Ott Light Madness!

[Doug Sundseth]

Ditch the white background and put in something more medium value. Doug Sundseth likes 50% grey. I still like my colored photo backdrop, which I can move around to adjust the value behind the mini.

 

Having more light on the minis has drastically improved things, though!

 

Closer to 20%, actually, since that's what your camera is expecting a scene to average out to. It simplifies exposure calculations for your camera's tiny little brain.

 

If you're comfortable with exposure compensation (and your camera allows it), that doesn't really matter, but many people either can't do it or don't have the knowledge.

 

Similarly, a neutral background (rather than a colored background) simplifies auto white balance calculations. Again, if you're comfortable controlling your camera's white balance, that really doesn't matter either.

 

Finally, hard lines (which might be shadow lines) in the background can make your camera focus there rather than on the figure.

 

So, I recommend approximately 20% gray (like this Savage seamless paper*) to make things simple.

 

FWIW, I focus manually, set exposure manually, and set white balance manually, so none of that matters much to me. But then photography is my job. With a simple setup using two desk lamps, it's quite possible to take very clean photos of miniatures. (See the recent stuff that Pixel has been doing, for instance.)

 

* Savage makes many colors of seamless background papers, including a fairly wide variety of grays. That's the color I use by default, though in a much larger roll.

[CashWiley]

I couldn't remember and guessed :)

 

I know mentioning your name summons you!

Edited March 11, 2014 by CashWiley

[Kharsin]

I like the backgrounds at http://www.hangar18miniatures.com/. They are wonderfully matte fabric type sheet. You do need to take some care with them - it is possible to scratch them if you've got gravel or something on the bottom of a base and drag it over the surface, but then this will be true of something you print out, too. Use double sided tape on the back to secure them, as tape on the front will also cause damage when removed. Michael Proctor also has these. If you look at the figures credited to us in the Previews section on the main website, they were taken using these backgrounds.

 

The cheap option I've found for very matte is large foam sheets from the craft section. (The same kind of foam that is sold already cut up into shapes for kids to make pictures with.) The trouble there is that it's hard to get more neutral colours, and there are no backdrop style patterns. Black and tan are easy to find, but I've only ever found gray from Hobby Lobby. Foamies is one brand, the one in Hobby Lobby is Silly Winks. The foam marks up a little, and you'll need to occasionally remove pet hair or lint, but overall it's  been very durable. I've used the same black (for OSL figures only) and gray pieces for years and only recently bought new ones because I was doing an important project. The pictures in the Bones FAQs were done using the black foam, and anything on a gray or black background in my CMON gallery is on a piece of foam. http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/Wren

 

I have tried various printed types, including some nice patterns printed up by a very kind friend who works somewhere with a good printer. The ones printed on home paper looked cheap. (Though granted that was the blue to white fade popular at the time, maybe there are some better patterns kicking around now.) The pro printed ones are SHINY. Spritzing them with Dullcote helped, but it didn't kill all the shine. (And it made them super sensitive to scratches.)

 

Okay! Looks like I've got a bit more shopping to do. Those Hangar 18's look great! I may order some when I have a bit more free cash. My Happy Anniversabirthafather's Day is coming up soon, so that may be a good thing to order for that. In the meantime, I may look into the foam sheet. I have some at work already, but we frequent Hobby Lobby on a regular basis as of lately... I wonder why? LOL!

 

 

I should also add that I think your picture quality looks great, and I agree that a non-white background would be a good thing to try. Extremes of white and black can make things look off in a photo in my experience. Nice job on the painting, too!

 

Thank you for the compliment! I brought home the Nikon D60 today so I'm going to fiddle around with it tonight and see how much better it performs than the Casio. I'd imagine much better, although I've got some studying to do to figure out how to set the white balance and such. The casio doesn't let me other than some presets. 

 

I have taken to using scrapbook paper (avaliable at almost every craft store, everywhere) you can get somewith interesting patterns in all sorts of colours, from the muted to the blinding

 

That sounds like a great idea! I'll have to see what I can find, again when we're making our craft store rounds... We end up at Michael's too... LOL!

[Kharsin]

Hahaha, I think at this point the Nikon D60 I brought home today is smarter than me. These are the 2 photos that turned out the best. I'm going to need more education in photography.... LOL!

