The curse and blessing of such close up photography

[72moonglum]

So one of the last minis I photographed was a Stonehaven Scout, very small mini, and with my own eyes and my even nerdly magnifying goggles I don't always see the imperfections of my minis.  Here was the first version:

 

 

and I saw a few things that bugged me.  First from the front under her collar on her left hand side was a black unpainted space, which probably should have been white.  Also with the wash on her left white cuff it was too grey and too stark (sword hand) and then on the back of her vest in the second photo there was a dark wash that was too pronounced.

 

So I went back and repainted and the front turned out okay, but then, only after looking at the photography I saw this:

 

 

That trying to fix her vest I got a spot of white paint on her sleeve, so went back in:

 

 

So now I'm hoping got her fixed.  Still far from perfect, but my most obvious errors have been repaired.  This is something I like and dislike about such close photography, too much zoom and you see every little thing that is wrong, but at least you can correct it if you want to.

[Carnacki the Ghost Finder]

I have a solution for you:

 

Wait no less than five years after you have painted a miniature before you take a photograph of it.  It has allowed me to love my mistakes.

 

Great painting, as always!

[72moonglum]

5 minutes ago, Carnacki the Ghost Finder said:

I have a solution for you:

 

Wait no less than five years after you have painted a miniature before you take a photograph of it.  It has allowed me to love my mistakes.

 

Great painting, as always!

With that in mind, I should start taking photos of minis I painted back in the eighties. My heart would be full of love!

[Rignes]

Maybe I'm weird but once I paint something and take a picture I just move on.  I also see imperfections after a picture but by then I'm kind of like "it is what it is".  I do the same with models I painted when I first started.  Sure, I could paint them better now, but hey, It is what it is.  I'd rather keep moving forward or I'll never get through my pile of shame.

[72moonglum]

On 7/29/2022 at 2:43 PM, Rignes said:

Maybe I'm weird but once I paint something and take a picture I just move on.  I also see imperfections after a picture but by then I'm kind of like "it is what it is".  I do the same with models I painted when I first started.  Sure, I could paint them better now, but hey, It is what it is.  I'd rather keep moving forward or I'll never get through my pile of shame.

I’m usually the same, because I don’t want to keep going back and fixing my minis forever. I do have the problem that I take pictures, then see them close up and maybe a big speck of dust is somewhere it shouldn’t be, or a piece of static grass, or some really big and obvious error. Then I fix it and take the photos again. I love it when they turn out right the first time. 

[Cygnwulf]

I think it depends on what I'm painting for. if it's just something I'm gonna paint and move on, I just let the flaws be.  

Might be good for getting a different eye on stuff I intend to paint for competition, however.   

[72moonglum]

On 8/2/2022 at 3:07 PM, Cygnwulf said:

I think it depends on what I'm painting for. if it's just something I'm gonna paint and move on, I just let the flaws be.  

Might be good for getting a different eye on stuff I intend to paint for competition, however.   

Yeah, it does depend a little on the why I’m painting. If I’m painting for example for the Iron Wind online catalogue I usually try to correct any glaring errors I see.  The biggest problems I usually find, instead of technical painting errors are more like big pieces of dust or lint or a blade of phony grass.  That always drives me nuts.