Model close ups
 

No, not that sort of model George! Got a couple of new Mini models through the post today so, thought I'd have a play around with the camera.
I used to take model shots by simply using the macro on my compact but, read on a model forum about zooming in to get a full frame shot. I set the DSLR up on its tripod with a 300mm lens and started adjusting the apature with each shot until I got some reasonable results. To be honest, I think the 300mm lens was a bit over the top and I'll have a go with a smaller lens next time.
Anyway here's some of the best shots, bear in mind that I am a complete novice :o

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg6_1.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg7.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg8.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg5_4.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg2_29.jpg

"I am not a number, I am a free man" :bowdown:

Another shot, this time with my 'Prisoner' Lotus 7

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg1_92.jpg

I like those shots, I do not think the 300mm lens is over the top, which lens is it? Is it a fixed 300mm? or a zoom? If it is a zoom, try at between 150 and 200mm. The reason for this, is a telephoto can compress a shot, and I think the first image, the sides of the white mini, have been flattened by this effect. I may be wrong on that, but to me the sides look flatter and taller than they appear to be in the other shots. Be careful with the smaller lens, it may give the opposite effect and squash the images.

tip if you havent already done this, is to use the timer facility, to counter any shake you may have. In these shots though there doesnt appear to be any. Even though using the tripod, the movement of pressing the shutter button can cause movement. If there is a mirror lock up function, activate that too. (mirror lock up along with a remote release, were my two favourite functions and accessories of my cameras).

another tip, switch off one of your light sources (I am guessing an overhead incandescent bulb?). In a couple of the shots there are two shadows. The lighting to me, is spot on, except for that. In a street situation, there would only be one shadow from the sun (or sky). If you can, set your lighting up to emulate that ;)

Thanks for that, some good tips there :bowdown:
It's a zoom lens and I used a remote shutter release. I'll have a play between 150 and 200mm when I get chance. Never gave the lighting a thought, see what you mean about the shadows though.

Very impressive Paul. :}

Tilt shift techniques are always fun to play with for models

Some nice shots there, I must try to take some of my models.

I have five Rolls Royce & a Bentley from Franklin Mint, the Danbury Mint 007 Aston Martin and the Maesto Jaguar XJ 220 the large scale one and just realised I have a lot of BL models sitting in the boot of my SD1 Vitesse which I used for my rear shelf display at classic car shows.

I like to have a model of the cars I own and just a couple of weeks back I managed to get a Jaguar XF in the same colour as mine.

Some great model shots there Paul :bowdown:

I've got a collection of 1/18th F1 models which I've never really thought about photographing. After seeing your great shots I may well give it a go:}

Photographing model cars against a background, reminded me of this, where the bloke uses models against real-world backgrounds to create a fictional town! :D

Starlight 75
 

Just added this Schuco 75 to my collection. It's actually Starlight but, the lighting makes it look sort of Moonstone :o

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg1_98.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg2_33.jpg

This 6R4 arrived yesterday too :cool:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg3_17.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg4_7.jpg

I am liking these, :} The single light source too, helps a lot.

I hope you dont mind Paul, I am attaching some shots for you. I thought you may appreciate as a Mini fan. The ones in the OP reminded me of them.

Those are great shots of an absolutely gorgeous Mini. I love Clubmans with 10" wheels :drool4:
Thank you!

Citroen DS19
 

I've been playing with my toy cars again :D
Thought I'd try a few 'real world' shots of a DS19 model I have

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg1_99.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...e.jpg1_100.jpg

Sack the painter or, is that a standard Citroen paint finish ;)

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg2_34.jpg

First and third ones for me, lovely depth of field on them, second one doesn't quite work as well with the surroundings :}

Good photos. How did you light them? I have been trying to photo some of my models but can't get the lighting right without resorting to flash which ruins the shots.

Thank you!
The Citroen was lit naturally outside in the garden. The Minis and others were lit from directly above by the halogen lights in our kitchen. Using a flash will not give good results ;)
For all shots, my camera was mounted on a tripod with remote shutter release and set to apature priority, the camera took care of the shutter speed. A small apature gave better results, more depth of field.

I'm a complete photography numpty and the pics were the results of a couple of hours of just trying different setting etc ;)

Hi guys,

Flash will work well to do this as well, you can use more than one and diffused with soft boxes or bounce the flash off the ceiling or wall for instance ;)

Diffusers can work great or for a small cheap option I have had some sucess with these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pro-JYC-Am...oAAOSw-zxWoeU1
Not that one in particular, but get the correct one for your flash. I have no idea about that seller.
You can get different colour lids.

They are quite inexpensive and work well in some conditions. I use one sometimes for insect macro work.

