Taking photos of shotguns and rifles

[rogcal]

This may be a stupid question but how do you take a decent photo of a shotgun/rifle.

 

I'm selling my collection and need to take decent photos of them to place on one of the selling sites i.e. Gunstar, Gun Trader and whenever I take a photo it always shows the gun is curved. This is obviously to do with how the camera lens distorts the image.

 

My idea is to take the shot from a distance then enlarge the image. Is this how other do it?

 

Any advice will be welcomed.

[arjimlad]

Can you upload multiple images ?

 

I find the best light is natural light, but out of direct sunlight.

 

As a buyer I'd want to see a close-up of the action, of the stock and perhaps of the whole thing. Hopefully a real photographer will be along to be of more help.

[Savhmr]

You really need a decent lens and a high resolution for cropping and enlarging if you want the end result to be good. Forget it using something like a camera phone. Better getting close enough to fill the frame, so less image quality loss on cropping. You can take pictures from further back with a telephoto but they need to be good quality glass and use a tripod...again, fill the frame. A telephoto will flatten perspective and give better background blur (or "Bokeh") when apertures opened up. Wider angle lenses keep more of the shot in sharp focus but distort the edges more and give less background blurring. Prime lenses usually best. In 35mm equivalent (ie digital slr) for general photography, a 25 to 35mm lens with an APs-C or 23.5 x 15.6 sized sensor works well and may give best picture quality.

 

Have the light source behind, or to one side of you and avoid strong direct light if possible (overcast days give more diffuse lighting which do a better job of cutting reflections). Use a tripod and use a mid to smallish aperture unless you want the background blurred. Bracket your shots (if you have this feature, or set the camera on manual and vary exposures). If a rifle, usually well lit bipod shots work well (ie rifle on bipod) from various angles with a few close ups of action or stock. If a shotgun, a plain background, gun either horizontal resting on something or vertically stood against something, with a few close ups of stock and action.

 

It's not that hard (says the man who's just posted crappy pictures from a phone of his gun for sale!) but you need to just take care and reel off a lotof shots, discarding those you don't want. Try and keep cropping to a minimum as you'll lose resolution. Compress afterwards to web page recommended file size for on line posting.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Savhmr

[Cranfield]

Don't forget to add Gun Watch to your list of websites to advertise your guns.

This link tells you how, https://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/159885-how-to-list-your-gun-in-the-sales-section/ .

[rogcal]

Thanks for the tips and advice and I shall be using Gun Watch.

[srspower]

You need to take the photo as you want to see it, don't try zooming in it won't look good. As has been said only use natural light. The best times of day for natural light are last light of the evening and first thing in the morning. Morning is by far the best especially at this time of year. If you get lucky and it is sort of clouded over but you get in to a sunny spot the result can look amazing. Like something off a movie set. A summers day when it clouds over before a storm starts is also incredible light for photos.