The Professional Photography and Photoshop Thread

[kensei]

Just thought I would make a thread so that when I come back, I can use the tips for my reviews.

I've seen plenty of great photos, from the likes of sithlord, ikhii and also others. Thought that they would like to share their tips in this thread, and any adjustments that are made by Photoshop, if necessary.

Edited February 19, 2007 by kensei

[big F]

Good idea

[CdnShockwave]

A few shots from my VF-11B shoot last Christmas.

[justvinnie]

Bright diffused back lighting. Bouncing the flash off of white walls.

vinnie

[Dante74]

Anyone know how to make good shots with a Sony T1 camera?

Please keep in mind that a tripod can NOT be attached to this particular model.

[ghostryder]

Bouncing the flash off of white walls.

vinnie

There's a useful tidbit. I wish I could angle the flash on my sh1tty camera...

[CdnShockwave]

There's a useful tidbit. I wish I could angle the flash on my sh1tty camera...

I didn't use the flash at all on the VF-11B pix. Three super bright all-spectrum light bulbs and lamps to go with them, a tripod, and a remote shutter control are all you need!

There's a really nice looking lighting piece at the local camera store... but it's $500. And we all know that kind of money should be spent on valks, not lights.

[izzyfcuk]

Here's my set up, and some shots. i only play with "curves" in photoshop

http://img358.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img27119dz.jpg

This is how i take my pics.

The background is a mounting board brought from art stores.

Those are inexpensive light from Ikea. daylight of course. not using warm lights

http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img25445zq.jpg

Edited October 26, 2006 by izzyfcuk

[CdnShockwave]

izzy, what is that you're using to filter the two side lights? Thus far I've used tissue paper, but that looks finer. Looks like a pretty good setup, but I notice some noise in those low viz camo pix you posted, but that could just be compression. *shrugs*

Come on everyone, strut your stuff!

[izzyfcuk]

im using "tracing paper" for the diffusion, that was my previous set up.

This is my current set up

For me i think there's two types of toy photography,

1. The photoshop type - relies heavily on Photoshop post-production

Here's two examples

http://www.timbrisko.com/commercialtoy.html

http://www.toysdaily.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=37834

2. Secondly the more "photography based" one

The best example would be

www.tfkenkon.com. Remy's webby

Personally i prefer the "photograhy based" kind. but im mucking around right now with both set-up

im using a canon IXUS 5 megapixel cam

[kensei]

Thanks kensei for thinking my photos are good but my camera sux ass and alot of post production work was put into it (probably more post-prod will be into it. :-) I will eventually get around to drop $600 plus for a decent SLR. I wonder who will post multiple photos of their stuff along with a strong conviction that maybe contested by others who think otherwise? I have to agree that "Professional" is key to this thread plus seeing how they work is a bonus!

Don't be modest. I was thinking of your VB-6 photos when I typed that. I wanted some tips from the member Deckard too.

[drifand]

I truly believe that good shots don't happen by chance or 'Auto' functions.

Having a good 'infinity' backdrop like izzy's is a dream for me, but like he said even cheap lights USED WELL can add helps of quality. More important is the selection of angle and aperture, eg. Are you hoping to achieve 'dramatic' shots? Then shoot from a (lower) angle that creates the feel of the photographer being 1/1 scale, on-scene with the 'real' mecha. Using the Macro mode helps a lot if your cam is within 30cm of the toy.

Also, turn OFF the flash - the strobed shadows are terrible. Use a tripod to enable longer exposures (1/30 sec or more) with a natural look. 'Bracket' your shots if possible to enable creative combinations of darker/lighter areas in related shots.

Only experimenting with your cam can reveal what works best. My 4MP Canon G2 is like what, 5 years old? Still getting fantastic performance from it!

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

Wow! Thanks for the tips, Izzi. I'll have some much fun trying this.

So you use daylight bulbs, how many watts exactly?

[izzyfcuk]

Wow! Thanks for the tips, Izzi. I'll have some much fun trying this.

So you use daylight bulbs, how many watts exactly?

40- 60Watts? daylight, think around that region

P.S don't be too caught up with the lights. i went through the process..ain't really too much to bother with

Point is u gotta play around with it, u'll have to constantly adjust the light's placement

understanding what u see from your eyes will never be what ur camera see is the first step to taking great shots

[CdnShockwave]

Photoshop works great if you're only working with one pic. It doesn't work so well for galleries, however, as it is difficult to reproduce the exact same effect pic for pic.

Tracing paper eh? I'll have to try that when I get back home. But you're right, lighting is key, particularly for the white backgrounds, which I feel are the hardest to work with. Not to mention trying to take pix of white toys with a white background is pretty much futile. I've taken to using darker backgrounds, like this for Alt Wheeljack

And as for Remy, that guy is incredible. I've been trying to take those kind of pix for YEARS and still have had very limited success, such as these I did for Alt Ravage and BT red Meister

The biggest problem I've found is that you are your own worst critic. I take a pic, photoshop the hell out of it, and think it looks like crap. But when I show it to others they say it's really well done (though how much of that is truth and how much of that is just mindless praise is beyond me). But, you keep working at it. I'll take a pic of my setup at home and do a little tutorial on how I do my pix later on.

[izzyfcuk]

U can try to PM REMY about his set-up, i'll be very interested in how he does his pics as well

[CdnShockwave]

U can try to PM REMY about his set-up, i'll be very interested in how he does his pics as well

I've always been reluctant to do that since my guess is that he gets bombarded with e-mails about his pix. Although, now that you mention it, the worst he can say is no. *L*

[kensei]

What do you guys judge as the minimum megapixel range that a camera should have? 3?

