How To Photograph Your Models Like A Professional!
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- My friends, let's talk about photography and how we can present our models online in a clean, professional-looking way. We'll take a look at good photo setups, lights, backgrounds, cameras, different camera settings, and last but not least, editing and post-production.
Patreon: / nightshiftmodeller
Instagram: / nightshiftscalemodeller
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Disclaimer: Most of the weathering products I use in my videos such as Ammo by Mig Jimenez, AK-Interactive, Wilder and VMS were sent to me for free, but with no obligations to promote them. I received a lot of them a long time ago, even before I started this channel. VMS is also one of my Patreon supporters. Being independent from big and exclusive sponsorship deals and showing you a wide variety of different brands and products was one of the founding ideas of this channel and I will always stand by this.
Music: Quincas Moreira - Scratch the Itch - RUclips Audio Library
putting that folding cube diffusor on your head and continuing to talk like nothing wrong's happening is gold, props for keeping a "straight face" during that skit, that was awesome !
Yeah that got me too! GB :)
LOL making the rear bigger for Instagram... "I like big tracks and i cannot lie - you other brothers can't deny..." xD
...When the girl walks in with the ostketten and the tracken strips...
Notification squad! also, thanks for the tips!
Here!
Hey Night Shift, could you maybe build that “Kondensator” in the back
Why not give the poor guy a break
I'll definitely get to that sooner or later as it's one of my dream projects :))
Say, what about that Tortoise, it seems quite a bit simpler, and it would look epic in an urban diorama
He has to build the das werk panther first, i've been telling him to build it since the last year. Built 2 panthers myself in the meantime...
@@efeyigit6766 Plot twist: I have 2 of them! Ausf. A Early and Late :)
GIMP is rad, I absolutely love it and the fact that it is completely free is a little mind boggling.
Uncle night shift, without you I would not be doing this hobby right now, I lost interest a few years back but since I saw your old videos, I’ve fallen back in love, thanks!
I'm excited to get into this week's episode after my classes, the best way to start the weekend 😌
I like the weathering you did to the back of the Nikon. 😄
This was a fantastic instructional video, Martin! So many photographers don't realize that no matter the subject, *light* is always the most important variable. Even the best model really does suffer from poor photographs. As an amateur photographer myself, and someone who has made every mistake in the book, if I had known then what I know now...
Thank you for sharing this!
Hey, Martin great explanation of how to do it right when taking photos of models. I especially liked your deep dive into post editing… there was some real gems of information in there that I’ll be trying in my next photo session. Thanks!
Thank you for the help! I’ve been creating and adjusting a ghetto photography setup for a little while. Can’t wait to try some of this!
Hey Martin, very cool Video! I'm a freelance photographer, which allows me to go all in on the photos of my scalemodels. You did a very good job in the video on the basics of studio photography. I just like to add a few comments. You're right about a high fstop creating a larger depth of field. But here the laws of physics kick us between the legs with something called diffraction blur. Using a high f stop might result in the overall sharpness decreasing at some point again. Many manufactures provide charts for their lenses including the f-stop setting for the best sharpness and depth of field. It's often around f 8 or 11. For the focal length something between 50 and 135 works for our models. 50mm is close to the way our eyes see the world. Anything below it will distort the model and above a 135 the model might look somewhat compressed. A lot of cameras offer image stabilization systems, it's recommended to turn it off when using a tripod since it might try to reduce camera shakes that aren't there and your image will get blurry.
ok that is enough...I must stop before I rant about that magic wand. Thanks and have great weekend!
That's a good point. Back in the day I used to shoot at F32 but someone pointed this out to me and they were totally right. Nowadays I mostly shoot at F29 when it's a huge model and I'm taking overall shots, and F25 when doing close-ups or smaller models.
I love this guy and enjoying his weekly youtube show
Great video, only thing I could suggest is use the timer on your camera if you are using a tripod as this ensures there is no camera shake from you pushing the button.
Absolutely love the detail explanation of everything with taking photos!! I’m thinking of taking a dip into photos with my finished models!!!
Thanks for the video, this is something that I am always trying to relay to my users too. One point worth stressing more is the choice of background. I agree with the solid white backdrop. Many times I get modellers submitting photos to my site (Track-Link) with very cluttered backgrounds, including their model bench with junk all over the place, carpet, deck chairs, grass, cats... you name it. The clutter makes it difficult to make the actual model out. Keep up the good work!
And it makes the editor's life a real nightmare, especially if you want to go the extra mile to cut the model out of that messy background!
Martin I am not a modeler but I love your channel because you are a real entertainer. Your modeler skills are tremendous, I am really envious. Go on with this super work.
