Need help photographing models

[AlexanderJesse]

And if you gift the DSLR to Deb?
I presume if you ask nicely, she will lend it back to you for promoting your sales...

[Newportnobby]

And if you guft the DSLR to Deb?
I presume if you ask nicely, she will lend it back to you for promoting your sales...

Clever. I can tell you're not single, Alexander

[RBTKraisee]

So I waited until the balcony produced a bit of shade, then hung a white towel up in the sunshine to reflect some brightness towards it and took a couple of pics...

The in-built camera app was awful with a white background - totally washed out, I won't even bother to show it.

Using Adobe Lightroom's camera app with default/auto settings on a white background...


This is also Lightroom's camera with defaults/auto settings, but on a black background...


The black background seems to finally be getting somewhere!!

I'll try to dig out a much bigger piece of fine black cloth, or card, and try that, but it won't be today


I also went ahead and bit the bullet; I ordered the T1i DSLR, with the 1 year protection. It'll get here in about a week.

Ross.

[RBTKraisee]

So, quick Q: While I wait for the DSLR to arrive, can I ask if a 28-105 lens should be good enough for photographing models with (and hopefully layouts too) or do I need to be looking around for a lens to go with this new cam?

Ross.

[Nbodger]

So, quick Q: While I wait for the DSLR to arrive, can I ask if a 28-105 lens should be good enough for photographing models (and hopefully layouts too) with or do I need to be looking around for a lens to go with this new cam?

Ross.

Ross, I use a 18-135 (£500) which I have used for around 2 years, totally suits my needs for most photography, this replaced a 18-55 when the auto focus motor packed in, I also have a 250-300mm which I rarely use these days.

Minimum focus distance of the 18-135 is 15 inch which can be a little restrictive, easily overcome by trimming photo.

Mike H

[RBTKraisee]

So I read that as it sounding like the 28mm end of the lens may not be ideal, but should still be usable, and I should expect to need to crop the final images - and thus I'll also need to frame the photo's with that in mind.

Fair enough.

Ross.

[RBTKraisee]

I have some fine black cloth around here somewhere, but it's playing hind'n'seek with me right now. So while I'm still hunting for it, I just tried a black project poster board, and with Lightroom camera it seems to be getting me into a viable window. What do you guys think?





What could I try to improve things further?

Ross.

[Coyote]

I use an 18-55 on my Canon. However the non professional Canon's are not full frame but are APC-C cameras due to the sensor size, the effect of this means that every lens is effectively increased by 1.6. So an 18-55 acts like it was a 28-88 lens on a full size sensor or 35mm film. All my layout photos are taken with this lens.

Dave

[AdeV]

Never mind the photos - when's the Coronation Scot going to be available? I Must Have One! Even though a 'Scot would never have been seen anywhere near Bangor station (my chosen location).... meh, I'll think of an excuse to have her passing through 

In fact, the lack of accurate dining coaches & kitchen cars started me down the road of designing my own - but based on how far I got, I'm about 3 years behind your designs! 

OK - back on topic:

• Lighting - you should try to front light as much as possible, so any shadows are behind the model & therefore out of the picture. The light should be as diffuse as possible too, so you don't get bright spots or nasty reflections
• Pale stuff - photo on a dark background. Dark stuff, the opposite
• A macro lens for your new DSLR will allow you to get the camera right up close & still focus. I can't help on the lens selection (my camera's an Olympus); but you won't need an expensive one to get good shots. This isn't mandatory, though; for pictures that are destined for websites, you can just take a photo from far, far away & crop it. The forum admin will also thank you for uploading small images!

When I had a Nikon DSLR, I bought a ring light (that clips to the lens) to try to take better pictures. Unfortunately, I lost the camera, then the light (now I've found the camera again - but not before replacing it    but no sign of the light). It's maybe worth a try, the cheap Chinesium ones aren't much money, and you can always sell it again if it doesn't work out.

[RBTKraisee]

CScot is nearly ready. A few more weeks

Thanks for the advice. I've been looking at a ring light and I might invest in one next month.

Anyhoo, the very first attempts with the DSLR seem to be an improvement. Here is a focus stacked image of one of the coaches.

What do you guys think so far?

Ross.

---=== B Minus 3 Days ===---

[Bealman]

Looks good to me, buddy. 

[chrism]

Thanks for the advice. I've been looking at a ring light and I might invest in one next month.

IMO, a ring light won't be much use for this sort of work. Yes, it'll give a greater spread of light but it'll still all be generally from one direction and will give a "flatter" result.

Anyhoo, the very first attempts with the DSLR seem to be an improvement. Here is a focus stacked image of one of the coaches.
What do you guys think so far?

Looks good, but I'd try and get the main lighting a bit further to the left so the detail parts along the sides cast a little bit of a shadow to show them up better.
Of course, it's not helped by the plastic being slightly translucent so getting detail shadows to show up is harder - maybe a light spray of primer would help with that.

[AlexanderJesse]

First attempt: much better

@chrism: a spray of primer.. light grey...??
You mean like the famous photo paint job for german steam locos (back then in the good ole times of b/w photography)?

[chrism]

@chrism: a spray of primer.. light grey...??

Yes, that'd do it - just something that's more opaque than the printed plastic. Doesn't even matter if it's precisely the same colour, it's the opaqueness that matters. The plastic is somewhat translucent because it has to be in order to allow light through to cure the material below the surface.

I discovered this fairly early on in my coach printing where everything looked hunky-dory until I primed the models and surface blemishes (like stepping on curved surfaces) became very apparent when they hadn't on the unpainted models - light was passing through from the back and "filling in" shadows on the front that would otherwise have been visible, whether from intended surface detail or from blemishes.

You mean like the famous photo paint job for german steam locos (back then in the good ole times of b/w photography)?

British railways did the photographic grey paint jobs too for their record shots of, in particular, first of class builds - the main ones I've seen are GWR, who used a light grey for the green paintwork and, IICR, a dark grey for the black with suitable other shades for the lining. 

[Coyote]

Photographic grey paint in the past was used to show off new locomotives. The early types of black and white film did not respond well to dark reds etc, showing them as almost black so grey was chosen so that all the details could be seen.