I had the opportunity this weekend due to the rain and miserable weather to do some indoor photographing. I used this as a chance to practice taking pictures in low light with no flash, as if I were in a museum.
This set I am showing you are pictures of a very beautiful Walther PPK in 380 with a bottom release magazine. This is a 1930 original engraved pistol that is beyond belief.
This is the worst one. I did not get a close enough picture and not enough depth of field.
Let me know what you think. There was no photoshop done to any of these pictures. I did used paint to reduce the size. I hope you enjoyed them. My next task is to make a stand to hold rifles and pistols. I am still trying to improve my picture taking skills. All comments are appreciated.
IMHO It is a beautiful gun but you’d think that after all that effort (an money on the buyers part) that the grips would have been replaced with something more appropriate. The cheap plastic grips are a real distraction from the overall beauty of the weapon.
Chuck, Thanks for sharing the photos and all of the other info you have posted here.
I think the plastic is cool, it looks like the period. Bad engraving is horribly tacky but good engraving like this is so good.
The original grip were ivory that shattered prior to the new owner receiving the pistol. He has been looking for reference pictures to have a set made.
lol welp guess I’m a sucker for tacky old plastic. and bakelite.
You need to work on your side lighting to get the engraving highlights to show better. Study the beautiful photos in a Julia catalog. Did you ever try placing the flash at 30 to 50 degrees to the side and, maybe, covering the flash with a very, very light material or even window screen to diffuse it?
Ken Thanks for the advice. I will do that in my photo area when it gets finished. How would have improved the pictures with out any flash and poor lighting. That is the problem I deal with at most museums. Thanks again
Try a light tent (for even lighting) with the object on a light box (to eliminate background shadows).
Be sure the color temperature of the light source is close to daylight (about 6500K degrees. Even then, you may have to make slight color temperature adjustments in some photoshop type software.