Wow, nice tutorial there... My photo skills still sucks.. Needs to learn more ;__;
I would have to agree on the shots they are not quite there yet. I am no expert but a bit more front fill lighting may improve things a bit. Also I would recommend trying bracketing your shots, ie one shot that the meter says then one stop less and one stop more (The camera's meter can get fooled buy large solid colored backgrounds.) Your camera should be able to do this automatically for you.
Danny, you might want to check out the tutorials on Strobist.com under Lighting 102: Position and Distance. Overall, a very good site for understanding photography lighting.
I'm no expert myself and I'm to cheap to buy any better lighting equipment other than my florescent reading lamp. Funny thing is that the reading lamp is enough to go about taking pics. All you need to be is to be patient and take multiple shots at different ISO settings and Shutter speed. you can check out a few of my figure pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorweeck/ The pics may not be the best but I'll get better taking shots of them.
first you should really take care of your white balance, your pics are yellow, try to put the WB setting to 'incandescent" it should work better, than, use a delector just like you're using for the sun, it leps a lot, and then, diffuse the light that goes on your subject with a paper sheet in front of it.... stay at iso 100/200 and use your min aperture to have a nice depth of field( unless you want the background visible. Of course having a tripod and setting a timer on the shutter prevents any blur, you can also use a remote control for the shutter, some are wired others are infra red, both work perfectly.
Danny, may I suggest you try a light box / tent. They use large versions of these for product photography. They can give you nice smooth lighting for your figurines. You can make your own or buy one pre-made. Good luck. Great site!
As u might already know, I don't subscribe to any particular indoor tutorial. I don't even know if I've "gotten serious". Which could be a blessing OR a curse. Of course, "quality" matters. For me, that's lighting, crispness vs. blurriness, composition. But doing it in a way that's still fun. For example, I'd love to have a bigger space, bigger background monitor, better lighting, but even then, I'm not sure if I'd be tied to a tripod, as opposed to free movement. Speaking of backgrounds, that's another view from which I stray. While they are indeed figures, I try my best to view them, not as objects in a vacuum, but as personalities in a setting. Hence the backgrounds, the interaction of two figures (one crisp and one blurred), etc. Now, the downside with this direction is probably the higher rate of photographic "misses" versus "hits". But the upside is the few "hits" that do rise to your views of "quality". Nevertheless, I enjoy losing track of time for a couple free hours (between 50 to 150 shots). But I wish I had more time, darnit!
Haruka, Konomi and Mirei sponsored by Apple. Konomi has... suntan lotion incorporated?? I find pictures fine, especially Mirei's. Nothing else to say, sorry. *Warps away*
Danny, Just a quick dumb question from a newbie. What software do you use to include your logo on the pictures (watermark). Do you do it automatically or pic by pic? Thanks Luis
All, Thanks for the tips. Will give indoor shooting another go. Ozopled, I wrote a php that does everything for me including rotate, resize, watermark and upload.
There's nothing strange about your Konomi figure. It seems that almost every pvc figure manufactured by Kotobukiya develops an oily sheen as they age. Must be some secret plastic recipe. It's not so bad. My Gothic Lolita Asuka shines as if she's bathed in oil but she's still one of my favorite figures.
I am no expert in indoor photography, but here's what I usually do. I usually do my photoshot in total darkness, so there's no other light except for the two lamp that I use. The setup of the lamp is the same as the one in super rats tutorial. Since the light can be too bright, I use diffuser for both of them and if it's still too bright I'll add another layer of diffuser or move the light further. A reflector is place opposite the main light. Sometimes only one light is use which is based on lu-k's darker than black tutorial. For white balance I'll use a white cardboard, place at the position where my figure should be and adjust the white balance. Though sometimes I still get the wrong white balance but that doesn't happen too often luckily ^^. Usually my photoshoot takes few hours to complete, and I'll check the first few shots before I continue with the shoot. A few times I had to scrap the whole batch cause I am not satisfied :(
getting the 'true' colours of the figure is a real pain for me.another problem is getting the good combination between white balance and exposure compensation. (i use a point and shoot)
You could try getting a diffuser or make one of your own (Tracing paper, sticky tape and some cardboard). I guess it would be better to experiment with the lighting available, and then position them at the best position before shooting away. You could try getting a big piece of colored paper as a background. I usually take a good one to two hours for indoor photography. The first few shots are test shots and once I got the settings right, I start firing my camera ^^; Oh, I use the EOS Utility as well. It is very good for determining whether the photo's blurred or not.