Very interesting, I usually pig-up with an old version of Photoshop and some basic settings... but that, Uncle, that's another level !
I have no question this time, just wanted to say thanks for answering most of my questions night shift
17:36 This instagram joke was just amazing!
Edit: Wow thanks for the heart Nightshift. Just 6 minutes after me posting this😊😊😊
The Model Nerd and Uncle Night Shift uploading within hours of each other? Amazing 👍
I just sold out my first model on eBay, and I must thank you for awesome tips, I'll be surely using them on my next drafts. Thank you so much!
Good video, Thanks for all the useful tips that help us amateur's out. much appreciated.
I'm an archaeologist, it's funny how we use many of the same techniques to properly photograph historical artefacts we excavate, we even get classes about it during our studies! I recently got back into building models and I never thought that would be knowledge I could use for that hobby as well
In the docudrama about that US explorer he always just grabs the stuff and runs from the traps and locals. Are you telling me they over-dramatized? :)
@@mbr5742 Hahaha it might be a bit dramatized, just a tiny tiny bit :P luckily we get way less nazis and shootouts in real-life archaeology
I just started junk bashing some miniatures, and I for sure noticed a big issue in sharing stuff I made directly from my workbench. The clutter of tools/boxes in the background were camouflaging details on my robots. I've been meaning to get a better photo setup, and this video came at a good time!
As a wedding and landscape photographer, I must say, you nailed this!!
Uncle, each time a video is replaced, I'm excited to try these new techniques. Thank you for the photo tips, very helpful as I just expanded into a economical photo cube as well. Will be trying them out this weekend!
Modeller, biker and photographer...🔝number 1 !!!!😘
Ahhh something I can comment on with some form of authority 😀. A couple of things that I will pass onto you and your thousands of fans if I may. 1. If your having trouble with White Balance then use Auto White Balance in camera it can always be adjusted in the software later. 2. Do not be afraid of using the Auto button in LR, located under the Basic folder, sometimes it gives a very good quick result and or a great base to start from. 3. After using the Auto function, or not, i always go to Highlights which I pull to to the Left and then to Shadows which I pull to the right with, this method gives you a great accurate contrast to start with. Also do not be afraid of giving a smidge of clarity, its amazing what that can do in small amounts. Great explanations !!!! love your work, time is out on the man bun lol
Super video, just a little thing (because I am a macrophotographer) Here you are clearly in the proxiphotography domain and your aperture is really small. You will have diffraction (blur in small details). One thing, try to do your shots to 16 and you will probably have more sharp photos (especially with basic zoom). Another trick is to do a manual (not with micromotor) stack. You put your camera on a rail and take few photos at wide open apertures (were the sharpness is higher, 8 or 11). If you put your aperture on 8 you take your first photo on the front part and you turn regularly the screw of the rail to have a bunch of photos sharp from the close part to the back part. (procedure, focusing manually on the front part, take a picture, screw back a little, take another etc, until you cover all of the depth of your model). After that import in photoshop and merge, you will have on almost perfect depth of field and no diffraction. All the best.
If there is one thing I do worse than paint figures,it is definitely photographing my models! My photos look like what a drunk guy would see,right before passing out.Thanks for the tips :)
This will definitely be helpful!
Hello my friend
Just what I was looking for and here you are! Thanks!
Your photos are always excellent, and I was hoping you'd do a video about your photo techniques! Thanks for this!
I usualy use a a gray card to set the white balance and exposition
Thank you so much for your videos, in each of them often find something new for myself, and the progress that I received for more than six months priceless)
Hope I expressed correctly, because I don't know English very well, but I can listen to your videos without subtitles and understand most of the jokes, what is often enough)
Cheers from Russia 👋
A quick tip/trick: If you want some extra sharpness on your photos when you use a tripod and long exposure times, you can either use a remote shutter trigger or set the camera to take a photo a few seconds after you press the button on the camera. That way you eliminate the vibration you create when pressing the button and thus sharper photos.
I've been using the Nikon bluetooth remote for a while and it worked great. Then it ran out of juice and I never replaced the battery :D
@@NightShiftScaleModels lol same happened to me with a 3rd party remote so I just set the camera to shoot seconds after I press the button XD
Mirror Lock-up would be the another step further in eliminating vibration. Most DSLRs should have this option. 😉
@@shotekczech7604 Wait isn't the lock-up mirror function for manual sensor cleaning, or you are talking about bulb mode? Even then how you are going to know how much time to keep the mirror up? How does that work?
details for eg. here...
www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/6601/mirror-lock-use/
A huge thank you for your work, your videos always come out when I need it (first the olive drab tone when I was doing my M4A3E8 sherman, then the making of the diorama, and now the photograph tutorial) ! I really consider making my own youtube channel thanks to you !!! Cheeers from France, Reborn
Thanks for the tutorial!
