safari rifle photos

My friend asked me to take some photos of his two Westley Richards double safari rifles. He waited 2 years to have them built and wants some artful photos to hang in his den. I know how to be "artistic" in the set up, and have the gear to produce something like that, but have never shot rifles before. I have "shot" them, but not photographically speaking. Things guns are a work of art in themselves, as are all the accessories that come with it, the hand tooled leather case, etc. I want to do this gun right!

does anyone have any tips on shooting such a subject? I don't know what I don't know.... I don't have pin lights to highlight the engraving etc., but I might be able to do that in PP?

I'll be shooting RAW, proabably using some combination of natural light, and strobe. I have a 74 inch elinchrom octabank and some off camera canon flashes if I need them. Any thoughts?

I wrote that post yesterday in the discussion section, and then did a dry run in preparation for shooting later today. I wasn't happy with the results. Too much stray ambient, and I used too many props. I'm SO out of my element here, I'm clueless. I typically shoot portraits. Here are a few shots from yesterday for CC.

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here's another taken at a different time of day. I think I"m going to use seamless on the next set, and not use such distracting props. The Zulu Warrior shield is a bit over the top...

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Beautiful wood on those rifles.

yes, the wood IS beautiful. He had to go to England from California to be measured for the custom stock, and he picked the it out of blocks of wood that they presented to him. These things are truly works of art.

Sue,

I do a lot of photography within the weapon manufacturing community. To my eye, these images have way to much going on in them, and the rifle itself gets lost. It sounds like you are already aware of this.

I would work with the shield and a plain white background in studio to start, and then go from there. It would give you a clean starting point which may end up being what your client likes. Another thing to look at is breaking open the action on the weapon for some of the closer up shots.

With the weapon on the shield, you could show the engraving and use an orange gel with rim lighting to simulate the warmth of the African sunset.

I would NOT use the bark at all, it creates a very busy look and is only distracting.

These are a bit less busy. Shooting guns at the range, I can do. Shooting guns with a camera? I need work....it's been fun though. I have a ton of images to wade through, hopefully I got something he will like.

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Absolutely gorgeous safari rifles.. works of art is an understatement. Your friend must be extremely proud of them.. I am in awe.

I agree that the shield on the first few shots was too distracting. Though it fit in with the theme, it was just too busy.

Oh I'm drooling. The engraving and the wood grain are beautiful!

I gotta agree on that Zulu shield, a bit much for the overall image. Nice otherwise.

Very nice shots! ( Personally, I like the range of stuff in the photos. Keeps it interesting, but thats just my opinion )