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I too have an old (really old) SLR camera. I have a few additional
comments. I began, recently, to always use a white background. even it the
actual picture background is lego. I bought one of those giant post-it note
pads and stuck one sheet to the floor and set the rest on their side, as the
background. I set my models in the center when I photographed them (I wish
I would have thought of this before I photographed my forestmen's cave.)
Also I used kodak 400 max film since I wasn't using a flash and was indoors.
I think the way film numbers work is as the number gets higher the less
light you need. 100 outdoor, 200 outdoor/indoor with flash, 400 indoor.
(there might even be 800 film (?) I would guess that is low light film. the
difference between 200 and 400 is surprising, black shows much better.
I played (a little) with the exposure time and f-stop but don't remember
which pics i made change to and didn't see any obvious differences.
John
In lugnet.castle, Leonard Hoffman writes:
> ive got something to add to this (if you don't mind anthony)
>
> if you don't have a good digital camera, i personally use an ol fashioned SLR
> (single lens reflex) and chemical film. SLR is good because what you see is
> what you get, and that helps frame the shot.
>
> now the big thing for photographing legos with an SLR are closeup filter/lens.
> these are little filter thingies that you screw on to the front of your lens
> that shortens the depth of field your camera is capable of (ie. allows you to
> get closer to your subject). you should be able to get them from any decent
> photostore for ~$40.. bring your camera so you know they fit.
>
> for lighting, anthony's advise is very good.. but don't discredit old fashioned
> lighting: the sun. the sun's light is intrinsically beautiful, and better than
> anything you can creat artificially.. unfortunately the sun has its own
> schedule.
>
> and the all important question: how do i turn negatives into jpegs? what i do,
> since i don't own a scanner and don't want to do all that scanning anyways, is
> to develop it and get the "picture disc" or "picture cdrom" from like walmart
> or kmart or something.. they all do it now for ~$5..
>
> i try to do more than one minifig per shot to cut on costs and then use
> photoshop or something to cut them apart.
>
> my site: http://www.lugnet.com/~1168/caerany/ has all its minifig shots done
> with this method, if you want to know how it looks.
>
> hope this helps at all.
> peace
> -lenny
>
> ps. welcome anthony!
>
>
> > I don't know of one, though I'm sure one exists. However, if you're • interested
> > I can give you some pointers. What I use, first, is a high quality digital
> > camera. However, a simple film camera will work too. Just remember, you need
> > to be close enough to get decent detail, but far enough away so that you don't
> > get unecessary glare and fuzziness. Remember, you'll get a big enough picture
> > when you scan in your photos, so don't try to get too close. A good reference
> > is a foot and a half to two feet for film cameras, and three feet for digital.
> >
> > I never use a flash for lighting, its too unpredictable where the light will
> > go, since you can't leave the flash on before you take the shot. So instead I
> > use an artists lamp shining close to the minifig. What it is, basically, is a
> > normal 60 watt bulb surrounded by a flourescent one. The light the two give
> > off is very similar to natural sunlight, so you get good color on your
> > pictures. However not all of my figs had the benefit of this, so those figs
> > have red that looks rather pink. The digital camera that I use brightens
> > things automatically, and I haven't read the manual enough to figure out how • to
> > stop this. If you don't have the benefit from an artists lamp, then simply
> > take your fig into a room with flourescent lighting, and take with you a lamp.
> > Remove the shade from the lamp and place it as far away from your fig as the
> > flourescent light is. It should give you the same effect.
> >
> > After that, you need to get a tripod. I don't know about anyone else, but my
> > hands shake far to much to take a decent freehand picture. I always use a
> > tripod to take my pictures. If you use a very fast film, it doesn't really
> > matter then, but digital cameras aren't THAT fast.
> >
> > Lastly, pick a good backdrop for your picture. I usually take the picture in
> > front of my latest Castle MOC. I personally think it looks better than • having,
> > say, a cloth backdrop, or none at all.
> >
> > Anyway, thats all I can think of at the moment, and I hope that helps.
> >
> > --Anthony
> > http://www.geocities.com/savatheaggie/legohome.html
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Minifig Portraits
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| (...) Thats what I'm going to be trying today, big white boards around the figures, then CG them wherever I want them to be. (...) I'm no Photography expert, but my GF who likes to play with her camera says "200 for outdoor, 400 for low (...) (23 years ago, 17-Oct-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Minifig Portraits
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| (...) actually film speed goes all the way from 25 to 3200, and if you can process it yourself, you can push it farther (ive once pushed a roll to 12800 once). although you get more versatility with light, you lose grain quality (the larger #, the (...) (23 years ago, 17-Oct-01, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Minifig Portraits
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| (...) Having been a professional photographer, I can tell you that the higher the f-stop f22 or so.. everything AFTER the item you are focused on will be in focus. 5.6 is usually the middle of the road, everything in front and everything (within (...) (23 years ago, 18-Oct-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Minifig Portraits
|
| ive got something to add to this (if you don't mind anthony) if you don't have a good digital camera, i personally use an ol fashioned SLR (single lens reflex) and chemical film. SLR is good because what you see is what you get, and that helps frame (...) (23 years ago, 17-Oct-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
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