Completed Still Shots (1st time at photographing a model)

[hooterville75]

First time photographing a model. Open to suggestions on how to take better photos. All photos were taken with my iPhone4 and inside a white photo box that I made out of White poster board. Thanks for taking the time to view my photos and allowing me to participate in this SIG build. Looking forward to becomming more active in participating in alot more of the actual group builds as they become and time permits me. Thanks again this has been alot of fun. Being a rookie to Tanks and Armor Im always open for constructive critisism of any type so if you see something shoot me a PM and make me aware of it so I can learn from it and add notes to my rolodex of notes and techniques.

Deron Shank aka hooterville75

[Coen]

Awesome Deron!!!
Great stuff buddy.
I noticed something about the tracks when you said that they gave you a hard time.. I sent ya a PM about them.
It might help.

[alextheblue]

You've done a great job with that little Panzer Deron, well done!

In terms of the photography, I wouldn't get too hung up on that as it's the model itself that is the important thing. I do understand that we all want to show our efforts off in the best light - and forgive the pun, but that can be the key to a good picture. Try taking several pictures with the light source in different positions - overhead, from in front, behind etc until you find one that you like and suits your environment. Also, if you use a site like PhotoBucket to upload your pictures, take a look at the Edit function as you can add effects like back-lighting etc - doesn't always help, but worth a try.

Keep up the great work!!

[hooterville75]

Thank You guy.

[HWGuderian23]

Great work mate !
Very well done .

[hooterville75]

Thank You Sir!!!

[Paul]

Great work Deron

[hooterville75]

Great work Deron

Thank You Paul. Much appreciated.

[Rob]

Nice work Deron and thumbs up on the photo box.

I know nothing about tanks so have nothing to suggest there - it looks pretty grand to me !

But I do have a couple of hints on the photography - do with them as you will! - I use a camera but Mrs Bob uses her iPhone with her craft stuff using the methods below and takes great shots.

First up you might look to isolate the subject from its surroundings - easily done by softening those corners, e.g. sit the model on a bit of soft cloth with folds covering the joins or place a piece of card curved from one side to the other behind it.

Alternatively - create a cheap backdrop - this is what I do (cheap is my middle name) see below

Soften the lighting by putting a bit of tissue or thin cotton t shirt over the light source - this will help to eliminate any shadows. Don't let it catch fire.

Even better, take your photos it in diffused/not direct natural light - phone cameras are brilliant but do not do artificial light very well.

Once you have your shots - crop them using the phone's software or the tools on photo bucket. this will allow you to chose where the subject sits in the frame and help you to get rid of any bits that are not wanted

To illustrate i have just taken the photos below for this post (breaking my rule of using natural light - but I am sure you will forgive that!). The model shots have been cropped

My set up - I use large sheets of art paper for backdrops at a cost of around £2 a sheet. Blues and light greys work best. The first wide shot below shows the set-up and a dark grey sheet onto which I have sprayed blotches of white paint (it needs more) - this is for moody shots See how it is curved up behind the subject - this gets rid of corners and creates an illusion of space. I have placed the subject on a plinth to lift it off of the paper in order to further isolate the subject. In day time, when I usually take photos, the window above the model is out of direct sunlight so the lighting is not harsh except in the late afternoon.



The second shot shows cream and a blue coloured sheets which i also use for this purpose. You might also make out an A3 sheet of white paper. When taking pictures in daylight i hold this sheet to bounce natural light back onto the model from the side - this fills in the shadows and it highly effective (and again cheap!)



(Edit sorry Deron - oops like the fool I am, I tried adjusting my example photos and deleted a couple of them on photo bucket! - still hopefully my gist is still there!)

On the wall behind my workbench (in another room) I have a 80cm grey Ikea roller blind which is also used for this purpose - but that cost £9 so I had to save up a bit for that one!

You can get wonderful purpose made backdrops from specialist suppliers, but at a cost. Have a look at Lee's recent gallery post of his rocket for fabulous photos against a fantastic graduated blue background for what can be achieved.

Hope that is of some use

Happy modelling and snapping!

[wappynutter]

Fantastic work Deron...
Love it, love it, love it.....
Many thumbs for your armour build dude...





Well done again sir...

[hooterville75]

Thanks for the photo tips Rob. Ill be sure to go back and take some notes right away. Im famous for putting everything in writing and putting it in my rolodex for the next time I need to take photos I have it to fall back too. Thanks to you too wappynutter for the kind words. Thats a heck of alot of smiley faces hahahhha.

[ScaleModelling1105]

Nice looking model you got there. I think you may have the tracks inside out though!

[hooterville75]

Nice looking model you got there. I think you may have the tracks inside out though!

Yes Sir, thats been brought to my attention and been fixed already. Thanks for the heads up.

[hooterville75]

You wouldnt be able to tell by that mistake that Im a rookie at building tanks would ya 2nd ever of about 65446546465454 more to come because I just love building Armor.

[ScaleModelling1105]

Well it's a good start to your long list of armour you want to build.

[Jan01]

Good job on this build.

[badpirate]

Nice job there Hope to see more builds in the future

Mike