Model Photography

[Wayne R.]

One for you photography experts.
I've seen some great work on here, courtesy of some professional-grade photographs. Trouble is, incredibly detailed & accurate though the subjects are, they still tend to look like models.
So... I was reading a page I found on Reddit recently, and saw this:

It's NOT a model, it's a tilt-shifted image of a real dozer. I can't quite put my finger on what makes it look like something from a high-quality scale railway, but it does.
Do a search on the term 'tilt-shift'. There's even a few pages on simulating the effect with Photoshop & The Gimp.

I think you can guess where I'm going with this.
Does anyone know if there's a reverse process? And could they apply it to one of their works?
Imagine those MR Falcons made to look like they're the real deal. A Star Destroyer would look pretty awe-inspiring.

 

[Emeldahay]

Pretty sure its just the depth of field that makes this look like a model...

I use DepthoffieldPro for photoshop.

It does real lens treatments.

http://www.dofpro.com.

 

[Eagle]

Definitely the DoF. It's still 'wrong' in that pic but it makes the illusion well enough.

 

[Sumatra]

There's a little more to it that DoF. It also has to do with the angle at which the shot was taken. It needs to looking downward, just like you would if you were photographing a real model. Also, a boost to the contrast will give the effect of the "model" being washed out from flash.

It's a neat effect, but it's starting to crop up everywhere. Especially since you can do a very good fake of the tilt/shift lens effect with just Photoshop.

 

[Don Jarr]

Hi all

Another pointer is use a remote flash gun or guns set on a lower power flash setting, or if the gun you have is not adjustable use a diffuser or you can also cover the flash with several layers of white cotton sheet, to dull it down. Another useful bit of kit, is a lens mounted light ring.

A good set up if we use a clock for positioning, is the object to be photographed is the centre of the clock, place one flash gun at 8 o’clock and one at 4 o’clock and use a light ring on the lens. This gives good lighting, all round and avoids shadows. If you want to create shadows just move the flash guns around till you happy with the shot.

Also its better to take pictures of models in a darkened or low light room as this allows you to control the lighting effect, not be controlled by it.

Just remember good photography has been around for years, computers are a recent addition which can be used to alter the pictures to look better, but it’s not a substitute.

The best way now with digital cameras, is to take lots of pictures and write down on a piece of paper the details of each shot. For example, exposure, flash power, angles etc, then when you review them on the computer you can see which comes out better than others and can refer to the detail sheet to see what you did for that shot.

Last off even if outside photographing larger items a flash gun can enhance the pictures, as normal daylight still comes from one source so casts shadows.

Don

 

[Emeldahay]

There's a little more to it that DoF. It also has to do with the angle at which the shot was taken. It needs to looking downward, just like you would if you were photographing a real model. Also, a boost to the contrast will give the effect of the "model" being washed out from flash.

It's a neat effect, but it's starting to crop up everywhere. Especially since you can do a very good fake of the tilt/shift lens effect with just Photoshop.

Yes agree , I meant to a say - the lack of perspective helps.

 

[Chris Martin]

Model shots should be sharp from foreground to background to avoid looking like a model. Using a wideangle lens and getting in close will make a miniature look bigger than it actually is and a wideangle lens will hold focus over a wider set of distances. Also it's best to take the picture from where a real set of eyes would view the scene if it were real so the camera wants to be three inches above the ground if the model is 1/24th scale.

Do not use flash on the camera. If you must use flash use a flash bracket and take the flash gun well away from the lens line of sight. Flash will flatten any image and give a very unnatural look even when photographing a full size subject. You can't beat natural lighting made by God unless you really know what you're doing.

Tilt and shift lenses are VERY expensive and outside the province of virtually every member here I would think unless someone does photography professionally. You can often tilt and shift the lens board on large format bellowed cameras but the same comments apply.

Don't forget to keep the overall light levels up and/or use a high ISO recording medium. It means you can use a smaller aperture for a given shutter speed which will increase DOF.

 

[Gigatron]

The trick to making a model look like the real deal is to not have anything that gives away it's scale.

The best way to do this is to shoot outside, in natural light and from below the eyeline, against an open sky/horizon or against something like a forest in the background. Try to shoot at the "don't care" aperture (between f/8 and f/11). It provides enough depth of field to keep most of the subject in focus while throwing anything in the background out of focus.

-Fred

 

[CSMacLaren]

If you're asking how to photograph something like an MR without it looking like a model, rather than "how do I use Photoshop to achieve this look" then my suggestion is to step as far back and zoom in.

