New attempt at guns and badges

[KHarmon]

Reshot some guns and badges and re-worked a badge from a previous thread. I would hope that these are better than my previous attempt and I am possibly learning something from all of this.

1. I reworked the Lubbock County badge and brought the black level up. I thought I had kept the original as I had posted it previously but I can not find it now.


Tried some different lighting with the pistols that I had photographed previously. The 44-40 has a major flaw in it that I didn't see until I post processed. If you look for it, you will find it. For me, #3 works better than #2 as far as lighting goes, but I will let you guys decide.

2.


3.


Focus I think was pretty good over all



I also reshot the .38-40 Colt Single Action Army.

4.

[Bobobird]

Substantially improved. 1 and 4 are dang near perfect.

2 and 3 not so much. The highlight area at the top of the gun in 2 is washing out the metal details. In 3 are those reflections of something behind the chamber?

[KHarmon]

Substantially improved. 1 and 4 are dang near perfect.

2 and 3 not so much. The highlight area at the top of the gun in 2 is washing out the metal details. In 3 are those reflections of something behind the chamber?

That reflection is the huge problem that I mentioned on this gun. I was reflected in the background. That gun being chrome is a huge issue. The next overcast day we get I'm going to re-shoot it outside using a cloudy sky to diffuse the light.

[Shadowman]

2, 3, and 4 are getting there. A few minor edits needed here and there to make the backdrop seamless and you're almost there.

Nice effort.

[fmrnykr]

Would a circular polarizer help reduce the reflections on the guns, or is it not suited for this type of shot?

Possible color shift, etc.

Bob

[Loose Canon]

Hi Kris,

Very cool subject matter here!

Funny how when you are shooting these types of product you get to where you end up looking deep into their very soul! Hoping you don’t see your smiling face shining back at you with some stray reflection! This kind of shooting is pretty cool because of the demanding attention to detail that absolutely must be paid! You could show these shots to 10 “civilians” and probably 10 would never even see the reflections!

You have that same fatal flaw in both the 44-40 shots. For what its worth Kris (probably not so much), here is what I would be looking at if this were my shoot…

If I took the #2 shot first I would be wondering about the color tint. It looks like the color of the grip in #3 looks more realistic (more “ivory” color). Could probably be taken care of with a reference shot including a gray card and I would highly recommend using one with every lighting scenario. Especially if you are using mixed lighting.

The reflection. There are a couple of ways I have found to alleviate this. One is to literally shoot from behind a curtain (or foamboard wall) with only the camera lens poking through. Maybe black, maybe white depending on what I need to reflect. White will usually give you a highlight and black will usually cast a shadow. And they may render as various shades of gray depending on your lighting. The lens circle that will reflect from behind the curtain (or foamboard wall) can sometimes be taken care of in post. Another is even before that stage you can sometimes move the camera so that the lens circle is hidden in the subject and you may not even need a curtain (or foamboard wall). For example, if you zoom in so you can clearly see your reflection in the pistol (#3), you might see that if you moved the camera slightly to camera left and down it would probably be hidden somewhere below the 44-40 markings. Sometimes I put a black card over the top of the set to keep any ceiling reflections at bay. But one thing for sure. Whatever is around a reflective subject will reflect so you just have to make sure you control what that is.

Lighting. In #2 I see what I believe to be an open window behind you and the camera. In #3 it looks like the curtains are drawn. Whatever it is it looks to be a very large light source right behind the camera. I would wonder if this is giving you the glare in #2 that is not so much in #3. Notice the grip in #2 has a glare streak running down the center through the rider. Whereas in #3 it is not there. Only a highlight at the top of the riders head. I’d call #3 preferable because the rider is more visible without that glare running through him and a highlight on the curved top part of the grip to help define shape is desirable. As far as these highlights go, I would try to get them closer to the edges and away from the middle. #3’s highlights are nicer and not so blown (hammer, cylinder, everything). It looks more “chrome” instead of blown to white.