 

"Phoebe"

 

 

Varaug

 

[Kharsin]

A bit more in focus... 

 

 

Ah forgetaboutit! I'm gonna go paint or tree or something... LOL!

[ShadowRaven]

it is my personal experience when photographing minis, the better the camera you use, the more you need a tripod 

[Kharsin]

it is my personal experience when photographing minis, the better the camera you use, the more you need a tripod 

 

Yes, I have a tiny, tiny tripod that works well with the point and shoot. However, for the DSLR, it's a bit like a 5 yr old holding up a Cinder block. We have better tripods at work, but honestly, I don't think the jump in photo quality is beneficial on this forum. The size is reduced for the forum, so the pics lose a lot of detail as it is. I think I'll stick with the Casio for now, or finally upgrade my cell phone... Which would kill multiple birds with one stone...

Edited March 12, 2014 by Kharsin

[ShadowRaven]

Ah, I know what you mean. I have a light tripod I travel with. It will support my DSLR but only barely

[Wren]

I always have a big learning curve when I upgrade to a new camera. It often does help to read the manual.

 

Increasing f/stop (also called aperture) will help you get all of a figure in focus. It's particularly necessary when you have an angle where you've got portions that protrude from the main figure at different depths. I often have to play around with where I do the spot focus with multi-depth figures, too. (A middle distance portion of the figure often works better for me.) The more you increase f/stop, the more sensitive the camera will be to you shaking.

 

Just moving where the camera is can also help. You want it at least a foot away from the figure, and you can try 1.5 to 2 feet to see if that helps the focus. Seems counter-intuitive, but it has worked for me. Macro photography seems to be more about getting one part in focus and the rest artfully out of focus, I think the kind of stuff we do is called tabletop photography, more like doing product shots of small things.

(Note that I am in no way an expert on cameras or photography like Doug or some others, this is me as a camera idiot learning what I need to do to take decent photos of minis passing along my bitter experience. ;->)

[Harrek]

Just moving where the camera is can also help. You want it at least a foot away from the figure, and you can try 1.5 to 2 feet to see if that helps the focus. Seems counter-intuitive, but it has worked for me. Macro photography seems to be more about getting one part in focus and the rest artfully out of focus, I think the kind of stuff we do is called tabletop photography, more like doing product shots of small things.

 

You hit the nail on the head here Wren. We are really doing "product" photography.  Which is quite a bit different than "macro" photography.  Think of taking photos for the Sears catalog (or the Reaper one of course).  We would be doing macro if you were trying to get in very close to some detail on your painted miniature and needed what appeared on the camera to be life sized or greater (like taking a picture of the head of an insect).  But I don't think there are many of us here (certainly me!) that would want that much detail shown on our paint jobs.  

[CashWiley]

I actually know a couple product photographers and most of what they do doesn't work for minis, because we're trying to showcase the 'product' completely differently than most stuff being shot for catalogs or ebay.

 

While I have a grasp on the basic factors and I've gotten a lot better at understanding what variables I'm tweaking, I'm still shooting in mostly automatic modes right now. Getting a DSLR was a bit learning curve, though I definitely like the quality and control it gives you (eventually). I often use the no-flash automatic for quick-n-dirty pics (on a tripod almost always), but I do have to lean pretty heavy on aperture-priority mode because my lens can get shallow quickly in auto mode.

 

I'm really digging Lightroom, too. I got it for a decent price on Black Friday last year. I hardly touch GIMP anymore!

[Harrek]

I've done both product and macro photography and photographing miniatures to me seems much closer to the former than the later.  You setup lighting and back drops in a very similar fashion.  You have plenty of time to assess how to change things, etc.  Whereas in macro I'm normally working on a subject much closer with a very finite time I can actually photograph it given natural light changes, movement of the subject, trying to get the very shallow depth of field to look right, etc.

 

A DSLR does give you a lot more control over the process, but CashWiley is correct that it is a learning curve.  And another recommend for something like Lightroom or Photoshop for editing your images.  There is a learning curve there as well, but it is well worth the effort and you can apply the skills to your other photographs as well!  And be glad you aren't back doing this with real film and having to develop it all before you can see your results!  I recommend taking LOTS of images with different light, backgrounds, etc and picking the best.  Any you do not like can be easily deleted so keep trying until you find an image that you like!