Michael:
Would you provide us with details regarding the technique you used to photograph the Springfield Sporter posted above? That one seems to have very nice balance between contrast and clarity.Jim
If you have Steven Dodd Hughes book “Custom Rifles in Black & White” look on page 182. I use a setup a lot like his, rifle is held vertical on a polished steel rod in the bore. Reflected light from 2-500 and 2-250 3200 photo lights with defuser, all on a rheostat. For the Springfield I lowered the light until I got a nice soft light and used a long exposure, tripod of course. With digital I can do many shots with a faster or slower exposure in a short amount of time and just delete the bad ones. When I shoot engraving I have two leather straps hanging from the ceiling and shoot the gun in the horizontal position and use a hand held light (defused) to highlight the engraving. Background put in later with software Photoshop Elements. I have several colored backgrounds but will get some more, I think the picture can look better with a background and not added by the computer, but the jury is still out.
Just looking at Steve’s book and see the cover has two rifles with a dull red background and they look good.