People have a tendency to step in too close when photographing their work, e.g. 4-5 feet. Due to the size of the lens and surface curvature, the image suffers from perspective distortion (do a Google or Wikipedia search on the topic).

Over on The Prop Den, where the primary focus is Vader, we've had many conversations on standardizing helmet photography at 6 feet, for example. A lot of photo reviews have been misleading, as photos taken too close end up distorting proportions and give people an incorrect perception as to the proportions of a helmet.

For example:





This applies to any kind of helmet, mask, bust e.g. Iron Man, Batman cowl, Terminator/Arnold, etc.

When you look at The Making of The Empire Strikes Back and notice how they photograph the Falcon, notice the diameter of the lens of the Panavision camera. They are quite a distance away but zoomed in so as to reduce perspective distortion. The farther back you are, you're reducing your depth of field and so the visual effect is similar to looking at a very large ship that is a considerable distance away.

Hope that helps.

 

[Sumatra]

The trick to making a model look like the real deal is to not have anything that gives away it's scale.

-Fred

If you're asking how to photograph something like an MR without it looking like a model, rather than "how do I use Photoshop to achieve this look" then my suggestion is to step as far back and zoom in.

Hope that helps.

Guys, I think you missed the point of the thread. It was actually about photographing real life to make it look like a model, not shooting models to look like real life.

As Wayne pointed out, the above shot is of a real bull dozer. Not to say your info isn't useful, just not pertinent to the thread.

 

[Gigatron]

Guys, I think you missed the point of the thread. It was actually about photographing real life to make it look like a model, not shooting models to look like real life.

As Wayne pointed out, the above shot is of a real bull dozer. Not to say your info isn't useful, just not pertinent to the thread.

Uhhh...no. He understands the process of tilt-shift photogrpahy. From his last paragraph;

"I think you can guess where I'm going with this.
Does anyone know if there's a reverse process? And could they apply it to one of their works?
Imagine those MR Falcons made to look like they're the real deal. A Star Destroyer would look pretty awe-inspiring."

Sounds pretty clear that he wants to take a model and make it look like real life.

But thanks for playing.

-Fred

 

[Mr. Nagata]

The "tilt-shift" photo you posted (I put tilt shift in quotes since most of those photos don't actually use tilt-shift lenses and just utilize digital effects) creates the illusion of a miniature by simulating a very shallow depth of field (as stated in the links you posted and some of the others in this thread).

Therefore, to reverse the effect, you would want to have a very deep dof when photographing something like a model (use a wide lens with LOTS of light, then stop down the lens as far as possible). This is how forced-perspective is achieved.

Here are a few photos and videos I did utilizing this process:

http://www.ryannagata.com/otherstuff/giant-robots/

 

[Sumatra]

Sounds pretty clear that he wants to take a model and make it look like real life.

But thanks for playing.

-Fred

Sounds pretty clear he wants the exact opposite of what this thread is about.

 

[Robiwon]

I've seen some great work on here, courtesy of some professional-grade photographs. Trouble is, incredibly detailed & accurate though the subjects are, they still tend to look like models.Does anyone know if there's a reverse process? Imagine those MR Falcons made to look like they're the real deal. A Star Destroyer would look pretty awe-inspiring.

Hmm, seems to me he is saying he has seen some great models but they still look like models. The picture posted is a real vehicle that looks like a model. He wants the opposite, so that would be a picture of a model that looks real.

 

[PHArchivist]

Over on The Prop Den, where the primary focus is Vader, we've had many conversations on standardizing helmet photography at 6 feet, for example. A lot of photo reviews have been misleading, as photos taken too close end up distorting proportions and give people an incorrect perception as to the proportions of a helmet.

For example:





This applies to any kind of helmet, mask, bust e.g. Iron Man, Batman cowl, Terminator/Arnold, etc.

Pretty amazing that those are all the same helmets. This dynamic wreaks havoc with the Death Star I'm building.

 

[CessnaDriver]

The "tilt-shift" photo you posted (I put tilt shift in quotes since most of those photos don't actually use tilt-shift lenses and just utilize digital effects) creates the illusion of a miniature by simulating a very shallow depth of field (as stated in the links you posted and some of the others in this thread).

Therefore, to reverse the effect, you would want to have a very deep dof when photographing something like a model (use a wide lens with LOTS of light, then stop down the lens as far as possible). This is how forced-perspective is achieved.

Here are a few photos and videos I did utilizing this process:

http://www.ryannagata.com/otherstuff/giant-robots/

You know what's funny about that?
I bet that kind of solution would be overlooked now for more expensive and less realistic looking CGI! :lol