Photos..
 

Hi,
i'm working on a University project where our group is doing a video game mainly pertaining to mercenaries in modern day.

My task at the moment is to get some background images and stock photos for the game.
examples can be see
here and here

My problem is this..
i have limited access to anything weapon like..
so far i've gotten ahold of a stiletto dagger, a boe(staff), an air gun (long barrel mag.), and a stylized knife. and might have another air gun comming my way (silver barretta (sp?))

So i thought i'd open the floor up to you guys, do you have any suggestions as to what a
Mercenary in modern day would use, that i might be able to get my hands on easily.

Combat shotguns and what not would be ideal but simply not an option for instance. I'm a Canadian Resident and don't know a single gun collector.. The only real thing I can espect to get ahold of will be a hunting rifle with scope.

One suggestion which a friend of mine made was A clear plastic bag for suffocation
(everything can be a weapon if used right/wrong). It is ideas like this that i'm looking for.


Thanks for reading this far, and even more if you have any ideas.
Boo Radley

You can hunt around for some Airsoft players. Their guns are quasi-realistic, and I'm sure they'd be happy to show off their weapons to you (I don't know about letting you borrow them). You might need some electrical tape to put over the ends for your photos, but aside from that it'd be pretty good (reason being, the ends are frequently bright orange).

I checked your examples by the way, and I have to critique them a bit. If you're going for realism, then a bo staff won't work, and neither will those specific knives. You'd have to get more utilitarian combat knives, such as military issue ones. If you're going for more of a fantasy-styled mercenary game, then just ignore this paragraph, because the weapons are cool. :)

Mercs generally like to use whatever weapons are available in the area they're operating in. In Asia, Africa, and E. Europe this generally means ComBloc weapons like the AK series, the SV-series sniper rifles, and PPs-series submachineguns. In S. America you still see a fair number of these, but with a much greater quantity of W. European and American weapons as well; lots of M-16s ( although the mercs tend to avoid them if possible; they tend to be older models with reliability issues ), LOTS of FALs and G3s, with mostly Belgian or US-made machineguns ( MAG58, MiniMi, or M-60 series ) and submachineguns.

Basically, it all depends on what's available locally and what's the most versatile. Mercenaries back in the 60s and 70s, during the Rhodesian Wars, really loved the oddball 7.62x45mm CZ round, because it gave them a good balance between the longer-range .308 and the handier 7.62x39. It was an ideal compromise between an AK-47 and an FAL or G3, in that regard.

A mercenary depends largely on local resupply; stripping the bodies of the dead, that kind of thing, so he can't exactly carry something too off-the-wall. Executive Outcomes and Sandline International both have policies of procuring all their weapons for a given mission in-country, precisely to avoid this sometimes-disastrous situation.

As for photos, try and find some Airsoft players. They tend to be super-anal about realism in their weapons, and they'll probably be quite happy to let you use whatever they've got lying about.

You could also check out a local military collector's store. They're sometimes attached to gun stores. These gun enthusiasts love to talk and show their stuff. One by my house even has some WWII anti-aircraft gun in the middle of the store.

i would glady let u take pics of my airsoft guns, no electrical tape needed cause i have black tips :P

problem is im in california;; what part of canada are u in? i can see if my friends are close by and see if they are willing to help u

I'll see what I can come up with. I have a variety of airsoft guns, air guns (realistic) and a whole bunch of sharp objects. I'll try to get some hi-res photos of myself and friends with various armaments for you.

A possibility is (if they're legal in Canada) to go to a sporting goods store and check out bows and crossbows. Silent but deadly :)

Oh yeah, it's all legal. I just think that a dealer might take issue with someone "trying out" half of the guns and bows in the store, whilst taking pictures and pointing them every which way.

Heh...
Yeah i might be able to get away with one.. but i do think we have friend of the family who does hunt with a bow..
thanks for the good idea.

MrSelfDestruct had a good idea
 

If anyone has some high resolution photos of themselves standing or posing in a interesting way with semi realistic weapons i can use them as source photos. That would be really cool.

airsoft orange barrel caps are not a problem (i used to do photoshop for a living)

I must mention that you'd be concenting to me using your likeness and image royalty free, and that the photo is in the public domain or you are the primary copyright holder. (No this game will never have a $ attached to it, as it's just an honours project, i'm just covering my bases)

define high resolution, and I'll snap you some pics...

That would be excellent, thanks Ziadel.

Anything under 1024 x 768 gets hard to work with
1600x1200 or larger is ideal

Having the subject in good crisp focus is the most important part though.

No offense intended, but there's no way in hell a real merc would use the "fantasy" knife you're showing. The metallurgy on such knives isn't up to snuff, and it weighs a lot more than is necessary. Even a semi-serious operator would laugh at it.

no offense taken

It was just the only blade around other then a butter knife, and a lock blade i use for whittling.

Sides.. it made for a nice photo, and there by made an ends to a means.

I'll take photos of my Ka-Bar....


thats a good practical knife. how you want these pics? you want pics of just the objects or should I bust out my ninja uniform and strike a pose? :lol:

so far in the lineup I'll have my 1911 (of course)
Ka-bar with pics of a good sheathe
Remington 870 pump shotgun
my CETME (HK 91 basically)
HK USP



I can even throw a MOdel 94 lever action into the mix if you want :D

Damn.. that sounds like one fine line up!

Thanks man you rock!

I'll PM you with some details..

no problem man :)

Royalty-free isna't a problem, although if it's possible it would be cool to have a copy of the came once it's done and graded. I'll try to get the pics done this week.