Help me take some better photos.

[Fade 13]

Hey people, let me give you the rundown. At the end of this post I will put down a couple links. I can't seem to get things right with my photos.

First off I have read tons of tutorials on photography, all the the obvious stuff on here and google.
I have a Sony a390. I use a tripod. 3 60 watt GE reveal bulbs placed one above and to each side about a foot away from the models. I use a sloping piece of white paper for a background. I have my camera set to manual. iso 100, f10 and 1/10. White balance is tungsten adjusted by plus 1. (makes the pics a little more yellow) I also use a timer. My camera is sitting about a foot away from the subject. after about 20 plus pics these settings seemed to look best. I have photoshop 3. And I auto leveled the pics. Thats about it. As far as the photo composition, don't take that into account. just the photos themselves. It seems like I am doing something wrong, and I just don't know what. The pic of the deathstrike is my main problem, why did I lose a lot of quality when I downloaded the picture? Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

http://coolminiornot.com/pics/pics15/img4df2d2cebe153.jpg
http://coolminiornot.com/pics/pics15/img4df2d1eb44d06.jpg

 

[kathrynloch]

First - white background is bad. You need some sort of gradient in a soft neutral color. Tan, brown, blue, or a combination. You can print one out on a color printer (especially if you have photoshop) or you can use an old sheet, blanket whatever.

Second - the bulbs need to have something to diffuse the light. I got a bolt remnant from Walmart for a buck. It's a white polycotton weave, I put it over my photo tent and let the light shine through it.

Third, that first pic is too many minis at one time. You need to be on a Macro setting and taking close-ups of one mini per shot. Then use photoshop to put them all together.

The white balance you want between 4000 and 5000k Tungstun is way too yellow and will throw off your color. You should be able to adjust this in photoshop as well.

I see your camera is a DSLR - what lens are you using?

Losing quality is most likely due to JPG compression after you edit and save. It may appear that quality is lost on the site but I have a feeling it's the compression first, site tweaking second. The site has a limit of how large a photo can be and that includes pixel count. Again you will want to use Photoshop to adjust your JPG lossless compression to that you can just squeak the pic in under the maximums. So you have to reduce quality just enough to get it there but not so much your photo looks like a bunch of jumbled colored squares.

I'm thinking your ISO might be too low too. But first change the easy stuff. You'll start getting different results and then you can go from there.

 

[Fade 13]

oh...the lens is 18-55 i think. I was using a light tent....but I left one of my lamps sitting on it....it caught fire....really....lol.
My backdrop got a little singed in the fire, and I was out of colored ink...so Yeah I plan to put a gradient behind. The composition of the stormboyz really wasn't an issue. I just wanted to have them all together for a buddy to see them, I know how to put em together with photoshop I just didn't. One of the problems I am having is that my macro mode doesn't seem to allow me to change any settings when I am using it, so when I try to use that mode the lighting is all screwy cause I cant adjust the white balance. That's why I was trying to do it on manual. ISO is also as low as it goes at 100. The tungsten mode on my camera is what is taking the yellow out i am guessing cause it tells me on the menu that it is for taking pics in incandescent light, I adjusted it up and down a little to try to keep the skin tones the true yellowy they are. If I turn it down it washes out the ork skin really bad. But it looks good for the grey tank.

Thanks for the help though Kathryn, I just need to keep plugging at it and figure it out with help of nice people like you. BTW I saw the pic of your horse, VERY Nice! Now if you would just paint a buckskin....lol.

 

[kathrynloch]

You mean like this?

Sorry! I couldn't resist! He's 1:9 scale - not really a mini - so pretend you didn't see him.

But thank you! I'm glad you like my horsie.

Okay, with the Macro - I don't have a DLSR camera - but the darn thing might as well be. Do you have anything like a Custom White Balance setting? If you do, I think you might be able to set that before you go to macro and then it will be there when you need it.

I'm going to do a quick search on the net for something - brb.

ETA: AH HA! Your camera is just like mine. The really funny part - Mine's a Fuji Film that's about four years old and not a DLSR but so much is the same as yours.

Here's how to solve that white balance problem. (Click on the image.)

