A couple of people in chat asked if I was going to write a piece about photographing firearms, and the conversation turned to this photo.

 

For the purposes of this discussion, this isn't my gun, isn't in my possession, and it isn't my refuse. I brought my camera and tripod to a friends house to take some photos of his horses, and I shot this piece of garbage before I left.

 

 

Okay, this is an outside shot. There's no lighting other than what nature provided. When shooting outdoors, remember that a big, open sky is your friend, but the sun isn't. This was done in the shade after the sun moved to the other side of the house. The only equipment I had was a camera and tripod.

 

I wanted to shoot the RG in an appropriate setting. I've fired this particular specimen at the range, and it deserves the reputation it has. Once you get past the 47 pound pull through coarse gravel, it shoots 20" low at 10 feet, spits lead everywhere, will often just skip over a round in the cylinder. Piece of crap Saturday Night Special.

 

Frank had some bamboo flooring left over from a remodel, so I grabbed a few strips and laid them down on his deck, about 5 feet away from his white siding. The wall of the house provides most of the fill light in the image. The main lighting is coming from the sunless, but yet still bright, sky. God's own softbox

 

Put the gun down at the angle I wanted to show it, got the camera on it with enough room for the props, rummaged through his garbage for a couple of appropriate pieces of rubbish, and styled the shot. I had a nice piece of stale bread in the frame, but when I turned my back, his dog grabbed it.

 

The tripod is necessary because I had the ISO set way low (100) to keep noise to a minimum, and the shutter speed would be way too slow to handhold the camera. My exposure was something like 1/30 of a second at f/11. For anyone who shoots only on auto, those numbers are meaningless, but it will still work even if you let the camera do your thinking for you.

 

That's it. If you shoot outdoors, either do it in open shade or on an overcast day. Don't forget to set your white balance for shade or overcast. A sunless sky is somewhat cooler in color than one with sun beating down, and the WB correction will warm the image up enough to be acceptable. If your bigasss reflector (the side of the house) isn't white, the image will pick up whatever color it is, so just hang a big white bedsheet on the wall with some duct tape.

 

The QR code in the corner links to a THR thread on the RG guns.

Thanks Ken.

 

I'm always interested in ISO, Fstop and shutter of good pictures.

 

As to the picture...It looks like what you'd find after a drunken rape scene.

Thanks Ken.

 

I'm always interested in ISO, Fstop and shutter of good pictures.

 

As to the picture...It looks like what you'd find after a drunken rape scene.

My pleasure, Mark.

 

I want to add a word about tripods. A shiitty tripod is no better than none at all. If your tripod deflects when you lightly press down on the top, it's virtually worthless as a camera support. Even the act of pressing the shutter button will cause camera shake. Best practice with a bad tripod is to put your camera on self timer before you shoot. While the timer is counting down, there's enough time for the 'pod to settle before the shutter fires. And stay away from breezes.

Yuengling and Peanut Chews, great combo..

Yuengling and Peanut Chews, great combo..

 

yeah, and a tube of lube with sliced carrots. Looks like an attack at a senior citizen home.

Do you really see noise higher than 100?

 

And how to you get the Fixodent (or whatever that is) out of focus when you're stopped up to 11? The gun and the tube can't be more than an inch apart, right?

Do you really see noise higher than 100?

 

And how to you get the Fixodent (or whatever that is) out of focus when you're stopped up to 11? The gun and the tube can't be more than an inch apart, right?

It isn't that I see noise, but I know it's there. I always shoot at the lowest possible ISO (ASA back in the film days). It just makes me feel that I'm doing everything I can to get the best shot possible. I used to shoot 25 ASA kodachrome, and constantly fight with long exposure color shifting. You just never know how big someone's gonna want to see something, and digital sensors are crappy enough (relative to film), even at low ISO.

 

The shallow DOF comes because I was using a 70 - 200 zoom, pushed out to around 180 for the space compression, at the closest minimum focusing distance (about 4 and half feet). I was lucky to get the whole gun relatively sharp at f/11, and it's likely that the tip of the hammer is slightly out. If you look at the bottletop at the top right, it's well out of focus, and it's only an inch or so above the surface plane of the gun.

Thanks Ken.

 

I'm always interested in ISO, Fstop and shutter of good pictures.

 

As to the picture...It looks like what you'd find after a drunken rape scene.

 

Always shoot the lowest ISO possible. F/stop depends on what you wanna do. the lower the number, the bigger the hole the light goes through. Plus you can get more focused on the object and a blurrier background.

Thanks for the bit of info, Ken.

 

Thought I would add this. I shot it using Auto because I am still struggling to learn the in's and out's of my DSLR.

 

 

Yuengling and Peanut Chews, great combo..

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Add some torn panties, an empty for-ty and THEN you have a crime scene.

Thanks for the bit of info, Ken.

 

Thought I would add this. I shot it using Auto because I am still struggling to learn the in's and out's of my DSLR.

 

 

Nice photos, and really nice grips.