Don't give up yet Danny! I'm still playing around with figure photography as well. Your results look much better than mine. T_T I have been reading a few books on indoor studio lighting and setup. Like the other said, don't be afraid to let your imagination take control. Mess around with materials to diffuse your light sources. You can do a lot with vellum paper. My biggest complaint is I'm having problems with getting the shadow and highlights I want. I want to get a better table and I have order a few fluorescent bulbs from a photography shop. http://www.tabletopstudio.com/ Do give thought to investing in a white balance card. It makes color and white balance so much easier. It will not go to waste since you can use it outside. Yes Canon software for the Mac isn't very good. Did you checkout the Canon website though? The updated software that ships with the newer DSLRs is a little better. Sorry I can't offer more, but I'm still taking one step forward and three back. ^^; When I get some better results soon, I will post to my flickr account. We can brainstorm together if you like.
I should really get myself back into photography. It's been 3 years since I took a serious picture. I used to be awesome at getting good shots. Nowadays, I'm only fuddling with a common digital.
Reading through the other comments... I'll second MacGyver on Strobist.com I just discovered the site about a month ago when trying to improve my webcam picture quality of all things... ^^; Yes, Strobist.com covers many topics involving lighting. With a tag line of "less gear, more brain, better light" it fit in our concept of keeping it simple. Be sure to check out the pool on Flickr too. http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/
Ozopled ~ Since I'm no PHP wizard like Danny, I instead use the automated batch functions in Photoshop, which can record all of your resizing, rotating and watermarking steps Danny mentioned (basically any Photoshop select and click). Then I upload them separately.
Apple should pay you with all the advertises you made for them ^^
Oh this tutorial comes to me in the right moment, I was trying to do some photographs of my figures but I don't really know how to. Thanks.
9 time out of 10 i take my photographs inside but i never really use lamps, i guess im lucky being in the roof of the house, i get plenty of light from the windows so i get natural light, but i might have to give those tutorials a try. But maybe its worth trying, if you want to photograph inside, try and find somewhere where you can use strong natural light against a plain backgroung perhaps?
Your Mirei picture looks great ;) It seems you love her more than the two other for doing such a better photo haha. Like valho, I do my photoshots in total darkness, to "control" all lights and do almost whatever I want. Generally, it took me between 1 or 2 hours per session : ~30 min to prepare my workspace and make so tests, set the camera etc... It's quite long since I always take a dozen of shots, put it on the computer to check the quality, test again till I'm satisfied... and there I'm gone for about 50~75 pictures. I try to shot more than one figure per session since it tooks me a lot of time ^^;
Hi Danny........I discovered this a while ago at a friend's studio. It's a "light tent"...it's easy to use . just place your item in it..adjust 2 light sources on the sides ..if you want you can customize the background ...close the lid and shoot..works very well. You can find some pictures of it on this ebay store: valueproducts24nl look for "lichttent" you'll see there are various heights and so on.and pics!! ^-^
I'd love to give figure photography a shot (heheh) some time soon. :D I've read SuperRat's tutorial also which was nice but I'm having trouble finding the stuff needed. heheh! Your mirei shot looks great btw. ^^
It usually takes me more than one hour until I'm done with a shooting. Shooting a Gunpla takes even longer, since you need to find good poses. This is what I like the most, though. Posing Gunpla is just too much fun =) I just started with figure collecting and photoshooting, but I have some tips on my site. Head over to it whenever you feel like it =)
haven try indoor photography yet but if it was me shootin the thing, i will turn off all unnecessary lights and make sure the room is dark. have white lights and not yellow. spots lights if you have it. do a simple 3 point lighting. I use it often in 3d lighting. dunno if it can be applied to real life lighting though.
I've done a little shooting of things in general helping folks with Ebay items. But I've never had the chance to do so with my figs. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up good tips from those tutorials.
I always do indoor photography because I'm afraid of what could happen to the figure if I'm outside. I take really really bad pictures though.