View attachment 6491

I found a pdf of your owners manual and grabbed the relevant part. You can set your camera to adjust white balance to shooting conditions - set it to custom, point at subject, press the shutter button. Camera sets and you okay it. THEN turn on the macro and I bet it will work.

I don't have my camera on the preprogramed settings any more. I set it to A (Aperture control) and then I can control the F-stop, ISO and it gives me a little histogram model for light metering. I have it on Multi for Photometry but the big thing is the custom white balance setting - I can now take work table pics that look great. I don't have to set up my photo tent.

And don't feel bad. I had this damn camera for three years before I just discovered this little trick.

And dump those lights - if they came in that photo tent kit they can burn your house down because it almost happened to me too! One of the cats knocked a light over, I don't know if she stepped on the button or it hit it on the way down, but it fell into a pile of clothes I had sitting to put in a bag for a charity donation. I woke up to the smoke alarm and a room full of smoke. Just a little bit longer and....:tremble:

Go to a discount store and get just some plain ole desk lamps. I like the clip ons the best but whatever suits you for moving them around. Those work just fine and don't get near as hot.

 

[Fade 13]

Has anyone told you how awesome you are today? Well you are. I read my manual but that part must have not stuck to my brain. I will try it out later when I get some photo time. I am also going to Wal-Mart to see if they have any better bulbs. Now that I know what kind I'm looking for.

The lamps I use are the kind you brood chicks with (keeping baby chicks warm for those of you going wtf) They get hot, but it is mostly my fault for leaving one directly on a piece of cloth.

I like your models. I wish I could paint that way in a 28mm scale lol.

Thanks again K, You have been a great help!

 

[griffongames]

BTW - There's nothing inherently bad about white backgrounds. I do white pretty regularly but I also like black. Gradients are all the rage but it's really personal preference - not a rule. I think the most important thing is that the background not distract of the miniature. I see a lot of people using cloudy backgrounds with a center hotspot that they think looks professional but really just makes it harder to see the mini.

 

[kathrynloch]

Has anyone told you how awesome you are today? Well you are. I read my manual but that part must have not stuck to my brain. I will try it out later when I get some photo time. I am also going to Wal-Mart to see if they have any better bulbs. Now that I know what kind I'm looking for.

The lamps I use are the kind you brood chicks with (keeping baby chicks warm for those of you going wtf) They get hot, but it is mostly my fault for leaving one directly on a piece of cloth.

I like your models. I wish I could paint that way in a 28mm scale lol.

Thanks again K, You have been a great help!

You're very welcome! If that doesn't take care of the problem, post again and we'll tackle the rest.

BTW - There's nothing inherently bad about white backgrounds. I do white pretty regularly but I also like black. Gradients are all the rage but it's really personal preference - not a rule. I think the most important thing is that the background not distract of the miniature. I see a lot of people using cloudy backgrounds with a center hotspot that they think looks professional but really just makes it harder to see the mini.

Heya griffon! I haven't gotten that far with the white background yet. lol! My understanding, and this is just from reading and talking to folks, is that digital cameras typically don't care for all white or all black backgrounds. They are designed to get that 18% gray and will adjust to achieve it - which causes exposure problems and whatnot. Once you get some of the other stuff under control, good diffused lighting for one thing, and start getting decent photos, then you can go back and start tweaking backgrounds. Is that correct?

I agree completely on the not using a distracting background. You want something that shows off the colors, doesn't wash out the mini and hide all of that hard work.

 

[griffongames]

Heya griffon! I haven't gotten that far with the white background yet. lol! My understanding, and this is just from reading and talking to folks, is that digital cameras typically don't care for all white or all black backgrounds. They are designed to get that 18% gray and will adjust to achieve it - which causes exposure problems and whatnot. Once you get some of the other stuff under control, good diffused lighting for one thing, and start getting decent photos, then you can go back and start tweaking backgrounds. Is that correct?

I agree completely on the not using a distracting background. You want something that shows off the colors, doesn't wash out the mini and hide all of that hard work.

True.. White backgrounds can require some extra care to get them right so for the beginning photographer they might not be worth the effort when you can get better results with a color or gradient. I just don't want people thinking that there's something inherently "wrong" with using a white background. The OPs images don't show any problems related to exposure though so I didn't think that was an issue here.