Priming the Blood way

[Hammers]

Some time ago I made a promise to make a tutorial in which I show how I've been priming my miniatures lately, as it was taught to me by Cptn Blood. As I am a fairly thorough man once I set my mind on things, the tutorial will be posted one post at a time. This may very well be quite erratically to, time wise, as I am prone to distractions such as seeing a man about a horse or saving fiver, son of Hammers, from falling down the stairs.

Also, I have decided to incorporate a few other flairs and side tracks as I will take this opportunity to document a few other things apart from the priming itself.

Today I will start by showing a light box, or light tent as they are also known, which I clobbered together today from an old moving box and some cheap drawing paper...



The reason I did this is because I've had a bastard of a time getting lighting conditions right since I moved house. Whit limited time on my hands I can't keep experimenting every time I photograph my miniatures. My thinking is that if I manage to set up a static environment with good, clean white and diffuse light conditions I'll have something where  just can plop the miniature in place, shoot the goddamn picture and be done with it. At least it is a theory. We'll see.

Briefly about the box:
  It measures 340x340x4250mm. Apertures are cut with a 45mm margin from the edges arround the sides and at top. The box is clad on the inside with cheap stock paper, about 0.1mm thick. This means the apertures are covered with a white diffusion filter, which is meant to help obscure the light source and create ambiance light conditions within the box. One side is of course left with an opening for the camera.
 The paper filter may very well prove too thin but I am not too worried about that, I'll just add another layer or so if that's the case. Inside the box there is room for back drop paper of standard A3 measurements, which, of course can be concaved to prevent hard lines and shadows.

What else...? Oh, yes: the box can be flattened for storage.

Next time I think I'll be posting something about light sources and bulbs.

[Orctrader]

Some time ago I made a promise to make a tutorial in which I show how I've been priming my miniatures lately, as it was taught to me by Cptn Blood...

You're priming figures in a Light Box?  This I gotta see.   

(Yes, I only read the first couple of sentences and looked at the photo.  )

[Captain Blood]

Nice tent.

Looking forward to this 

[Braxandur]

Nice job, never thought about making one myself, the foldable version of those things can be bought dirt cheap at ebay. Though you have to make sure you know what you are doing. First time I opened mine I managed to hit my own nose with it (painfully at that...).

Still a nice design and might even work better, so looking forward to seeing some sample pictures with and without the tent. And I'm curious about how you want to apply a primer in the tent as well. (yes, I as well read the story only after not understanding what the tent had to do with priming)

[gamer Mac]

Looking forward to seeing some photos using this. Any help with taking photos will be a great help to me. What kind of bulbs, lamps will you be using?

[Hammers]

Funny you should say that...

Since I managed to unearth my dented old reflectors I thought I'd make another post. I have arranged them around the tent like so:




I got these three clip on aluminium reflectors in the US several years ago. All practical miniature photography sources seem to pretty much agree on one thing: they are all you need and are the most versatile. For bulbs I put in 11 Watt low energy bulbs, equalling 60 Watt environment hostile ones. (This one is actually shot in the photo tent.)



I picked this simply because they are what I currently had at home. These bulbs, apart from being environmentally friendly, have the bonus of not generating so much heat, thus lessening the risk of warping and browning the paper in the tent. The drawback is th price and that it takes the little electrical daemons in there several minutes to stoke the fires in them to their maximum radiance.

As they had, alas, it became fairly obvious that they were not giving of sufficient light. It actually says 2700 K warm white light on the other side:



This means that they light provided is slightly yellow. We don't want that. The white paper filter compensates this to some degree but also absorbs some light. Looking through some literature (among them Orctraders tutorial in 'How to...' and 'How to Photograph SCALE MODELS' by Shepard Paine and Lane Stewart) I come to the conclusion that at least one bulb needs to be upgraded to at least 15 Watt l.e.b. (equalling an old 100W bulb). No problem, I'll take care of that tomorrow.

