Technic Photography

[Jurss]

You may use some corrections in some photo editor, to make white white.

Or https://www.google.lv/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=canon%20350d%20white%20balance

[TheItalianBrick]

I am disappointed because the white of the background did not remain white. It has a blueish tint.

Try to overexpose it a bit, trying to find the right balance.

[Prune Face]

Today I had some time and I took some pics of my two old Technic motorbikes. I am partially happy with the result. I used a Canon 350D with standard lens, a A3 white piece of paper as background ( ) and the spot lights from the ceiling.

I am disappointed because the white of the background did not remain white. It has a blueish tint.

It appears that you have 2 (3?) light sources, and those light sources are different colors. I'd say you have it properly white balanced for the areas where both lights are hitting, but if you'll notice, the shadow on the right has a slightly yellow tint, while the ones on the left are blue.

No real way to correct this other than to change the lights or balance the light color with gels, which is a whole other topic, likely beyond the scope of this thread.

[miguev]

I changed the background to a black felt and turned off the lamp on the right. I have a flash High and left of the light box.

Thanks! I need to get myself a black felt, the cloth I have is too shiny and keeps reflecting light with too much texture.

[Jurss]

One of my ineterests cover audio, so i used special cloth, from which speaker grills are made. It also doesn't reflect light.

This picture

In this picture are used evening sunlight trough window from right, on the left is old tile stove? from white, glancy tiles. From tom standard room liting on leds, from front flash, with diffusor made from paper and attached with rubber band. Diffusor needed to bee less translucent. You can see rectangular white thing in front light top part.

Everything was involved.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Jurss

[Jim]

What I mean to say is: don't forget wide-angle lenses, they ain't cheap but they can give nice results in situations where everybody tends to use longer or macro lenses.

I always shoot with my prime lens, but for the outdoor shots, I could have used my Sigma 18-55 f2.8 instead.

[tehkei]

I always shoot with my prime lens, but for the outdoor shots, I could have used my Sigma 18-55 f2.8 instead.

Depends on how close you are to the model but at 18mm you do get some distortion if you are too close.

[Jim]

Depends on how close you are to the model but at 18mm you do get some distortion if you are too close.

True, although Lightroom can probably handle that.

[BusterHaus]

I am disappointed because the white of the background did not remain white. It has a blueish tint.

The tint of a white background has to do with the colour temperature of the light illuminating your object. Different lights have different colour temperatures: fluorescent will make white appear green while incandescent will push it to yellow/orange.

If your camera has a manual mode, I suggest switching from automatic colour correction to a preset close to the type of light source you are using. Many manual modes also give you the chance to set your own white balance point by aiming your lens at a white background and pressing a button to calibrate the sensor.

If your white balance point is set properly, the whites in your pictures should not have a tint. In practice, you will have to deal with reflections and imperfect sensors that may be affected by colours surrounding the white areas.

Then there is the issue of exposure. Your background will often come out as grey, even if your white point is set properly. You can over expose your pictures combat that, but your colours will be washed out. There is also the option of using a remote flash to flood the background, but it requires a bit of an investment on the camera/flash side.

A lot of these issues can be corrected in post processing, but the old adage of "garbage in, garbage out" is very applicable here. Try to have the picture look as close to the desired result as possible while it is still on the memory card.

For your specific pictures, I would look at having the light sources not be as direct. This will help you avoid hard shadows like the one in the first picture. Try aiming the lamps at the ceiling, or at some white sheets of paper or cardboard.

[LennyRhys]

I'm still waiting on my 50mm lens to arrive (probably won't get it till Monday/Tuesday) but I did get another flash to use alongside my Yongnuo 460. The new flash is a Yongnuo 560 II and it's virtually identical in power to a Canon 580 EX. Bargain for £30!

As I'll be using the 460 as a secondary and for fill, I decided to make a small softbox for it. Here are the results:

And this is a quick test using the 460 as a key light with the softbox high camera left, flash at full power, f/8, ISO 200. Not bad in my book. Will be perfect for fill at f/13. :)

[tehkei]

As I'll be using the 460 as a secondary and for fill, I decided to make a small softbox for it. Here are the results:

Cool DYI

DSC_6560.jpg by C. L., on Flickr

[Paul B Technic]

Some great advice in this thread :) I have access to a dSLR now so hope to be able to take some better quality photos in the future ;)

[dr_spock]

An oldie.

[dr_spock]

Tried some more outdoors. It seemed harder than indoors. What are the best time and conditions to take outdoor photos of LEGO?

[Jurss]

For any outdoor photography, best time ir cloudy day, not direct sunlight. Except some special cases. Or then You have to use some reflectors etc.

[Moz]

Tried some more outdoors. It seemed harder than indoors. What are the best time and conditions to take outdoor photos of LEGO?

Generally the "magic hour" around dawn and dusk when you have soft light (there are actually two but most people never see the first one). Direct light gives harsh shadows and huge contrast between light and shadow, often more than the camera can resolve. So you either shoot HDR or use reflectors (either works, but are a hassle).

Looking at your shots, the lack of shadow detail in your shots is pretty obvious. A modern DSLR will give you 10 or 11 stops of dynamic range (film might give you 7), but you have more than that in the shot. If you used lighter background (concrete or white pebble piles, say) that would help with that issue (by reflecting light up onto the model) but probably compromised your composition. Really, you needed a couple of reflectors (and people to hold them). Reflectors are pretty affordable, or you can DIY - a sheet of white corrugated plastic for example. A fill flash will also help, but you need a decent one to work in direct sunlight.

