Diesel DM

To wrap up the photography series I wanted to recap the keys to success on one page, sort of a cheat-sheet for photographing miniatures.  Click the item to go to the blog entry for a more detailed description of each.

If you missed the full entries, check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

1. Background
   • A clean, smooth, draped background
   • Sketch paper works well
   • Keeps focus on model
2. Lighting
   • No flash!
   • Two bright lamps shining at front of model from 45-degree angles
   • Provides even illumination
   • Eliminates shadows
   • Optional diffusion of light
3. Macro Mode
   • Allows the camera to get up close to the model
   • Better captures fine detail with close-up image
4. White Balance
   • Lets the camera adjust for any tint the light may cast on your model
   • Easy with white background
   • For colored background get a white card to focus on
5. ISO Speed
   • Use the lowest speed available ( e.g. – ISO 50)
   • Gives high quality image
   • Longer exposure time
6. Exposure
   • Compensate for amount of available light
   • Use some test shots to get the exposure just right
7. Aperture
   • Want a larger f-stop value (e.g. – f/6.3)
   • Find the “sweet spot” for your lens

Photographing WARMACHINE Miniatures

(Part 1) | (Part 2) | (Part 3) | (Part 4)

Today we continue our look at miniature photography with more camera settings for getting the best WARMACHINE images possible.  As in Part 2, I’ll be using a Canon S2 IS as a reference camera.

If you’re just starting, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Exposure

Setting the Exposure Compensation is an easy way of making sure your image is bright enough.  Since we’re not using a flash, depending on the brightness of your lamps and the overall room, it’s easy to end up with an under exposed (dark) image.  A longer exposure will cause more light to be collected by the camera giving you a brighter overall image.

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As our photography series continues this week we’ll start talking about the camera settings necessary for getting great photos of WARMACHINE models.  Rather than only discuss technical photography terms and leave it up to the reader to figure out how they apply, I’ll be using the technical terms for the sake of generality, but then I will show how those settings apply to my camera, a Canon S2 IS.  While the actual steps and menus necessary to configure an individual cameras will vary, by at least giving you the example how it works for one camera you will be able to extrapolate the techniques to your own camera.  Remember to consult your owner’s manual to figure out any camera-specific details you need further assistance with.  As much as we all dread reading the manual, there can often be some good tips hidden in there.

In case you missed it, check out Part 1 of the series.

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Photographing miniatures is composed of two major elements. First is the setup, including things like backdrop and lighting. The second is camera settings, including things like exposure, depth of field and white balance. These are not complicated topics but they do each deserve some discussion and examples, so this photography series will be spread over multiple posts. Part 1 will cover the general physical setup o the scene. No Quarter #35 also had a short article covering this if you would like further information.

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