One thing, however - if you go beyond F11 (depending on lens), you will start losing sharpness because of diffraction.
For some lenses, F29 would be awful, so I would not advise going so high with the f-stop.
Another thing - just use 'Auto' option in Develop in LR and take if from there, it usually gives you a good starting point (but not always!).
i can't believe it. last week i suggest you to make it. wow really thanks man
Thanks for your work. Not only this one, all your videos
Martin, you are so good it's scary, scary good! Love your work, very inspirational, mah fren!
Awesome tutorial! Thanks.
When I was working in a compan that produce many magazines and there was a problem with color balance of their prints. They discovered that the guy who was doing color balance was a heavy smoker and the yellow film deposited on his calibrated monitor. He he.
Holy smokes! I was expecting something like "he was working in RGB instead of CMYK" but this caught me off guard :D
Had a similar case at work, with our instrument taking photo of chemical plate, in fluorescence. One guy at the lab always told me that colors were off, compared to when he looked directly at the plate. Then, we noticed that his glasses were yellow tinted!
Adjusting WB is always difficult, at work I need to rely to an X-Rite ColorChecker, then the color transformation can be a lot more complex, but also more precise for each tone.
I'd love to have this dude as a neighbor.
I take mine way intook them for the car magazines I used to work for when done car shows! Kneeling down looking upwards from bumpers or completely eyeline with headlamps 📷angled up again it's hard to explain right enough lol you really need to show and tell for this! I went and got a Samsung s21 ultra 108mp periscope lenses etc amazing for photos! My new crusader came out amazing in pics! The sand texture in the photos on the wheels etc so clear and gritty looks so life like! I like to snap in RAW so can edit later, I loved your 1.48 crusader so been waiting for borders new 1.35 one it's beautiful great build! So nice went and bought a second! Very helpful thanks bro!
Perfect timing as i am looking to photograph and share my model builds. I am going to budget myself $600 ( DSLR camera,lights,diffuser) that should be enough don't you think?
You'll have a perfect setup for 600 dollars!
Go used. The used camera market is swamped with DSLR currently since many people go for the sooooooo hip and cooooool DSLM like Lemmings ( Do not get me wrong they CAN be the right thing but getting one because some YT Hipster does is not a good reason).
I don't know if you know this, but for most lenses if you set your aperture beyond f/16 or f/22 due to the way light works the image loses sharpness. So if you are planning to print small like for magazines it might be smart to not go beyond f/22 too much. It kind of differs per camera format: a camera with a crop sensor will be more affected by this than cameras with larger sensors.
Notification squad, good video.
Thanks for the tutorial uncle :)
This was a very informative overview of photography relating tp model images. I am sure it will help me take better photos of my models. Thank-you!
Behold! Finally more content about mighty maus
So nice to see it, especially as for me, person who always have troubles with correct photos. All the best for You! ;)
found your channel by looking at gunpla diorama videos, I must say, not dissapointed, your work is amazing
Tip for LED - look at the CRI (Color Rendering Index). Back in the old days of light bulbs we had CRI 99-100 (complete spectrum). Modern systems often have holes in the spectrum that can throw of colors. So go for the good LED even if the cost a few euro more
If you hold Alt when adjusting shadows and highlights it shows under and over exposure, also the pipettes tool to fix white balance, by clicking the white background - hope this helps
A nice little thing that can be useful is the wireless button to remove any possibility of camera shake caused by hand
You`re such a funny guy putting your light cube over your head to explain the way it works and where the lamps have to be positioned XD XD XD Nice! I almost fell off my chair laughing =D
It's never too late.
If you have photos in .JPG, you may not be able to find the same adjustments in Photoshop. However, they are still there.
First, you need to convert the picture in a Smart Object.
Once done, navigate to Filters -> Camera Raw Filter.
This will open the same menu, as an additional editor, which will give you an opportunity to adjust all the settings mentioned in this video, and even more.
This is the tutorial I was looking for, having only bad pictures on your models when posting online feels so frustrating
loved the video very informative as am just learning about this subject for my models, thanks
You should also look at using the "refine edge/mask" tool for fixing up your white. Rather than using magic wand with feather, instead use the wand, and make a solid white fill layer using the selection as a mask. Now right click the mask and choose refine mask, and use the options there to add your feather dynamically, with more options available for fixing trouble areas. Much better than just using a 1 pixel feather to an existing selection and permanently locking it in.
