How to build a "photo studio"

[Thirdwigg]

Friends,

over the past couple of months I have been working to improve the photography of my models. Particularly, I hope to develop a consistent and excellent setup that can be used indoors to photograph my MOC at anytime of the day (or night).

I am interested in any suggestions others use for their current photography needs. I suspect my needs at this time revolve around lighting.

My current setup uses:

Canon Rebel XT DSLR Camera

A large posterboard

Two midsize photography lamps (120V, 240W, 6400 lumen bulbs)

Here is a shot with the current setup:

Here is the lighting (and whiteness) I hope to achieve, albeit in an indoor setting.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Alasdair Ryan]

Jim has some great ideas for photos,I am sure he will give you some pointers.

[Conchas]

You will always need to make these through Photoshop or any other similar software, to make the background to look like white.

A third lamp would help to remove the shadows you still have in your photo also.

[dr_spock]

You can do a custom white balance with the Rebel XT. You can shoot a 18% gray card or white background and set that to custom white balance. It is easier to get it "right" in camera than to do a lot of Photoshop work afterwards. Shooting RAW with your DSLR will allow for easier editing of the white balance after the fact.

Edited November 3, 2014 by dr_spock

[deraven]

A third lamp and/or reflectors would help with the remaining shadows. You could post-process with Photoshop or something, yes, but I would suggest first trying different white balance settings on your camera. That might get you pretty close to what you're looking for without the post-processing effort.

(Oh, looks like dr_spock beat me to it before I reloaded the page! Good suggestion about the custom white balance on the Rebel XT.)

Edited November 3, 2014 by deraven

[Blakbird]

This topic, while useful, has nothing to do with Technic. I think you'd get more feedback in another forum.

[Brickend]

What you need is called a 'light tent'.

[Splat]

• Use a tripod, and a remote shutter release (you can get free smartphone apps for this).
  
• Your photo already looks sharp, but make sure you use manual mode or AV mode, and set your aperture to get everything in focus. eg. f/8 or f/11 usually work well. Keep your ISO at 100. As long as you have a sturdy tripod, don't be afraid of long shutter speeds.
  
• As others have mentioned, set your white balance.
  
• Make sure you include the entire model in the shot. In fact, leave some extra room and crop in Photoshop.
  
• Diffuse the light - either bounce it off some white card, or put some tracing paper in front of the light to make a cheap 'light tent' effect. This will get rid of the hard shadows.
  
• On the opposite side of the light, use some white card to bounce the light back into the shadow areas.
  
• In Photoshop use the Levels and/or Curves features to blow out the background.
  

If you join the Eurobricks Reviewers Academy, there are some great tutorials for photographing Lego there. Join here.

[rm8]

Thirdwigg, I also thinking about Improving my photos. I have also old DSLR CANON EOS 450d (your rebel is 350d).

I have tested and compared my 450d with eos 600d. Both with lens CANON fix 50 mm 1.4.

600d makes much better shots with better sharpness and white balance in the same conditions. Consultant in photo store said that old CANONs have "bad" (old) focus mechanism, and it is impossible to improve quality even with expensive lens. After that I decided to sell my camera and buy a 650 d (not the newest at this time) but much better +with video function.

Edited November 8, 2014 by rm8

[Sariel]

What you need is called a 'light tent'.

Not really. Light tent is a pain to use with large objects, and I found myself doing just fine without it. It's good for taking photos of e.g. minifigs, but not necessarily large MOCs.

If your camera isn't supercheap, it's really all about post processing. You may be interested in this: http://sariel.pl/2011/07/photo-processing-tutorial/

Edited November 4, 2014 by Sariel

[Jim]

Not really. Light tent is a pain to use with large objects, and I found myself doing just fine without it. It's good for taking photos of e.g. minifigs, but not necessarily large MOCs.

If your camera isn't supercheap, it's really all about post processing. You may be interested in this: http://sariel.pl/201...ssing-tutorial/

True. A light tent isn't really necessary. It might be useful in some cases, but I also think you can do without.

Post processing is very important indeed. Nice tutorial

You will always need to make these through Photoshop or any other similar software, to make the background to look like white.

A third lamp would help to remove the shadows you still have in your photo also.

Yup! I have been using Adobe Lightroom to whiten the background. It is lot's of work and you will get artifacts, which aren't desirable.

• Use a tripod, and a remote shutter release (you can get free smartphone apps for this).
  
