Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Jan 29, 2005 18:43:01 GMT 12
Just finished a mini you are particularly proud of, need to show someone a picture of project in construction for some feedback, or maybe you're selling off your exquisately painted army. Whatever your reasoning for wanting to take a photo you'll want it to be clear and show up all the detail. Here's how I go about taking photos with my panasonic digital camera First thing of all, READ the camera instructions in regards to taking photos in macro mode. Don't have the book anymore or can't find it? I guarantee there will be a downloadable PDF of your camera instructions on the manufacutrers website. READ IT. I didn't, and my first few attempts at taking photos up close ended in misery.. until I found out that I actually needed to zoom out, not in! Find out how close you can get to the item and stick to the suggested range for your camera. don't try getting in closer thinking that you can fill the screen with your mini and get a better shot. You can crop excess background and enlarge a decent sharp image later but you can't fix a fuzzy out of focus photo. Don't have a digital camera? please do not use your computer web cam!! I've found flatbed scanners can do a rather decent job, though you are limited to how you can pose the subject and you only have one lighting source. Use fabric over the mini to block out too much background light and create a background here's one I did with a scanner www.coolminiornot.com/53704Ok next thing to consider is background, as much as you might not mind looking at your desktop while working on a mini we really don't want to see it as a background. Use sheet of a4 paprer from your printer propped aup against books or something. If you want to go fancy try printing a sheet of gradiated blue to white out. Alot of miniature artists use this kind of background here's an example of one I used the blue to white background on www.coolminiornot.com/54502 |
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Jan 29, 2005 18:51:44 GMT 12
Right now you have your camera and you've read the instructions, read them again! yes I'm serious. Then find yourself something to support the camera, for the purpose of this post hands are not considered something. I don't have a table top tripod, but I know they're pretty cheap, I use a stack of books, or coffee mug or anything else I can find. The disadvantage of this is that you can't angle the camera to suit. Next is lighting. If you just use the camera flash you'll get this kind of effect www.coolminiornot.com/53548yes, Azarphan the great warlord is shadow boxing with himself  the photo itself isn't overly bad but some of the shadows are a little harsh and he has a 2 dimensional appearance. What you need to do is swipe everyones desk lamps and set them up around your mini, two of them go at the sides and the third is somewhere behind your camera lighting the front of the mini. it's starting to become a bit of a juggling act by now but I get my youngest son to play props boy and hold one of the lamps. Then I take the photo.. or to be more precise I take 50 photos. I turn the mini round, i alter the settings I fiddle and twiddle and click away like mad. Love those digital cameras! I always make sure I am using the highest resolution settings. You can always reduce the file size later, but you can never increase the quality All that is left now is to download them to your computer and pick out the best shots. Try to remember what settings you used for them and take note for future reference |
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Post by PitYak Studios on Jan 29, 2005 20:04:17 GMT 12
Thanks for that; photography is not my strong point.
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Post by Aaron on Jan 30, 2005 11:55:38 GMT 12
Well you cant argue with that! thats excellent thanks! No excuse now for taking a poor picture... well except my camera's rubbish and I didn't have any desklamps also Id used up all my paper printing dirty stories... so really its not my fault!  |
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Jan 30, 2005 12:12:57 GMT 12
you'd be suprised at how good a photo you can get with even a rubbish camera. One big mistake is people try to get too close when their lense is just not capable of focussing at that range. Or they try to zoom in thinking that will get them even closer (i made this mistake first few attempts) bottom line is read the information that comes with your camera and find out what it is capable of and work within those boundries.
I found setting a slightly longer exposure on mine was useful too, it helped keep the colours more true. You don't need an expensive studio quality camera. Mine is a Panasonic DMC-LC33, has 3.3 megapixels, and a 3x optical zoom (i never use digital zoom, but it has that too). We paid $450 for it last year. Had to buy a bigger SD card since it only came with 16mb. and that is like 12 photos at max resolution!. I found a web based company in christchurch that sells memory and cameras etc.. and got 256mb for a very good price
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Post by PitYak Studios on Jan 31, 2005 8:29:14 GMT 12
You know, there could be something to this reading the instructions business; homepages.paradise.net.nz/marvelman/posts/spidey270.JPGThat was taken with my wife's camera. It's a Dick Smith's job, says 3.1 Mega pixel on the fron, but you can select 5.5Mp from the menu. It cost $120. |
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Ed
Ambitious Upstart
Posts: 70
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Post by Ed on Jan 31, 2005 20:37:32 GMT 12
Dealing with shadows and backgrounds is simple for those of us who have Cracked perfectly legal versions of photoshop . Use the edge finder to select the areas outside of the miniature and delete them for a clean white background. Not at all difficult. and if your intent on looking fancy you can use the gradient tool to add a transitional background. @ PitYak : If you don't have photoshop and intend on posting alot more miniatures and terrain pieces on TradeMe, you're more than welcome to fire the photos off to me for editing before the start the auction. |
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Post by PitYak Studios on Jan 31, 2005 20:42:56 GMT 12
Oh I do, equally perfectly legal
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Jan 31, 2005 20:48:06 GMT 12
quite true, but still the shadows that are actually -on- the mini will still be rather funky and harsh with one lighting source. My hints weren't so much intended to give you a pretty background but to bring out the best and show as much detail on the mini as possible.
Taking photos outside is ok too, but use either overcast day, or early morning/late afternoon, as midday with the sun overhead gives you bad shadows too. Bascially apply the same rules as for taking photos of people
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Post by PitYak Studios on Jan 31, 2005 20:56:07 GMT 12
That's where i'm going wrong then, I always deliberately wait untill the sun is at it's brightest
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
|
Post by Pirate Wench on Jan 31, 2005 21:06:36 GMT 12
yup, you'll get a lot of downcast shadows in bright midday sun. I think you can reflect light back onto the target by using those big silver sail things that you always see the multitudes of assistants waving around near scantily clad bikini models doing this years shoot of the pirelli calander. They're designed to throw the light back on and reduce the problem with shadows when you want a full daylight sunny beach kind of shot. I don't think you can use silver foil for this kind of thing, might be too harsh. I know the special screen thingys photographers use are designed to throw light back but difuse it. Personally I'd go with the overcast shots,
or take it indoors for the -studio- shoot
don't forget to talk with a slight lisp and tell your minis that they look "fabulous dahling' as you click away, get them to play up to the camera and express that famous ork 'tude'
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the photo itself isn't overly bad but some of the shadows are a little harsh and he has a 2 dimensional appearance.
