Learning To Photograph Your Miniatures
February 17, 2016 by crew
In this article we are going to delve deep into a part of this job consisting in photographing the miniatures of Infinity. It is possible that this information may result curious or even interesting for some readers. If this article manages to inspire a good artist to take photographing miniatures seriously, then it would have been worth it.
Now in Corvus Belli we have a great room for photography with all the miniatures painted by Angel, the ones painted by DAF and the scenery made by Alex Quinteiro, plus numerous scenery pieces made by CB’s official partners that help bringing the tables to life.
This room has a “library” of miniatures and terrain, it is our own cinematographic studio, “CorvusBelliWood”. Come and see our stars!
The camera used to make the photos is a Nikkon 5200, that comes with a AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G lens. This is a great lens that adapts to many of our needs. With some experience, making a lot of photos, we ended out finding the best settings for the type of photographs we wanted.
This lens captures perspective really nice and works especially well in group pictures. If we place the camera in a higher angle, with an ISO value of 250, F22 aperture and a couple of seconds of exposition we have this kind of photo.
This is a good type of photograph to, for example, display a starter pack. Every miniature is focused and the product can be clearly seen.
As you can see in the picture, the set lighting is done with desk lamp and white light bulbs sieved with duct taped papers on them. Nothing fancy at all.
Now look at what happens if we change the aperture and exposition time. F13 and half second, for example...
We get a nice effect on which the mini stands out, while the rest ends up slightly out of focus. But this can still be improved.
This is a macro lens AF-S VR Micro-Nikko 105mm. f/2.8G IF-ED, a wonder. With this lens we can take pictures of very close things. What we learnt with this lens is that you can take pictures of the miniatures as if they were little persons.
We lower the angle from which we take the photograph, add a very selective focus, little exposition time and complete adding elements to define the depth.
We like this kind of photographs a lot. Adding a couple of little out of focus elements in front and a couple of miniatures behind while having a very selective focus, the lens makes the miniature stand out over, but still we can appreciate the context of the photo.
With this lens we can make close-up shots of our “actors”, it is almost like a movie camera for the miniatures world of Infinity.
Just like many movie divas, our miniatures (and their painters) don’t like to be taken pictures from a close distance, so we try that every little detail is shown and let everyone satisfied.
As you can guess, this is a very fun part of the job. It is a joy to work with miniatures and scenery painted to this level.
You can read the original article HERE and look out for more from Corvus Belli as they take us through the ways you can enhance and show off your Infinity hobby.
Carlos Llauger Lorenzo AKA Bostria
Now is your turn to try with yours!
"It is a joy to work with miniatures and scenery painted to this level."
Just what i’ve been looking for :D, an article on how to take good mini pics without getting bogged down in the technical details of what makes a good photo or what iso settings are
Cracking article and coincidentally been looking at investing in a nikkon 5300, as its the updated version of the 5200, this pretty much seals the deal!
I swear, I must be all thumbs when it comes to cameras. I’ve invested in a tripod and a decent (filtered) lighting setup and for other people with humble digital cameras, that would be enough to produce really great photos of their minis..
..but not me. It’s super frustrating 🙁
Honestly though…with proper lighting and background…you can actually get damn good pictures with a cellphone camera too. Don’t get me wrong…I own a Nikon D7000 and a 90mm macro lens and tripod blah blah blah…but for 90% of my shots I want to post up on facebook or an internet forum…I just throw up a quick background…either white printer paper or some color gradient I printed off the computer and shine a desk lamp onto the front of the model and grab the shot with my phone. Send to facebook, save to computer. Crop and quick edit maybe and viola….decent… Read more »
[URL=http://s91.photobucket.com/user/cashton12/media/KoW%20Hordes/quick%20and%20dirty_zpsynkw1euu.jpg.html][IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k289/cashton12/KoW%20Hordes/quick%20and%20dirty_zpsynkw1euu.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Great article, cheers guys.
Great article, I think this is something a lot of us struggle with so thankyou.
Excellent article, just what I’ve been looking for. I was given a digital SLR camera recently and I wanted to learn about taking pictures of my minis for my blog site. This article is a great start many thanks.
I don’t think I would like pictures of my figures in HD would see all the faults?
Hah why do you think all these pictures end up so small? When you shrink a HD image 400% it hides all kinds of imperfections and visible brush strokes 😉
As a further tip when setting exposure on your camera to a couple of seconds use a 10sec timer. If it goes off straight away just putting your finger on the trigger (even if it’s mounted to a tripod) will blur the image.
I think this is a great article for people who are further along in their journey with painting but I don’t think it is exactly fantastic for people who are just starting out.
Would you guys consider doing a companion piece to this? One for beginners? Because I think judging by most of what I see on the forums, there isn’t a lot of intermediary people, it seems to be mostly experts and beginners.
Great read 😀
I second this, i would love for there to be a newb to intermediate level article series, i know the basics and post production side of things, but bugger all about actually taking the pictures in the first place.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/backstage/tips-pics-guide-photographing-miniatures/
Thanks for linking I had completely forgotten this one! I think a video this would be great 😀
I used a DSLR, old one but still serviceable (Canon 40D). However, its the lighting that makes the real difference. A light tent is where its at, it diffuses the light for even illumination and reduces shadows, and the great thing is that you can find dirt cheap ones for minis. With a light tent, you don;t need expensive photo lights, a desk lamp works just as well due to the diffusion. I have a slightly bigger one for other projects, but something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271963627075?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Thats ideal, its a cube , a foot long in every dimension, you postiion… Read more »
Really enjoyed that.
Very cool article guys, many thanks for posting it!
Thanks for the tips. I’ll have to try some of these settings with my own DSLR camera.
…and maybe start saving for a macro lens. Just checked the model mentioned. That thing is expensive!
This is very useful! I’ve linked this tutorial in my article about photography – https://alkony.enerla.net/english/the-nexus/miniatures-nexus/miniature-hobby/miniatures-photographing-miniatures
With these tips, you’ll learn how to approach a nude photo shoot the right way so that your model is as comfortable as possible, and so you get the best photographs you can. And if you’re photographing male models specifically, be sure to consult our nude photography tips! Nude imagery is not everyone’s cup of tea – that goes for models in front of the camera and photographers behind it.
https://www.photographytalk.com/10-nude-photography-tips