• Your photo already looks sharp, but make sure you use manual mode or AV mode, and set your aperture to get everything in focus. eg. f/8 or f/11 usually work well. Keep your ISO at 100. As long as you have a sturdy tripod, don't be afraid of long shutter speeds.
  
• As others have mentioned, set your white balance.
  
• Make sure you include the entire model in the shot. In fact, leave some extra room and crop in Photoshop.
  
• Diffuse the light - either bounce it off some white card, or put some tracing paper in front of the light to make a cheap 'light tent' effect. This will get rid of the hard shadows.
  
• On the opposite side of the light, use some white card to bounce the light back into the shadow areas.
  
• In Photoshop use the Levels and/or Curves features to blow out the background.
  

If you join the Eurobricks Reviewers Academy, there are some great tutorials for photographing Lego there. Join here.

This pretty much sums it up

This is my current setup with two indirect daylight lamps:

Which results in images like these:

As you can see I have switched to a grey background. This reduces my editing time from several hours to a single hour (just cropping).

When using a grey background, I don't mind the shadows.

Using Lightroom you can predefine some setting to enhance sharpness, clarity etc. When I have taken pictures, I import them in Lightroom with these automatic settings. Then I only need to crop them.

I always use RAW instead of JPG, so you can always correct the white balance. You will never get a 100% white background (without ruining the rest of the image) by using a different white balance though.

I never change the WB level (on the cam or in Lightroom).

Be sure to post process in Lightroom, Photoshop or other software to enhance the quality of your image.

If you have the option, use a fixed focal length lens (like Sariel mentioned). I am using the cheapest Canon lens you can get, the 50mm 1.8f. It's around 100 bucks and as you can see it's pretty sharp.

Since I always shoot at 20f, it doesn't really matter whether you get the 1.4 or 1.8, besides the fact that the 1.8 is much cheaper.

Also make sure to use manual focus, instead of auto focus. Zoom in and adjust the focus.

Another important thing is to apply lens correction. Otherwise you will notice the curvature of the lens.

Check that your camera isn't on Spot Metering. This will result in having different exposures depending in the focal point being on a black or white part. Use evaluative metering or some other setting that will evaluate the entire scene, instead of your focal point.

So to recap:

• Use a tripod
  
• Set the camera to Av mode (so the cam will calculate the shutter time)
  
• Use a remote
  
• Always set to ISO 100
  
• Use MF instead of AF
  
• Don't use Spot Metering
  
• Use RAW for better post processing options
  
• Always do some post processing to enhance IQ (image quality)
  
• Apply lens correction
  
• Use daylight lamps (two or three, depending on your preferred setup)
  
• Use a prime (fixed focal length) lens is possible (always sharper than zoom lenses)
  

Below you can see the difference between two pictures (with and without post processing in Lightroom. Settings I change are:

• Sharpening
  
• Luminance
  
• Clarity
  
• Vibrance
  
• Exposure
  
• Highlights
  
• Shadows
  
• Whites
  
• Blacks
  
• Lens profile correction
  
• Chromatic abberation
  

It seems like a lot of work/settings, but once you have the right settings, everything is done automatically.

Original (cropped image)

Post processed image

One very important rule of post processing is: Don't overdo it (don't exaggerate).

over the past couple of months I have been working to improve the photography of my models. Particularly, I hope to develop a consistent and excellent setup that can be used indoors to photograph my MOC at anytime of the day (or night).

I am interested in any suggestions others use for their current photography needs. I suspect my needs at this time revolve around lighting.

I have found myself in the same situation and by experimenting I got to my current setup, which results in consistent pictures during day or night time.

Since your lighting and overall image quality is pretty good, I suggest to start using with Lightroom. It will make your life easier and your pictures better. If you need any help, I would gladly assist you in your efforts.

[Sariel]

These are brilliant photos, Jim. I can see them used on LEGO sets' boxes instead of all this overprocessed/artificially rendered stuff LEGO puts there.

[Jim]

These are brilliant photos, Jim. I can see them used on LEGO sets' boxes instead of all this overprocessed/artificially rendered stuff LEGO puts there.

Thanks Sariel. I appreciate a compliment like that. And I must honestly confess that I can keep looking at the image of the bike. It's so crisp, with the orange and black color scheme

But like you said; post processing is imperative in getting results like this. You can get to 90%, but never to 100% without it.

