Photography standards.

[Mike1158]

I think this might raise a few hackles but I am genuinely trying to get a point across about the standard of photographs here.

I find that too many are just not focussed properly and nothing removes the impact of a kit that is worked hard at than poorly focussed pictures. There are a great many mini tripods that will take smartphones or digital camera's for not that much in terms of outlay. I hope this can be taken on board without it being taken as an attempt by myself to put others down, I have NO intention of doing that to anyone.

Just a plea for better photographs.

[JohnM]

Hi Mike.

Of course then there's the likes of me that have realised that a slightly off focus, cropped distance picture can craftily fuzz out the little mistakes, glue stains, and missed edge colouring on a model to make it look better than it really is. Especially when you just know that yer mates are gonna zoom right in on it to examine and critique your workmanship.

What? D'ya mean I'm the only one that does that? Nah, most of us do, but few are likely to criticise unless asked to. They're quite a polite lot round here, who prefer to encourage the inexperienced newbies rather than frighten them off.

Personally, I find zooming right in to examine the workmanship details (warts and all) is a good way of learning to improve my own techniques. Oh yes mates, I critique you all, but as is the way of this forum, I rarely verbalise it other than by the way of offering help.

[jagolden01]

To each their own. I'm sure people are working the best they can.
Time, space, finacial situation probably all have a play.

Sure, it dissapoints me when I click on a thumbnail and the full size picture is completely blurry, but I'm not going to gripe about it.

Just move on to the next thread.

[SCEtoAUX]

Let's try to keep this thread civil. So far things look calm.

There was another thread a while back that was started by a long time member here about a similar subject matter that kind of deteriorated into a mini flame war. It had more to do with the backgrounds used, but the photographic presentation of models was the main concern.

As the man said, just move on.

[billy.leliveld]

As the POTW-editor, I do understand that not everybody is a good photographer, or has a professional camera, so some times have to tweak the pictures, only changing the lightning or crop them.
It is a pity to see a great build with unusable or unsharp photo's
But I have a few tips;
Don't worry to much about the amount of pixels, 640x480 is more than enough for use on the forum.
Do not use the flash, it makes ugly pictures
Try to use natural light, outside or near a window
If you use a lamp , place it on the spot the sun would be, in reality
If there is a blur because the camera moved, put it on a tripod or use something to rest the camera on, don't make pictures under 1/15th with a hand-held camera.

[TheWebdude]

And all this time I thought my eyesight was bad.......

Seriously it's always nice to have a super crisp ultra-detailed photo but I'm glad to look at whatever is posted.

[Vermin_King]

Originally Posted by TheWebdude

And all this time I thought my eyesight was bad.......

Seriously it's always nice to have a super crisp ultra-detailed photo but I'm glad to look at whatever is posted.

That's great to know. If you are ever having 'fuzzy, non-professional' photo withdrawal, let me know and I will happy to oblige

[Loui]

I have a question regarding photographing a model.. how close/far the proper distance betwen camera to the model... because most of my pictures using my mobile phone (8megapixel)... auto focus on or off... most of the setting are in default mode... and what is ISO, i got iso100,200,400,800...

a web link to beginner photographing would be nice, so i can experiment with the setting on my phone.

Best regards, Loui

[Richschindler]

Blurry, crystal clear who cares. As long as enjoy what we do, that's all the matters.

[nikischutt]

Quick search brought up these links:

Photography | Scale Model Guide

http://www.finescale.com/en/How To/A...gital age.aspx

Basic Scale Model Photography

My basic technique:
1. Natural light,
2. Minimise shadows
3. White/light grey background
4. Tripod (if possible)
5. Optical zoom ONLY, NEVER use digital zoom
6. Auto settings (focus, etc.)

Maxing out the megapixels only results in a massive file. Unless you're printing posters, use a smaller size or rescale using software or even when uploading online (flickr, etc.). As Billy pointed out, 640x480 is often fine for the forum, although 800x600 is a nice compromise.

As for blurry images, the better lit the room is, the quicker the camera will autofocus (and thus minimise motion blur).

Niki