Tamiya Ferrari FXX-K

[harti20]

Hi all  

 

About a month ago I finished the Ferrari FXX-K in 1/24th scale, made by Tamiya. I also used HobbyDesign's detail-up set. Finally I managed to take some studio pictures of it for the Under Glass section. I hope you like them as much as I did enjoy building it  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spiny]

That's a gorgeous model of an absolutely hideous car. I really don't envy you painting and polishing around all those edges and inlets.

[Alpha Delta 210]

Stunning finish on a striking car!

[keefr22]

On 14/11/2022 at 21:02, Spiny said:

That's a gorgeous model of an absolutely hideous car.

 

Beat me to it Spiny, that was exactly what I was going to type as I finished scrolling through the pics!

 

It is indeed a gorgeous model and the paintjob looks superb - and the photo's are excellent too!

 

Keith

[HOUSTON]

Harti20, 

EXQUISITE  build with a really SUPERB  looking finish. 

You did an OUTSTANDING  job on it.

 

 

[desert falcon]

What a stunner 😍 

[kiseca]

Stunning model, and I'll admit I think the FXXK is the best looking, and best named, derivative of one of the few Ferraris from the last 20 years that I have found attractive. Looks can be divisive but that particular car works for me.

[galaxyg]

That's a really nice clean build and although this car and kit is something I've just entirely passed over before, seeing this here has got me thinking "Hmmm, perhaps one of those belongs in my collection".

[Kiertomäntä]

My question doesn't exactly relate to the model but how do you photograph your models? Do you use mirror or glass under it and do you edit the raw photos somehow? Mostly meaning the background.

 

Could you post a pic of your photoshoot setup?

[paulyoung666]

Absolutely superb 😍

[harti20]

Thank you all for your very kind comments, I really appreciate it

3 hours ago, Kiertomäntä said:

My question doesn't exactly relate to the model but how do you photograph your models? Do you use mirror or glass under it and do you edit the raw photos somehow? Mostly meaning the background.

 

Could you post a pic of your photoshoot setup?

You are lucky I just took a picture of my setup the last time I was in the studio  I have a large paper backdrop that gets lit by 3 or 4 strobes (not visible on this pic) to get it completley white. About 2 meters in front of this I have a black glass plate where the model is located on top. Slightly to the right in front I have a strobe with a large octagonal softbox (1.8 m in diameter, if I remember correctly) which lights the model. The large white panel you can see on the left is bent to an angle (maybe 120°) with another strobe in about 2 meters height, facing towards the white panel which reflects the light to the model to brighten up this side. The camera is mounted to a solid tripod to make sure it doesn't move between frames.

 

This time I also used focus stacking for the first time to get the pictures really sharp from front to back (that's why it's important to have a solid tripod). For this I manually focus to the nearest point of the model, take a pic, move the focus point slightly towards the back, take another pic and so on until focus point reaches the back. So I ended up with 15 to 20 pictures per view (of course not for the pictures where the model isn't shown in an angle) which have then been arranged in photoshop to pick the sharpest sections of each frame and combine all of them to one single image which is sharp from front to back. It's quite laborious work, but by looking at the results I think it's worth the effort  

Here you see one single frame from the middle where you can see on the front of the car that it's already out of focus and getting blurry.

 

Once all that is done, I mask the car in photoshop and make everything around the car lighter in the already light areas to make the edge of the glass plate disappear. As you can see, there is quite some post processing in these pictures, but I always make sure that I don't change anything of the model itself, only the background is edited (and from time to time I remove some dust from the model, but I don't correct anything that went wrong during the build).

 

Hope this helps
Urs

 

[Kiertomäntä]

Thank you immensely for taking time to describe the process as detailed as it is. I highly suspected background editing in the end but didn't figure out the mirroring effect when taking the photo.

 

The reason I wanted to ask this is that I use somewhat similar setup, albeit with black backdrop and only take (use) one picture per angle without editing (due to being abysmal with photoeditors). With M3 DTM I tried mirror once under the model but that only created double reflection. Have to try to find clear glass for the next model then. Trial and error works in this aswell as in the building process itself but it's always easier when someone else shows how to start.

[Kodiopa]

Clean meticulous paint & build and fabulous photography.

Goooooood...!

[RaulNanu]

On 20/11/2022 at 12:54, harti20 said:

Thank you all for your very kind comments, I really appreciate it

You are lucky I just took a picture of my setup the last time I was in the studio  I have a large paper backdrop that gets lit by 3 or 4 strobes (not visible on this pic) to get it completley white. About 2 meters in front of this I have a black glass plate where the model is located on top. Slightly to the right in front I have a strobe with a large octagonal softbox (1.8 m in diameter, if I remember correctly) which lights the model. The large white panel you can see on the left is bent to an angle (maybe 120°) with another strobe in about 2 meters height, facing towards the white panel which reflects the light to the model to brighten up this side. The camera is mounted to a solid tripod to make sure it doesn't move between frames.

 

This time I also used focus stacking for the first time to get the pictures really sharp from front to back (that's why it's important to have a solid tripod). For this I manually focus to the nearest point of the model, take a pic, move the focus point slightly towards the back, take another pic and so on until focus point reaches the back. So I ended up with 15 to 20 pictures per view (of course not for the pictures where the model isn't shown in an angle) which have then been arranged in photoshop to pick the sharpest sections of each frame and combine all of them to one single image which is sharp from front to back. It's quite laborious work, but by looking at the results I think it's worth the effort  

Here you see one single frame from the middle where you can see on the front of the car that it's already out of focus and getting blurry.

 

Once all that is done, I mask the car in photoshop and make everything around the car lighter in the already light areas to make the edge of the glass plate disappear. As you can see, there is quite some post processing in these pictures, but I always make sure that I don't change anything of the model itself, only the background is edited (and from time to time I remove some dust from the model, but I don't correct anything that went wrong during the build).

 

Hope this helps
Urs

 

I am a photography/video aficionado and I was so delighted to read and see your post. Just wow, so interesting and so helpful! Thank you so much!

[FunkyChiken]

Wow, it's a stunning build of a beautiful car, looks Amazing and the pictures are pretty cool too, I like your studio set up.