Flash Photography of Rifles - Using a cheap flash diffuser

[TCups]

The difference between the first and second photograph of these two rifles is a very simple flash diffuser.  It is made by cutting the top third off of an aluminum soda can, sticking the bottom of the can in a plastic container that Crystal Lite drink mix came, then taping up the back end and part of the face of the diffuser with black electrician's tape.  I took a pocket knife and cut a square hole on the side of the can large enough to slip over the small pop-up flash of my Lumix DMZ-FZ8, and added a bit of extra tape over the hole to act as padding.  If you extend the diffuser over the face of the lens aperture, you will need to put a lens shade on the camera to keep it from causing a flash artifact on the lens.  This took me about 10 minutes with a pocket knife and a roll of tape.  

I also bought a couple of sheets of neutral gray construction paper from the local art and hobby store.  I stand on a short stool and shoot pretty much straight down using the diffuser.  Even when I shine the rifles up with Howard's Feed 'n Wax, the diffuser eliminates most of the glare and the combination gives a very nice, deep gloss to the woodwork.

[longislandhunter]

I recently took pics of all my rifles for insurance purposes and I thought they came out pretty good,,,,  but after looking at your pics I wish  I had asked you to do it for me...  Very nice.  

Jeff

[TCups]

Here's the bottom (w/ diffuser) shot brightened to match the top shot and with a bit of color correction to bring back the gray background to neutral instead of a red-yellow tinge (coming from an incandescent desk lamp to the right of the picture).

[TCups]

. . . and a couple of CZ's with the desk lamp now turned toward the ceiling to get rid of the red-yellow tinge on the right.  The color on these came through pretty true.

[djmyers]

That's a pretty cool idea. Great photos and nice looking pooch. I got my first German shepard about a month ago. He's pretty good sofar. Smart as he'll too.

[Zzyzx]

Why not just turn the flash up and use ceiling bounce? A lot less trouble.

The way to control reflection is simple once you get the gear for the set up. Two lights with cross polarizing filters and a polarizing filter on the lens. Allows complete control of reflections on both metal and wood.

[TCups]

because it is a built in, pop up flash -- it won't turn or pivot.

[Brutuz]

Might be worth buying one, bouncing works like a charm.

[howie1a]

Hi why not just use available  light no flash I have the same camera and it has plenty of iso to use no flash I do it all the time for my ebay stuff mostly dive stuff and regulators are chrome and highly reflective but it looks like a good idea you have.Howie PS I do not think you can get a way to bounce  digital cameras  it works fine with 35 mm .Also in photograph school we used to hang a piece of white cloth over the flash to make a quick easy diffuser.

[shadow]

That works great Tommy and I'll have to mess with that idea when I'm shooting camo job's. I see Abby in the background there too, miss that dog. Ed

[TCups]

Burtuz:
No offense, but I like the looks of my photo much better.  The bounced light makes that rifle look pretty "flat".  Some highlights would help.  And at least a bit of shadow adds some depth as well.  

I also have an Olympus E-410 with a pro flash, and I have used bounced flash photography, both off ceiling and cardboard reflectors.  Ultimately, I like the effect of polished wood, some shadow, and subdued highlights -- but that's just me.  The Lumix with diffuser is a great point and shoot for internet photos.

[Zzyzx]

Yes, there is a way to use bounce flash with many digital cameras. All the higher end and some of the lower end digicams have a shot shoe to work with. Many have a PC cord connection to work with. Having shot commercial photo work since the early 70's, this is easy to do. Controlled lighting takes time to do right. Lighting a Maserati is different from a Diamond Ring while that is different from a Browning Automatic Rifle. The principles are the same, the scale is different. Food photography is a specialty all its own... just try getting a hamburger at Wendys that looks like the photo.

For most 'good enough' will do. For some that isn't satisfactory. You are often limited in time and ambition in your images and almost any photo is better than no photo. It doesn't take much time to get a decent photograph so why not do it right? The home made light modifier works so 'good on ya' for using it. Many small attachments for popup flash are avilable also. The biggest items is to read the manual and some will be surprised at what the camera will do.

Photographing products like these air rifles is something I have done in the past using the 8x10 view camera. Nothing quite like an 8x10 chrome(slide) in full color to make a rifle look its best. Lookse even more impressive when shot with a 20x24 inch original piece of film but the camera is HEAVY and not too easily transported. It is a two man operation.

All in all some nice images on the forums from time to time. Glad to see them.

[TCups]

Acknowledged, but . . .
When you output media is the internet, all that is wasted for the most part.  Were talking medium jpeg resolution with photos sized to 1000 pixels max dimension -- guess I will leave the Hasselblad and large format negatives behind and stick with a simple point and shoot with a built in flash for most of my quick internet shots.  A bit of quick color correction in iPhoto and export to jpeg works pretty well, I think.  And the result is better than 90% or more of what I see posted on most sites, including gunbroker and the like.

[DougT]

My little 4MP Casio digital pocket camera just has the built-in flash beside the lens.  If I'm taking a close-up or macro photo and want the flash for whatever reason, it will be too powerful for a 6" distance shot and overexpose the whole thing.  I just stick a piece of typing paper, folded in half, in front of the flash.  When it fires, it lights up the whole paper making a poor mans fill flash.  Disposable.  Quick.  Easy.  I've used napkins in restaurants, kleenexes, etc.

[Brutuz]

TCups - 4/27/2010  2:29 PM  Burtuz: No offense, but I like the looks of my photo much better.  The bounced light makes that rifle look pretty "flat".  Some highlights would help.  And at least a bit of shadow adds some depth as well.    I also have an Olympus E-410 with a pro flash, and I have used bounced flash photography, both off ceiling and cardboard reflectors.  Ultimately, I like the effect of polished wood, some shadow, and subdued highlights -- but that's just me.  The Lumix with diffuser is a great point and shoot for internet photos.

The stock is in a matt finish, Europeans don't like high gloss.

However, this is a varnished stock, refurbished it myself, also bouncing flash, the result is quite different