Tuesday 19 October 2021

Shiny! Lightbox

It's a long time since I had any newly-painted figures to post here, but many mini-painting blog-owners will tell you that one of the worse things about sharing photos of  WIP and finished mins is the actual photography.

So when I went into my favorite charity shop and saw a light box (apparently designed to photograph cupcakes!), it was a quick purchase.  It doesn't appear to be branded, but it looks as if you can buy something similar very cheaply (£5-£10).


Very easy to set up.  The LED lights run off a USB.


So, some comparision photos (click to enbiggen).  Minis from Crooked Dice, first posted (with their chums) here.

Fig. 1

This was photographed in natural light (outside in March 2017 on a wheelie-bin) using a camera.


Figs. 2 & 3

Taken inside on a dark October evening using my phone.



It's interesting that use of the two provided backgrounds should produce such different images.  

Fig. 4

After spending 30 seconds' more care in staging the photo.


Conclusions

I'm not sure there's a huge difference.  One great advantage is that I won't have to wait for natural light of course.

I suppose the conclusion to draw is I need to hone the actual photography skills and that more playing about experimentation is required.  

And, who knows, this might prompt me to do some painting...

6 comments:

  1. I have a very similar light box and, as you say, it's handy not having to wait for natural light. The temptation is to make the most of the light and take close ups but then it shows up my shoddy painting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a double-edged sword. Whenever I photograpgh something I invariably notice something I've missed with the naked eye (but that's useful in itself).

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've got one of those, I still take most picts outside on the Brick of Scrutiny, but it's nice to have an option for doing picts after dark/regardless of the weather, especially at this time of year.

    ReplyDelete