New Camera

As some of you may be aware, I recently was a klutz and pushed my trusty Canon PowerShot A560 from the table onto the floor - in turned on mode, and thus with the optics out.

Not my brightest hour, to say the least.

Something broke or got warped inside the optic module, and it can no longer open/close the optics.

Of course, it would be far too expensive to get it repaired, so I had to consider getting a camera with at least the same functionalities, as my backup Sony CyberShot does not deliver on photo quality, and I want to be able to post high-quality photos of my hobby stuff.

My choice fell on another Canon.

It seems to have almost the same settings as the old one, although they are a tad harder to find, but as recent results have shown, I am slowly learning the ropes.

My biggest concern is for when I shall use the camera on holidays or outside in the garden, as I shall probably need reading glasses to check and change settings - the old camera was somewhat easier to operate - but I shall probably just start carrying a set of glasses in the camera bag, for easy access when away from home.

I hope that, in time, when I get to know all the settings and their use in different circumstances, this new camera will prove even better than my sadly departed PowerShot, which has been my companion for more than a decade.

 

A New... Photo Set-up.

Failing to find some bulbs powerful enough to light through the sandwich-paper on my light diffusion box, I have stripped the box down to make a permanent 'stage' for miniature photography:

A lonely zombie catches the spotlight.
This can't be good...

The camera is normally placed on its tripod in front of the shoe-box, to which I have taped a sheet of A3 very light grayish blue sheet of heavy paper in a way that makes it curve away behind the object(s) to be captured by the camera. I could have used my other camera to capture it, but I got lazy...

The 3 lamps are bought in Ikea, have flexible arms, and the lampshades can be rotated around the bulp to easily obtain any angle. Sadly, I don't remember the model name.

I use 15W (maximum for these lamps), 805 Lumen, milky bulbs.

The camera is a fairly cheap Canon PowerShot A560 with a €10 generic tripod.

Settings are Indoor, with Macro On, Flash Off, and a 2 Sec Delay.

Furthermore, I use Face Recognition, which enables focus on the mini instead of protruding arms/-weapons (provided the face is well enough painted, of course).

DON'T use Auto setting with artificial lights - you'll get blurred or yellowish pictures 9 out of 10 times (at least I do).

With this set-up, I get really good results almost every time - except for when I forget to check if the focus has captured the right part of the mini.

Another picture.

This one is almost there - taken without macro and still with a single light source.

BioCorp proudly presents it's newest marketing ploy: The Buccaneers

I need to dig out a couple of additional lamps to start fiddling with multiple light sources.

I like the way things are going, and am confident that I'll be able to produce some good pictures of my future activities!

Experiments with the Light Box.

I took a few shots of my WIP  Corporation DredBall team today, using my newly constructed light box:



Light from the top only




Light from the right only

These are not as sharp as I wanted, but I probably should not use the macro setting from this far away. But the white paper screens seem to block out the usual yellowish sheen, which is a BIG Progress.

I need to try setting lights from more than one direction, trying different settings on the camera, etc., and I may have to use slightly thicker paper for the screens.

Next on the to-do list is also managing the background; I may have to invst in some A3 sized (or larger) sheets of thin cardboard/thick paper to place behind the objects I want to photograph.

Next step on the minis, btw., is to use a small spatula with some filler to smooth out the filled parts of the bases, before I finish them by filing the filler into the desired shape.

Light Box Completed!

It didn't take me long - actually I built this in less than an hour, and it cost me less than €2.

I think I need something to attach backgrounds to, but all in all I only need to add light from the top, the left, and the right, and I should get a softer light for my macro-setting pics of minis and other stuff.

I'll try it out on my WIP DreadBall team tomorrow, if I can find a lamp for the top light. (And, no, I have made no further progress with the team.)

Light Box Planned.

As per the headline, I'm planning to build a light diffusion box for taking picures of minis and terrain pieces.

I'm going to use a cardboard box with sections cut out and covered with white silk paper or a thin fabric on top, left and right, so that I can place light bulps on the outside and get the light diffused inside the box.

More when I have gotten the materials needed.