Tips For Selling Your Gun Online, 2nd In A Series: The Great Enigma– Photos

     Epiphany time…  If you fall under the “I’m no photographer” category, I’m going to solve maybe 75% of your issues with the concept of photography in the following statement:  Photography is not so much about the camera, it’s all about the light!  Seems fairly self-evident, right?  Photo-graphy:  the recording of light.

     One stipulation here, you really do need a digital camera for your firearms photos.  If you don’t own one, surely someone you know does– buy beer, mow their yard, whatever it takes (maybe you’re lucky and he or she just likes you) and borrow it.  Make sure you have the USB cable that connects the camera to the computer.  Using digital will greatly, greatly simplify the process of getting your images uploaded on the web.  Megapixels really don’t matter– on a web page it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a photo shot originally in 3mp or 11mp.  You should, however, try to use the highest quality setting on the camera to get good results.

    And don’t worry, if you’re totally unfamiliar with how to upload, I’m gonna walk you through it.  With visuals, even, here:  http://www.gunvaluesboard.com/vlog-post-how-to-upload-photos-to-the-site-the-best-way-to-get-your-question-answered-185.html .  We’re going to make this as easy as possible.

Rules:

1. Single light sources (built-in camera flash, one bright light, usually even direct sunlight) are bad, particularly for guns.  Just trust me on this one.  Two sources off to the side of the camera give you more control over the light.
2. Reflector cards made from white paper (printer paper) or poster board are your friends.  You use them to bounce light back into the shadows of the subject for more even detail.
3. Use a tripod, or the closest thing to a tripod you can find or borrow.  Click here for acceptable tripod substitutes:  http://photo.net/travel-photography-forum/005PpU.  Keep the camera as absolutely steady as possible because many of your exposure times may be close to the 1-second range, depending on your light sources.  It will make a huge difference in the sharpness and quality of your photos under the lighting you are likely to use.
4. Make every effort to learn how to use the “manual” exposure mode of your point-and-shoot camera.  See the video below for the basic idea using a Canon SD IS point-and-shoot.  If you have a digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, you should already be there.  The auto mode exposure easily gets confused about your intended subject, especially with detail shots.  See the video below for a quick tutorial on setting up your point-and-shoot for manual.  Use the manual mode to adjust the brightness of the image.  Slightly dark is usually better than too bright– you can correct later with software.
5. Keep backgrounds as simple as possible.  I do most of my detail shots using white printer paper for the background. 
6. Download and install some image-editing and organizing software on your computer if you don’t already have it.  Makes loading up, organizing, and customizing your shots possible.  I use Picasa ( http://picasa.google.com/ )  because it’s free and easy to use.
7. Don’t expect your first efforts to be that good.  If they are- great!  The beauty of digital is that the learning curve is greatly accelerated.  You see your mistakes immediately and can correct them.  Keep plugging ’till you get the right result.  It really won’t take that long.

Setting up the manual mode on a digital camera:

     So… on with this “it’s all about the light” business.  Your camera is really only a box with a hole in it.  The hole lets in light.  Control the light and you control the image.

Stuff you will need, material-wise:

• Camera
• Tripod or closest available substitute
• 2 table lamps, with shades (bare bulbs are bad)
• White printer paper for background and reflector cards

    You’ll want two light sources.  A single light source creates very bright highlights and very dark shadows– not good at all for what we are doing–  and using your camera’s flash on a gun is kind of ridiculous.  Ever try to take a self-portrait in a mirror with your flash blasting away like a the midnight sun?  There is such a thing as too much light.   There are many ways to go about lighting, but it’s best to keep things simple.  For most of my gun photos I use two table lamps, with shades,  sometimes tipping the shades toward or away from the gun.  A combination of shade positions sometimes yields dramatically different lighting.  It also helps to use one or more white reflector cards in some cases– simply a piece of white stiff paper or poster board that you can fold so it will stand up on its own and position in order to bounce more light from the lamps back into the shadows and even out the whole scene.  Feel free to move your lights and reflectors around alot for each different shot, in fact it will almost be a necessity.

     A word about using lamps:  Indoor lighting has a very different color from sunlight and your digital camera will do it’s best to balance it.  Often its best isn’t quite good enough.  Once you get your image-uploading-editing software (Picasa or similar) uploaded, take some time to learn how to adjust the color temperature, brightness and contrast of your images so they don’t look too yellow, too green, too “odd.”  Picasa’s auto correct functions are actually very good.  Give them a try first, then tweak with manual if necessary.   You can always use that handy “undo” button if you screw it up.

     That being said, you can also get away with using light from a non-directly lit window (north-facing windows work great) or work outdoors in full shade.  Going this route will achieve your goal of getting the light in from the sides, and you can still use reflector cards to bounce light back into the shadows for more detail.  You’re still going to need that tripod, even outside.

The basic lighting idea (Amateur, and defies all known laws of physics, I know, but gets the point across)  :

And here’s how I shot my most recent photos:

The camera was placed so I could shoot down between the lamps at the receiver.  It should be noted that most of the time I work on the floor, as it makes tripod use and positioning much easier.

10 Tips:

1. Loose your on-camera flash. It hates you and wants you to be miserable.  Don’t turn it on.  Ever.
2. Shoot in manual and play with different exposures till you get the best result.
3. Use the highest-quality setting that you can.
4. Use the lowest ISO (100 or 200 is best) setting that you can.
5. Don’t accept blurry, out of focus shots.  Start with the zoom at the widest setting, position your camera at the minimum distance that will hold sharp focus, then zoom in for close ups.  If your camera has a “macro” mode, that’s your close-up mode.  Use it.
6. Tripod, tripod, tripod.
7. Keep your lights off to the side of the subject and camera, use multiple sources of the same type of light, and use white board or paper to bounce light back into any shadows.
8. Try positioning the camera on the tripod for the best shot angle, then move your lights and reflectors around to get the best lighting.
9. Don’t forget, you can change the position or the angle of the gun instead of moving everything else, if need be.  Sometimes just a minor change of position gives substantially better results in the image.
10. Simple, seamless, white or nearly-white backgrounds are best.  Sheets, towels and burlap are no bueno.

Bonus Tip:  Using the timer function on your camera to release the shutter will eliminate the camera shake (even when using the tripod) caused by pressing the shutter-release button.  Try it if you are getting blurry images that otherwise should be in focus.

And finally, once you’ve practiced a little and are getting good results, the photos you want are, at the minimum, these:

• Two wide shots, one of each side, of the full length of the gun.  (Don’t worry so much about detail on these, just keep the background simple and tasteful, use good side-lighting, and give your buyers an overall idea of what they are looking at).  One of these will likely become your auction thumbnail image.
• One good detail shot of each side of the receiver.
• One good detail shot of each side of the butt stock or grip.
• One good detail shot of each side of the forearm or barrel.
• One good top-view shot of the most important area of the weapon.
• One good bottom-view shot of the most important area of the weapon.
• Good detail shots of any area that is notable, special, or in extremely good or not-so-good condition.  Don’t hide flaws- it will bite you later.
• If you’re feeling really good– and this will really help gain buyer confidence–  try to get one good shot of the bore using a small flashlight in the chamber for light and shooting down the muzzle in both Macro and Manual mode.  It may take several tries, and you’ll have to change the exposure settings to get it right, but the results are really a clincher for the buyer.  SLR users have a slight advantage here.

     That’s 12 minimum shots for a good representation of your weapon.  Remember, buyer confidence and trust are key.  You want to move someone to bid, and to bid as high a price as possible.  Give the viewer of your auction as much good visual information about your gun as you would want to see if you were considering buying online.