GunLab (KnownHost) » Digital photography

Another great post from rifleshooter

Chuck — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 08:00:14 +0000

I don’t know how many people follow rifleshooter, http://rifleshooter.com/, but he has another great gunsmithing post up. This one discusses rebarreling the Winchester model 70 rifle. He does a great job going through the steps he took to rebarrel the rifle. As always with his posts he not only shows you the steps and chats about what he has accomplished but his picture taking skill is very good. He also lets you know where he got his tools and materials. Take the time to stop by and see his work. This post can be found here.

http://rifleshooter.com/2016/02/rebarreling-a-winchester-model-70/

I really want my pictures to look that good.

Cut away CZ 75

Chuck — Thu, 14 May 2015 08:00:15 +0000

This series of pictures is from a CZ-75 cut away in my collection. I really enjoy cut away weapons. It is a way to study the operation and fit up of a particular weapon. Enjoy the pictures.

Your opinion of the pictures. I really am trying to improve the quality of them on the site.

If anyone has any pictures of cut away weapons please drop me a line so I can share them with everyone. Thanks Chuck

Weekend up date 3-23-15

Chuck — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 08:00:09 +0000

Busy weekend. A number of small and large projects were completed this weekend so lets get to the list.

The first was completing the painting in the fab shop. This is what it looked like.

And this is how it looks now.

I hope to work on the last of the lighting next weekend.

The wall in the wood shop was sanded and another coat of mud put on. This is the before we even started it picture.

Then after we took out the window and framed it in.

This is how it looks now.

We moved some equipment around in the wood shop it allow easier access and use.

I need to build a dust cabinet around the cnc router and I wanted the access to be where I can install and remove fixtures and parts.

I finished the radial arm saw table.

My wife started on the new library/document room.

Cabinet of manuals

Files of data collected over 35 years.

We also got the cnc router up and running. The parameters had been changed and it took most of Saturday getting it to work properly. Here is a quick video of it cutting air.

The other project that was worked on was the photographic stand for rifles and pistols. The first version I was using a lazy susan to allow me to move it.

However there was to much movement so the final version is just bolted to the board.

Sunday Answer 3-15-15

Chuck — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 16:18:44 +0000

This is the bolt that you looked at yesterday.

The ring on the back is to cock the bolt.

You can see where the hammer travels through the bolt and strikes the firing pin. This rifle fires from a closed bolt.

It goes to the Beretta model 1918/30 carbine in 9mm Glisenti. It is a cartridge similar to the 9×19 but of much less powerful, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9mm_Glisenti.

You can see the similarity to the Beretta model 38 smg bolt.

9mm Luger ammunition will fit and fire in this weapon but should not be used.

It was a well made carbine using a forged and machined receiver.

It was generally issued as a police carbine.

Weekend update part 2 3-1-15

Chuck — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 08:00:27 +0000

With the weather being bad all weekend it takes all the fun out of working outside. It was also impossible to bring in material of the project in the wood shop. To wet to go shooting. So what to do, that is the question. I continued working on improving my digital photography. I also went through my older pictures and scanned them to the computer, well about 1/2 of them. But that gets old quick so I needed something to make me feel like I did something productive this weekend. I decided to build a photo back drop in the pantry. I had enough material in the wood shop for it and I have been wanting one for awhile. The next task will be to build a mufti-function holding contraption. I got the idea from Reed Knight’s photographer.

This is the back drop that I finished to day.

Front sideBack sideIt is design so that I can put sides on it if the item to be photographed is larger.

Weekend Photo session, rare and engraved Walther

Chuck — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 08:00:53 +0000

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.

Cut away weapons Dutch Mannlicher rifle

Chuck — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 08:00:06 +0000

This post is on the bolt action Dutch Mannlicher rifle. Again I must apologize for the photograph. This was on the same trip trying to learn how to use the camera.

I am working at getting better taking pictures.

Weekend trip part 3, looking at gun rooms

Chuck — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 08:00:32 +0000

While on the trip I wanted to look and photograph a few guns for up coming posts. The owners were nice enough to let me take pictures of their gun room and post them. No address or names but some interesting weapons. I enjoy looking at gun rooms from the smallest to the largest. Some times it is not the guns but the rooms that are interesting and some time it is just about the guns. This first post is a room of a guy that likes everything and it is from him that I was able to borrow the rifles that I will be posting about next week. However, I think there will be a lot more interesting pictures and information coming from here.

This what you see walking into the room last the vault door.

As you look around the room you can something of interest in every corner.

Heck of an original poster collection as well

Into stainless.

Who has 3 drillings

Shoulder stocked pistol that are all correct, nice set.

And books in every corner. More research to be do here.

Digital Photography or how I wasted a Saturday

Chuck — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 08:00:18 +0000

I started out today to take a couple of pictures of a few weapons to post. However, I got a little anal and wanted to take a descent picture with out the help of photoshop. I started a digital photography class a while back but dropped it after the instructor spent 3 hours going through a book looking at pictures showing one that was with a 18-55 lens and one taken with a telescopic lens.

