From: Adrian Johnson <ajohnson@i...>
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 14:15:44 -0400
Subject: photographing minis... (kind of long)
> G'day Don,
Hi there!
here's a topic that you could write volumes about...
There are many good books out there about photography, but a couple of tips:
(I'm assuming that you want to take photos close up of single or small groups
of figs for display purposes, and you aren't just snapping shots of games in
progress for memory sake)
also please note I'm not a pro photographer, and if what I say doesn't work
for you, please don't send me a letterbomb or something...:) This stuff has
worked for me, but I can't really "guarentee" it...
1. Lighting is all important.
If you are taking pictures for display (in a book, on a webpage, etc) you're
probably going to be working indoors. Most people have either incandescent
(regular light bulbs) or fluorescent lighting in the places
they game. Incandescent light is very yellow/orange, and fluorescent
light
is typically very green/blue. Your eyes (well, your brain actually) is
a great colour compensator and balances out the light when you see it, but a
camera doesn't. If you want to work under "normal" lights like these, unless
you take some precautions, your pictures will come out either
yellowish or greenish - certainly it will mess with the colours you've
painted your miniatures. I'm going to assume you're working with a 35mm SLR
type camera (interchangeable lenses, etc) because if you're working with a
"point and shoot" there's not much you can do, other than purchasing "indoor"
type film. With 35mm cameras, you can purchase a variety of filters which will
compensate for the type of lighting you're using and balance the colours out.
This isn't too expensive (I purchased one for about $25 Canadian to compensate
when shooting under incandescent lights).
Ideal situation is to have proper "studio" type lighting - which is
balanced as "daylight" ie full-spectrum light. Of course, studio
lighting costs a bundle, so most of us don't have that kind of equipment. If
you can purchase lightbulbs for your regular lights that are called "daylight"
bulbs, this will go a long way toward getting better results. Fluorescent
lights are a nightmare for photography, and I'd stay away from them as much as
possible, unless they are of the "daylight" type...
One trick that works well, if you can get the right stuff: Garden centres and
other home product suppliers sometimes sell lights for use in your garden
called "Tungsten Lights". Tungsten lighting is used by photographers also,
though their equipment is of professional quality. If you can buy tungsten
lights (or even tungsten lightbulbs from a lamp supplier) then you can get
good results. The real trick here is that you have to purchase Tungsten
balanced film. If you use tungsten film and tungsten lights, you don't have to
mess with filters, etc. Any good film supplier, camera shop, etc should carry
tungsten balanced film, and the tungsten garden lamps are usually quite
inexpensive, and the ones I saw came with a stand.
You want lighting that is non-directional, if possible. This will
eliminate/reduce shadows. Nothing worse than setting up a nice shot on
a miniature and getting the prints back only to find that detail was obscured
by a shadow that you didn't notice or didn't see. Always remember that what
the camera sees is totally different than what you see, even if you are
looking through the camera's viewfinder. If you use a spotlight on a figure,
you will get highlights on raised surfaces and shiny areas, and often these
highlights will look completely different on film than they do to your eyes.
Unless you are doing something very "arty" and are attempting to get sparkles
or something, you want to avoid this kind of thing as much as possible. It is
better to use indirect lighting to flood the scene. One way of doing this
inexpensively is to surround your photo table (or whatever you are putting the
minis on while shooting) with white board, and shine your lights at the white
boards. Art stores sell "illustration board" which is good for this. Or use
big sheets of white paper, though that's harder to position well. Angle the
boards so the light is reflected back onto the scene. Use several lights
pointing in different directions, so the scene is flooded with light from
different directions. This will largely eliminate shadows and "hotspot" type
highlights. Pros use what's called a "lightbag" - which is an inflated
bag that is attached to the front of a spotlamp. The bag has a large,
rectangular front which is of a white material. This diffuses the light from
the spot lamp, and if you suspend one of these over your scene, will light up
the picture evenly without the highlights. You can get "amateur" versions of
these relatively inexpensively if you're keen.
If you're using a flash on your camera, point the flash up or to the side, and
reflect the flash back on the scene using one of the white
cards/boards. If you are measuring distance for the flash ('cause
you're keen) remember to measure the total distance to the object including
the reflection, rather than just from camera to object. If not doing any
measuring, then set the flash to a slightly higher setting, to account for
light "lost" to the board, reflected off at other angles, etc etc.
