Photographing weapons - the details

[David]

I think that we can add to this thread as we think of more ideas and i personally welcome any questions that anyone might have and will do my best to answer them or help find the answers that i do not know.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Thank you very much David, for your comments, and for your promise to guide members of the forum. An answer like this is what I had hoped for.
You are, of course right, that the whole weapon shall be shown as well, although, according to the length of the blade it may be rather small.
One thing, which may help when photographing is, an old umbrella sprayed white at the inside. When strong light is pointed into the umbrella, it is, due to the rounded surface, spread in a nice way, and often avoids shadows.

[Jens Nordlunde]

BTW the background was in fact light blue, but I had the picture over PhotoShop. I showed this picture as it is not without faults, and others may be able to do the same.
I really like your pictures

[Jens Nordlunde]

David, please comment on the quality of the picture - I mean the pixels and the RAW format. I think this may confuse some.

[David]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

David, please comment on the quality of the picture - I mean the pixels and the RAW format. I think this may confuse some.

Well, this might just confuse matters more.
The pixel count of your camera is an important factor, but it must be remembered that it is relative to the size of your sensor. Therefore you might find that a 6mp SLR camera with a larger sensor might well out perform a 10mp point-and-shoot with a much small sensor because they have to make the pixels so much small to fit them into the smaller sensor, thereby diminishing their resolving power. Most consumer and prosumer digital SLRs are clocking in at around 10-12mp which will provide far more resolving power then is needed in most situations.
As a photojournalist i rarely use raw file shooting because it just isn't practical. Ideally it is the "best" way to shoot because it preserves all you data in an uncompressed form, but it also requires far more post-production work and file conversions to upload unto the internet. I think it is a great thing in some contexts, but for our purposes it might be easier to stick to shooting in jpegs.

[Jens Nordlunde]

David, thank you very much for your explanation.
I hope this will be followed up with questions.
Jens

[aerosick]

6. Below are some examples of a hilt i shot recently.

David,

1. Where do you store your photos?

2. How did you Post the 4 photos side by side so they are small enough that the viewer does not have to Scroll?

I use Photo Bucket and my photos take up most of the screen.

Billy

[David]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

BTW the background was in fact light blue, but I had the picture over PhotoShop. I showed this picture as it is not without faults, and others may be able to do the same.
I really like your pictures

I see. I also noticed a bit od a yellow cast on the close-ups. Don't know if this is from an incandescent light source or not.
Yes, showing our pictures warts and all can be very helpful. Not much to say about a perfect photo, but if people post imperfect ones we might be able to advise as to how to make them better.
Over photoshopping can also be a problem. It seems some folks really like to over-sharpen for instance. And once you start messing too much with color balance, saturation, levels and all you can end up with a pretty artificial representation of your subject. Moderation in photoshop is always a good guide.

[David]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

One thing, which may help when photographing is, an old umbrella sprayed white at the inside. When strong light is pointed into the umbrella, it is, due to the rounded surface, spread in a nice way, and often avoids shadows.

This is a great idea and probably a lot cheaper than buying a real photo studio umbrella.