Taking better photos of Gundam models - WIP

All I can say is wow!  Very nice indeed.

Wow, I definately do enjoy! Those are great! Really nice.

Leon

thanks for the kind words mate...

though I wish I could do another take but this time using 12 MP SLR with proper lighting - three lighting sources... :p

here is the sample picture I took using another digi-cam.
It takes 4MB JPEG so I downsized to below 1MB to post on imaheshack though kept the quality at the maximum...

what do you think?

finally had some time off tonight so I set up another temp. studio(?) to have another go after several helpful suggestions and tips from other modellers.

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ok. the last picture is not MG Gundam kit but rather MC Mazinger Z Heavy Duty version.
This was the very first photo I took using this set up and thought it'd be shame to waste - sorry for the amount of dust on this guy. It was sitting on the shelf for last four years so...

In case you are interested the above pictures were taken two desk lamps on the kitchen table. Due to lack of experience with the digital SLR camera I set the incorrect white balance resulting yellowish tint. The images were then down sized to around 500KB with 1024 x 768 pixels and bit of cropping to get rid of unwanted background - our kitchen.

Criticism is welcome. :D

The second batch definitely came out a LOT better than the first one.  Pretty much every single one of the first batch was out of focus and the camera auto-focused on the towel/drapes(??) in the background.  Either you are too close and got closer than the minimum autofocus range or a white background with no texture could fix the problem. 

10mb tiff...  i think my d70 can only go that far.  sheesh. what camera is it, coolpix 8800?

if your camera has a custom white balance feature you can probably grab yourself a gray card, which can probably help you solve the problem.  or you can just further edit the picture on the computer.  if you want to get the entire model in focus (one of the requirement by FSM if i recall correctly), change your apperture to at least f /4 or 6 or even smaller f-stop numbers.  from the pictures it looks like you are setting it on f/2.8 or 3.2, but since you are leaving the cam on a tripod probably a lil increase even in low lighting shouln't be a problem.  i personally like out of focus effects so do whatever floats your boat.

 

yes you are correct I was way too close to the model due to the desk lamps I used.
It's one of those with huge base an very short cord. So they were very close to the model and I had to be even closer to avoid the lamps captured on the same frame.

Camera is Nikon D2x that I burrowed from dad. This is the first time I used digital SLR - or SLR for that matter - so I'm kind of learning as I go - and Nikon only provided the manual on CD-ROM so it was rather inconvenient to look up CD-ROM when ever I have a question. They should've included the printed manual given how much they are charging for the camera alone... :(

Yes I overlooked the white balance - well the camera has almost dozen buttons and dials and what not so it was quite daunting to handle the thing...

For the out of focus on certain parts of model I think I like as it gives kind of depth - like if you are really taking picture of the real thing the distance from one end to the other would be huge... :D

I'm going to do another experiment soon as I can get some free time - probably at mid night again. :(
I will keep your suggestion and bunch of others from other members...

cheers

dj898 wrote:

Camera is Nikon D2x that I burrowed from dad.

...

oh man aren't you lucky.  when I was shooting sport and event photos back for the school paper (side job, i was the online editor), i always chose to used the D2h among all other nikon dSLRs we had.  it was just a beast when it comes to speed and was perfect for those AFS lenses i had, even though it had only 4mp, which actually makes plenty of image size for a daily school paper.  the D2X is like a gem for pros. 

try set the camera in A/aperture mode (there should be a dial on top that has A, S, P, M and stuff like that).  that way you only need to adjust the depth of field and everything else should fall along perfectly.  it comes with presets for whitebalance as well. 

just for laugh  :lol:



This is what I could done in few minutes of fiddling with PhotoElement - the cut down version of Adobe PhotoShop that comes with virtually any decent digi-camera package.
I'd say try if you have one..
'coz this is actually quite fun... :D

I shall try some background composite like one I saw on Korean web page recently...

From this
To this

hi dj898-

   Excellent work! Great photos and excellent job on the kits. I'm eagerly awaiting my first kit to arrive!

thanks mate

though I'm still long way from mastering the photograph the models...
My main issue is Depth of Field but then I like the shallow DoF even though it makes the parts of model out of focus...

And here's another one I've tried with PhotoElement...
Originally the photo had the strong yellow tint plus the overall picture was very dark.

this is PG Zaku II with recently finished Bazooka


Another one at the planning stage is constructing the generic HO scale diorama base to take pictures with the various models... I'm thinking of Paris/European City street scene complete with cafe and peoples at 1/100 scales.

And do let us know how you go with your new kit... :D