Or as Jeff says, bounce of ceiling may do it. Just watch white balance if ceiling is not pure white. Mine give a nice primrose hue to the pictures :}

If your a heavy smoker you can get a nice sepia tone by bouncing the flash off the ceiling :D;):getmecoat:

Most of my cat photos I use my main flash gun firing fill in flash upwards with the rear card to give catchlights in the eyes, my second flash I use off camera and provide some side 'fill in' lighting.
The output of the flash guns is set quite low as they are only used to help lift the shadows and I let natural light do the rest :)

I tend to use either a custom white balance in the pens or on a dull day set it to cloudy which helps warm the tones up a little.

Lol


The sepia sounds lovely

Been playing toy cars again :D

These arrived today, couldn't resist getting the camera out :o

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg1_25.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg2_36.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg3_18.jpg

Nice shots Paul, the 75 could almost pass for the real thing :bowdown:

You need to remove that leaf out of the water as its scale is a bit wrong ;):D

Thanks Jeff. I was quite pleased with the 75, I got down to the same level as the model, thought it looked more realistic.

Yes, didn't really notice the leaf until I uploaded the pics :duh:

LOVE the Lancia Delta S4 :bowdown: - I suspect I have the same model - is it 1/43rd scale?

You've got me interested now - I'll have to get some of my rally cars out of the cabinet and see what I can do :}

If you want some ideas for diorama scenes - have a look here - the Paddy Hopkirk one should appeal ;)

Yes the Delta is 1/43, it's an IXO model.
Some great pics in that link, especially the Paddy Hopkirk shot :D The shot of Loeb in his Citroen is fabulous :bowdown:

These are what I use to photograph the models

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg1_33.jpg

They come from France off eBay. They've got loads of different ones in different scales too.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/MilenaRoseP...p2047675.l2563

Interesting diorama's. Might have a go at making my own showroom.

I am digging the out door shots. I didnt even notice the leaf until it was pointed out. Things like this can be cropped out afterwards, or using editing software, change them to something else.

Sometimes I will do this if I have a shot that I particularly like, but there is somethign that doesnt sit right in it.

See below for what I mean, a quick 5 minute fiddle.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...1&d=1455314751

I like that a lot, you've even given the antenna some 'speed' :bowdown:

cant quite get the wheels right on this either, but thought I would give it a play before bed.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...1&d=1455323017

Bit cheeky of me Alan, as it's your image, but just had a go at a motion blur using PaintShop Pro :D

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...f05b19695d.jpg

My attempt :}


http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/...psfbk43tjf.jpg

Yours is better Paul, as I totally overlooked the wheels! :duh:

whoa, not my image, it is Paul's (mininuts). I was being the cheeky one :} doing it in the first place. I only did the first one after it was pointed out that there was a leaf in it. At first I didnt notice it, but like all things, once you see it, you always see it. But rather than discard a great image because of a distraction, I wanted to put forward an example of what you can do quickly (my wheels are not right at all - but it was supposed to be a five minute exercise ;)). The second one was just messing around though :}

Sometimes you can go to a lot of time and effort to set up an shot, and notice something later on, after you are packed up. I used to get disheartened a little, until I used these shots to explore my editing software programs to try to rescue them.

LOL! In which case, apologies to Paul for taking the liberty with a bit of blurring! :D

Thanks

I just went back and inclined the aerial:}

Hehe, no worries. The only issue I have is, all these fabulous edits make my original look a bit naff :o
Thanks for them though, they really are good :bowdown:

Winner, so far, is Paul's (Rocket), no prizes though ;)

No they don't ;) yours are about the model. My edits were about showing that if something is not quite right, all is not lost :D all about context, and changing that context Lol

You lot have all got far to much time on your hands :D;):bowdown:

That is really good Paul, if you compare it to this shot I took at the BTCC - your edit is very close. Thank you :}

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...88FA2F81A8.jpg

:D To be fair, mine only took literally 2 minutes, but then that's reflected in the fact that I didn't think to do the wheels! ;)

I've been at it again :getmecoat:
These are getting a bit samey now, I'll have to try something a little different, don't want to bore you all silly :o

This is a model of the last ever Rover works Mini :bowdown:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg2_37.jpg

A couple of Fiat 131 Abarths

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg1_37.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg3_19.jpg

Very nice. Love the Mini shot.

I've really got to get one of those dioramas and shoot my 1/18th F1 models :}

They are great photos, keep 'em coming :bowdown:

Thanks Jeff.

I'm not sure if they do a circuit in 1/18th but, they do a few garage/workshop dioramas ;)

Where did you get the garage background from

They come from a French eBay seller. He provides a good service, I've had a few off him and had no issues at all ;)

:smilie_re: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/MilenaRoseP...=p4634.c0.m322

Hi Paul,

Got my circuit diorama in 1/42 scale, same as the ones in your photo.
Couldn't find a 1/18th version but as I have some 1/42 scale F1 models I can give it a go.
Got a macro extension tube as well so I'll be playing to see what I can come up with.

