I have taken what I think to be some pretty decent photos of some of my older models and just got finished reorganizing my webshots folders appropriately. Can you guys who actually know something about photography look them over and give me some honest opinions and critique them to help me improve my picture taking skill. Ignore the obvious stuff like try to use a clean cloth for a backdrop and keep your fingers out of the pictures. I am looking for improvements on lighting, symmetry on the overall shots, etc. The new ones are under Bradley, Older Abrams, Tiger, and Hellcat. I think the ones where I have really tried will be obvious, like trying different lighting comfigurations, use of cameras features, and all. BTW the link is below. Thanks in advance.

Rob

Since it appears you're not trying to make them look like full size vehicles in the field, the angles , etc look fine. You're presenting your details nicely and clearly with no really deep shadows to obscure details. :-)

Improvements:
After you've loaded tthe pictures on the computer, try to edit out your fingers by using a cropping tool in your photo program.
Withoout spending a fortune, add a couple light sources to give a more even lighting. Cheap desk lamps will do as fill ins.
When doing extreme close ups, such as the interior shot of the Bradley, if your cameral allows your to change your apperture, stop it down to f:16 or f:22. This will increase the area that's in sharp focus. It will also mean a much slower exposure so you'll have to use a tripod.

Looks good. The photos where you use a drop cloth could use some more direct overhead lighting. On your finished kits you might want to take more elevation photos at eye level versus from 'tree' level looking down at them. Maybe also get more depth of field on these too.

GR8Voyager

Can you explain "depth of field"?

Depth of Field refers to the amount of the subject which is in focus. A certain shutter speed combined with a certain aperture will give a fixed depth of field, i.e. everything between 2 fixed distances from the lens will be in focus. If your camera will allow you to alter these settings, you can effectively produce a photo with more of the subject in focus.

Imagine a photo of a mountain, focussed on the mountain, anything near to the camera is likely to be out of focus, and vice versa, unless you alter the settings to create a large depth of field. See AJLaFleche's post for details.

Good luck and keep experimenting.

Roger

Well said Favorisio. Let me first give the caveat that I am not great at this myself and I don't do this unless I am setting up for a photo I really want to keep.

I based this more on the photos in which you had them staged with the backdrop. The reason I said this is that not all of the photos are as crisp as they could be. A large part of this is because your camera is focusing in on everything in the frame.

As an example, if you look at your first photo under Old Abrams and the use the next arrow icon, you will see the difference in the crispness of the tank. Your pictures are good as they are but once you start really asking yourself what is supposed to be the main focus, you will get what I mean.

There are several ways by which to improve depth of field. My solution is probably not technically correct as there is more to it than I am suggesting for real photographers but works for me. The easy way to fix this is to:

1) Get much more lighting (both direct overhead and indirect white lighting)
2) Increase by one F-stop on your camera to open up the aperature once you have focused and are ready to take the photo (if you have an automatic camera, once focused, move to manual and do this)

The results will be that everything will be sharper and you will draw more attention to the subject within the frame and create a neat blurry effect on the background.

You could probably read your instructions that came with your camera for more info or find a camera website for more info and better instructions than what I posted. Hope this helps though.

GR8Voyager

Something ambiguous about "opening" the f-stop. If you go from f-11 to f-16 that is "closing" the aperature by one f-stop. Closing the f-stop to its smallest setting will increase depth of field. Opening it will decrease depth of field (i.e. going from f-11 to f-8). If you want everything in focus from the closest focal point of the lens to infinity you must use the smallest f-stop the lens provides. Is this what you mean?

Lieutenant Bob, call me ambiguous - you are right - I was only thinking of what the aperature is doing and mixing my words.

GR8Voyager

I agree with what's been said about the depth of field by the other guys. Greater depth of field means slower speeds, means tripod.
One thing I agree with is the angle of the photos. Mix it up some, high and low.
I would look into a 'fill flash' this is a flash that will go off when the shutter opens and it's role is to fill in light under things like the turret overhang or the visors.

Be careful with a flash up close. Most of the general market strobe lights are designed to be used at several feet, rather than in macro mode. If you are going to use a flash, consider backing away from the model and using a zoom lens, other wise, you're gonna have some great picures of what looks like a glowing polar bear in a white out at noon.

AJLaFleche - thanks for the update on my post about fill flashes. How do you get light under turret overhangs? I personally photograph outside in bright light and in some of my other photo's I have resorted to the fake macro deal - telephoto lens from far away. (The A26 photos in the dio galary were done that way).

I've been taking my photos on my work bench where I have 3 controllable lights. I can pretty much direct the light where I want it that way. Another way would be to "bounce" the light using a very light surface as a secondary light source. Have you ever seen a Sports Illustrated swimsuit video? Notice how there's someone with a blank card or umbrella directing light into the shadows. I know, it's tought to not be looking at the suit :-) Also, if you've ever seen a photo set up, the photog will use a card to reflect light where he/she wants its before making the shot. They'll also often use a reflector umbrella rather than a direct flash. Many camera to strobes have a directional head which will allow you to bounce the flash from walls, ceiling or even a cardboard reflector taped to the strobe.

Thanks for the update on the fill light. I appreciate that. Sounds easy to set up (practice to master )

Thanks

Thanks for helping guys, I will try these tips next time I shoot stuff. I will let you know how it turns out. I appreciate it

Rob