Too often in airsoft we see poor pictures of the guns we enjoy so much, be it in reviews, picture threads, or just somebody's avatar. Many people believe that their little camera is simply not capable of taking a very good picture, but that's often not the case. Still, even if your camera
is very poor, you can maximize the quality of your photos by following these basic tips.
Here's a typical low-quality image. It's taken in artificial light, i.e. the incandescent light bulbs in the usual house, with the flash on and the camera held in the hand. Additionally, the gun is sitting on carpet, not a very professional background:
Now, let's fix this image. We'll start by turning the flash off This will allow for even lighting in close-range pictures and ends up making the entire picture
brighter. However, the blur from shaky hands is more evident than ever:
What will we do about that blur? For starters, we'll rest the camera on a solid object, rather than holding it up and hoping for the best. You don't need a tripod - I use a tall box or an old storage container which will be pictured later in this review. Additionally, turn the macro function on for your camera. This is made for close-up images and is a must for any picture of a pistol, or for close-ups on rifles. On my camera, a small flower appears in the corner of the screen when this is turned on. Check your camera's manual for how to switch into macro mode:
That's
much better. But the carpet is still pretty low-tech. We can highlight the pistol and get a more professional look by using a large piece of white poster board as
here for a background:
Better still, but now the image looks dull and has a slight yellow hue. The solution? Natural light. In this case I simply used light from a window, but you can of course also go outside if it's convenient:
Now we're talking: this would be great for taking pictures in a review, where you want a clear, basic picture that shows plainly how a gun or part looks. In fact, I use exactly this method in my reviews. I'd be happy if every picture I saw was like this, but there's still more we can do. That background is somewhat boring. Substituting a yard of black felt, which can be bought for $6-7 from a crafts store, will add some mood to the image:
Hold on, though. That last one was
much too dark. There are a couple of simple ways you can fix this problem. First, you could try using a white-light table lamp like one of
these:
Or, you can use a piece of white card or a plain white binder to reflect light onto dark portions of the gun as here. In the first image, I used a small piece of foam to support the rear bit of the slide and add depth:
Here's what my ghetto-fabulous photo shoot area looked like in the last image, in case you want to try to take a similar one. My black felt covers the whole area, light is shining in from the window and reflecting off of the white folder. The folder is sitting up against my storage container, which serves as the rest for my camera:
This is all very nice, and it only gets better. What if we try something artsy, say, a colored light? Let's experiment by placing a translucent blue cover over the table lamp and shining it on the set:
That's much too blue, although the shine on the slide is nice. I changed the position of the light so that it runs across the set from the left:
Still no good. That looks unbalanced and contrived. We'll sit the gun back flat on its side and run the light straight across from the right this time. Notice how we can shift the light from focusing on the grip end of the pistol in the first image, to the front and magwell in the second:
So, what have we learned? If you want to use a colored light, take a lot of pictures and
experiment. You'll get it right eventually. Here's what the set looked like:
For close-up shots, a must for any review and a nice artistic touch in picture threads, you want to keep the camera in macro mode. You'll be completely unable to take these pics otherwise. Additionally, resist the lazy urge to simply hold the camera - instead, take the time to find a smaller rest. I use a small wooden box, which is filled with smaller wood blocks which I can stack for ultra-close pics. Notice that I kept the blue light, as it can really add a lot to some of these:
In the second image above, you can see a tiny chip in the slide. That's not even visible by simply looking at it: people just can't focus that closely. Still think your camera can't take good pics? Remember to try to take images that show particular features of the gun, like the slide and barrel ports here:
Finally, themed images. Sometimes you may feel the urge to take a picture with a common theme, for example one showing your gun resting atop your loadout. In this case, don't clutter the pic. Three or so things will be enough. If you don't have that much gear, you can always make it seem like there are more items by taking the magazine out of the gun and having it sit near it. In this image, I didn't have a lot, but I made the pic seem more themed by using the magazine trick, resting all the items on the Hi-Capa manual, and tossing in my comp barrel for kicks. Remember to have the items at different angles, otherwise your photo may seem too contrived:
Keep in mind everything in this guide applies to pictures of gear and rifles as well. For taking pics of large rifles, don't use a window - you won't get even light across the entire large surface. Instead, go outside. You can't use the macro function except in close-ups, but you can still rest the camera on the back of a lawn chair or some other tall object, and don't be afraid to bring your background out too.
Hopefully, this guide will lead to an increase in the quality and quantity of images in reviews and elsewhere on this site and other airsoft forums. In all of the images, I used a $120 Pentax Optio 30, a 3.2 megapixel, and I didn't make any changes in PhotoShop or any other program except to resize.