The issue with HDR, even with a tripod, is that you really want +/- 3 stops or more, sometimes 5 or 6 (dark things in shadow with light things in direct sun), so you end up with 5 or more shots per final image and inevitably the auto merge tools need tweaking to get the right output. I have never actually managed to get a +/- 5 stop shot to work properly, but I shoot a lot of live models who breathe and wiggle so the fussy factor is probably higher. Even at 10fps 7 shots is over half a second and it's hard to stay absolutely still for that long (and I get 5fps on a good day).

With daylight model shoots, we typically use a longer lens (150-300mm on full frame) and multiple reflectors as well as a fill flash. That means we have the model plus their staff (that you don't need), a photographer, their assistant, and two or three people holding reflectors. We can skimp and use one reflector plus the assistant holding a flash and a small reflector (you could use a tripod), but the shots are not as good. You really want light from the sun plus fill from both sides of the shot. I'd still use the long lens for Lego, but probably more at the 100-200mm range. Luckily for this sort of high-DoF work you can use cheap, slow lenses rather than having to shell out for the 200/1.8 and 300/2.8 type toys.

For Lego I just use coreflute signs from elections (because they get left up after the election and I help take them down rather than see candidates convicted for not doing that promptly). They're white, flat and reasonably robust as well as easy to clean. They make good backdrops as well (although they tend to fold rather than bend). But your reflector should be at least half the size of the model, preferably the same size. For a 1.5m tall human model we'll often use 1.2-1.8m diameter reflectors, so 1m diameter for most Lego models would be fine.

(I just realised that my avatar photo actually has my tripod sort of visible and a bag of camera gear behind the seat. IIRC taken with a Canon 30D and 24-70/2.8. Yes, I cycle tour with 10kg of camera gear)

Edited July 17, 2015 by Moz

[Victor Imaginator]

Tried some more outdoors. It seemed harder than indoors. What are the best time and conditions to take outdoor photos of LEGO?

Time and conditions - it's personal choice, as i think. Cloudy = softer shadows, sunny = harder shadows. Your photos looks overexposed a little, you can try smaller aperture size, or lower shutter speed.

[iSchumi]

With my Nikon D3100 and 18-55

And 55-200

Best regards

[MaxSupercars]

The last motorcycle is very nice... The advantage of telephoto lens... Nice blurred BG and flat image... :)

Max...

[miguev]

Tried some more outdoors. It seemed harder than indoors. What are the best time and conditions to take outdoor photos of LEGO?

I'm sure there'll be more comments and you already got a few good answers :)

Generally the "magic hour" around dawn and dusk when you have soft light (there are actually two but most people never see the first one). Direct light gives harsh shadows and huge contrast between light and shadow, often more than the camera can resolve. So you either shoot HDR or use reflectors (either works, but are a hassle).

Golden / magic hours when the sun is very low, sometimes even when it's behind the horizon. I'd say this is when it's a bit harder to get the light where you want it, but as soon as you get it the shot will very likely look great.

Time and conditions - it's personal choice, as i think. Cloudy = softer shadows, sunny = harder shadows. Your photos looks overexposed a little, you can try smaller aperture size, or lower shutter speed.

Softer or harder shadows are indeed a personal choice, I think they influence a lot the impression they give, e.g. softer shadows make it look milder, harder shadows make it look wilder, like #169's crawler.

Then there's the compromise of how easy it is to get the light right, and to get a great looking shot. My impressions is that softer and harder shadows are complete opposites:

- with softer shadows, it's much easier to get the light (or maybe I mean contrast) right, but shots are more likely to look boring

- with harder shadows, it's much harder to get the light right, but if you get it then shots are more likely to look great

The last motorcycle is very nice... The advantage of telephoto lens... Nice blurred BG and flat image... :)

It looks great, I like the backlight a lot. Should try that with my 8051 some day...

[MaxSupercars]

Because this topic is about photography and it is not only about posting of images but also about posting tips and ideas how to make impressive photos, I want to share video as idea how to make impressive video of your supercar... Because I'm totaly infected in BJ Baldwin's Trophy Truck I have found this video... It is a non Lego RC car but it is so good that we have to make one with Lego car...

Hope you enjoy it... ;)

Max...

[Epic Technic]

I want to share video as idea how to make impressive video of your supercar...

This is nice but this is the wrong topic, this topic is for photography not cinematography ;)

[miguev]

This is nice but this is the wrong topic, this topic is for photography not cinematography ;)

Maybe. Photography is a very important part of cinematography. But I reckon it'd be great if we have a "Technic Cinematography" or "Filming Technic" thread where people can show off their best pieces of footage and share their tips and experiences, or generally discuss filming beyond its photography aspect.

I don't think I have any footage worthy of that, but a few builders around here could get such a thread started. I can't help thinking of Mahj and his

[Victor Imaginator]

My 4th MOC, Canon EOS 600D + tele lenses. One matte ceiling light + 2 sheets of styrofoam. Just want to share something too)

[timslegos]

Here is a teaser for my review of the Lego Tumbler:

tim

Edited July 24, 2015 by timslegos