Specifically, I'm having problems getting a good shot of the bore. I'm using a Nikon D60 on Macro, with a 18-55 lens, and a borelight but I can't manage to get a good shot. The bore blurs out totally.

 

Tips? And maybe just for laughs go ahead and give us a tutorial on how to take good photos of guns and maybe when Maks returns from mother Russia he'll make it a sticky.

 

So far, I've got these photos:

 

 

Try taking it off auto focus.

 

I assume your lens has a focus ring.

There's no quick answer to photographing guns, or any other small reflective object with various shapes and angles, effectively and consistently. Each gun has a different shape, and techniques for lighting and shooting angle will vary almost between individual guns.

 

As a start, don't ever use the flash attached to your camera. A broader, softer source of light will reduce reflections and even out the lighting.

 

You can shoot available light outside if the sky is overcast, or if the sun has set down below the horizon. A couple of pieces of white foamcore are to reflect some light back into the dark areas. One of these http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=shooting+tent&_sacat=See-All-Categories is a great first step to understanding how lighting specular surfaces works. A lighting tent creates a soft and broad light source close to the subject, and generally makes reflective objects look just fine, and the larger ones are big enough to include various surfaces and backgrounds in your shots. Add in a decent tripod and a couple of cheap desk lamps for a light source, and that should cover 99% of firearms photo situations.

 

Put the camera on a tripod, point the lamps at the walls of the shooting tent and move them around until the you like the lighting. Set the camera for tungsten light balance, put it on aperture priority, set the f-stop at around f/22, frame and focus, and gently press the shutter release. The camera will automatically set the correct shutter speed and produce a good starting image. Move the lights around to experiment with different angles and lighting ratios. Keep playing until you like the final image. Do any final adjustments (color balance, sharpness, saturation) in a photo editor program.

 

K

I think Kenw said it all, but in terms of getting everything in focus, it's the aperture (or FStop) that's what you'll want to be looking at. The larger the FStop (meaning higher, F22 being perhaps the highest for that lens) the more will be in focus; it will also mean less light, so potentially a longer shutter speed. Don't be afraid to experiment with manual modes, though aperture priority is your best bet.