April 2012 Monthly Photo Contest Winner

**Bud Helms** · May 10, 2012, 05:14 AM

Freakdaddy.

One very cool photo.

***

My Grandad's shotgun and his other personal items.

Freakdaddy · May 10, 2012, 09:12 AM

To say I'm astounded by the overwhelming amount of votes I received would be a gross understatement! I sincerely appreciate all that voted for me especially with all the other great photos to chose from. A big shout out to cw mi who had such an interesting composition; Doogle's great use of color and to pdogkilr with a great shot of that Brown 1911...all nicely done! I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the positive comments as well and a warm thanks for all the kind words. Since a couple of people wanted to see the whole gun, here's a couple of quick shots I took of it. Thanks again everyone!

cw_mi · May 15, 2012, 03:27 PM

Great to see the full gun. Your contest picture just looked excellent. The composition was great , lighting was perfect.
What kind of camera and lighting did you use ? Did you touch it up with a photo software ?

Freakdaddy · May 15, 2012, 08:29 PM

Thanks for the compliments cw...much appreciated! As far as the camera goes, it's a Sony DSC-H7 which is basically an 8.1 megapixel point and shoot style with a few added features and I always use a tripod. For lighting, all I use are the clamp on style work lights with the cheap aluminum dome that you can pick up at any hardware store and I use 6500k rated flourescent bulbs. For this picture, I used four of them clamped to the back of a couple of bar stools.

I do use Photoshp Elements 10 for image editing but all I ever do is sharpen and might adjust the colors a little. On this one, I did have to darken the face on the watch as the numbers ended up getting blown out from the lighting. On the ones with the white background, I will adjust the levels a little more to blow out the background to make it as white as possible then I usually have to darken the object a little after that. For that one, I believe I had 8 of the clamp on lights and that is on white seamless paper I picked up from B&H Photo and it works great for long guns.

Not a real high tech setup or an outstanding camera but somehow, I've figured out how to make the combination work LOL!

cw_mi · May 18, 2012, 10:02 AM

Thanks for the reply, it seems like lighting is a key factor expecially when using a "point and shoot".
I too have a low buck set up, Sony WS90 point and shoot, tripod and a cheap light box with a single overhead 6500k flourescent. I could use some filler lights and need to get some sort of editing software to touch the photo's up some.

May 10, 2012, 05:14 AM	#1
Bud Helms Staff Join Date: December 31, 1999 Location: Middle Georgia Posts: 12,907	April 2012 Monthly Photo Contest Winner Freakdaddy. One very cool photo. *** My Grandad's shotgun and his other personal items. __________________ "The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion." - John Lawton, speaking to the American Association of Broadcast Journalists in 1995

May 10, 2012, 09:12 AM	#2
Freakdaddy Senior Member Join Date: February 19, 2006 Posts: 395	To say I'm astounded by the overwhelming amount of votes I received would be a gross understatement! I sincerely appreciate all that voted for me especially with all the other great photos to chose from. A big shout out to cw mi who had such an interesting composition; Doogle's great use of color and to pdogkilr with a great shot of that Brown 1911...all nicely done! I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the positive comments as well and a warm thanks for all the kind words. Since a couple of people wanted to see the whole gun, here's a couple of quick shots I took of it. Thanks again everyone!

May 15, 2012, 03:27 PM	#3
cw_mi Member Join Date: February 24, 2009 Posts: 85	Great to see the full gun. Your contest picture just looked excellent. The composition was great , lighting was perfect. What kind of camera and lighting did you use ? Did you touch it up with a photo software ?

May 15, 2012, 08:29 PM	#4
Freakdaddy Senior Member Join Date: February 19, 2006 Posts: 395	Thanks for the compliments cw...much appreciated! As far as the camera goes, it's a Sony DSC-H7 which is basically an 8.1 megapixel point and shoot style with a few added features and I always use a tripod. For lighting, all I use are the clamp on style work lights with the cheap aluminum dome that you can pick up at any hardware store and I use 6500k rated flourescent bulbs. For this picture, I used four of them clamped to the back of a couple of bar stools. I do use Photoshp Elements 10 for image editing but all I ever do is sharpen and might adjust the colors a little. On this one, I did have to darken the face on the watch as the numbers ended up getting blown out from the lighting. On the ones with the white background, I will adjust the levels a little more to blow out the background to make it as white as possible then I usually have to darken the object a little after that. For that one, I believe I had 8 of the clamp on lights and that is on white seamless paper I picked up from B&H Photo and it works great for long guns. Not a real high tech setup or an outstanding camera but somehow, I've figured out how to make the combination work LOL!

May 18, 2012, 10:02 AM	#5
cw_mi Member Join Date: February 24, 2009 Posts: 85	Thanks for the reply, it seems like lighting is a key factor expecially when using a "point and shoot". I too have a low buck set up, Sony WS90 point and shoot, tripod and a cheap light box with a single overhead 6500k flourescent. I could use some filler lights and need to get some sort of editing software to touch the photo's up some.