Photo Experimentation. . .

They might be giants. . . Another shot of the same vignette, this time against a neutral background in the lightbox.

Goofing around this morning with the camera timer and lightbox. Here are the particulars:

* Distance between Sony Cyber-shot TX20 camera and subject -- slightly over 8" or 20.5cm.
* Camera flipped automatically into the macro setting.
* Tripod used.
* Self-timer set for 10 seconds. . . Look Mom, no hands!
* No flash. Indirect, diffused lighting came from three different lamps each with 100watt "daylight" corkscrew bulb. One aimed at the top of the lightbox, and two aimed at either side of the light box. No lights were aimed directly onto the figures.
* Five slightly different pictures were taken. This one was the best as far as the position of the base and both figures goes.

In Photoshop Elements 9, I pasted in the picture and first cropped it way, way down from the original size, and then used in turn the following bits of editing magic: 1) Select > All, 2) Auto Smart Fix, 3) Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast, and 4) Auto Sharpen. I finally saved it again onto my computer desktop as a jpeg file. The original unedited photograph has also been saved.

Later, today, time permitting since we are headed out tobogganing and then to a cafe for warm beverages afterwards, I'll try the same photo with 9"/approx. 23cm and 10"/approx. 25.5cm between the camera and subject, to find that sweet spot as suggested some weeks ago by Der Alte Fritz. Be sure to check back later.

This evening, it's back to the painting table for a while to start either on those Fife&Drum 4-pounder Swedish cannons that have been cluttering the painting table for eons, or maybe I'll start on the next two-figure vignette.

-- Stokes

Comments

Scheck said…

looks really wonderful - this is a splendid vignette!
_Peter

11:06 AM

Sean said…

Finally catching up on your blog. I think your time with the camera and photoshop has been well spent. I think your pictures are looking quite good. Keep experimenting with what works best for you, but I can find nothing for you to improve at this point. Great work.

9:45 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Thank you, men! It's been a lot of fun experimenting with the camera and(hopefully) improving my photography skills. I thought the time was high to take the quality of what appears here on the GD of S blog to the next level. Be sure to drop by again soon.

Best Regards,

Stokes

10:17 AM

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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