The "Deluxe Table Top Photo Studio" Does Wonders for Dark Angels Public Relations

After an extended pause in painting due to the launch of Bungie's Destiny, I'm slowly creeping back into the saddle!  I finally broke open a commercial tabletop photo light box that I ordered from tanga.com earlier in the year, and I think it was worth it's very reasonable sale price of $27.99!  This is not a product review (and I'm certainly not qualified to be reviewing light boxes), but I will say that I was impressed by the materials included (pictured below) and by how easy this was to use.  The bag folds out into the light box, by the way, which is super cool.  Results are comparable to my previous setup, so far, but I do feel like these new tools will provide a greater potential for improvement.

For starters, here's a look at my setup:

Miniatures are still a good deal smaller than what this is built to accommodate, so I've elevated the platform with some foam, and I've also added a desk light with a white/blue color hue to balance out the yellowish bulbs in the side lights.  I don't know if that was a good idea or not, but I wanted to simulate what I think real photographers do, which is to dim ambient light and stick to the sources you can control directly.  An additional note, I'm using my Galaxy Note 3 for photos still, so the quality is fine, but not great, nor do I have any skill at this whatsoever.  Lastly, I used that magnifying claw stand to hold my phone in place, in order to normalize the photo angles, etc.

Here's a shot of the setup as it was during actual pictures:

In addition to the light box, I wanted to play around with some more dynamic background options.  Thankfully, I know Dave from Thirteenth Company Painting, and he suggested some spot backdrops and the classic blue-white GW fade.  I've printed them out on a nice color printer and you'll see below that the they work well as part of the original image as well as when digitally inserted.

Here are a few shots from my first attempt with this light box, with notes about any digital treatments done:

Basic scouts straight out of the light box.  You can see that the cloth backdrop's creases have not quite fallen out yet.

The printed back drops were even cooler than I expected, and very easy to use.  I slightly adjusted brightness and contrast in some of these.  In particular, the Belial conversion at the bottom is a tricky subject because there are a lot of shadowy recesses next to bright and shining gold armor.

Lastly, I removed the white background from a few images and digitally inserted the Games Workshop blue-to-white gradient background.  Notably, I have not feathered these layers.  Any minimal changes were to brightness or contrast. (before and afters)

So that's that!  This light box is easy to use, and I'm really digging these printable back drops.  Leave any questions or comments below!

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)

Lysander-to-Belial Conversion and the Light Box Pics!

April has been a bit productive for me. I'm generally base painting my terminators and some veteran space marines, but picked up Lysander to be the base for my Belial (Deathwing Commander) mini. You'll see the awesomeness that he comes with normally, but I may magnetize him to use lightning claws when I'd like. Let's get to the goods:


Lysander typically looks like this. The noteworthy barriers to a Belial conversion are the fists on his right knee guard, chest and shield, and also the fact that his hammer is a fist. With a pair of toe nail clippers (bought exclusively for modeling, of course), I cleared away each site to make room for some dark angel-specific flair. While the wings on the hammer were my favorite looking addition (glued over a ground down square where the fist used to be), I'm excited to put a heraldic pattern (seen on my other termies) on his chest, and the dark angel on his knee guard was ground down to roughly half its thickness in order to mold it to the contour of the mini. The actual shield was a pretty obvious conversion and was the easiest. I'm not 100% pleased with the thickness of the added piece, however, and may shave it down.


I'll keep some updates coming on him, but for now, I have some more pics of dudes taken in my new light box! I need to buy more lights, but it's a successful work in progress.


Brother Bethor, the Dark Angel Standard Bearer and some Vets.


This guy may see some use soon. With two unpainted buddies, he's been fun to look at, but hasn't been road rashing anyone or anything. (I may need to add a chain to one of the others!)


This is a favorite of a lot of folks. Asmodai used to be a character for the Dark Angels but has no 4th edition rules. The plate on his pack is probably recognizable as a variant faceplate for a dreadnought.


My first compete Deathwing Captain. I think I'll name him Hadron the Collider.


Tarkus is back with a better photo and is joined by the first of my new assault marines. The Gold helmet will only be on the Sgt.


Lastly, we have one of my most favorite minis and slight conversions. Made of a mishmash of pieces that I had lying around, this tech marine's one handed bolter and terminator powerfist arm really get me going.

That's all I have for tonight! I'll try to get some updated pics of Belial/Lysander and a space marine apothecary I'm working on soon!