doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How to take gun photos

Laid up with a bum knee this weekend and thought I might FINALLY get around to taking some photos of some of my guns. Have a Nikon SLR and a tripod if needed. Any suggestions as to light, background, etc. would be greatly appreciated.I

I prefer outdoors on an overcast day. Inside flash photography without multiple flashes and diffractors or reflectors is pro level work. Rent, borrow, or steal a Nikon 60 mm Macro lens for close up work if you don't have one.

Use a neutral medium tone background. DO NOT use a white sheet or similar or you end up with a dark shape resembling a gun.....:)

Here is my semi-permanent setup. I had the reflectors made in a sheet metal shop and I painted the inside flat white.

I use a Nikon digital camera with a 60mm lens, I need nothing else for full shots or closeup of engraving, it does it all.

Every shot is with a good solid tripod and I use the camera timer...always.

This was my traveling one, you can pick up these soft-box (that may not be the right term) light set which are fairly inexpensive.

With a store bought background, When I took this picture I had not washed and ironed out the fold marks ;-).

I love this subject as I'm a student of photography and doubleguns.

I think there are multiple approaches to the subject.

The method above produces a technical image of the gun.

My makeshift approach to technical pix on a trip where my equipment was limited was to use a blanket held a few feet behind the gun and an open apeture to blur the background. The handheld off camera single flash was held at a glancing angle to the gun surface to accentuate the engraving.





Another approach is the 'diorama' where the subject is in what appears to be its natural setting but is usually composed.
Other articles are included and texture is often an interesting addition. In this picture the flash was bounced off of a white ceiling which causes a very 'soft' lighting effect that appears more natural. This effect is similar to the 'overcast day' effect mentioned often by still-life subject photographers.


In the picture above, I think I used this method with this camera. It's been awhile and I can't recall for sure, but this method works well with a white ceiling with a 'on-camera' flash that is TTL metered like the Nikon SLRs. It's kind of a billiards game. But with digital photography, you can test the effects and compensate quickly.

I use a blue sheet a tripod for the camera, a flash attachment on a cord and a tripod holding a white umbrella. I bounce everything.

I messed around with a single flash with a small soft box like this.

I ended up buying 3 Nikon flashes that can be remotely wirelessly triggered.


I also mess around with food photography for some bbq forum I belong to and multiple flashes come in handy with food as well as gun macro photography.

I have to confess I take all the photos for my articles and books with a small digital camera.

Use natural light when possible.

If outside, a technique Mike Yardley taught me was to have someone hold the muzzles, with gun barrels on his shoulder, the rest of the extending behind him.

Angle the gun so that the background is a blue or cloudy sky, add a tickle of flash to pick out the engraving, angel so it focuses sharply and shoot. The sky makes a great background.