Beginner Photography

[majorpayne327]

Hi,
I'm new to CMON. I want to start posting some pictures but I want to know how to take good pictures.

I want to know what I need to get good pictures. Right now I have a Canon, with Macro lens. What else do I need?

 

[CrookedEye]

Welcome to the boards.

What you have is a good start. A tripod is a near necessity and a couple of lamps will get you started. Lots of people use light tents or other means of diffusing light from the lamps but you can get by without it until you get used to taking pics.

If you do a search through this forum you'll find quite a few posts on photography and there is even a tutorial or two in that section.

Zach

 

[War Griffon]

Lots of useful articles in the article section for this which is why I wrote these two in the first place

http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/411

http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/724

 

[majorpayne327]

thanks guy, extremely helpful

 

[xMANIGHTx]

I'm a photographer by trade. When photographing minis I tend to use available light. A skylight or normal window will work great. I set up a mirror of the dark side of the miniature to reflect light back. This gives a very diffused natural look which is hard to replicate with lights or flashes / diffusers etc.. and makes all that unnecessary.

Some examples here

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Painted-By-G/149304118447971?v=wall

G

 

[starpickles]

I think that is a cool concept. The trick with the mirror has really helped me light the minis better and take some better pictures.

 

[Typhus13]

Im new to this site and now I know something to do when I take pic. thx.

 

[SlenderPie]

Excellent advice for a newbie such as myself. The mirror trick has worked a treat, watch this space!

 

[griffongames]

I put together a video that shows my photography setup:

 

[Wouter]

I tried to photograph some 28mm models a couple of days aggo but I wasnt quite happy with the results. I use a macro camera, but the main problem seems to be the lighting. I got a lot of shadows and light reflectation on my models. (both with flash and without flash) How do you guys lighten your models?

 

[kathrynloch]

You can make a light box fairly cheaply out of PVC pipe. Don't glue it because you can take it apart and put it away. Get a good sized white cloth...and then use brown or blue cloth for the background. Get two desk or clip on lamps from Walmart...and there ya go.

This is mine, it's a little sloppy but I use clips to hold the cloth in place because as you can see it will slide. I no longer use those lights, they get too hot and I trashed 'em after one almost started a fire but the clip on desk lamps from Walmart are great.

My box is fairly large because I also paint the 1:9 scale horses, so you probably won't have to make yours this big.

 

[Mercius]

I'm a photographer by trade. When photographing minis I tend to use available light. A skylight or normal window will work great. I set up a mirror of the dark side of the miniature to reflect light back. This gives a very diffused natural look which is hard to replicate with lights or flashes / diffusers etc.. and makes all that unnecessary.

Some examples here

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Painted-By-G/149304118447971?v=wall

G

Do you actually mean placing a mirror somewhere in the light? I am a little confused on the process, if you could explain it a little I would much appreciate it as getting good pics is a bitch for me and all of yours are very nicely done.

 

[griffongames]

Do you actually mean placing a mirror somewhere in the light? I am a little confused on the process, if you could explain it a little I would much appreciate it as getting good pics is a bitch for me and all of yours are very nicely done.

Check out this article. It should explain the concept. http://www.diyphotography.net/the-strobist-corner-a-quadzillion-duty-light-source

 

[Mercius]

Thanks for the article, very informative!

 

[Avelorn]

Mirror works, foil works, white paper works. Anything that reflects. What you should use depends on the lightsource. When I have photographed minis so far I've used only one light and two white cards.