Taking pictures of your models

[Dr. Cranky]

Gee, Roger, that's a beautiful picture . . . you know there's always something alluring about everything Salt Flats.

[Rmodeler]

Thanks Doctor .. notice the mottled sky however. The laser print was decent, but if instead I took the file to a place like Fedex Office (Kinkos) and outputted the file on one of their color machines (cheap, a couple of dollars) the sky would have been much smoother. Here's another shot of it on just a grey-colored paper sweep.

Also, tiny, easy-to-do details can fool the eye into thinking a model's real. On this one the valve stems, made of small wire, help do this. And if I had thought to thin down and sharpen up the hinges, that would have helped too.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Rmodeler

[martinfan5]

Let me ask this, when shooting our models, whats the best distance to be from the model? meaning is it better to be up close?, or back and zoom in on it a little bit?. I lack photography skills

Edited February 21, 2012 by martinfan5

[Dr. Cranky]

Jonathan, that's a great question. I usually set the tripod about 8-12 inches away from the model. That seems to work well for me.

Roger, that model is gorgeous, and yes it is very difficult to tell it's not real.

[MikeMc]

I like to use a longer lens, I will shoot from 1/2 ' to 10 feet

Try a 200 to 300 mm lens, with an extension tube....the lens compression will help fooling your perspective.

Edited February 21, 2012 by MikeMc

[Tony T]

I usually set my tripod about 12-18 inches from the model.

[martinfan5]

Thanks for the anwser guys, I keep putting off getting a another tripod, I always forget the things I want to get when I get to the stores

[Rmodeler]

Jonathan,

Also, if you have a craft store near you, or an art supply store, maybe pick up some sheets of colored paper, greys, tans, whatever strikes you.

These are cheap and great to have on hand for sweeps. Also a yard or so of black velvet is good to have around (velour?) .. that is, if you are into black backgrounds. The texture of the fabric absorbs light and makes shooting easier.

Roger

[Tony T]

Roger - Nice yellow coupe!

[wisdonm]

Cool Hand's photos are great. They remind me of pixs a friend of mine takes on the roof of his grey car. I don't understand why a lot of people take pixs on their hoods and roofs, especially when they're red and yellow, but this grey seems to work. I guess we could always test drive a grey car on photo day.

[Kaleb]

Anyone looking for a tripod academy sports if you have one, has a 50 inch tripod for 10 bucks.

[Rmodeler]

About the pink Nova ... Yeahhhh! ... sometimes it all comes together ... like it does here. i LOVE the rainy-day mood... Tasty looking shot

[Dr. Cranky]

I like that Nova, and also lots of you are masters of car roof top photographs. I gotta try a couple of those.

[heatride]

Skip makes a great point, of course, about getting the "basics" down first. But, after the basics, every model builder moves on to the level of exploration this thread is trying to get at, and many of you are there already, having fun with your cameras.

Harry, I thought of you and your comments about figures, and here's a diorama by a master builder (Per Olav Lund) who always tells some interesting stories in his work.

That is just 3D art on a grand scale Doc ....

[Dr. Cranky]

Glenn, delighted you liked it. There are some stunning dioramas out there, and quite a few military models are mixing civilian vehicles and military equipment with great effects.

[Rmodeler]

At this turn, no discussion on dioramas would be complete without mentioning Shepard Paine and Louis Pruneau. For those of you who haven't heard of these two masters you will see amazing (ofc) museum quality pieces. Both deans of the art along with Ken (Hamilton).

[MikeMc]

At this turn, no discussion on dioramas would be complete without mentioning Shepard Paine and Louis Pruneau. For those of you who haven't heard of these two masters you will see amazing (ofc) museum quality pieces. Both deans of the art along with Ken (Hamilton).

I love Shepards works...

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Edited February 26, 2012 by MikeMc

[Dr. Cranky]

Mike, I have all of S.P.'s work. He is one of the giants of Military Dioramas along with Francois Verlinden.

[Monte's Motors]

[crazyjim]

I have that SP book somewhere.

[Dr. Cranky]

Nice picture, Roger. I like the backdrop in particular the slogan. Nice.

[Mrdarkmonkey96]

I have camaro and two charger street machines I need to photograph, but the metallic paint and glossy finish are throwing my camera off and, and I cant capture the finish well.... any tips, Im using a white sheet for a background, and a nikon coolpix s6200.

[ScaleDale]

What camera settings are you using? What light source? Flash, room light, daylight? Are you using a tripod or hand held? Post a pic so we can see what results you are getting with what you have.

Dale

[Ace-Garageguy]

I would suggest you don't use flash. Do use a tripod and make up some floods to get the illumination you want. This is shot with a Nikon Coolpix L4, using 3, 25watt (100 watt incandescent equivalent) compact fluorescents on swing-arm reflectors for lighting. The camera is on a tripod for stability, and the "museum" setting, using autofocus.

The lighting setup is very simple and cheap...

Edited August 22, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[Mrdarkmonkey96]

Im using sunlight, a tripod and the two second timer to avoid the slight shake when you push the button. no flash, I didnt change the exposure, or aperature. It is slightly overcast today, which may influence the photo..

this is a 79 Camaro in scalefinishes Candy apple red with aluminum metallic basecoat, and duplicor clear, polished to 12000, and waxed with zymol.

I feel neither the glossy finish or the Brilliant Candy apple red was captured in these photos. I still need to remove the polish from the panel lines and give em a quick wash.