While October has come and gone, and hopefully everyone completed their Dreadtober models, we still have one challenge left: photograph your model.
This may seem a bit redundant as each of us has been taking pictures along the way and posting them in the showcase articles. But I felt it was important to take a week just to improve our skills of photographing miniatures, editing the picture, and loading it to your site of choice.
Challenge: Photograph Your Model
So this week your challenge is this: read/watch some tutorials on photographing your miniatures (some helpful links below), build a simple light box if needed, and take the best picture of your model possible.
As you will see in some of the tutorials, you don’t need a fancy camera or photo booth. A white sheet of paper and your cell phone can take some amazing pictures – if you take the time to do it right. So this week, take that time and up your photography game.
Result: A Beautifully Photographed Model
After four weeks of building and painting, your dread has transformed from lifeless gray plastic to a brutal work of art. But if you just use your project table as the backdrop and don’t bother with lighting, no one will be able to appreciate it.
So do your Dreadtober a favor, and make it look pretty for everyone to see!
Helpful Tutorials
To help you accomplish this task, I’ve pulled together some helpful tutorials on photographing miniatures. This includes doing it on the cheap with basic supplies but also post processing and loading it to your website.
Photographing Miniatures basics
Rust and the City has an excellent overview of photography basics – all aimed for the budget hobbyist in mind. The Pirate Viking has a good overview as well that includes some photo editing tips.
Creating a Photobox
Arbal from Colored Dust created a photo box out of cardboard and tracing paper. Simple, very cheap, and works great.
Marc built one out of a giant cardboard box and tea-stained cardboard background.
Foldio Review
For those who want to buy a light box, Greg and I both reviewed the Foldio. It works well and, more importantly for me, it folds down and easy to store. (Greg’s Review | My Review)
Using Your Phone
Think you need a fancy camera to take good pictures? Garfy destroys this myth with his guide to using your iPhone to photograph miniatures. He also goes crazy in depth on camera settings using a DSLR.
Editing with GIMP
Awesome, you now have better lighting, backgrounds, and camera shots. Now it’s time for post editing! The Pirate Viking and Garfy go into it a bit, but I also have an in-depth guide to editing with GIMP (a free alternative to Photoshop) and another with advanced tips for GIMP.
Thematic Backdrops
Want to take it one step further? KrautScientist uses Photoshop (or GIMP) to create glamor shots of his models. By using some editing and cool backgrounds, you make it your model look like it is striding through the 40k world.
Help Your Pictures Get Found
If you are posting your pictures to your blog and want to bring in more search traffic, then paying attention to the details matter. I wrote up a guide to getting the most out of your image tags. Simple steps but can help people find your work in Google Image search.
Need More Help?
Remember, Dreadtober is about the community. So if you are stuck with a camera setting, recommendations for lighting, or anything else, post it to the community. Use #dreadtober to be seen and we can all help each other improve our hobby skills.
Lights, Camera, Dreadtober!
OK team, break out the lights, the photo box, cameras of all types, and your trusty computer and take some pictures! This is the final week of the Dreadtober challenge so let’s finish strong!
This week’s Showcase will be the final feature of your models, which is why I saved this challenge for last. It’ll be immortalized for all Dreadtober time as the participants of the 2016 Challenge!