So today I just have a few pieces taken at different F stops, ISO and speeds. I also changed the back ground a little to help if needed.

So first off this is my photo tent being used outside with normal lighting.

The first set was taken with these settings.

ISO 400
F16
1/1250

And this is how they turn out.

Way to dark so I called a friend who does a lot of picture taking and his recommendation for changes to the camera.

second set
ISO 600
F 8
1/250

So after a little more chatting this is what we came up with for settings.

ISO 400
F 11
1/250

As you can see the pistol frame is looking much better but the rifle receiver is still to washed out.

Same settings but with a darker back ground.

You can see that the trigger guard is still to dark but the receiver is okay. So the setting were changed again and a light diffusion card was place in front of the receiver.

ISO 400

F 10

1/250

You can see the lever and trigger guard much clearer.

The next trip will be to buy back ground paper and try again. There is a lot to taking good pictures and I am a slow learner, but I still keep trying.

Weekend update 1-5-15

Chuck — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:56:30 +0000

Well the new year is here and the holidays are over. It is time to get back into the routine of life. This last week was just that but a little longer. The first on the list was the honeydo’s project. My wife wanted a new kitchen faucet for Christmas ,seeing how the old one had cracked and died, and I got the pleasure of installing it. Now before any of you get on my case about buying a faucet for my wife for Christmas and not something like jewelry, witch I make, or cloths, which I would never guess at, she bought it her self. In fact she buys all the gifts because I have no since of humor shopping. This is a picture of the old faucet and you can see why it needed to go.

This what she bought to replace it.

Now the fun starts. There is nothing I like better then to get my old and over weight body down on the floor and try to squeeze into a small space and work.

Then to only find out none of the hoses match up between the old faucet and the new on. So a trip to home depot to buy the necessary components and back on the floor again and we end up with this.

While we are on the subject of honeydo’s my next door neighbor decided he needed a new tv. The large 63″ one in his bedroom just was not big enough so he bought a new one that was larger and was going to throw out his one year old one because it kept shutting down after 30 minutes or so. Because he had trouble moving it by himself he gave me a call and asked if I wanted it. Not one to turn down free stuff I said yes. It is now in the living room where it replace my 34″ set. And the timer has been reset so it operates great.

It took a while to get working and new cables have to be bought, as it is high def and our old one was not. I still can not get use to the size. It takes up the wall.

Now on to shop things. Most of this weekend was spent working in the wood shop and as the weather was a little chilly it was a good idea.

Yes, that is snow on the mountain behind my home.

Now, back to the wood shop. A couple of weeks ago I picked up some new, for me, wood working equipment. With the new additions I needed to make some changes to the shop. It seems a number of people question my sanity for getting additional wood working equipment when I spend most of my time in the machine shop. There are two good reasons for this. The first is that I need to make stocks and metal casting patterns for some of the gun projects were we are doing. The second is that I started a complete house remodel a few years back and got stopped at the kitchen. I bought a kitchen store display cheap but when I went back to buy the additional cabinets to finish the kitchen the costs were out in the “O MY God” price range. The same is true when we contacted a number of cabinet makers in the valley. Not to mention that I am now sure that cabinet makers are one step below used car sales men in honesty and integrity. So I have decided to make the remainder of the kitchen cabinets because I have nothing to do in my spare time.

So,with the new tool I got for Christmas I got busy.

I finished the back table for the table saw.

A cabinet needs to be built for inside the stand. That project is coming up as soon as I finish the drawings in solid works.

Then we move the radial arm saw to a new location to make it more user friendly and started build a larger table for it. This next series of pictures is that process.

We started with the old bench that I had in the shop, I got it out of a dumpster a while back and liked it. However it was to low for the saw and needed to be raised and there was a slight rise in the table so everything had to be hand fitted.

But by the end of the weekend we had it mostly finished. I need to pick up a 1.5″x2″x16′ long piece of steel to finish the job. This is how it looked when I stopped.

This weekend I also took a class for K. who is a professional photographer, and works for a top gun magazine, to try and improve my pictures. This is the photo I took at the beginning of the session.

And these are the same shots at the end of the session. I was lucky enough to be able to spend a few hours with her and learned a great deal. With any luck I will be able to do it again.

No photoshop magic was done on any of them.

And as they say in the infomercials, BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE.

I also spent time in the machine shop working on the new parts we just got in fro the laser cutter for the VG1-5 project. I finished the magazine release button and the strengthening plates for the receiver.

Magazine release buttons.

A complete write up will be coming in the next few days along with videos. I also spent more time on the AR-16 drawings to try and get that rifle finished up in solid works. Other then taking my wife out to the movie and a few clean up projects this was my weekend. Tomorrow I will post an update on the VG1-5 project and all the other projects we have been working on here at Gun Lab.