Photographing Figures

Just John

Moderator
I need help with taking photographs and having seen some of the pics you guys take I figure someone here will be able to advise. I have a decent camera but I'm more used to taking photos of real live dead skeletons than 1" tall lead ones. So if any of you can give me simple tips on taking close ups of my little men that would be great.

Slán

John
 

Blue in VT

Moderator
John,

If you poke around on the LAF or Cool Minis or Not websites you can find some good tutorials on how to take good photos....but since you asked...here is my breakdown.

My system is painfully simple....I place the figure on a blue to white gradient card that I have printed out on card stock...this is tapped with the white end on the desk and curves up to the wall where the blue end is taped (this eliminates and "horizon" from the picture). For light I use 3 lights total. two desk lamps...the type with bendy necks...and I put 25w compact florescent DAYLIGHT bulbs in them. These I place on either side, and slightly forward of the figure. My third lamp is another desk lamp...but it is one of the ones that has a long bulb in it...like this:
DESKLampbulb.jpg


This is what the whole unit looks like
DESKLamp.jpg


This one I hold up above my camera...a light source that is coming from the same place that the picture is taken...particularly if it is a long light source like this lamp...reduces the amount of shadows dramatically. (In fact if I'm in a hurry or taking casual WIP photos I can get away with this lamp alone)

The camera I have mounted on a tripod...I use a full size one...but if your situation demands it one of those mini tripods would be good too. here is a picture of my whole set up

photosetup.jpg


If you can get a remote shutter release for your camera that would be good...otherwise use the timer function so that your hand pushing the button doesnt move your camera and blur your photo...yes...it does make a difference.

If your camera has a "Macro" setting...use it...this is usually designated with a small flower icon...it tells the camera to focus on things close to the lens...which your figure should be.

Then...snap away...remember you are using digital so rake as many pictures as you want and delete the ones you don't like. If you get some pictures you like...then the task turns to post-processing the images....that is a whole other ball of wax...and we can discuss that if you want once you get your photo setup rolling along.

Here are links to a couple of gradient cards I made if you need one

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k285/ ... kdrop1.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k285/ ... kdrop2.jpg

I hope that helps...

Cheers,

Blue
 

Thantsants

Member
My set up is pretty much the same lighting-wise. I have three desk lamps, one of which is a daylight bulb.

I use a scenic setup - basically my gaming table with watercolour paintings printed off from google images sstuck to a free-standing frame along the edge.

setup.jpg


I use a little mini tripod most of the time and have the camera on macro. I think the trick is positioning the camera so you get good depth of field - not something I profess to having a deep understanding of. What seems to work for me is focussing slightly behind what you want to be the focus point of the pic - that way more of the mini(s) fall into the depth of field and appear nice and sharp in your image. This also has the benefit of putting your background out of focus so that it looks like its in the distance.

If I want a wide angle shot with lots of minis in focus then its a case of moving the camera quite far out and cropping the image fairly heavily in a photo editor to get the bit I want - too much cropping however will result in a pixellated image.

Picasa works well for me for photo editing - I quite often use the touch-up tool (or whatever its called) to blend in the obvious joins between backdrop and table top and where the backdrop doesn't quite follow on from picture to picture. Auto contrast adjust is usually a must too.

Like Blue says though take loads of pics from various distances, play around with the photo editor and see what you come up with! :grin:
 

Just John

Moderator
Thanks lads - thats more or less what I was looking for. I had looked at a few tutorials and got lost when depth of field, F-stops and white balance etc came into it. I already have a couple of desk lamps and a mini tripod so I'll see if I can pick up a third and a daylight bulb tomorrow and then get clicking.

John
 
@Thantsants: great idea with scenic background :grin:
Now all I have to to is type proper phrase is google images...

@Just John: there are some simple tricks to make pics look better, for instance:
1. always use tripod
2. watch out with zooming when taking pics of minis :)
 
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