Outstanding video Mr. Kovak! I want to start taking pictures of my work but wasn't sure where to start. I was wondering what photo app do you use to help with your photos? Thank you for sharing this important video. Kudos to you.
You are just great. Love your videos man!
Amazing what can be done with editing software, these days! You did a great job here, providing some basic background on shooting videos/pics and how to edit them. Still, I really don't think you can do this subject justice in one short video so, maybe a series of videos to cover this subject in more depth? At the very least, viewers can find a bunch of videos online covering this subject or maybe take a course through a local college. Anyway, thanks for such an informative video 👍
Awesome tips. Unexpected video and I enjoyed it!
I have my Ikea lamp for 16 years, sheesh, helped do my lessons and now making models, but that trick with paper as a diffusor, I need to try it.
Also I saw Metro Exodus icon, a man of culture I see
Haha, one of the few good games you can actually play on a Mac :)
Probably not a massive issue for static model shots, but you could open the aperture several stop, and likely still have a good enough depth of field (depending on your focal length).
This will allow you to shoot with a faster shutter which may help prevent minor camera shake from the shutter rolling. You also tend to get more issues with closed down apertures, such as chromatic aberration, that can be mitigated with a more open aperture.
You can also set a custom white balance in camera by using a grey card (or even better an inexpensive meter reader) which will ensure exposure and color balance is accurate, even without having a calibrated monitor.
At the end of the day, all a camera knows is 50% grey. If there's a lot of white in the image, it'll darken it to compensate, but using a grey card will let the camera do all the heavy lifting accurately, and they can be bought for the same price as a couple of cups of coffee.
Where did you get those little shelves for your paints? Are they homemade?
Yeah, they're all made from pieces of scrap wood and painted grey :)
Fantastic! I’ve learned some new tricks! I’m a Nikon D850 user! Thanks!
Hi @Night Shift, thank you for all your tips & tricks. Yet I m still unsure about how & when to apply varnish...
I mean i do base coat, varnish gloss/semi gloss, decals, varnish, chipping, wash, variations, and then? Varnish again? Then streaking, dust, mud? Would be great if you can maybe make a video about the sequencing and interaction of varnishes. Thanks again for all the great content!!!!
Great video, very helpful. Is that light cube about 50-60cm? Hope yr feeling better soon.
Wow prepping your tanks like fashion models!
Hi Night Shift, are you using the standard lens for your DSLR camera? For a close-up shot, do you use the zoom function, macro or just place your camera nearer to the subject and focus it? Thank you.
I really want to know the answer of this question.
Yeah, I use the stock 15-50mm lens (or something along those lines). Whenever possible I'm shooting fully zoomed in, placing the camera away if needed. A friend told me to do it like that, it supposedly makes photos look better. Dunno the science behind it, so I just roll with it.
@@NightShiftScaleModels Thank you, my friend.
@@NightShiftScaleModels The long focus of the lens suppresses perspective distortion of the image and "seems to bring" objects closer together.
The opposite extreme is too wide a focus. Remember the funny pictures of animals with a huge snout and a small body, this is the effect of too wide a lens / focus called a fisheye.
When it comes to lighting, DO NOT FORGET the color rendering index (CRI) which is sometimes given as a "Ra" value.
Daylight/incandescent light has 99+ of 100, since the light is generated from heat, roughly following the black body radiation curve, and has all spectral components, thus it is able to reproduce all colors naturally.
Cheaper LED lights have a CRI of 80, which is horrible, comparable to standard fluorescent tubes, making things dull and lifeless.
Nowadays you can get bulbs or strip with CRI 90+ , 95+ or even 97+ for reasonable prices.
The Color rendering index does not imply that a source renders all colors X% of a reference, some wavelengths/colors are usually lacking, lowering the index, which distorts the color space/gamut considerable.
Most notably low quality LED struggles with warm colors.
Or you can just put it on Auto White Balance and adjust in software this is not a scientific site mate. 😃
A very welcome video ! Thanks
Keep building models. Dont just collect them" Help friends ive lost control of my life.
That one felt like a personal attack XD
A really usefull video - thank you for that!
Cheers Fedja
Great video. Just finished my build so I know what to do. +100 pics in my gallery. But the question is, was this nice 1/48 scale kv2 a spoiler for you new project? 🤔
Excellent video, greatly appreciate the photo tips. A+
That Maus looks so unbelievably realistic.
A useful tip I use when taking photos with a long shutter speed on a tripod is setting a 2 second timer so that there is no blur from the act of you pressing down the shutter button!
