I have started a new forum to deal with questions and comments about photography and digital image editing. If you have found some techniques that really work well for you please post them here. I am working on an article for this topic dealing with processing photos in a program like Photoshop. Also I will be putting up an article by Bryan Dewberry on his recent experience doing some cool photos for his F18.

I am also looking for experience photographers who would be interested in moderating this forum. Email me if you would like to apply.

Thanks,
Jim

Good idea Jim. Getting a good photo of your model is so hard to do so I'm looking forward to learning a lot. It's amazing how well a good photo can enhance the appearance of your kit on the net.

I echo that,it seems to be part of the hobby now.
Cheers
Arthur :-)

I am an amateur photographer and will help any way I can.

This is a forum that´s really needed!
Photography is an art of its own, and the basic, technical stuff is easy to find in a good all-around how-to book. It´s good to know your equipment well.
But most of all, have the appetite for experimenting!

Photography is also a point of view in modeling. Maybe your purpose is not to make a dio that looks realistic when you look at it at a close range. Maybe you choose the setting and colours in a way that you can get fantastic photos out of it!

My first ultra close-up experiment with new equipment was the White Death, which turned out very realistic in the photos. I had an extension piece between my CanonT70 and Osawa 80-205mm objective, and it really messed up the scale. Meaning that you can´t tell any more the size of the figure. No extra lights were used, as I thought the "snow" would also work as a natural reflecting surface. The model was painted with colours that look realistic in natural light. It was a cold sunny day, at 9 am in my back yard, click click.

White Death close-ups

I have to admit that no matter how well the physical vignette works, I was more excited about the photos. After all, we´re all in the search of some kind of eye-fooling tricks to make pieces of plastic carry different materials. When you push it through a camera, you have even more controlled, even more manipulative image of the model.

Toni

This will no doubt be a very popular forum :-) I know I need alot of help getting good close-up shots of my models Thanks Jim.....

Speaking of photography.....How come our webmaster has not posted pics of himself in the gallery yet?????
I need to see the man who has given me so much enjoyment by creating this great website :-)

One of my long lost loves...photography!
I think this a wonderful addition to the site. I've been away from Macro Photography for a bit, but I still hold lots of tips and tricks I would be more than happy to share.
Great idea Jim.
Lets go...questions?

Chappy,
You mean you missed the thread where I was modeling....er wearing my new Armorama shirt??? :-)

I will try to post that up in the gallery though.

Cheers,
Jim

I've heard of these special Macro objectives for your cam.. are they worth the investment ?
Is there any digi cams capable of making quality pics on very close distance - ie. a diorama from 40cm away ???

I should think most digital cameras would do a decent job of capturing models... I think I'd rather take low quality pis of my first tank with the webcam so you can't really tell what I screwed up! Back to the topic... My family owned a 2 megapixel camera for about two weeks. We went through about three sets of batteries during that time. The camera got sent back. I'm sure the batteries would've lasted longer if..a... certain.... someone... hadn't... uh... 'tested' the camera too much. (okay, I've said enough!)

YodaMan

I use both the 35mmSLR and a digital camera for model photography. The digital doesn't come near the sharpness of the 35mm, and the digital's fixed focus isn't good for taking photos of models in other than the Macro Mode - unless your subject is a couple of feet away and beyond.

For photo posting here on the forum, I like the ease of using a digital camera, as you can snap, download, cleanup/resize in Photoshop, and upload to the Internet in less than five minutes. For that, it's wonderful.

However, if you measure the Macro focal length given in the digital camera's instructions (I KNOW - who here actually reads the instruction sheet!) you can get a really good image. I use the FujiFilm 1300 Digital Camera, fixed focus, x2 digital zoom, set on the finest resolution setting. It costs the same ($250) as the Pentax 35mm did when I bought it a long time ago. The Schimmwagen below was taken with this camera:



The Willys MB was taken with my 1986 Pentax - old but still kickin - 35mm SLR:



I take the photos at the highest resolution possible (huge file) and then reduce it to a smaller size - 600 pixels wide for the Internet. That's plenty big enough for the common 15" monitors and screen settings out there. 500 pixels is a good rule of thumb too, and gets the file size down to a reasonable level so you're not eating up gobs of server storage space.

Gunnie

:-) :-) Hey Gunnie, Nice Pic's, I have been taking my model pic's with a digital camera lately because (1) as you said for the ease of it. But (2) mostly because that is all that I have immediate access to. (3) Most importantly I do NOT have a 35mm. Though my wife keeps telling me that we need to get one. BUT in her mind just a simple 35mm, NO Zoom, No large telephoto-Lenses. etc, etc, Now does that make sense to you??. I mean if your going to shoot something you should do it right. I too enjoy shooting my Models with a camera. To not only be able to let others see them but to perserve them for your selves. in case of loss or damage during a move or something. Anyway, Hopefully sometime later will be able to take better photo's of mine as well. My first plan is to photograph all my A/C Models in a setting that will resemble an airshow or Old Airplanes on display.

DAGGER: A weapon with a short pointed Blade: " THE CUTTING EDGE"

:-) I don't have any fancy lenses - only the lens that came with the camera originally! It's been doing fine all of these years without investing a ton of extra money into it for Macro model photography.

I think if I bought anything new for digital photography, it would be a camera able to go x10 zoom for bringing in closer details. I haven't purchased one yet because I'm still learning how to get the most out of the little Fuji I have right now. It isn't bad...

Gunnie

If anyone is interested, a company by the name of Raynox makes a Macro lense with a universal mount for digital cameras. It'll fit lenses between 52mm and 67mm filter threads.
At only $49, it's a pretty good alternative to buying a Macro specific setup. Your camera just needs to be set to "Macro". If you don't know what a difference the lense will make in your pics, click on the "Comparrison Shots" link on the page.

You can have a look-see here:

http://www.bugeyedigital.com/product_main/ray-dcr150.html

And for SLR's you can get a macro filter that gives the same effect. Just a lot less expensive.