Badge and Gun - Take Two

[crimbfighter]

So after listening to many of your thoughts, I reshot the photo tonight. I only feel I made marginal progress, but we'll see what you all think. I also changed the background drastically, to all white in fact.

I know there are a few areas, like just to the right of the badge, the ejection port is blown out. Not quite sure how to fix that. The badge also has some really annoying reflections in it of the camera and tripod. I tried adding light to drown them out, I tried putting a white sheet of paper in front of the tripod to mask it, nothing worked... I minimized it, but it's still there :gah:

Anyway, Let me know if I went :thumbup: or :thumbdown: with this set...

1. f/5.6, 1s, ISO400, 55mm

2. f/5.6, 1s, ISO400, 55mm The gold coloring on this one is a little off. Looks too PP'd. I'd have to adjust it a bit to get it closer to the next one, but it's 5AM, and I need sleep!

3. f/5, 1s, ISO400, 32mm

I also thought changing the badge to gold kinda worked here, agree or nay? If I had to pick a favorite, I would have to say #3 is the strongest, IMO...

 

[fokker]

#3 looks good. These are a big improvement on your last attempt.

 

[AgentDrex]

Number 3 is agreeably the best of the bunch...perhaps some sort of reflector to help light the shadowed parts of the gun that face the camera?

 

[misstwinklytoes]

I like #3 the best, but I don't like how that whole section of gun is blocked. Could you angle it where at least part of the entire gun was showing? I don't mind a silver badge. (That's what color my husbands was when he was working for the PD.)

 

[supraman215]

A Badger Badge. :lmao:

 

[MohaimenK]

....you forgot the bullets

you went from bad cop to good cop! :lmao:

This works because you can see the gun better. Try using a plexy glass over the white and it should give you a white reflection. That'd look pretty cool too

 

[vansnxtweek]

I really like #3. The gold color of the badge brings out all the details of the badge whereas I didn't even see those things in the original color of the badge in the first picture.

 

[Morpheuss]

I like the third one because you can see all of the pistol and I like the first one because I like the look of the silver badge.

 

[bkristopher]

This probably doesn't bother anyone else, but the fact that your reflection is is affecting the readability of the badge is irking me. I want to see the "CE" in police and the "FI" in officer.

Looks like two bullet holes. Kidding. Maybe something that can be fixed in post?

 

[misstwinklytoes]

lol Yeah, I noticed that too.

 

[Derrel]

This probably doesn't bother anyone else, but the fact that your reflection is is affecting the readability of the badge is irking me. I want to see the "CE" in police and the "FI" in officer.
/QUOTE]

Very astute observation. I'd be tempted to cut a hole in a sheet of white foam board, and poke the lens through that, as a way to get a clean reflection on the badge front,and to eliminate the photographer's dark reflection.

I don't quite like the lighting coming from the back of the set so strongly...the white area at the top of the photo kind of draws my eye toward it,and away from the sidearm. In a similar vein, I am bothered by the cutting off of the Springfield Armory name... the "GFIELD ARMORY" that is showing is leaving me with a sense of incompleteness...as would "olt Firearms" or " th & Wesson",etc,etc.

 

[misstwinklytoes]

The more I look at this the more it looks like the badge isn't really propped up, but floating there. Does anyone else see it that way?

 

[RemnantPhoto]

I like #3 as well. My two cents: Lay the badge over at an angle and rest it on the pistol. This solves your reflection problem and, IMO, helps with the composition as well.

 

[crimbfighter]

First off, thankyou all for the compliments and suggestions!

I like #3 the best, but I don't like how that whole section of gun is blocked. Could you angle it where at least part of the entire gun was showing? I don't mind a silver badge. (That's what color my husbands was when he was working for the PD.)

I thought about that a bit, but I wasn't quite sure how to compose it differently w/o losing the main focus being the badge. Plus it was 3:30am when I started the reshoot!

A Badger Badge. :lmao:

It is a Badger Badge! On Wisconsin! :mrgreen:

This probably doesn't bother anyone else, but the fact that your reflection is is affecting the readability of the badge is irking me. I want to see the "CE" in police and the "FI" in officer.
/QUOTE]


Very astute observation. I'd be tempted to cut a hole in a sheet of white foam board, and poke the lens through that, as a way to get a clean reflection on the badge front,and to eliminate the photographer's dark reflection.

I don't quite like the lighting coming from the back of the set so strongly...the white area at the top of the photo kind of draws my eye toward it,and away from the sidearm. In a similar vein, I am bothered by the cutting off of the Springfield Armory name... the "GFIELD ARMORY" that is showing is leaving me with a sense of incompleteness...as would "olt Firearms" or " th & Wesson",etc,etc.

Agreed 100% ^^ I literally spend half and hour trying to minimize that reflection. I also almost sunk to doing just what Derrel suggested with the hole in the foam board. I ended up doing this calamity of holding a sheet of white paper in front of the tripod, holding a light source with the same hand, holding the shutter release cord with the other hand, and ducking down while taking the shot... It looked straight out of a Dr. Suess book... Anyway, I also tried to fix it in post, but my skills just aren't good enough yet. But yes, it was frustrating. Plus, the badge has some curvature to it, which means even when I would try turning it slightly off axis, the reflection was still there...

The more I look at this the more it looks like the badge isn't really propped up, but floating there. Does anyone else see it that way?

It's magic... the coven says I can't tell you more :lmao:

 

[AlexL]

these looks good!