I would look at the 44-40 markings, they can be clearly seen- perfect! Same for the patent markings and the “Colt Sherrif’s Model” markings- Awesome!

I would need to get some highlight on the top of the barrel. The fact that the front sight is isolated in mid-air would bug me and the top of the barrel is lost in black.

I would need the background to be seamless in this case. Easily done in post here. And I would sigh because of the insane amount of mind-numbing, time-consuming clean-up that always has to be done with these kinds of shots. Dust specks, scratches, etc. on the tabletop, background, subject, everything. You have to fine-tooth comb these kinds of shots. Just part of this type of photography and an absolute must. If you want and you use Photoshop I can give you a little “trick” that will help make this process a little quicker!

Now that I would have identified what I wanted to change? How would I go about it?

Well, the answer is often bounced light (bounce cards) and the absence thereof (flags). You basically place shaped bounce cards (sometimes rectangular, sometimes large enough to cover the entire subject if it needs to be flooded with light, whatever is needed) strategically in the set to control where your highlights are and shine your lights onto those. Also you may need to use black cards (flags) to either block light or just reflect black in the chrome to get your shadows or just to help block a glare. This is why I don’t always like to shoot in an enclosure (light tent). There is light bouncing all over the place inside that enclosure and makes it nigh on impossible to control and this control over highlights and shadows is essential. For these cards I simply use white and black foamboard.

As an example off the top of my feeble head, if you are shooting a glass bottle, one way to get nice highlights on the sides of the bottle is to use two long rectangular cards on either side with a light shining onto each. You will get the rectangular shaped highlight shaped like the shape of the bounce card. You can look at the bottle and adjust the card’s position as needed. You would probably need to flag the lights to make sure there is no light spill into the set.

Aside from being a beautiful piece Kris the 44-40 is a difficult and intricate shoot and I think you have done a nice job with it. Hey its easy for me to sit here on the other side of this screen and offer happy advice (and way too much of it!), but quite another thing when you’re actually looking at a piece like this through a view finder! It’s great to see another interested in this kind of photography Kris because I'm gonna need your advice next time I post one!

[rpcrowe]

Would a circular polarizer help reduce the reflections on the guns, or is it not suited for this type of shot?

Possible color shift, etc.

Bob

A CPL will not normally reduce or eliminate reflections from metal surfaces.

Kris,

The line of demarcation between the reflective surface and the background bothers me also, since it is directly behind the pistol. However, that could easily be remedied in post processing. On the other hand, this might leave the revolver and reflection "floating" with nothing to anchor them.

The reflections are another matter. When I am shooting reflective items, I will shoot in a totally dark room; no ambient light from windows, etc. The light that I work with in shooting the objects is the modeling light of my studio flash units. This also gives me a pretty accurate idea of what the flash will look like. I use pair of low powered Chinese studio strobes since they are small and easily stored away. In this type of shooting, their low power is actually an advantage rather than a deficit.

In shooting highly reflective items, I like to use a light tent. My el-cheapo, eBay, tent has a front cover with a slit allowing me to shoot the item with only the front of the lens in view. (very much like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/24inch-60cm-...item3a8099566d)

This will usually eliminate reflections. Sometimes, however, a total lack of reflections leaves the image looking quite flat and dull. I used to have a few black painted pieces of wood in various shapes that I would place within the light tent (but out of the image area) to provide the reflections that would give my objects depth. Placing the black shapes is a guessing game and needs to be tried. I haven't shot this type of image in years and don't have any examples...

This site has links to many short (and free) video tutorials on all phases of photography. http://www.prophotolife.com/video-library/ The site includes a video on photographing shiny objects (Episode 15). This video addresses reflections from the shooting light but doesn't address the reflections from the camera and the surrounding room. Prophotolife has a lot of other interesting videos and is well worth a visit...

BTW: A white balance target such as the WhiBal (Donald introduced me to this card) http://www.whibalhost.com/_Tutorials/WhiBal/01/ will help get the white balance correct.