maniac79's other hobby - what do you think? [Poll]

[maniac79]

Hi guys.

Before I started collecting SW again, I had another hobby: Photography. So until I decided to spend every hard earned Euro on SW, I bought new equipment whenever it was possible. So a couple of days ago I googled for: "best way to take pictures of action figures". Honestly I didn't find the desired information, but I found pics of other guys who did the same thing that I wanted to do. Even with Star Wars. Gutted as I thought I could give the community something new, but well ... So 2 days ago I took some test shots. Please find them below:

I don't like them very much. Well, being a Boushh Collector I of course like the last pics for the Boushhs as such and I was thinking about how I would name the pic and came up with the idea of an army consisting of Boushh Bounty Hunter Clones. But that's another story. So I googled some more and found other pics which inspired me to experiment with a different background and especially lighting. This is what came out of hours of work yesterday evening:

Being a perfectionist I now think that I should have place Bossk just a few mms further into the background to have him blurred out a little and have the focus completely on Boba and 4-Lom for example, but other than that I actually like the outcome.

Please use the poll to share your thoughts on this. I would like to take more pictures like in the future, but cannot guarantee it since I have a 9 to 5 job and photography takes a LOT of time (especially when you're no pro and have to experiment much). There's much room for improvement I know, but I always strive to get better.

And please note that while I tried to put some humour into the poll options, I will take your selection seriously. And I encourage everyone to be honest. If you don't like it, choose option 2.

For those who want to know what equipment was used: Canon 60D and 24-70mm 2.8f L lens.

Thanks for looking and voting.

 

[itfciain]

Those photo's look amazing - I could do with some tips I reckon (I know Liam could do with some too :lol: )

 

[maniac79]

Please give me all the tips you have.

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

Those photo's look amazing - I could do with some tips I reckon (I know Liam could do with some too :lol: )

:lol: :lol: Your right Iain! I wish I had could take pics like that! 8) Awesome Dennis!

 

[PGowdy]

These are great. I'm a bit of a shutter-bug myself.
What camera are you using? Also, could you share some tips on the technique used in the 4th photo re light etc.


ps. Just an after thought but this does seem more like the sort of topic that should go in the "off topic" section.

 

[maniac79]

If people decide it's off topic I'm fine with it, but I don't think that people check there often so the fun of posting on the forum might be gone from my side. I was thinking since I will only take pics of vintage figures and don't want to flood the forum with a new post per pic, that the Vintage Collecting Chat was appropriate, but whatever you guys decide I'm fine with.

Camera: Canon 60D in this case with 24-70mm 2.8f L @ 70mm / 4.0f

Before I packed everything up again I wanted to take a picture of the setup. But silly me forgot to!!!

Lighting setup was kinda interesting, but very simple though. Behind the Tie Interceptor I placed a metal cullender and put some battery powered small IKEA lights into it. My gf bought them @ IKEA last christmas to light up our windows. And they are perfect for setups like this.
I put another set of these small lights in front of the figures so they got lid up from below. It was the first time for me to use them but think these will get used frequently if I take more pics in the future.

I can post a pic of those little lights if you like. My gf said the lights had only costs 2.45 Euros. Bargain price for a great photography equipment!

 

[tiefighterboy]

You should do photos like kenner did with the backdrops and all.

 

[maniac79]

Good idea. Will try maybe in the future.

 

[weasel]

Looking good. You got my vote (as it's unanimous so far you can prob figure out what way I voted! Lol).

I'm happy enough for the thread to stay here ATM, unless anyone has any objections!?

 

[Joe]

12th vote for go ahead if it makes you happy I think it's cool and the pictures look great!

 

[tundra9]

Compositionwise it looks good, maybe experimenting with lights and shadows for a more dramatic effect?

 

[Imperial nut]

Amazing Dennis , I love setting up scenes and shooting them but I have no talent and just crappy little 5mp camera .

I did some snow shots a while ago you should try similar. It would look sweet.

 

[maniac79]

Even though only 1 has voted for the creation of a blog, I have done that. Well... I already had a blog, but the content has not been updated in a long time, so I wiped it clean and uploaded some of my newest pics. If you like, you can view them here:

http://www.freakscheisse.de

Thanks for looking.

 

[FLETCH]

Even though only 1 has voted for the creation of a blog, I have done that. Well... I already had a blog, but the content has not been updated in a long time, so I wiped it clean and uploaded some of my newest pics. If you like, you can view them here:

http://www.freakscheisse.de

Thanks for looking.

great pics Dennis that moulded face rebel looks very familiar

 

[tundra9]

Very nice dennis, nice use of paperwraps

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

Congrats on the Blog Dennis

 

[Bok]

Hi Dennis - great pictures! I especially like the Greedo one from your blog - looks cool!

 

[maniac79]

Thanks guys. And yes, I know using paper wrap was kinda cheesy, but I wanted to try something new and when I didn't find anything else I gave it a try. Actually I think the outcome isn't THAT bad. Just a little. More coming up later when I have acquired more stuff to display the figures with and when I have gathered more soldiers for my troops.

 

[tundra9]

Thanks guys. And yes, I know using paper wrap was kinda cheesy, but I wanted to try something new and when I didn't find anything else I gave it a try. Actually I think the outcome isn't THAT bad. Just a little. More coming up later when I have acquired more stuff to display the figures with and when I have gathered more soldiers for my troops.

Didn't mean to make it come across as something bad, I quite liked it, made it look quite updated from what the ads were like back in the days.
Especially the rebel commando pic

 

[maniac79]

No offense taken. But will try to improve as I go along.