DINO-FIGUREs PHOTOGRAPHY ( Image Heavy Thread )

[RobinGoodfellow]

@ J.R.S T REX :  Thank you. It's my pleasure. 

@ alexeratops  : Good work!! 

[alexeratops]

@ alexeratops  : Good work!! 

Thanks!

[RobinGoodfellow]

Are you interested in advanced Photoshop techniques to improve your dino-pictures ? 

[Patrx]

Are you interested in advanced Photoshop techniques to improve your dino-pictures ? 

I certainly am 

[RobinGoodfellow]

Recently I added some new gadgets to my home-studio.
I'd like to share with you an easy way to improve the photographic quality with an inexpensive tool.
As I said in this thread before, I use a light box for my dino-pictures.
One circular neon on the top, two circular neons on the left and on the right side.
The main problem with a light box and a huge figure is that the front light could be weak..
So I bought a little led box to put in front of a figure for the "fill" light.
Here it is:



It's not a "photographic" tool but a "home" tool but it works very well.
You can buy it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B01NBATVX6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can charge it by a USB charger or with a computer.

And it's perfect as  a "fill" light:


Here a picture with my new led "fill" light:


Regards

[Kayakasaurus]

Wow that's really great!

[Killekor]

WOW!!!!!!!! That's an interesting thread!!!! BRAVO!!!!!!

Killekor

[Halichoeres]

Any advice on an inexpensive light box and light set? I was thinking of ordering the following from Amazon because the box is large enough for most purposes and the lights should in principle give enough coverage (two side, one overhead, one front).

http://a.co/6Khsnqr
http://a.co/2zlWS3L

If anybody has experience with these products or has specific recommendations, I'd be grateful for the input.

[RobinGoodfellow]

Any advice on an inexpensive light box and light set? I was thinking of ordering the following from Amazon because the box is large enough for most purposes and the lights should in principle give enough coverage (two side, one overhead, one front).

http://a.co/6Khsnqr
http://a.co/2zlWS3L

If anybody has experience with these products or has specific recommendations, I'd be grateful for the input.

The light box is essentially a "cube" made of heavy silk-like material.
The one in your link could be enough for small/medium model-photography.
I can't say the same thing about the lamps.
As you can see on Amazon's images, the light box need a different kind of lamps:



Those are professional lamps (and quite expensive).
The lamps in your link are too small for the light box.
The best thing are circular neons or led light panels







- Cool Daylight light ONLY (technically speaking from 5600 to 6500 Kelvin)
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/cpindex.pl?scy=IT&slg=EN&ctn=8711500317056
or
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-391177-Circline-Fluorescent-32-Watt/dp/B002CYW47Y/ref=sr_1_cc_4?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1490987327&sr=1-4-catcorr&keywords=philips+fluorescent+light
(last bulb need a specific bulb holder to work - you can easily built it after an online tutorial)

Led Panels are more expensive than circular neon and they need to be large enough to cover full or half size of the box's faces.

Also something like this is ok:
https://www.amazon.com/Fovitec-StudioPRO-Photography-Fluorescent-Lighting/dp/B00L5TGT82/ref=pd_sim_421_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00L5TGT82&pd_rd_r=02YC4TTDA7TRAP6EJ4F0&pd_rd_w=C1pWa&pd_rd_wg=v46sg&psc=1&refRID=02YC4TTDA7TRAP6EJ4F0



If you want more help, just let me know.

p.s About lamps: for non-professional use it's better to choose inexpensive bulbs that you can easily find everywhere instead of specific led-based lamps. The bulbs can break... 

[Lanthanotus]

While not doing professional photos as RobinGoodFellow (I really enjoy your photo thread), I found that the light box itself can be a great improvement, even without any artificial lights. The shots of the ready model in this thread were made within a light box standing next to an east facing window on an overcast day. This also works on sunny days, just direct sunlight onto the light box should be avoided. While the result is for sure not as good as with a professional setup, it is already miles ahead of a simple photo or photos done with uncovered flashlights.

[RobinGoodfellow]

Lanthanotus is right: the light box can be also used in sunlight ( in a full sunny day, of course..).
I always suggest to use lamps for a stable setup that you can use every time with the same camera setting and same results.
It's important to remember that even light box photography need some Photoshop improvement and a good post-production workflow if you want to reach high quality levels about pictures.

(I'm always happy to talk about pictures and photography; so, for any question, just ask...)

[RobinGoodfellow]

Some suggestions to built an inexpensive light box:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fnHEvLyAE


https://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Diffusion-Un-Finished-Scissor-Cut-Photography/dp/B00XPUV1XM/ref=pd_sim_421_32?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00XPUV1XM&pd_rd_r=ZD0KP6CZPG0SWGQBPAA9&pd_rd_w=WKb5A&pd_rd_wg=f4IyQ&psc=1&refRID=ZD0KP6CZPG0SWGQBPAA9

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JMM4A44?psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062Q46B0?psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Socket-Photo-Adapter-AGG882/dp/B0091HO0FY/ref=pd_sim_421_8?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0091HO0FY&pd_rd_r=6ZTQ0HMDCG7112MATFFM&pd_rd_w=SoDkJ&pd_rd_wg=o4GUu&psc=1&refRID=6ZTQ0HMDCG7112MATFFM


