Smile! Wait for flash!

[Netskimmer]

My first attempt to get a good bore shot with one of my pistols. I must point out that the bullet you see is a dummy round and therefore harmless. The muzzle is still a little soft but I think having the bullet just slightly sharper draws the eye to it. DoF doesn't seem quite long enough even at f29 but I grabbed a free stacking program thanks to a link from Overrwead and I am figuring out how to use it. Once I figure it out I may try to get the whole thing in sharp focus.

 

[o hey tyler]

To be honest, I wouldn't have known that there was a bullet in the chamber until I read your post. I think that's lost in the photograph for the most part. It's also a centered composition, but I see what you were going for.

 

[Netskimmer]

It's a little dark, I'm still trying to nail down a way of sending light down the barrel without the source getting in the way, a full metal jacket would probably show up better than a hollow-point. I'm not really sure what kind of composition would work in this instance. I need the lens looking pretty much straight down the barrel so putting the gun at an angle wouldn't work, thirds would leave a lot of negative space.

 

[o hey tyler]

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...016-gun-bore-picture-techique-dof-issues.html

This may help.

Ed: Just saw that you posted in the thread already.

 

[Netskimmer]

Yeah, all of the lighting suggestions there revolve (no pun intended) around an open chamber. I'm thinking I'll need a bright and tightly focused light from a slender light source, something like a really powerful pen light, that I can angle in close to the camera's field of view.

 

[Edsport]

To be honest, I wouldn't have known that there was a bullet in the chamber until I read your post. I think that's lost in the photograph for the most part. It's also a centered composition, but I see what you were going for.

Must everything be done by the rules? Rules smules. I think dead center for the barrel would work and get that "bullseye" effect...

 

[Netskimmer]

To be honest, I wouldn't have known that there was a bullet in the chamber until I read your post. I think that's lost in the photograph for the most part. It's also a centered composition, but I see what you were going for.

Must everything be done by the rules? Rules smules. I think dead center for the barrel would work and get that "bullseye" effect...

While I do think that rules are meant to be broken I honestly couldn't think of any that would have worked in this situation, but I am still new to photography and learning. I tried to get tighter on the muzzle, so tight that I cut out the trigger guard, but it just didn't look right to me.

 

[fokker]

What I would do differently:
1. Get rid of the cloth/bag/whatever that is propping the gun up, the frame should have nothing but gun in it
2. Drop the ISO to 200 - you have a 1 second shutter speed anyway so you're obviously (hopefully) using a tripod so the extra time won't matter there. Use mirror lockup and a remote shutter release for sharpest results
3. Nail the focus on the muzzle
4. Centre the sights perfectly, they are just a tad off and it looks blatant
5. Get rid of (what appears to be) the drop shadow behind the sights by either angling the light source differently or moving the background further away

 

[Netskimmer]

What I would do differently:
1. Get rid of the cloth/bag/whatever that is propping the gun up, the frame should have nothing but gun in it
2. Drop the ISO to 200 - you have a 1 second shutter speed anyway so you're obviously (hopefully) using a tripod so the extra time won't matter there. Use mirror lockup and a remote shutter release for sharpest results
3. Nail the focus on the muzzle
4. Centre the sights perfectly, they are just a tad off and it looks blatant
5. Get rid of (what appears to be) the drop shadow behind the sights by either angling the light source differently or moving the background further away

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions!

1. This bothers me as well, I'll need to rig something to hold the gun that stays out of frame.
2. Good point, I was having so much trouble getting the bullet illuminated that I didn't want to drop the ISO any. Longer exposures wouldn't be a problem but I am actually holding my make-shift light source in my hand as the exposure is taking place. Will need to rig something to hold it steady for me. Once I settle on a good source that is. Never thought about locking the mirror, will do that in the next attempt. My remote died on me so I was using delay timer.
3. Not sure about this one. The more I think about the bullet being the only think completely in focus the more I like it, technically the bullet is my primary subject and the gun is more of the setting. May change my mind later.
4. Didn't even notice that! Will definitely fix that next time.
5. This will also have to wait until I nail down a better light source. I was holding the thing by hand and just 'playing' with it to try and get as much light on the bullet as possible. I may need to move to another room as I am wall to wall in this one so I can't increase the distance from the gun to the wall or from me to the gun. If I could get a little more distance I could increase my DoF as well. Maybe get the muzzle and bullet in focus as you suggested.

 

[pgriz]

I'm thinking that if you used your telephoto at maximum extension (ie, 300 mm) and placed the gun at the minimum focusing distance (or whatever distance allows you to show the object in full), then the DOF would be adequate to cover the object from front to back. The added distance may also give you some options with respect to squeezing in light sources that are close to the axis of the barrel without intruding on the picture. Oh, and all the things that fokker said.

 

[fokker]

3. Not sure about this one. The more I think about the bullet being the only think completely in focus the more I like it, technically the bullet is my primary subject and the gun is more of the setting. May change my mind later.

I guess that is up to you, and it would work provided that the bullet was actual visible and clearly identifiable as a bullet. I think a big part of getting that look would involve having a much greater magnification (ie filling the frame with more bullet and less gun/empty space), but either way you are going to struggle to get any light down the barrel onto the bullet. The way it is at the moment, I think the muzzle should be in sharp focus, since nothing else really is (maybe the bullet is, but we can't really see it).

 

[Netskimmer]

I'm thinking that if you used your telephoto at maximum extension (ie, 300 mm) and placed the gun at the minimum focusing distance (or whatever distance allows you to show the object in full), then the DOF would be adequate to cover the object from front to back. The added distance may also give you some options with respect to squeezing in light sources that are close to the axis of the barrel without intruding on the picture. Oh, and all the things that fokker said.

Yeah, gonna need a bigger room. In my bedroom at full extension the gun overflows the frame.

fokker, you may be right. I'll have to see what results I can get once I get the light source figured out. I may go with an FMJ, it would probably reflect more light back towards the camera.

I need to get some sleep. Been up almost 20 hrs and need to be at work in 5hrs. See ya'll on the flip side.

 

[Studio7Four]

To illuminate the interior of the barrel try to get ahold of some fiber optic cable. The diameter is very small and the light that comes out is relatively collimated, so depending on your setup you may be able to shine light just down the barrel without adding additional illumination to the exterior of the gun. You'll need a source for the light you're sending down the fiber (and you'll need to manage that light so you don't get inadvertent spillage), but that's a minor difficulty.