One good and *inexpensive* way to get good pictures with "perfect" quality
lighting is to take them outside during a sunny day, at mid-day when the
sun is overhead. If you have that option, you don't have to worry about
lighting at all. You just have to make sure that your exposure settings on the
camera are set so you don't overexpose the shot, and that there aren't any
shadows interfering with your area of interest.
2. Lenses. I own a 70 - 210 mm zoom lens for my 35mm camera, and it
has a "macro" function. Macro lenses are designed for close up work, and can
focus on an object only a couple of inches from the lens. The problem with the
macro function on my lens is that it has a fixed focus, ie you set the lens to
macro, and then you have to move the camera (and lens) to get the picture in
focus. This is difficult to do with a tripod. The other problem with this type
of feature is that it has a very narrow "depth of
field" - ie the point of focus sits about 4" in front of the lens, and
anything that is more than about 1/4" closer or further away from that
point is out of focus. I've taken pictures of models where the head is in
focus and the feet aren't, or the front of a vehicle is in focus, the
middle is blurry, and the back is completely out of focus - on a jeep
model only 4" long. You can use this type of lens for close in shooting, but
it is better to get a proper Macro lens. This is a lens specifically designed
for close in work, and you won't be able to use it to take pictures any
further away than a few inches from the camera. But for the close in stuff, it
will have a much deeper depth of field, and will let you take good close up
shots of miniatures in which the whole figure is in focus. Unfortunately, I
can't offer any tricks for faking one of these.
3. Tripods. If you are taking pictures with the shutter speed slower than
1/60 sec, or maybe 1/30 sec, you want to use a tripod or you will get
blurry pictures as your hands shake. If you are using a flash, you probably
don't want to take a picture with shutter speed any faster than
1/30th or so - or the shutter will be partially closed when the flash
goes
off. I've hand-held the camera with a flash at 1/30th sec, and it
worked fine. You just have to make sure the exposure is set properly or the
picture will end up over/under exposed. That's a topic for one of those
photography books, but re the tripod, if you have your camera set properly
(ie at least 1/30th sec shutter speed) you can get away without one. If
using a macro lens, it is better to have a higher shutter speed and lots of
light to get a good exposure, and that way you can hold the camera close to
the subject without a tripod. Another gadget you can get inexpensively to aid
in this are very small "table top" tripods. I've got one with legs that are
about 8" long. It makes for a stable platform, and you can get in really close
to something on a table. Personally, I prefer to use a higher speed shutter
setting, and hold the camera in my hands, but it all depends on the lighting.
If you don't have strong lighting, you can still take good pictures by using a
slower shutter speed, but you then must use a tripod.
If you have a decent lens or two (like a macro) and have a flash, you can take
very respectable pictures at conventions, during games in progress, etc. I
have a few of games, demonstrations we've run here in Toronto at cons., etc
that actually turned out quite well, even though they weren't
"set up" shots. My 70-210mm zoom lens works well for taking zoomed in
shots of action happening on the table during a game. Again, you can work with
colour balancing the shots under convention lighting (often fluorescents) by
adding a filter (I suggested a filter for incandescent
lights above - they also make filters to colour balance fluroescents) to
your lens. Getting the right combination of film, lighting, camera
settings, etc in a convention setting is a bit of a crap shoot - because
the lighting in those places is often awful.
Last piece of advice - be prepared to take a lot of pictures to get a
few
good ones. Some pros will figure on getting 1 good picture per roll of
film shot. I don't have the $$$ to work with that kind of ratio, but you can't
be afraid to actually take pictures. You won't get the settings and lighting
correct the first time, so take several shots. Professionals will do what they
call "bracketing", which is where they set up a picture, figure on what they
think the correct camera settings are, take a shot, and then take two more,
one slightly more exposed, one slightly less exposed. That way, they figure
*one* of the pictures will come out ok.
Last last piece of advice. If you want to get really good pictures, write down
what you're doing for each shot. Not in huge detail, but just the subject,
lighting and camera settings, and film used. That way, you can look back over
the pictures when developed, and see what worked, what didn't. When you go
back to do it next time, refer to the pics that worked and your notes, and set
the situation up the same way.
This turned out to be a bit longer than I had intended. Sorry:)
Good luck!