Photographing Toys

[Deceptic_Optic]

These puppies arrived on Monday but I only had the chance to pick them up today. Many thanks to hanprimus for selling me his TFC Screamer, he's absolutely stunning! Really pleased with both of these toys, and the condition of Prime is nothing short of immaculate! Top image is taken from http://destrong.freewebsitehosting.com/stampings.html but it's the exact same as what's written on the underside of my Prime's trailer. All other photo's were taken by myself this arvo.







Bit strange but he came with one bloated fist and one normal fist. So I guess he can panch Megatron with his right one then blast him using his weaker left one.

Yo Double D what type of SLR are you using and what lense as well? i just got my self a Canon 450D and still new with it. only have starter kit lenses to start with? and do you use any particular lighting for your images?

[Doubledealer]

Yo Double D what type of SLR are you using and what lense as well? i just got my self a Canon 450D and still new with it. only have starter kit lenses to start with? and do you use any particular lighting for your images?

I use the standard Sigma 18-50ml lense that came with me girlfriends Pentax *istD (4-5 years old - take photo's in RAW uncompressed format) and the light tent she got me for Xmas (which came with two lamps). I then do a quick fix-me-up in good ol' reliable Photoshop CS3. Let me know if you want me to go into a bit more detail on anything and I'll try to help out.

[Deceptic_Optic]

I use the standard Sigma 18-50ml lense that came with me girlfriends Pentax *istD (4-5 years old - take photo's in RAW uncompressed format) and the light tent she got me for Xmas (which came with two lamps). I then do a quick fix-me-up in good ol' reliable Photoshop CS3. Let me know if you want me to go into a bit more detail on anything and I'll try to help out.

that make sense! so what does the light tent do? man so embarass im so not used to with new slrs cameras. the results that ive been getting could be better. did you do any course or something? and what did you use for the white background? thanks man id really appreciate this oim so keen on learning more...

[Doubledealer]

that make sense! so what does the light tent do? man so embarass im so not used to with new slrs cameras. the results that ive been getting could be better. did you do any course or something? and what did you use for the white background? thanks man id really appreciate this oim so keen on learning more...

Haha, don't be embarassed mate. Like all things like this, it takes a fair deal of experimenting and playing around with settings before things begin to really click. That's half the fun!
As dirge said this is most likely going to be a short thread so I'll take this opportunity to go through a few things for (hopefully) your benefit.

Pour yourself a cup of tea or crack open a tinny as this might take a while.

Camera component:
Not sure how the Nikon's operate but first thing I do with the actual camera is make sure the wheel doo-da is on the non-flash mode (bolt w/cross through it) then make sure the focus button on the front of the camera is on manual (so I can later adjust the focus using the lens when I'm actually taking the shot - middle lens wheel for distance, tip lens wheel for clarity). Last thing I'll do is turn the camera on and ensure it's taking shots in RAW uncompressed format (for two main reasons, the obvious one being for the best quality and the second one so I can edit the photo in Bridge (within Photoshop CS3).

Camera is all good now so I'll stick it on its little tripod thingy infront of the Light Tent (after doing all of the above the camera HAS to be stationary on a tripod or similar otherwise the photo's will be blurry to the maxibon).

Light Tent component:
My light tent is made by a company called "Braincolor" and is about 1m squared. It comes with a white, black, blue and red background but so far I've just been loving the white so I stick with that. You put the two lamps that come with the set on either side of the tent to provide the lighting (add more for better results/less work later in Photoshop). There's also a front sheet you can use but to be honest I find it bloody annoying and just leave the entire front part exposed.

So once all that is setup you should be right to angle the camera onto your target, adjust the lens for the best framing/clarity then take your photo.

Photoshop component:
Next comes the Photoshop (PSP) component which, next to having an SLR, is the most important ingredient (I'll be talking about the CS3 ver). When you open PSP notice in the middle, top of the screen there is an icon showing a folder with the letter 'Br' written on it & magnifying glass.

Bridge (within PSP):
This is Bridge mode, click on it. It will open a new window from which in the top left you can navigate to whichever drive your camera's SD card is set to.
Find the picture you want to work on and double click...It will take a little while to load (blardy slow SD cards).

So now that your picture has loaded you'll notice there are a whole heaps options available to edit your photo within Bridge. Occassionally I'll dabble with the ones on the right but mainly I just stick to the ones on the top left.

Things I'll do - in order - from this top left bar:

1. Click on the 'white balance tool' then click in an area that's meant to be white (as the name suggests it makes the area more 'white')

2. Click on the 'straighten tool' and drag it from one end of the subject to the other, in an area that is of the same height (eg. for Starscream in his bot mode I dragged from one tip of his air intake to the other). This will make the image line up beautifully, avoiding the annoying method of 'rotating canvas' within PSP itself.

3. Click on the 'crop tool' and, well, crop the image however you like!

Once you're happy with everything, choose 'open image' and it will transport your photo into PSP.

Photoshop:
1. Because I don't want gigantic photo's, first thing I'll do is change the image size to something reasonable, like 1000 X 1000 or similar.

2. Once that's done you're ready for what I think is the most unreal feature in PSP, levels (ctrl-l). Look at where the 'top input level' is listed as 255. If you drag that triangle closer to the middle, the whites in your background will get brighter and brighter, making for that brilliant white background that looks so clean. Don't go too overboard with this as you can easily overdo things and lose detail.

3. This can sometimes (if you're lucky) be enough but sometimes you need to actually paint white carefully in the area's that are still grey. Not sure if you saw but the Catilla picture I took a while ago but it had a lot of grey and it took about 10 minutes work to get it looking cloud white.

4. Save as a jpeg and upload to an image hosting website for all to see!

Hope this helps and enjoy your new camera.

[Kyle]

I bought a Pentax K-x twin lens kit before Christmas last year. Am tempted to get one of those light tents from Camera House, but first I need to find room...

[The_Damned]

how much is a light tent? to lazy to look it up?

[Deceptic_Optic]

thanks Double D, i really need to practice i probably need to start taking photos as raw files from now on. I just realise my settings was on large modes

[Deceptic_Optic]

I bought a Pentax K-x twin lens kit before Christmas last year. Am tempted to get one of those light tents from Camera House, but first I need to find room...

you any good Kyle? Im still a newbee at this so my photos are kinda ewww. Dont have the X Factor yet unlike Double D I just need more practice I guess. Nice Camera Btw

[Kyle]

how much is a light tent? to lazy to look it up?

I remember seeing a pretty decent looking one (with lights) at Camera House for about $100-150.

you any good Kyle? Im still a newbee at this so my photos are kinda ewww. Dont have the X Factor yet unlike Double D I just need more practice I guess. Nice Camera Btw

I'm new to photography, bought the DSLR so I can slowly learn.

[Deceptic_Optic]

I remember seeing a pretty decent looking one (with lights) at Camera House for about $100-150. I'm new to photography, bought the DSLR so I can slowly learn.

Like wise I need a decent light tents as well. Im getting used to with the whole white balance and all.