Hey, Gang! Looking for Photography Tips

candidgamera

candidgamera

New member
I've been painting for years and years, and my stuff gets all kinds of compliments in person, so imagine my chagrin when my two initial figures posted to CMON topped out below 6! Either the standards here are just super-duper high, or my photos aren't doing the paint jobs justice.

Here're the two I posted so far :
http://www.coolminiornot.com/335699
http://www.coolminiornot.com/335698

Now, I've got a Canon Powershot - I'll look up the model number when I get home; I've got a photo tent with a velcro-able backdrop. I've got two desklamps with daylight-style 40 Watt CFLs. I've even got a little tripod. I thought that would be a pretty good setup to start with, and I've tried several different camera settings to get best results - but you guys are the experts, so I want your advice.

Firstly, I know the white backdrop has some wrinkles in it. It's not obvious, the way I cropped the picture, but I haven't been able to figure out how to get the material to lay flat.

Secondly, the first picture does look... well, speckly, is the best way I can describe it. Makes it hard to see the eye color, the orange highlighting trim on the armor, and the 'scorch' on the front of the plasma pistol. The problem is there on the second picture as well, but slightly less pronounced - probably because I'm not zoomed in as tight, due to the banner.

Lastly - well, nothing else is obvious to me, but I'm a newbie at macro photography, maybe you guys can offer some input? I have some more examples of my work on my tumblr : http://candid-gamera.tumblr.com/tagged/minis - except for the oldest tagged post, which is someone else's that I reblogged - the rest are my paint jobs and photography.
 
candidgamera

candidgamera

New member
Oh, I should add - I have no illusions that my stuff should rate a 9 or 10, but I was definitely expecting 7-8, y'know? Once the photography problems are out of the way, maybe I can get somewhere closer to that neighborhood. :)
 
Demihuman

Demihuman

New member
Welcome to CMON!

This article worked for me. I especially liked the bit about getting all the same fluorescent light bulbs.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1130


Here is a link to the sticky thread where there are a bunch of great links: (it lives in the painting and conversion forum)

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums...Sticky-Thread-Links-to-Tips-Threads-Tutorials

and here is a link to my photo thread: (it's the one immediately below yours. I don't think the photo forum gets much traffic)

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?53675-Getting-Close-with-Photography-any-Pointers


As far as getting higher ratings, don't be discouraged if it doesn't happen right off the bat. There are world class painters hanging out here trying to out do each other every day. The good thing is that they are very open with their techniques so you can learn a lot!

Have fun!
 
boubi

boubi

New member
Hi Candidgamera, welcome on CMON forums.
It seems that your photographing skills improved!

For the painting, the gallery voting can be really tough and disappointing. You have quite a lots of mini everyday and the level doesn't stop increasing, which was a 8 yesterday is now a 6.5. If you go to the gallery and filter by looking at 9-10 only you will see that the level is amazingly high, then go down to 8, really good, then 7, pretty good, below 5, tabletop standard.
Don't take it badly but, from looking at your mini, I would say it is in the 6ish range and the picture will not improve it a lot. You have solid skills, the paintjob is neat, but you lack of contrast between highlight and shadow (too flat) then to achieve this you would need smooth transition, gradient using several techniques. You can also add some details and weathering, some freehand, etc... It seems that you use Games Workshop painting method, effective for table top mini much less for display mini. Now it depends on which purpose you wan to paint your minis, it is true that most players will find your mini really good for table top, but here on CMON people judge the mini on a different standard.
The good news is that people in CMON on this forum are willing to help. If you want to improve, I would advise you to start a WIP section with picture of your on-going work, asking questions and setting up a goal for each project, like using TMM gold, trying NMM silver, Skins tones, Leather, wood, etc...

I hope that I am not too harsh in my reply, but that's my honest feedback. By spending some time around here you will see your level increasing really fast, I am talking by experience, starting with a 6ish paintjob few years ago and reaching painfully 8.5 spending >30h on a mini.

Hope to see you around and to help you in the future!
Good luck and happy painting.
 
Demihuman

Demihuman

New member
Oh yeah! Well your photo is sorted! That is a totally solid paint job! I think Boubi covered the rest. :)

See you down the rabbit hole!
 
candidgamera

candidgamera

New member
Thanks, guys. I didn't see the replies to this thread after my last post until just now. I'm about to start another thread discussing the Space Marine Captain in detail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back To Top
Top