[CdnShockwave]

What do you guys judge as the minimum megapixel range that a camera should have? 3?

Usually 3 or more megapixels is good. Anything more than that can sometimes be considered overkill since you're not really taking pix that require anything more.

[ghostryder]

I truly believe that good shots don't happen by chance or 'Auto' functions.

More important is the selection of angle and aperture...

Using the Macro mode helps a lot if your cam is within 30cm of the toy...

Use a tripod to enable longer exposures (1/30 sec or more) with a natural look.

I have a Canon S30 3.2MP... I will try these tips tonight, I've always had it on AUTO !

Do you recommend setting shutter and allowing camera to select aperture, vice-versa, or doing everything manually?

Edited October 26, 2006 by ghostryder

[doodler7]

2.1 megapixel is good enough for web...but 4.0 + megapixel will be even better. If one cannot access a digital SLR and lights, I recommend getting a camera will aperture/semi-manual settings.

I'd like to get an SLR and some lights.

[ghostryder]

Here's some experimentation I did with a 3.2MP by simply using the MACRO mode (thanks drifand!). Keep in mind, I used no special lighting other than the overhead fluorescents of my laundry room. It helps that the light reflects off the white walls and the white dryer top. If I wanted a dark base, I'd probably need diffused side lites.

There's nothing special about the MACRO pics other than them being sharp and representative of the toy, which was my only goal:

FLASH ON (eww )

AUTO mode

MACRO mode

Here's some other closeups I' took with the MACRO mode on.

Edited October 27, 2006 by ghostryder

[drifand]

Looking good, Ghostryder. As to your earlier question, my personal preference is for Aperture priority mode - I decide on the aperture and let the cam figure out the shutter speed. Since I always shoot my toys with a tripod, slow speeds of 1 sec or more are of no concern.

For most compact digicams, the extreme settings are almost always never optimum. So I almost never shoot at f2.0 or f8 on my G2.

- For close ups, I use f2.8 - f3.2; (focused area sharp/backgrounds blurred)

- For group shots where all the toys are more or less in a line - f4.0 - f5.6; (row of toys sharp, background/foreground blur)

- For staggered groups (eg. 2 or 3 rows of toys), I'd use f5.6 - f8. (Toys sharp, but background will also be sharp unless kept further away ~2 feet or more)

I'm not up to explaining how f-stops affect depth of field (DOF), but the above works well for me. Good luck and keep shooting!

[kensei]

That's great Ghostryder! What a difference! Flash on looks sharp, but the light doens't disperse evenly across the whole 1/48, whereas the MACRO one does. And the AUTO one does indeed look crap.

EDIT: Actually note that on the Flash one that the canopy is clear, the MACRO and AUTO ones have a glare across the canopy.

Edited October 27, 2006 by kensei

[Akilae]

lol, so MWers have finally gotten onto the pixel peeping boat

[izzyfcuk]

This thread is exactly what myself and other members had gone through

you can try readling through this link, it will save u lots of unneccessary trouble too

http://www.sgcollect.com/forum/index.php?s...TOY+PHOTOGRAPHY

[ghostryder]

EDIT: Actually note that on the Flash one that the canopy is clear, the MACRO and AUTO ones have a glare across the canopy.

Your right.... well, there's another vote for a custom light setup rather than relying on fluorecent overheads.

[izzyfcuk]

a non-valk photo

Same Setup

Shot on tripod. macro mode.

Post Production, photoshop "Curves"

[kalvinmaui]

Just got my new canon SLR and wanted to practice shooting toys. My first attempt. I wish I was able to get rid of the shadows.

Edited October 28, 2006 by kalvinmaui

[Akilae]

Just got my new canon SLR and wanted to practice shooting toys. My first attempt. I wish I was able to get rid of the shadows.

This might be personal taste, but try either stepping down the lens or jacking up the shutter speed... the images are coming across as pretty bright on my monitor...

[jenius]

Looks like the shadows could be helped by having a second light, one more directly over-head. Yes, the pics are also a bit bright and the white balance is off on Voltron. Here are some samples from my site:

My system is HORRIBLE. I have one direct overhead light, nothing else. I also do not own any photo-editing software. I do own a pretty sweet camera though, a Cannon a620 that is chock full of manual settings and a pretty sweet macro function.

Edited October 28, 2006 by jenius

[CdnShockwave]

Ahh yes, the ol' macro mode, a wonderful tool indeed.

Thought I'd post a few of my non-Macross photoshopped pix.

[big F]

Ok CdnShockwave You realise now your opening your self up to "how did you do that" kind of questions. So get thinking the answers up and writing out your how to.

[drifand]

Mmmm, Photoshop dioramas! How-to...?

First thing is to get the angles right - match the horizons and perspectives of the background and toy. Then you have to match the lighting - take note of the sun's angle in the sky and try to simulate a similar angle when shooting the toy. Then comes the 'merging' of the two (or more photos) - which requires practice with the MANY methods of edging out your required elements. I remember my 1st important lesson in Photoshop: Learn how to select only the areas you want to affect... ya gotta practice.

Here's an old fav of mine:

[CdnShockwave]

Funny, angles and lighting conditions usually don't matter much to me. I'm usually able to correct all the shadows using the dodge and burn tools. Like this one here, all the shadows were made using the burn tool.

You can also use the lasso to cut different parts of the subject and fudge them a little to make the angles match up.