My first attempt at pictures

[dodge]

Mmm... now I've done it I'm not sure.

These are my first ever attempts at the 3 stage process.

Dunno what you really good guys think but don't be too harsh any advice greatfully received.







 :

[Lowtardog]

Very nice Dodge, I wish I could paint and photograph like that :0). Methinks I need a new camera, tripod, spot lights and a steady hand  

[Arrigo]

nice minis, just a question? Have you used a flash or someother form of heavy artificial light?

[dodge]

Thank you Lowtardog  :mrgreen:  

I was really worried having looked at the lead painters league.

I took my photo's with a normal digital camera resting on the table with the flash. I did 20 but these were the only good ones.

More practice for me I think

Dodge

[dodge]

nice minis, just a question? Have you used a flash or someother form of heavy artificial light?

Yeah the flash went off on its own and the light effect is too harsh. Someone at work said that I need to have a constant light source behind the camera and maybe from the side. Bit too techy for me.

Dodge

[Grimm]

you lucky one get the umbrella in your blisters ,I get no one in every blister I buy  :cry:

[dodge]

you lucky one get the umbrella in your blisters ,I get no one in every blister I buy  :cry:

Yeah the umbrellas are a fantastic touch. At first I didn't like them but now I think they are great. I think I got 2 in each pack of 10. You must have been very unlucky Grimm.  

[Arrigo]

flash is painting killer... it flettened miniatures... I usually try to take pictures of my minis on morning of sunny days. But the paint work under the flash is nice, I can see the highlights and that is good. Nice work.

[dodge]

flash is painting killer... it flettened miniatures... I usually try to take pictures of my minis on morning of sunny days. But the paint work under the flash is nice, I can see the highlights and that is good. Nice work.

The ones on the black table are very harsh. You are right natural light has got to be the best. I'll try that next.

I was a bit dismayed when I took the photo's as I thought the mini's looked quite good before. Still shows I've got to pay more attention to detail and I will. Thanks for your comments I really appreciate them.

Dodge

[Captain Blood]

Dodge,

It's a good start. I'd recommend you try out a deeper undercoat colour, which has the effect of making the subsequent layers of lighter colour stand out more, by making the recesses of clothing more shadowy.

Photography is trickier than painting for me... I try to take pictures in daylight, although I find bright sunlight washes out the colour, but I'm not expert enough in photography to know how to set the right exposure. Ah well.

I have started using the self-timer device on my digital camera (I think most cameras have them) which is a definite improvement, because it eliminates any shake when you release the shutter, and so greatly reduces fuzziness. Now I need to work out how to get the whole shot of my groups in focus... As you can see from my Lead Painting Competition entries, if I am shooting several figures, I am managing to get some of them in focus, but not quite all! Sheeesh.

But I can't really get into cardboard boxes lined in silk, tripods and multiple light sources! Too techy for me too!  :wink:

[Lowtardog]

flash is painting killer... it flettened miniatures... I usually try to take pictures of my minis on morning of sunny days. But the paint work under the flash is nice, I can see the highlights and that is good. Nice work.

Sunny weather, now that is a rarity, I tried this afternoon and it may as well have been night time  :cry:

[dodge]

Thanks Captain

I'll try that although the stornm green was from the foundry 3 colour system and I thought that was much better. The rest are a mixture of GW paints that I used.

I agree that photography is an art in itself and I'm not that concerned about that just really want to paint up miniatuires sort out some terrain cheaply(ish) and play loads of games with my friends.

Lowtardog's right though the weather for taking photo's in natural daylight here is just pants! even in summer! ::

Dodge

[Arcticman]

I like your  pictures, nice paintjob.  

I am a novice at both painting and taking photos of my minis.
My solution to avoid flash is to set the camera on extreme close up, set it on 12 second timer and hold up two desklamps. one in each hand pointing the light at an angle of c:a 45 degrees towards the minis from behind.

That way I can make 1 photo in 15 look decent.....

[iago]

Does anybody want to trade cameras? I cracked the LCD on mine, and the standard viewfinder doesn't work for closeup pictures, so I have to basically guess. Not fun!

I have a single desklamp that I put as close as possible to the miniature (without it being in the shot). I set my camera to "macro" (since I had luckily memorized how to do that before breaking it), and everything else is default (for obvious reasons ). I try to use a white or light background when I can.

Once the picture is taken, I import it into picasa (Google's image editing program) and adjust the brightness/contrast until it looks about right. I also crop out as much as I can so that the miniature is the focal point.

That's about all the advice that I can give. It's not like I'm even that good at taking pictures, but these are tips I've stolen from others who are.

[dodge]

Thanks guys

I'll try those out.

It seems to me that the two light sources are required to avoid shadow. Sorting the brightness etc... in a photoshop type software sounds good.

I'll post some more when all my figures are fully varnished both gloss and matt.

I have a 600 point force for back of beyond so far trying to think up a name for my warlord army that is quite fun but not too cheesy.

Dodge