Handgun photos-before & after

[valkabit]

I took these photos the other day. The "after" photo has been cropped to conform more with the rule of 3rds. Out of the camera the photo's brightness was at +50, I adjusted it to +25, Then I did a slight color burn and slight color darken along the bottom edge. All of this was done with Adobe Elements 6.

The lighting was window lighting at camera left about 2ft from subject, with an aluminum foil reflector at camera right about 1ft from subject.

Aperture @ f16, shutter speed @ 2.5 sec

Camera 40D, lens 70-200 f2.8, focal length 90mm.

I'm not %100 sold on the ammo in the foreground but I wanted to do something with the open space. Ammo isn't sharp because I didn't have much room to work with, couldn't get much DOF.

C&C very welcome!

[corkneyfonz]

The problem I have with this photo is that I'm distracted by both the texture of the background (which creates the illusion of camera noise) plus the differing weave on the botttom left hand corner pulls one's concentration away. The composition however, is pleasing. You were probably leaning to a natural look, but on a forum where both contrast and saturation software sliders are regularly maxed out, your image looks a little flat ie lacking punch. Please don't shoot me.

[PixelPusher]

Looks a little soft. I would like to see the logo and screws in better focus. Composition is good

[valkabit]

Yea I agree that it's not as sharp as it should be. I went back to the original (full size) photo and it's clearly not as sharp as it should be. I suppose I just assumed that at f16 I wouldn't have any troubles.

As also mentioned adjusting contrast would probably have gave the photo more "punch". I was looking for natural, but may have found bland.

[jetcode]

#1 for me. I like prints printed down, the mids down a stop or so. The composition works for me with the jacket adding it's own personality to the image. The gun is beautiful and the bullets have a nice sheen to them.

[PhotosGuy]

Yea I agree that it's not as sharp as it should be. It's not even close at f/16. & with a tripod, you didn't need ISO 400, either? I'm distracted by both the texture of the background (which creates the illusion of camera noise) plus the differing weave on the bottom left hand corner pulls one's concentration away. Since the plane of the pistol is pretty much parallel to the camera, you could have used a wider f-stop & thrown some of the cloth out of focus. And, keep in mind that there's no "rule" that everything in the image has to be sharpened the same amount?
A few words on SHARPENING: (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=6232485&postcount=57) The lighting was window lighting... with an aluminum foil reflector I like that you used what you had, & the light on it looks pretty good. Look at the knife & Browning threads here:
FAQ - Studio Lighting (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66140)
One of them shows an example using just one light source.

[jetcode]

great tip on sharpening PhotosGuy ... thanks for sharing the bounty with us

[DragonDan]

You're sure it was f16? The focus points on the cloth show a really shallow depth of field. The bullets (45LC) in front are not in focus. The lighting isn't bad, although I'd agree that it appears too flat. Need some sharper shadows. Also, too many wrinkles in the background cloth- clone or crop out that lower left hand corner.

[valkabit]

PhotosGuy, thanks for the tips, I need all of the help I can get.


DragonDan, It was f16, but I agree that the DOF is extremely shallow, not very happy with the results.

[PhotosGuy]

You're sure it was f16?
# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 25/10 second ===> 2.5 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 16/1 ===> ƒ/16
# Exposure Program = manual control (1)
# ISO Speed Ratings = 400

"Save for Web" strips out EXIF info. "Save As" does include it. It's always nice to include it in your images for those of us who use an Exif Viewer (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=249102)

[valkabit]

# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 25/10 second ===> 2.5 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 16/1 ===> ƒ/16
# Exposure Program = manual control (1)
# ISO Speed Ratings = 400

"Save for Web" strips out EXIF info. "Save As" does include it. It's always nice to include it in your images for those of us who use an Exif Viewer (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=249102)

I had noticed that you had my Exif info, but I was unable to view it myself (not that I needed to, just curios if it was listed). I use Panda viewer for Firefox, not sure why I couldn't view my own Exif data. I am able to view the Exif data in other peoples images. I'm glad mine was included, I just wasn't sure how to enable it, evidently I did it without realizing it.
I had also changed the file names, and I thought that might play into not enabling Exif viewing.

[ScottKCooper]

Needs to be shot on an old bar, with a shot of whiskey next to it.

[valkabit]

Needs to be shot on an old bar, with a shot of whiskey next to it.

That's a good idea, maybe I can mock-up something to look like an old bar.

[Builttuff]

Somebody needs to oil their gun!