Here's a couple of shots from the other day of some 1/72 figures from the Caeser Fantasy Adventurer set.
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| Nikon D5100, 18-55mm lens, Macro (Flower Symbol) setting. Afternoon reflected sunlight. |
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| D5100, 18-55mm lens, Macro Setting, Afternoon sunlight, brighter day? |
Well maybe not even. Anyway I ran through all of my new Rosemary & Co brushes and I want to say I did the edge detail on Salogel's tunic with the #1, although it might have been the #0. I got #2 down to #2/0 and they all hold a nice point.
Next up I brought out my oldhammer ball & chain fanatics and Goblin Shaman.
During the Anologue Hobbies painting challenge I painted their flesh in Hauser Light Green. What shocks me now is that a quick perusal of the internet shows nothing but Night Goblin Fanatics. I personally found the Night Goblins to be a total cop out sculpting wise. For me a sea of robed figures is "BORING".
In the above picture I was trying to show the painting of the foot wraps. This is 9AM-ish sunlight through te blinds, directly down onto the table. Too many shadows etc.
Same time, blinds adjusted to be parallel with the sill causing no direct sunlight. Much better. The first of these three was taken in the afternoon. My window faces East, so more direct light in the morning. All of these were also with the Nikon D5100; 18-55mm lens; Macro setting. One other thing I'll note is that in these last two pictures there is a little too much clutter around the figures. The Macro setting can be your friend, by having a short depth of field, but you need to take into account that even blurred out clutter can be distracting. Especially if it is a bright color.
Welcome to R.A.E. Gingerbhoy of Gingerbhoy's Painting Projects, a fine painter and figure converter.
Thanks for the welcome Sean. And thank you for the compliment.
ReplyDeleteI like the look of those 1/72nd miniatures. It's a scale that I played with as a school boy, but never seriously as a gamer. I'm always curious when those type of troops are displayed on blogs, and it gets me thinking about why they aren't used more in the UK gaming scene?
As to your cameras ... Well, I googled them, and, let's just say comparing yours with mine would be like comparing the NASA moonbuggy and The Flintstones car :))
Cheers Roy. I decided to start buying 1/72 (20mm) stuff when i took the plunge to get back into the hobby. There is some pretty cool stuff these days, although a maddening lack of Sci-Fi. I was aware at time of writing that my camera is not what one might consider an everyday camera. I definitely think it may be gilding the lily. I do think it is making it possible for me to take the kind of photos I want to though. I will be showing other types of cameras as I think I have access to more consumer market stuff.
DeleteDon't get me wrong, I'd love a camera such as you have and would really make use of it, if I did. But I'm a boring git, with lack of transport or daily excitement, so I'd be stuck for things to take pictures of :( With me it's just a point and click camera, for the miniatures, is all that I require. Anything I buy will have to make itself pay the cost back with good photo's for eBay. Either that or I try and get a job for Playboy as a photographer ~ on second thoughts, no. Toy soldiers can be demanding masters, imagine all those 'diva' models :))
DeleteHi Roy, yes. I'll be covering that aspect of trying to get the most bang for your buck. Ultimately I'm hoping that we can get some kind of idea as to how we can squeeze that value from whatever camera we have at our disposal.
DeleteThe goblins are definitely better in the last shot with the more diffuse lighting. Not only are there no lines from your blinds in the picture, but the models also don't cast such deep shadows.
ReplyDeleteAs for the background clutter, I agree that it's distracting. However this could be taken care of very easily by cropping the picture; you've left a good "margin" of neutral colour around the figures themselves.
Hi Hugh. You are correct. What I was mainly trying to get at with that photo, besides showing how impatient I am, was that direct sunlight may not necessarily be the key to "good" pictures. Cropping does cure a multitude of sins. Again my style of photography is, much like my parenting, "do what I say, not what I do." I did not spend any more time than to line them up so they would all be in focus and then fiddled with the blinds. Hardly prepping the shot.
DeleteLooking good Sean, love the Conan inspired figure.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray, his twin brother Canoc has an axe the size of a briefcase that he's waving overhead. That fantasy set has some really nice sculpts in it. I guess copyright laws are lax in Russia. Or wherever Caeser is from.
DeleteGreat progress on those 1/72, I don't know how you do, my eyes just can't cope with the smaller scale.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael, to be honest I didn't think I could do that level of detail either. The Rosemary & Co. brushes made it achievable. A brush with a good point makes a huge difference. I do have a magnifying visor, but I've taken to just squinting over the top of my glasses. One benefit of trying to do fine detail on 1/72 is that it makes 28mm figures seem huge.
DeleteGood progress and great reference to Conan (1st and only worth watching). For the camera, pretty smart to write down the configuration... I am definitely not make for photography
ReplyDeleteHi Cedric, the figure itself is referential. I do love the original Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer sucked. I actually really liked the new one with Jason Momoa. It had some problems, but in many ways was itself referential to the 80's movie. Somebody complained about the nudity in it, a complaint that I found preposterous, but in the directors commentary he gave the reason for it. He said if anyone asked for a role for their girlfriend he said sure, but they had to be naked. Now it all makes sense. Also if you have the commentary by John Milius and Arnold Schwarzenegger take a listen to it. It made me appreciate that classic even more. And I'll try to keep up with the camera settings.
Deletethanks for the advice on the commentary. Conan is not a big sale in Hong Kong and I was disappointed in the recent one. I found it nice but without character.
DeleteHi Cedric, many fans of Conan were disappointed. I was so excited for this movie that I may have ignored its problems. The story was weird and parts of it did leave a feeling of SyFy Channel movie, but the scenes with Jason Momoa kicking ass were great. And the kid Conan killing the Picts all by himself.
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