Show off your .45!

[MAJ MALFUNCTION]

There were no papers that I had to write this weekend for once, so I finally had some time to shoot some more gun pron.

Here is the Colt that everyone has seen before:

And here is the new blaster! I bought the above Colt planning to use it as a base for a build, but my math was somehow screwy, and I soon realized that I wanted to change so much that it was going to end up costing far more than a used Wilson. Hence began my search for a used Wilson. I got a good deal from a great guy in CO for this Wilson, so the Colt will be going away soon. A full custom will likely have to wait until I am out of school. Oh well, gotta have goals.

Here she is!

NICE PICS!!

 

[hvlp6347]

Gotta love the 1911

 

[dhomoney]

Here is my Kase Reeder Custom Damascus .45

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[mmchambers06]

Form follows function...

 

[Leemaxx]

Mind if ask what you shooting setup is?...... For the photos.

There were no papers that I had to write this weekend for once, so I finally had some time to shoot some more gun pron.

Here is the Colt that everyone has seen before:

And here is the new blaster! I bought the above Colt planning to use it as a base for a build, but my math was somehow screwy, and I soon realized that I wanted to change so much that it was going to end up costing far more than a used Wilson. Hence began my search for a used Wilson. I got a good deal from a great guy in CO for this Wilson, so the Colt will be going away soon. A full custom will likely have to wait until I am out of school. Oh well, gotta have goals.

Here she is!

 

[BigRed82]

Mind if ask what you shooting setup is?...... For the photos.

Sure thing! I actually built that lightbox right before taking those pics. It is just a makeshift lightbox at the moment - when I have more time, I'll build a better one.

Basically I bought about 4 60" long 1" or 1/2" pvc pipe (I think that's what it is) from Lowe's - cut the legs to my desired height - 15" high, 25" wide and 15" deep. The four legs go into elbow joints front to back - then connected to two 3 way joints to have two going across the top. I'll take a picture of it and post it when I get home. It is extremely cheap and easy to make! If you're familiar with those white plastic shelves you can buy - I used the base of the shelving for the base underneath the gun, then I covered the frame with a white sheet and pulled the excess into and over the base within the box frame. The black background is posterboard that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I have about 5-6 different posterboards that I've bought from Hobby Lobby that I like for pictures. Grey, black, silver, white, etc.

For lighting, I use just a clip on desk light for the front - attached to the right leg of the frame. The main light from above is from one of those dual shop lights. Halogen lamps I believe. They get plenty hot!

I did these shot on floor level, so my tripod was useless - it is full size. So I steadied the camera on an 8 pack of bounty paper towels.

Shoot in RAW format and then tweak the lighting, hue, tint, color, etc in PS - and voila! Pictures.

You don't have to shoot in RAW, but it will definately create a more detailed and pleasant looking picture. Give it a try! All you might lose in the effort is a few bucks and a couple hours. It is a lot of fun taking and producing nice looking gun pron! If I could do it as a career, I'd be a happy camper. I probably should've majored in graphic design or photography or something as much as I enjoy it. Oh well.

P.S. Oh, I forgot to mention what camera I am using - just in case you wanted to know. Almost any DSLR you buy today will be better than what I am using, and many mid range point and shoots will offer better shots as well. I have an old Canon Rebel - I think it is a 30D or something like that. 6.1MP. I typically keep it in manual mode to be able to manipulate the f-stop and shutter speed how I want them. If you want a greter depth of field, remember that it is going to to require a larger fstop - which in turn is going to require a slower shutter speed. I run about mid range usually - 13 - 18.

A lot of the pictures that I took that evening I ran in picture mode - so it determined f stop and shutter speed. Most of them didn't have the depth of field I generally prefer. A narrow depth of field is nice though if you're wanting to narrow in on lettering - like CQB or something. I have another pic I haven't posted that does that.

Anyways, like I said - just about any DSLR bought within the last two or three years has the ability to produce much better pictures than what I am using. I end up spending all my money on guns, so I am working with a relatively old camera.

 

[Leemaxx]

Cool.. I just got a Nikon D60 so I guess I'll start playing with some lighting and maybe build a lightbox. Thanks for the info.

 

[BigRed82]

As promised, here is a picture of all the stuff I use:

Here's that other picture I was talking about regarding depth of field -> just to get things back onto .45 guns again.

 

[NikatKimber]

Just to clarify, that first picture has a very shallow depth of field compared to the second picture.

 

[JD8]

You guys need to make this a whole new thread so that people can reference it. It would be VERY useful info IMHO.