D5100 has only 10sec timer which takes forever when you're taking 20 pics, but I used a bluetooth remote in the past. Later I kinda learned to put my hand away from the camera at light speed so it doesn't shake :D
electric remote, few euros in chinese models.
I have one of those photo booth tents which is all shiny/mirror effects inside. After watching your video, I'm thinking the white paper back ground is so much better.
Is a airbrush needle better for the speckling method or should you do it with a toothpick?
Toothpick is fine, but if you have a spare bent AB needle go for it, it's fancier :)
@@NightShiftScaleModels ok cuz i think i saw one used in one of your vids
Very useful video for modelers who share their artwork :). Another useful tool for photo is a little software available on the AppStore ==> Pocket Light Meter (don't know if it is available for Android). This app measure the light tempeture received by the lease (you can choose the front or back lease) and then, for a given aperture and iso you choose, it gives the exposure time.
Another remark regarding the aperture: the more you close the aperture, the higher risk is to get chromatic aberration, especially above f/11 (it depends on the quality of the lens used)
I tried a similar app from the App store, but it was giving me ads after every picture so I got rid of it immediately :D
The chromatic aberration is a good point, and Lightroom can get rid of that, but I didn't have issues with it so far so I don't use that function.
@@NightShiftScaleModels Advert have been removed from the Pocket Light Meter app :-) I never check the accuracy of the app (in fact, I just can't :)) but for me, it does the job and help to improve photographs a little.
CA with closed appreture? They actually get reduced by closing it (That is why Barney, the EF 85/1.8 is more often used at f/2.8). F-stops above f/11 result in diffraction blur.
@@mbr5742 Damned, yes you are absolutely right, I said exactly the contrary, AC appears when the aperture if widely opened (little f value), my mistake...
@@fabricedevos4273 I had to check pictures done with Barney to be sure. At f/1.8 doves on grey water had a halo as if they where beamed in. At f/2.8 it got useable.
I think Uncle Nightshift is being too hard on himself by saying he's not a professional photographer. So many people get hung up on the idea that you aren't a pro if you didn't go to school for that thing. I think he is a pro. He takes amazing photos and has made money by doing so. His work speaks for itself.
informative video, thanks Martin.
Yea... wtg on tips ty ty ty!!!
I tried this with photos of my gf n her rear... she loved it!!!
Ty ty ty
Bring out the GIMP (hey it's free and really good, and sleeps in the cellar), when it comes to phones - only one thing matters: Snapseed, that's a real bad boy, and yeah too much light is not always good.
Wow! Thank you so much. This was very helpful. :)
Hey Unc hope yer good Dude!? Thanks for reminding me to put my camera on RAW... I keep forgetting. TFS, GB :)
Thanks, everything is great! You can edit jpg files as well, but RAW gives you that extra leverage with stuff like lens correction, white balance and other goodies :)
@@NightShiftScaleModels That's especially true for white balance, as it isn't in the raw data (only as metadata), therefore just a post-process, which can be change as wanted in software. And RAW are generally 14 bit, instead of the 8 bit of JPEG, so more room for adjusting the exposure in soft.
@@pbyfr Right... I think this is very important benefit of RAW files. You can pull out more data from either underexposed (black) areas or over exposed (white) areas. This is essentially lost with JPEG.
@@smajl2 Yes, with JPEG, the exposure must be quite correct, at least for the white, as the margin is limited. I shot mainly in JPEG, but for high contrast scene, I use RAW, as it is even better than in camera HDR image.
But for both JPEG and RAW, it is better to have under exposition than over, as most camera will still capture some details in the shadow. White will just be pure white, lost for ever.
What can be done with JPEG will also depend of the picture more. On Pentax, I use the Natural mode which is a straight line, quite flat, but it allow more post processing than the already modified modes.
This is fantastic. Thank you.
Main light, fill light and rim light...... used on most product shots. You can paint with light (waggle one light around) on a long shutter speed (in the dark) and on a tripod.
Great video!
Another tip: Turn OFF the image stabilizer. It sounds contradictory, but it blurs fine details in the macro.
What camera do you use to make your videos? Will the Nikon D5100 work for that to. Im thinking about making some videos.
I know you only do tanks etc but it would be super cool to see a fighter jet (SU-87, any older MiGs etc)
A note book for putting your settings is important. Subject is also important so you understand how the subject color affects your settings.
That's something I forgot to talk about. Settings I'm showing on a white background wouldn't work that well on a black one.
Youre a very kind man Martin
Oh, that's A good one thx Night Shift have A great weekend.
Genius! Shared!