Reading up on the theory I am also reminded that for good effect it can be valuable to have different degrees of brightness in the three spots. It goes like this.

When you arrange your lights towards the subject you should think of them as main, fill and backlight.

The first, the main light, is exactly that and should light the side which has the most interesting detail. The front if you will. Or the direction to which a miniature is looking. Or an imagined light source in a setting. This lamps should be placed slightly above and to the side of the subject and it should be of medium wattage.

The second, the fill, is used to light the details on the other side of the subject and to reduce but NOT take away the shadow the main light creates. This one should be placed at the same hight as the camera lens and, obviously, on the opposite side of the subject  It should be of low wattage. The impact of this lamp can be adjusted by simply moving it closer to or away from the subject.

The third light, the backfill, is the lightest and serves to separate the subject from the background by illuminating the background more brightly or by illuminating the subject from behind or both. It should always be placed above and behind the subject.

Alright then, now, ahaha, enlightened by this I think I will sally forth and buy not only one 15W bulb tomorrow but two and also a 7W or similar. Then we shall fiddle anew.

A final image of the whole set up including tripod and camera, taken with my mobile.



By the way, let me stress again that the *ultimate* goal of this thread is to show how to prime the Blood way. I just never promised I would be to the point and quick about it.

 

[gamer Mac]

Brilliant
Thanks.

[Sendak]

Enlightening.

Really I like your engineering and the results.

Good work!

[flooglestreet]

I promised myself that I would prime and paint some miniatures in 2010, will you have the tutorial done or should I put my priming schedule off

[Hammers]

I shall do my very best.

Short update: low energy bulbs with a blue-white, daylight sheen are hard to come by and they are rediculously expensive. Over €20 at the online stores I've found. The old kind which radiates a lot of heat cost a tenth of that. Bummer...

[Argonor]

Hmmm.... I think I've seen them cheaper here in DK. I'll check around when I get my new scooter (the old one is breaking down all the time, which means I have to drive with the missus to the station, which again means I'm getting late to work, hence later home in the evening... you get the point of my elegy.....)

[Hammers]

Hmmm.... I think I've seen them cheaper here in DK. I'll check around when I get my new scooter (the old one is breaking down all the time, which means I have to drive with the missus to the station, which again means I'm getting late to work, hence later home in the evening... you get the point of my elegy.....)

Much obliged. What I am looking for are the screw on light bulb kind, which fits into my reflectors. Something around 5500 - 6000 K on the colour temperature scale.

BTW, don't ruined the national clichés. Surely all Danes bike?

[cheetor]

As someone who only recently began stumbling through the world of miniature photography I am finding this thread fascinating. 

Keep it up please

[Orctrader]

I shall do my very best.

Short update: low energy bulbs with a blue-white, daylight sheen are hard to come by and they are rediculously expensive. Over €20 at the online stores I've found. The old kind which radiates a lot of heat cost a tenth of that. Bummer...

I use these LINK  But the Bayonet Cap version.  Always MUCH cheaper on Ebay.  Look ridiculous sticking out of my little lamps but they produce LOTS of light.  (And I don't use a light-box.)

But, more to the point, when does the Main Attraction start?  I want to know how to prime 100 figures in 10 minutes...

[Argonor]

BTW, don't ruined the national clichés. Surely all Danes bike?

I actually have two bicycles, but I live 7 km away from the station, and I do not like to get all soaked in sweat when going to work in the morning...

And I really do not care much for riding a bicycle - it's one of the least comfortable ways to transport oneself IMHO. I'll rather walk.

And now you ask: 'Why in Grom's name do you have 2 bicycles, then?' Well, some (10?) years ago, I actually rode a bicycle to work, and I had to have a spare for when I had a flat tyre and no time to mend it...

But I digress. If I'm lucky I'll probably have my new ride tomorrow, and I can then go looking in the local shops (I may want to build such a tent myself, so I have to do the research, anyway. My wife also wants to make good pics of earrings she's making, to advertize/sell on the interwebnet).