PlaymoFriends
Creative => Photography & Graphics => Topic started by: reimagination on April 20, 2014, 03:32:49
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Hello.
I've tried a few things in the search bar, and couldn't find an entry, but I can sometimes be search dumb.
What I'd like are tips on how to photograph Playmobil, especially without expensive equipment. I have trouble with lighting, and really in the end, my photos aren't really spectacular. I don't expect them to be great, but I would like to make a somewhat nice online portfolio of my collection.
I have an inexpensive fujifilm camera. I don't know photo terms, but if you were to say change ISO to 100 for example, I know how to do that even if I don't know what it means.
I know daylight can be best, but I rarely have time during daylight hours for this kind of activity. What kind of lighting should I invest in, and where can I get it inexpensively? Lately I've been using a flashlight taped to my bed post. Maybe two flashlights would be better? I also set the Playmo up in the bottom of a black shoebox set on its side. Would white be better? I do use a tripod, and I also use the setting with the flower meant for tiny things.
I just really have no idea about photographing tiny things and getting goode details and good colors.
Thanks for all your help.
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Daylight is best, but since that isn't an option, try to recreate it. Get 2 or 3 daylight bulbs (Michael's often has 40% off coupons, which you can use to buy Ottlight bulbs - You don't need the fixtures; just put the bulbs in the lamps you already own). Try to bounce the light off of white walls or paper, so that you get indirect "soft" lighting on the Playmo, rather than shining the lights directly on the Playmo.
A white or light background would probably be easier than black because it reflects the light.
Make sure you don't hold your camera too close (certainly no closer than 2 feet, but it will vary by camera) to the Playmo. Use zoom instead.
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There are some details about bulbs and how I do it over in the How To forum in my My Photo Space (http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=13833.0) thread. Natural daylight spectrum lighting is good, and as much of it as you can get. It's really most about the light. Most cameras these days can do just fine, even phone ones.
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Hey, I actually have some compact flourescent in a drawer somewhere that I completely forgot about. They were in the ceiling fan of my apartment when I moved in, and yeah, they were so bright, I felt like I was in an operating room or something. I'll dig them out, and see if I can find a large enough shoebox with a white interior from work. Or I have some white paper; I could just line one.
And that's interesting about being at least two feet away. So it's better to take it from farther away then just crop it? I'll experiment with distances. It seems like you'd want to get closer for better detail, so that's interesting.
Thanks for the advice. Now I have a bit more direction.
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The distance will depend on if your camera automatically goes int o a macro mode or not. Mine does it auto, so I don't worry too much about the distance. If it doesn't then you need to be far enough away that the auto-focus can actually focus on the items. That will be trial and error based on your camera. Take a few photos and look at them in the preview mode. If it allows you to zoom during preview then zoom in and see if it is sharp or not.
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If you can ditch the shoebox and just set up some sort of background (like a big piece of paper or something), it would be better. The walls of the shoebox block light.
The "two feet" is based off of using an "inexpensive" camera. Mine will go to macro automatically, but it still doesn't like super close photos. You can use zoom and/or cropping to make up that last little bit of distance.
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I agree with all that Tiermann and Ismene have said. For me, the four things that are likely to make good photos of Playmobil are bright lighting, sharp focussing, good depth of field and avoiding camera shake (using a tripod helps this, so you are OK on that one). Oh, and good setting up, but this topic is more about the technical stuff, yes?
Without knowing a little more about your camera, it's not easy to give detailed advice. My guess is that you will get the best results by using the 'flower' setting (as you already said) and not getting too close (as Ismene said). If you take some photos and then check them carefully (on the camera's screen if it has one, or even better, by loading them onto a computer so you can get a better view), you will see if the focus looks good. If not, try moving the camera back a
little.
The other thing which helps with focus is good bright lighting which gives good depth of field (so close and more distant parts of the object are both in focus at the same time) and you get a better margin for error with focus. Technical note: in brighter light, the camera adjusts to a smaller aperture (hopefully), small apertures have better depth of field. You could try changing the ISO setting to 200 or 400; this may also give better depth of field, but it will increase the 'graininess' of the pictures when you crop and enlarge them.
I usually 'brighten' my pictures using software (ACDSee, brightening shadows) because even with good lighting, the colours often come out better when the picture is further brightened. And PM colours are so brilliant, I like them to look their best!
Hope this helps. If you tell us the model of your camera, it might be possible to give some more tips.
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Thank you. My camera is a Fujifilm Finepix Z70, although, in a couple of months I'm thinking of getting a new one since this one is starting to act weird sometimes, but it's likely to be inexpensive, and I've been happy with Fujifilm, so probably a newer version of what I have.
I haven't had the time yet to take pictures and test out your advice. Although, I did check out animobil, so I can greatly trust Tiermann, because that site looks amazing.
I was thinking of using a sheet of newsprint to play around with these ideas. A shoebox was what I had around at the time that was a clean, neutral background. I don't really like pinning stuff to the wall that isn't flush to the wall, because my cat will try to get behind it, but I'm sure I can figure something out. I can just out him on the porch while I shoot. He likes the porch.
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Low end cameras are getting better and better, so even if you can't spend much, you should be able to get a camera that can photograph Playmo fairly well.
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I looked up the specs for your camera online. The minimum focus using macro mode (flower symbol) is 9 cm (3.5 inches) so you should be able to take good close-ups. Using the zoom feature, you need to be 1 metre (3 feet) from the subject and in this mode you will lose a lot of depth of field, so it's probably best to move the camera closer to the Playmobil, rather than use the zoom feature. Have fun!
