New Lightbox: Belial, Librarian, Dark Angels & Deathwing Pics

I've moved three or four times since I made my first lightbox, and I have no earthly idea where it could be, so I made a new one last night with great ease!  The first time around, I wanted to use wax paper to diffuse several lights coming from above, right and left, but I only have one decent light right now, so I decided to go with an aluminum foil-based reflective box.

The process was refreshingly simple:

1. Cut the flaps off of a small-to-medium sized box.

2. Using tape, apply aluminum foil to the sides and top with the matte side facing toward the miniature.

3. Using a thumb tack or some other fastener, put a piece of paper on the back wall that will be your back drop.

**Cool Tip!**  To avoid any visible corners or creases, use a legal-sized piece of paper and stick it so that it's half on the back wall and half on the bottom, under the miniatures.  This way, the paper will gradually curve in front of the bottom rear corner and provide a seamless backdrop!

4. I have no specialized knowledge of photography, but I think that a fluorescent bulbed desk lamp is probably preferable to a yellowish incandescent.  (Though these days those are going away anyway, right?)  Regardless, the "more natural" the light the better.  I happen to have picked up this cool light/magnifier hobby lamp and it's working well.

5. Take pictures and adjust the white balance/exposure/metering settings on your camera to optimize your results!

**Camera Phone Tip!**  My camera hated the white background that I was using and really dimmed the models at first.  Even upping the exposure didn't make a substantial enough difference, but then I learned about metering.  My phone has three settings: Matrix, Center-Weighted, and Spot.  Matrix was the default, and it basically looks all over the view-able area to determine how to brighten or focus or whatever, and since it was seeing a lot of white background, it was being a jerk.  For small models, the Spot setting was ideal.  Choosing to look only at the center of the view-able area allowed me to take reasonable images based on the lighting conditions of the model, not the blazing sun behind it.  Center-weighted is some mix of the two and may be useful for vehicles or monstrous creatures or something?

Anyway here are some fruits of my labor! (Sorry, these are basically all models depicted previously, but now with greater quality!)

ACTION SHOT!

A common terminator

Some tactical dudes

Dark Angel Terminator Librarian (traditional librarian with a converted Halberd of Caliban and Ravenwing swag book)

Belial (conversion with marneus calgar and some dark angels/deathwing/kinghts bits)

Librarian in Terminator Armor Complete!

My full HQ Selection is now complete for The Independent Characters' 2014 Hobby Progress Challenge!

I've never been a huge fan of the blue that librarians typically sport, so I wanted to duplicate the color of an old tech marine I made (see here), and I think it turned out well!  I also wanted to break away from the typical accessories for this model: weapon in right hand, bolter or nothing in left.  This [spell] book from a ravenwing kit seemed perfect and beautifully oversized, and the Halberd of Caliban worked nicely once I trimmed the sword off the top and extended it a bit at the bottom.

Here's a rundown of the work as it progressed!

Stripped down from a previous paint job (I got this guy for a great price at the Origins Game Fair last year!)

I like to assemble models and test color schemes before any real painting, so this shows the basic concept in foundation paints.

A watery layer of lich purple went over the mecrite red foundation and was topped off with a thin layer of red gore.  I was tempted to stay with the purple for a bit, but the fluff around this successor chapter calls for red armor, so I stayed the course and enjoyed the final shade too.

This is where things got interesting!  Warpglow Green is an awesome color and I decided that I'd like it to be the warp energy for this miniature.  Originally, I wanted to make the eyes and mouth the central warp features, but I just could not get it to feel "electric" enough without making him look like he had recently barfed a toxic avenger.  Even bringing Scorpion Green in for the brightest shade didn't do it, so I decided to fool around with the book.  From there, the concept took off for me and the result is a lot more dynamic than I could have hoped for, based on previous attempts with lighting.

With the overall concept complete, all that remained were the details, some red highlighting, and - more significantly - the modeling/green stuffing for the hands and accessories.  I won't pretend that this is professional grade, but once there was paint on there, they came together well.

The final product is probably best seen in the first picture of this post, but here you can see a couple of near-complete photos taken in better lighting.

Anyway, that's it for the Librarian!  Next up, Deathwing Knights!