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Unread 09-03-2008, 09:59 AM   #8
MarkC
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Boston, MA
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Alvin,

Taking high quality photos begins with excellent lighting, a good camera, proper technique and a photo editing program.

I use 4 Smith Victor model 765UM lights each with tungsten lamps rated at 650 watts so that is 2,600 watts of light! The gun is placed on a glass table with a piece of white board on the floor; this eliminates shadows and makes the gun â??floatâ? in the picture. (Getting rid of shadows is important for good gun photography) The lights are on tripods with umbrellas to bounce the light onto the target so as not to cause glare. I set one light on each of the four corners of the table. The lights are individually aimed to bounce the light dead center of the table.

The camera is a Canon EOS10D with a 17-40mm f4 Canon zoom lens. I use a Canon macro photo lens MP-E 65mm for the super close up work â?¦ a really amazing tool although not really that necessary for taking good photos. I shoot the photos in manual mode and adjust the white balance manually to the "tungsten" lighting mode with the camera. (The camera has that option.)

The photos are edited and sized using Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0.

Mark
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