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It takes quite some practice too, try experimenting with different angles and make sure you can keep the camera steady. You might need something to lean your hand/camera on while taking the picture to ensure its steady.
Personly I also try to go for different angles, I try to push the amount of angles I can get out of the "set" I build. Especially for longer stories and such it can be nice to mix things up and take pictures from different angles than constantly taking them from the same position.
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All my photos are shot on my iPhone5S with ProCamera app. Its very easy to use for a camera-idiot like me but the downside is that the images aren't always as sharp as I want them to be.... But its good enough for me.
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All my photos are shot on my iPhone5S with ProCamera app. Its very easy to use for a camera-idiot like me but the downside is that the images aren't always as sharp as I want them to be.... But its good enough for me.
And your photos are always worth looking at, Larryhohoho! Which is the main point, isn't it? However technically "correct" a photograph may be, if it doesn't communicate something, it is probably not worth sharing. Long debate on Art now follows...
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And your photos are always worth looking at, Larryhohoho! Which is the main point, isn't it? However technically "correct" a photograph may be, if it doesn't communicate something, it is probably not worth sharing. Long debate on Art now follows...
Wow... Thanks for the huge compliment Graham. And I think you are absolutely right.
Its like advertising. Some are better than others and some, you simply do not understand how it managed to have ever left the board room with a stamp of approval...
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As always, our experienced PF Friends are providing and sharing excellent advice here :)
I must say that photographying Playmobil figures & scènes is something that one should never be taken for granted as a change of lighting in natural daylight can make of break a picture...
I have taken thousands of Playmobil photos over the years and achieving a beautiful picture is always a little miracle in itself ;)
My current project of Return to Regent St is standing in a dedicated room facing a bay window exposed to the morning sun which means that I simply cannot take any pictures whatsoever on a sunny morning as my 3 meters x 1 meters preparation board as I call it would be "obliterated" by the sunlight and white washed accordingly. A lot of the materials I use to complement my Victorian scènes are better off the direct sunlight so it becomes a dark room every morning until 1pm.
I never take one or just a few pictures at the time but a serie of pictures ranging from 35/40 to 100+ and only realize when editing them on my PC which ones are standing out compared to others.
I use a Praktica DCZ 6 VR digital camera which I bought on EBay back in 2004 for less than 50 GBP when all my Friends were telling about there new digital cameras which costed a couple of hundred pounds and more, and I have stick to the same camera since then which makes great pictures both in real life on my travels and in the photography of miniature scènes including Playmobil scènes.
I would definitely say that from my own experience, the camera is not what really matters in taking a good Playmo picture but the lighting of the scene and your own perception as you must be willing to express something through the picture you are about to take. Setting up the scene and looking which angle will look the best remembering that the Playmo figures must be positioned according in such a way that your picture will "speak for itself".
When working with natural day light, always prefer a light gently filtered through a light colour sheer on the window remembering that the colour of your sheer will impact on your scene, ie an orange sheer will cast a slightly organge glow to your scene.
Most of the pictures of my work on the Summer Party on Regent St project were taken with a lighting from table lamps mostly equipped with a cream shade which brings a gentle lighting on the Playmobil figures. I have also used over the years tinted electric light bulbs in shades of pink or peach which will bring a nice rosy glow to the faces of your Playmo figures.
Something to also remember is that certain reflective surfaces will create an unwelcomed reflection on certain pictures especially when working over a large white surface. On the opposite, a dark, let's say black surface will absorb the light of your scene leaving it quite dark if you do not add little colour touches here and there.
For indoor scènes, the lighter the colours the better the picture will be and I have learned that using a reflective flooring in my victorian kitchen really helps bringing the scènes to life !
Taking about the indoor scènes, using miniature lights can create a wonderful and cosy atmosphere for as long as one does not choose multiple lights items such as chandelliers ( of more than 3 miniature light bulbs ) which will create an unwelcomed glare in your pictures...
As for the attitude of your Playmo figures, try and position them with a gesture as natural as a Playmo body structure allows it as if they were about to say or show something.
I will talk about the lighting of an outdoor scenery soon in my Making Of topic and will do my very best at sharing tips with you ;)
But as I said before, every beautiful photo is a littel miracle in itself and no later than a few weeks ago, we were having a foggy day here with the sun hidden behind it when I decided to shoot a serie of pictures which all turned out with a beautiful and gentle glow as if I had used a filter and I so wish I shot more pictures on that day :lol:
Karim
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So I finally got around to photographing some of my Playmobil. I had alot of other projects to conquer before I had the time. But I just looked at my first batch of photos, and I almost cried because most of them came out so good. Thank you all so much for you amazing advices.
If you want to see them, they'll be part of an ongoing project that will be up soon on http://littlesmilingfaces.tumblr.com/ where I display my collection and talk about Playmobil.
Again, thank you so much. I never could have done this without you all.
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I never could have done this without you all.
Nope, all credit goes to you, reimagination, you were the one behind the camera! :clap: :clap: :clap:
I am referring to the mermaid/ merman photo in that link you posted- it's an excellent photo - lighting, focus, background, the lot (actually it grabs the attention, which is what makes it really good!). I am looking forward to seeing some more...
( AND I like the mermaids theme too!)
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What a great Tumblr page dear Friend :wave:
I love the couple of Mermaids but also the Victorian Gentleman who lighting is just perfect :love:
Very well done to you !
Karim