After watching Sam Welch shoot photos at FEGA 2016, I knew it was time to revisit his great, portable photo setup. Thank you Sam for sending me these photos!
This is an excellent setup that costs little to make and it can produce fabulous photos. Check it out!
A curved diffusing panel over Sam's bench. This works especially well photographing curved surfaces as in the next two photos.
Sam Welch is one of the top gun engravers in the world as this shows!
Scrollwork to die for!
His traveling photo kit packs nicely into a shoulder bag for onsite or at-show photography.
A homemade mount that attaches the plastic panel to the hotshoe of the camera. The main purpose of the panel is to keep the sheet up and out of the way of the camera lens.
In this photo the camera is mounted to the tripod and the panel is attached to the hotshoe of the camera.
Closeup of the hole cut in the sheet for the camera, and the opening on the left provides camera access for Sam's finger.
The sheet has a total of 3 holes. One for the tripod head, a small hole for the tripod head's camera attachment screw, and a finger hole.
View from the back shows the LCD of the camera and you'll note the camera's carrying strap is also fed through to the outside to keep it out of the way.
Two 1 pound weights secure the sheet's corners and it's ready to rock. Sam can use this setup at gun shows for quickly taking great photos on the fly.
One of the two BEST ENGRAVED PISTOLs at FEGA 2016. This one by Ray Armand and the other by Bert Edmonston.
I watched Sam shoot this photo on a table at the FEGA show. His camera is a modest Canon G9 which is several generations old, but as you can see, this proves that proper lighting is far more important than the camera used to shoot the photo!
This is an excellent setup that costs little to make and it can produce fabulous photos. Check it out!

A curved diffusing panel over Sam's bench. This works especially well photographing curved surfaces as in the next two photos.

Sam Welch is one of the top gun engravers in the world as this shows!

Scrollwork to die for!



His traveling photo kit packs nicely into a shoulder bag for onsite or at-show photography.

A homemade mount that attaches the plastic panel to the hotshoe of the camera. The main purpose of the panel is to keep the sheet up and out of the way of the camera lens.

In this photo the camera is mounted to the tripod and the panel is attached to the hotshoe of the camera.

Closeup of the hole cut in the sheet for the camera, and the opening on the left provides camera access for Sam's finger.

The sheet has a total of 3 holes. One for the tripod head, a small hole for the tripod head's camera attachment screw, and a finger hole.

View from the back shows the LCD of the camera and you'll note the camera's carrying strap is also fed through to the outside to keep it out of the way.

Two 1 pound weights secure the sheet's corners and it's ready to rock. Sam can use this setup at gun shows for quickly taking great photos on the fly.

One of the two BEST ENGRAVED PISTOLs at FEGA 2016. This one by Ray Armand and the other by Bert Edmonston.
I watched Sam shoot this photo on a table at the FEGA show. His camera is a modest Canon G9 which is several generations old, but as you can see, this proves that proper lighting is far more important than the camera used to shoot the photo!