A ready-to-go Soft Light Box:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-53-005312-Portable-Photo-Studio/dp/B01GIL6EU4/ref=pd_sbs_421_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01GIL6EU4&pd_rd_r=29Y0ETJSNH9J1XSVKF7J&pd_rd_w=3Djyf&pd_rd_wg=D485k&psc=1&refRID=29Y0ETJSNH9J1XSVKF7J

https://www.amazon.com/Fovitec-StudioPRO-Backdrops-Diffisuer-Included/dp/B01M8JAXNM/ref=pd_sbs_421_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01M8JAXNM&pd_rd_r=KG2TZR9ZDRTZA38W6GTY&pd_rd_w=PaRu6&pd_rd_wg=9zzvH&psc=1&refRID=KG2TZR9ZDRTZA38W6GTY

[acro-man]

God! Why haven't I found this thread earlier?
With the 2017 diorama looming I might stand up a chance against the mighty contenders by learning this.

[Halichoeres]

Thank you, Robin and Lanthanotus! This was very helpful. I usually take my photos next to a north-facing window, which doesn't get direct sunlight, but I would like to have a setup I can use at any time of day, since I am often not home during daylight hours, especially in the winter. So the lights are a pretty important part of that. I appreciate the recommendations, Robin, I think you're right that the ones I posted would be insufficient.

[RobinGoodfellow]

It's been a long time since my last post in this thread, I know.. 
It's time to update the thread with new info.

I'd like to show you a quick gallery about some useful photographic techniques to improve your dino-pictures. 

As I said before in this thread, I always use a light-box for my dino-shots.
Here a picture straight from the light-box (without any Photoshop treatment):



It's a pleasant image but without the "extra kick" that could give more relevance to the picture.

(same image after a Photoshop "treatment")


A fast and easy way to improve the shot is by increasing the white level in Photoshop.
I told before about this.





You can push that technique until obtaining a totally white background


The over-exposed white background is commonly used in professional fashion and product photography.
Usually it's an "aggressive" way to show things...
Maybe you can prefer a more "relaxing" way by using a grey thin cardboard as backdrop:



If you want to add some more "glamour" to pictures I strongly suggest a black cardboard as background.
Inside the light-box the black cardboard looks like a dark-grey background (because of light reflections ).


You can also use Photoshop to darken the corners of the image emphasizing the center..


If you like a "real" dark background, the best way is using a black velvet (not cardboard) because it doesn't reflect the light:




If you are quite good at Photoshop, the masking-technique can improve your shots to the highest level.
A "mask" is a delimited and customized area of your picture that you can specifically select (and then modify separately) inside your shot.
I spoke before about that:




With a Photoshop mask you have the full control over background and figures.
And you can do whatever you want with them.

You can completely brighten the background without touching the figures:


You also can mix the HDR technique with masking to have a more "soft" image:


Often I use masking to de-focus a background:



..or to change an unpleasant background with a more colorful one:



It's also useful for switching to different background colors from white:




The masking-technique is the only way leading you to the more complex Photoshop treatments like background replacement.
In this image I totally removed the old background (a messy view of the room behind the model).
The new background was entirely generated inside Photoshop:


Same here; if you zoom into picture you'll see that I added a texture to white areas to simulate snow:
(the original background was a pure white and smooth piece of velvet)


With an advanced masking technique you can also do a compositing image (i.e. figure + real landscape ):


..or create a "fantasy" diorama using existing pictures scaled at different sizes:
( a David Krentz figure on the left / a PNSO sauropod on the right : the 2 models have almost the same height in real life..)


Full Res Pictures here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140542@N03/albums/72157655387495041


I hope you liked my brief overview.
For any further information, just ask... 

Regards

[RobinGoodfellow]

..just a little example about what I said in the last post..

In 2015 I started taking pictures of my collection.
At that time my priority was to have pictures of ALL my figures (quite a lot..  ) so I didn't care so much about fine Photoshop treatments.
A figure inside my Light-Box = job done. 
Now I'm not so proud about my first images on Flickr; I should had care of them a lot more...
The first picture in the last post (Papo Carnotaurus) is from that period (2015).

Here a Photoshop treatment using tools I spoke about in the last post:

2015


2017



Tools used in Photoshop:

a mask on the backdrop (to separate figure from background)
color modification of the background (from cream-white to light green)
a lights/shadows modification of the figure (shadows were too dark / high-lights were too intense )
a curve modification of the figure (to increase micro-contrast)
a vivid/saturation modification of the figure (to increase chroma just a little bit..)
a sharp-mask on the figure (to increase skin details)
a corners modification (more dark) with a fading-to-black new layer (transparency 30%)
Then I added a black frame and my signature (mainly because I'm finding a lot of my pictures on the web used without my authorization...  )

I'd be happy to answer to questions if there are some... just ask 

Regards


Full Res Pictures here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140542@N03/albums/72157655387495041

[Halichoeres]

These are great tips, thank you!

[docronnie]

Thanks for the Photoshop tips!😇

[Shonisaurus]

Thanks for the photoshop tips. Your photographs are always magnificent through this technique. 

[ceratopsian]

The 2015/2017 comparison is instructive. Thank you.