"Critique my firearm picture" thread

[silvery37]

20171916_01.jpgI hope it's ok to use a firearm related pic with no gun in it. I got a canon 7d a few months ago and have been having fun with it. I am slowly getting a little better. Unfortunately my computer is so old it wont run any photo editing software. So I do everything on my phone. I use snapseed and it works pretty well for me. With my skills a better computer based software wouldnt add much right now anyway. For this picture I used a tupperware container and lined it with a black under armor t shirt and then filled it with some 9mm gold dots. A couple of the bullets are a little outside of the depth of field.

[Stickman]

20171916_01.jpgI hope it's ok to use a firearm related pic with no gun in it. I got a canon 7d a few months ago and have been having fun with it. I am slowly getting a little better. Unfortunately my computer is so old it wont run any photo editing software. So I do everything on my phone. I use snapseed and it works pretty well for me. With my skills a better computer based software wouldnt add much right now anyway. For this picture I used a tupperware container and lined it with a black under armor t shirt and then filled it with some 9mm gold dots. A couple of the bullets are a little outside of the depth of field.

I think it works very nicely.

[Stickman]

This was a quick shot with my Samsung S5 to show what I was doing that day. It was the first time I had shot this rifle, my first build, at more than 50 yards.
I generally like how it turned out, especially the black rifle against the mostly tan range and wall.
I wish that the blue port-a-john wasnt there, its a little distracting and I wish that I had a less cheap looking sling on the rifle.

Very nice, while the background is a little distracting there isn't much you can do about that. The presentation and weapon position is excellent.

[Freakdaddy]

I took this about four years ago with a Sony DCS-H7 camera and some clamp on shop lights with 6500k bulbs. I had just started getting a grasp on lighting and such so considering what I was using, it didn't turn out too bad. I was limited on the size of my backdrop so I had to go with a rather tight crop on it. I would like to revisit it now as I have a Canon 70D with nicer glass along with lighting more geared toward photography but just haven't really set the time aside to do it.

These are some of my paternal grandfather's items; a 1920 Remington Model 11 with a Bishop stock, his cleaning rod along with his pocket book and watch with the watch chain actually being made by my great-grandfather as he was a jeweler. The picture is of my granddad taken in 1898 when he was 18 years old.

[Stickman]

I took this about four years ago with a Sony DCS-H7 camera and some clamp on shop lights with 6500k bulbs. I had just started getting a grasp on lighting and such so considering what I was using, it didn't turn out too bad. I was limited on the size of my backdrop so I had to go with a rather tight crop on it. I would like to revisit it now as I have a Canon 70D with nicer glass along with lighting more geared toward photography but just haven't really set the time aside to do it.

These are some of my paternal grandfather's items; a 1920 Remington Model 11 with a Bishop stock, his cleaning rod along with his pocket book and watch with the watch chain actually being made by my great-grandfather as he was a jeweler. The picture is of my granddad taken in 1898 when he was 18 years old.

I think this is extremely nice. Placement of items is well done, and that can become difficult when you have a pile of things to add in the shot. The paper shells go perfectly with the warmth and texture of the wood. This is one of the better pictures I have seen in this style.

[Circle_10]

Pic taken while out for a stroll on a frozen beaver pond with my "beater carbine".

Likes: I think the image is kinda cool on the whole. I've always liked exploring the location I took the pic at, it has some childhood significance.
Dislikes: The AR is more heavily shadowed than I would have liked...but on the other hand it also kind of works, the way it blends with the dead tree and the shadows, so I guess I'm undecided on it.
The pic looks much better on my phone for some reason, sharper and more vibrant.
Nitpickery that matters only to me: I wish I had a 20 rounder in the gun, and when I'm carting it around in the woods or vehicle, usually I do, but about an hour before I took this pic I had shot the contents of my only loaded 20 I had on hand.

[Freakdaddy]

I think this is extremely nice. Placement of items is well done, and that can become difficult when you have a pile of things to add in the shot. The paper shells go perfectly with the warmth and texture of the wood. This is one of the better pictures I have seen in this style.

Thanks, Stick as it's greatly appreciated!

[Freakdaddy]

Overall, I was pleased with the way this one turned out. Changes I would make now would be to turn the magazine around the top bullet would be facing the camera. At the time, I was torn with having it that way or having it so you could see the KimPro Tac-Mag lettering as I wanted the bumper grip to still be facing the pistol grip. I opted for the latter obviously and I don't think that was the better option now. I'd also would have straightened the magazine so it wasn't at an angle; carelessness on my part and I should always take advantage of the grid offered in camera when shooting these shots. I'm still not sure on the crop with removing part of the holster and mag carrier in order to eliminate dead space. Part of me says I probably should have repositioned them to show them in their fullness without creating the extra unnecessary space; the other part says it is more artistic and it maintains focus on the true subject matter which is the pistol.


The orange background washes out the ammunition, and blends with the leather. I can't help but wonder how much nicer this image would have been with a darker background. It also looks like this is a crop from an original image.

The image is pretty decent, but a little more fill light via reflector cards, and a more even lighting on the slide would tweak and bring this up a few notches. Overall, it is good, and is a million times better than the fake background images we are stuck with in a lot of magazines.

[Stickman]

Pic taken while out for a stroll on a frozen beaver pond with my "beater carbine".

Likes: I think the image is kinda cool on the whole. I've always liked exploring the location I took the pic at, it has some childhood significance.
Dislikes: The AR is more heavily shadowed than I would have liked...but on the other hand it also kind of works, the way it blends with the dead tree and the shadows, so I guess I'm undecided on it.
The pic looks much better on my phone for some reason, sharper and more vibrant.
Nitpickery that matters only to me: I wish I had a 20 rounder in the gun, and when I'm carting it around in the woods or vehicle, usually I do, but about an hour before I took this pic I had shot the contents of my only loaded 20 I had on hand.

This one has potential, but falls flat for a few reasons. The weapon isn't quite dark enough to be a silhouette, but not clean enough to show detail, so it just become murky. The sticks/ branches appear to poke out of the weapon, and in general the images looks underexposed (which it probably is due to the snow in the pic).

I would guess that if you adjusted the exposure up 3/4 of a stop, it would look more like it does on your phone, and would be a good looking shot.

[Circle_10]

This one has potential, but falls flat for a few reasons. The weapon isn't quite dark enough to be a silhouette, but not clean enough to show detail, so it just become murky. The sticks/ branches appear to poke out of the weapon, and in general the images looks underexposed (which it probably is due to the snow in the pic).

I would guess that if you adjusted the exposure up 3/4 of a stop, it would look more like it does on your phone, and would be a good looking shot.

I think you very effectively put into words the reasons for my sort mixed feelings on the pic. It straddles an uncomfortable middle ground. I think I like the concept more than the actual result. I may give the idea another try at some point. I like taking winter gun pics seeing as how winter is such a part of where I live...we're getting buffeted by the tail end of a nor'easter as I type this.