[rm8]

Really, really cool photos Jim :thumbup:

What kind of camera do you use?

[Jim]

Thanks!

I'm using a Canon 70D, but I am convinced you can get more or less the same results using a Canon 600D/650D/700D.

A friend of mine has a 600D (which I used for my first reviews). Maybe I can borrow it again to compare both setups.

[Lucio Switch]

Thanks!

I'm using a Canon 70D, but I am convinced you can get more or less the same results using a Canon 600D/650D/700D.

A friend of mine has a 600D (which I used for my first reviews). Maybe I can borrow it again to compare both setups.

I agree, I think that, under these conditions, is the hand of the photographer who makes the difference, not so much the model of DSLR.

Very cool pics, i like how you have placed the lights...I have to try..

[Jim]

Very cool pics, i like how you have placed the lights...I have to try..

I started with a three point setup, but I noticed the lighting was very hard (in confined quarters), so the model reflected to much. I started by pointing the lights a bit upwards, and then some more, until I ended up pointing them almost directly up, without using the third light. Overall I am very satisfied with the natural lighting. And this setup saves me a lot of room.

[Lucio Switch]

I started with a three point setup, but I noticed the lighting was very hard (in confined quarters), so the model reflected to much. I started by pointing the lights a bit upwards, and then some more, until I ended up pointing them almost directly up, without using the third light. Overall I am very satisfied with the natural lighting. And this setup saves me a lot of room.

That's exactly what I like!

[mescalinum]

You can get pure white background without Photoshop postprocessing.

The trick is to overexpose the background. You achieve that by separately illuminating the background, as explained in this schema:

If your camera has Live View (shows the live view of the subject on the LCD screen), it is pretty straightforward.

In my camera, I use a custom firmware (Magic Lantern) that indicates which pixels are overexposed, by overlaying a zebra colouration. In this way you can get 100% white background without overexposing your subject (thus retaining all the light dynamic range), and you get the correct result at first shot (!).

Edited November 4, 2014 by mescalinum

[Jim]

That's a nice tip!

Do you have a sample picture of a LEGO model you shot like this? I am interested to how this works on an actual model.

[dr_spock]

As I don't have room for a permanent photo booth, I toss a couple of whiteish poster boards on the sofa and use an inexpensive Vivitar flash off camera for light. The flash is bounced off the basement ceiling. I triggered the flash wirelessly using inexpensive Chinese radio triggers. I shoot in manual mode. It's quick and dirty, nothing fancy.

Fire Fighting Train by dr_spock_888, on Flickr

[Jim]

As I don't have room for a permanent photo booth, I toss a couple of whiteish poster boards on the sofa and use an inexpensive Vivitar flash off camera for light. The flash is bounced off the basement ceiling. I triggered the flash wirelessly using inexpensive Chinese radio triggers. I shoot in manual mode. It's quick and dirty, nothing fancy.

Well, you do shoot a clear picture

[kibosh]

LOVE the shot of that lime green dune buggy. Just beautiful. And I really like that gray background you use. It doesn't compete with your subject at all.

This is my current setup with two indirect daylight lamps:

Can you elaborate on these lights? Where might one find these???

[Jim]

LOVE the shot of that lime green dune buggy. Just beautiful. And I really like that gray background you use. It doesn't compete with your subject at all.

Thanks. And true, the grey really pops out the model, without being distracting.

Can you elaborate on these lights? Where might one find these???

Actually, they are pretty simple (and cheap) photo studio lights. I have purchased them somewhere online for 130 euro (set of 3) or something. Blakbird has ordered more or less the same lights recently via Amazon.

Something like this will work fine:

http://www.amazon.co...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Blakbird]

I agree, I think that, under these conditions, is the hand of the photographer who makes the difference, not so much the model of DSLR.

Some of the older models make some of the tips impossible. I have a Nikon D70, one of the very early DSLRs. For example, I can only go down to ISO 200 and it is pretty well impossible to focus manually because there is no preview (you have to look through the tiny viewfinder). Other than that I was able to follow most of the tips and get pretty good results, though my images are not as sharp as Jim's.

Actually, they are pretty simple (and cheap) photo studio lights. I have purchased them somewhere online for 130 euro (set of 3) or something. Blakbird has ordered more or less the same lights recently via Amazon.

Something like this will work fine:

http://www.amazon.co...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those are the lights I bought. I cannot stress enough how hugely important the lighting is and how much it improves the image.