3 replies to this topic

[gcn]

First things first, my photo taking skills are awful and its one of the reasons I don't post as many in progress and completed photos on here as I want to.

While browsing the thread on here about the home photo studio at Maplins and taking on board the comments regarding how peoples photos were improved I was interested... but

comments were that it was not big enough for 1/32 scale planes and I'm rather keen on this scale, especially WW1. So I found this which looked the same sort of thing but bigger, now I have 2 lights and a tripod so this is all I need, so the question is does anyone have any experience of this item and more importantly will I become David Bailey overnight.

[ChocksAway]

From the link you can see there's one sized "extra large" size measuring 75 x 75 x 65cm. I assume that refers to the outside dimensions, so say 70x70x60. I'm not familiar with WW1 aircraft, but I would have thought they'd fit?

Will you become David Bailey overnight? Well, as the actress said to the bishop, "it's not the size of your equipment, it's what you do with it that counts"! Before you splash out on this light tent, you might want to see if you can do a DIY job by rigging up a white bedding sheet (suggest nylon as they are thinner - or cheap cotton) to achieve a similar effect (albeit a bit darker) and see if that makes a difference worth paying for with the real thing. You can also try painting the inside of a big box white and bouncing your lights into there. Paint the back and bottom a different colour (blue /grey). A bit Heath Robinson maybe, but a lot less than £40.

There's some hints on this thread as to help you might improve things. If you sort out the light (the more even the better), put the camera on a tripod and use timer (reducing camera shake) and pick a sensible focal length (to get the correct perspective - wide angles make things nearer the camera bigger than things further in the distance - hence why you shoot real-life models from a low angle to accentuate the length of their legs - don't go there for any other thoughts on anatomy!), force the focus where you want it (to maximise depth of field - 1/3 in front, 2/3 behind focus point) and then you'll be doing well enough to show off your masterpieces on BM. I assume you are using digital, so experiment, record the "best" settings and then you have a repeatable set-up for every future model.

Do I practise what I preach. Probably not, but then hypocrisy is so much more fun

[gcn]

Thanks for the detailed reply, I've also been looking at the photo tents on Amazon that come in around £15 so they might be a better option.

You're correct my camera is digital albeit a point and click rather than a SLR, it's the light I find I struggle with the most.

[Mike]

As long as you can switch off the flash & screw a mini-tripod in the bottom (ooer!), a photo tent will give you some better results. I had an old Pentax compact that had all the features I needed to do reasonable photos, and that could have quite easily be used with a photo tent. My current Casio, with its hand-holding idiot-proof "scene" settings, might make the job trickier, but it's only used for snaps & parties, as I have the 40D to use with my light tent.

You're right that the Maplins "eBay Photo Studio" could struggle size-wise with anything larger than a large 1:48 modern fighter, or 1:72 WWII bomber, but it was defo worth the £19 I paid for it just for the lights. I have a larger 80cm² pop-up tent that I use for the really big stuff, so as you have the lights already, that "tent" you showed first seems a good one (and easy to pack away too).

As the first responder said though, a tripod and shooting on a timer will make for much better photos, with or without the light box