Hi Gunslinger,
I agree with almost everthing I've seen here, let's make a list!
1) Go outside!
2) Pick a sunny, to mostly sunny day. I also tend to take my best shots in the mid-morning and late afternoon. Not when the light is too "colored" but also not in the brightest part of the day either.
3) Shoot in the shade.
4) Use a tripod. Not just for stability and lack of shake, but so you can make tiny adjustments to the gun and the camera, and keep them.
5) I recommend having the gun on a relatively horizontal surface, with the sun "above and the right" or "above and to the left" at about a 45 degree angle. Then try and get the camera and tripod positioned so you are shooting almost "straight down". I seem to get the most natural depth and "shadow" detail this way. Some tilting of the resting surface is allowed to get the reflections and shadows "just right".
6) Use a relatively slow film (<=100ASA) to get the finest grain and most detail.
7) "Bracket" your shots, especially with slide film!
8) Use a good "normal" lens (like a 50mm for a 35mm camera) set to a mid-range aperture, most lens have their best performance when not at either aperture extreme. A "macro" 100mm or 200mm will make detail shots a lot easier/feasible/
9) I recommend an "interesting" background, rather than a smooth mono-colored one. If you are going to use a bedsheet, for example, at least wrinkle it up to make a varied 3-dimensional background to lay the weapon on. I like to use pieces of wood with interesting grain, cookie sheets filled with little grey pebbles or fern leaves. Not something distracting, but "interesting". Even the surface of an old road/driveway works well.
10) Don't use for your background something colored bright red, or white or black, as it may affect your camera's light meter, and give you a too bright or dark exposure. Remember that blue is often rendered white with B+W film, and lighter than normal with many color films.
11) A polorizing filter can work wonders for reducing unwanted glare, but since you are in the shade, and can move the gun and camera, you should be able to control reflections and glare that way too!
12) Have your film developed and printed by a good quality organization, and maybe have them put on a Hi-Res PhotoCD, or a cheaper PictureCD! Sure makes it easier to get them into Photoshop!
Take a look at my a few of my Knife Pictures to see what I am talking about! They are at:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/TPHaller/page2.html Notice how the grain in the blade is picked up by the light being at an angle. Notice the white reflection that runs along the brass guard and down the handle to give it dimension! Done at 10am on a sunny Sunday on my front porch, with an old Pentax MX, with SMC 50mm 1.4 lens, and cheap 100 ASA Kodak print film, and using my big cutting board as a background.
Good luck, Gunslinger! Enjoy! You can always take more pictures, later, too!
Thomas
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