I just created a photobox as demonstrated by GameraBaenre. It's a simple setup with a box with the sides cut open, some white sheets on the sides to reflect the light and a background with one hole open at the top to let light in. I use 2 light sources which come in and the 2 will work together to soften the shadows somewhat. A lot of my old pics were done before I made the box so I may go back and redo them later. The first one I tested it on was my armoured core model on my blog.
Try not to think of light in rigid terms. Learn how to get the light to flow. You don't necessarily light to illuminate.
maybe you could make use of what we call a photobox ^^ i've found a tutorial on how build one ^^ ITEMS YOU NEED * 12x12x12 box * 14 x 10 piece of plexy glass or glass * a knife * background paper (scrapbooking paper is great from craft store) * wax paper * 60-100 watt light How to put it all together: 1) Take your 12x12x12 box and cut out one side. Keep the bottom of your box intact. 2) (open side you just cut out) Measure 9 inches from the bottom and make a slit all the way to the back of the box on both sides. Do not cut the back of the box. 3) Slide your glass into the slits of the box 4) Take the wax paper and tape it over the light source. The wax paper is used to defuse the light. 5) Aim the light towards the opening of your box. 6) Lay your background on the bottom of your box as your background. 7) Shine your light into to open area of the box. Take your photos from the back of the box... with the light facing you. Your camera should focus on the object. The background will be fuzzy due to the distance of the background from the object. Hope this helps ^^
hmmm, i would love to this too with my gundam! We're planning to have a diorama on Zaku... Char Aznable's unit. Thanks for the info!!!
Te falta mas iluminacion ambiental, peudes usar un papel blanco o idealmene un paraguas blanco. La idea es difuminar el ambiente. Ademas te recomiendo suar otros fondos, como papel mate o couche blanco. EL uso de reflectores naturales es bastante util (mas papel en zonas de choque de luz).
I photograph my dolls indoors a lot, and sometime earlier this year or last year, I bought a collapsible "light tent" (also called photobox) on ebay. It gives off relatively even lighting with minimal harsh reflections :3 But I also find that it can make an object look kinda "flat" *L*
Hi danny have you thought of investing in a small lighting kit? would be handy to have those softbox to diffuse those lights of course you could do a DIY way. I used my own lamp shades with homemade paper to make softboxs for a short film I did on my IKEA lamps to diffuse the lights. but of course the paper burned whild shooing cause of the intensity of the lights (0_0). it would also be handy to get a person to assist with the lights so you could focus more on the framing and camera. Instead of having to manage everything.
All, Thanks for the tips - will refer to them on my next indoor shoot.
There is a lot of good advice here and all I have to offer is that you should get a good gray card (white balance card). I use this one for my own photography. I'm not sure about overseas shipping though. Whibal
Hi, I bought some light bulb after I read the tutorial on HappySoda. The name is SB-26 and give a 5000°K light (= light day) for very cheap price. And I use a Whibal G6 to set the white balance. I think the result is really great without spending a lot of money ! You can get a look on my website to watch some new pictures taken with this kind of lights.
Hihi... Great picture of figurine u have there. Care to share some tips on how u keep the dust off ur figurine as im having deep trouble with dust on it and having trouble of getting it off. Btw great shot and keep on the good job.
When I'm on a roll, I could go on for hours... Tips?! Hah! Press and hold the button to take pictures...
Dear Danny I love your outdoor photographs, and i like the way you took pictures of your figures and gundam (using sunlights so effectively). I wanted to have a house like yours so i can get outdoor photographs like you but since i don't have perfect house like you so i decided to spend time investigating on indoor photography. And i would like to share some with you: - I got inspiration from some of your Gundam figures with a black background so i decided that i will stick with black background since black made my Gundams look cool :D. (have a look at my Strike Freedom if you're not sure what i am talking about :D http://mohinhvn.com/forum/showpost.php?p=37899&postcount=10) In order to have that picture, i change the setting of my camera like this: f/s 3.2, speed from 400-500, ISO about 200-400, the time i took those pictures was about 7:30 in the morning. There, try these setting in the morning and see what you get :D. PS: I know my photography skills are darn lower than you but i would like to share some of my knowledge to you :D.