Thanks for giving us the idea and sharing your photos :bowdown:

No worries Jeff.
I look forward to seeing your pics, be good to see how they should be done :bowdown:

Nowt wrong with your photos Paul and I'm completely new to this close up stuff so let's reserve judgement on that ;)

Been playing again :D Trying to get a bit of variety into these shots now otherwise they're all going to be a bit samey. Just bought a 1:43 scale car showroom that I have to build out of card, should be good to recreate an old BL or Rover dealership. Watch this space, although it could be some time :o Mrs. mininuts thinks I'm a bit soft in the head :D
Anyway,

A nice pair of Alfas

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg2_41.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...e.jpg1_105.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ge.jpg3_20.jpg

A couple more Minis recently purchased. The blue 1275GT actually won the British Saloon Car Championship in 1979 :bowdown: The red one was the last competition 'works' Mini to be built by Special Tuning at Abingdon.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg4_9.jpg

These are sort of close recreations of Flying Banana and Red Five on tour, just need a miniature Bob and Ian to go with them :D

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg6_2.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg5_5.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...e.jpg1_106.jpg

Getting away from cars.
 

Just a few of mine!!

Rev Jules

Nice Jules.

There's some great model photography and other interesting stuff on this page :}

A couple of recent additions to my Ford stable:

Escort Cosworth - in Tommi Makinen's livery


http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/...pscl7iwpue.jpg

and a Mk I Escort RS 1600 in Timo Makinen's livery (NO relation by the way)

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/...psspewfxx6.jpg

I've been looking at getting that Mk1 Escort for a while, looks a nice model and of course, it was driven by Timo Makinen, a works Mini legend :bowdown:

I want a Mark II Escort - ideally the Cossack Roger Albert Clark one - but they bring silly money. The Ford Sierra Cosworths are the same.

Tried a different approach this time, a plain background, sort of like a studio shoot? :shrug:
Not sure if it's worked or not, comments welcome ;)

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg1_1.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg2.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg6.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg5.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg4.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg3.jpg

In the 'studio' environment, I like the last shot. A little dynamic compared to the others.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Here's a few of mine.

The Ford Classic Capri's convertible's were on ebay a few years ago. Got the pair for £100.

Nice varied collection there, Bob. I love the Lansdowne Capris :cool:

Thank you. We have ZT's, SVR's and Lola MG's. Plus a couple of Custom Rover SDi's.

table top scrap yard :D

a few more
 

this is sort of a hobby for me in the winter months when i was not rallying

thank you's on this subject should be avoided as it may be seen as encouragement.....and i got lots of models all packed up that i might just get out and photomegraphy for your displeasure;)

I spy a couple of old Corgi Minis in there. A maroon Mini Minor and a blue Mini Magnifique ;)

and missed out the poor little mg...
the blue one has the folding seats and deckchair like working sunroof..lol
pete.

Great topic

I made the following back in 2008 .... now I find them way too dark, but the files are already put online, so I won't edit them again

http://www.mgtf.be/images/SC_mgzt_01.jpg
http://www.mgtf.be/images/SC_mgzt_02.jpg
http://www.mgtf.be/images/SC_mgzt_03.jpg
http://www.mgtf.be/images/SC_mgzt_04.jpg

I saw the MG 1100, I've got one too :D

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/IMAG1336.jpg

A nice row of Elfnets

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg1_3.jpg

1994 Monte Carlo Rallye 'Works' Rover Cooper

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...image.jpg2.jpg

Austin 1300GT

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...age.jpg1_2.jpg

omg, i nearly just died! you have a burgundy rolls royce there i used to have as a kid. I can only find the silver variant. Its the one in front of the rolls with the beige roof!

the beige roof is a 240 merc with caravan...the rolls is the earlier corgi with uncracked rubber tyres ..actually its not..lol the one in that pic it the corniche with hard wheels and tyres,not got the other pictured....or the other 200 odd corgi/dinky/lesney i got ....will be up in loft somewhere gathering dust...when i find it your welcome to it if you want to recapture your youth ;)
pete.

OK, a bump / hijack - one of my 'pastimes' is photographing model buses - so here's one of my most recent. The bus is a EFE model, the only modification has been re-numbering and some new adverts. The bus garage is work in progress, a mixture of cardboard and plasticard.


http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/...pssxladsla.jpg

Fantastic !!!:}

Fabulous :bowdown:

Great capture:bowdown:

May we be so bold to ask what settings and equipment was used?:}

Glad you like it Jeff

As for the settings;

Pentax K20 with 18-55mm lens, Sherpa tripod. Cable release, 1 second delay.
f/8
8 second exposure
ISO 100
No flash
Metering Centre weighted
Focal length 38mm

It was taken on a table in my garage with only a couple of strip lights for added lighting on a dull day. The light coming from the 'front' of the garage is from a window.

This is in fact two exposures 'focus stacked' to get the bus and the offices behind in as much focus as possible given the light. Where possible I try and get as near 40mm focal length, as in the digital format this is about the same as the human eye views things.

Les

OK, here's another bus pic, this time I moved the set up outside to give more light.


http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/...psblqnwhu0.jpg