Beginner Little People

Funlester

Funlester

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6
Name
Lee Whittaker
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I fancied to get some model railway figures to take some photos of in different ways.
I decided to get some cheap ones from eBay (china) and when they came they were a little smaller than I thought, less than 1cm.

This is my first go at just shooting them, I wasn't really thinking about the ocean just seeing that they would come out.
I dont have a micro lens to use so the was taken with a 70-300mm at 300mm f/8 0.8s. I used manual focus and was more getting the front two in focus.

Also one of my first dos and B&W with Colour.

What do people thank and any help, tips or criticism will be very much welcome as still very new to all this lark.



 
Hi Lee,

The first thing I noticed was the dust! Always an issue when looking at things up close, so make sue you prepare your scene before shooting.
Funlester said:
I wasn't really thinking about the ocean just seeing that they would come out.
Click to expand...
I'm assuming "ocean" was an auto correct of "scene." It's good to do some test shots, I'll assume this is as close as you can get with your lens, so it gives you an idea of the general size and space for any future scenes. The current one doesn't really tell me much. It could be suggesting the little figures have climbed to the top of some giant statue, but their poses aren't really indicative of this (also the illusion is ruined by the dust). I think you've done well to shoot from low down, at "eye" level with the figures. This will give the impression that the figures are a similar size of the viewer, and it is the statue that is larger. Shooting from lower would suggest they are bigger still, and conversely, shooting from a higher angle will represent the figures as being small. How you use DoF will also enhance these effects. All things to think about for future scenes.

I think I would look to see how I can create a scene where the figures help to tell some kind of story. It's a bit difficult as they don't seem to be posed in a way that suggests anything specific. Maybe try to replicate an outdoor scene using everyday household objects? Maybe look to add to the effect with some specific lighting. I don't think the figures look particularly detailed, so I wouldn't worry about getting much closer, so I think the important factor will be the environment you set them in, how you light it. Anyway, just some things to think about.

HTHs

Tim
 
As above said:). The small people, sorry cannot spell characters, are just not right, there has to be some context to the shot, builders, mountain climbers, etc,

And don't do "colour pop" ever again, never ever......

Try Lego, it's better to start with as you can pose and the figures have more of a theme.
 
Yeah I did mean "scene".
Thanks for the advice :)
 
I think experimenting with this sort of scene can be quite useful. For example, you were trying to get the front two figures in focus, and you did that ok, which is good.

Is it as sharp as it could be? That depends on how you did the capture. 0.8 sec is very slow, so presumably you used a tripod (did you?). If you used a tripod, did you use a remote shutter release or the camera's self timer? Doing either of these means there is less vibration while the photo is being captured. And vibration makes images less sharp. Did you lock the mirror up? If not, "mirror slap" can cause vibration. Does your camera have electronic first curtain shutter? (I see it referred to as Electronic Front-Curtain Shutter in this Nikon document, which you might find it helpful to read.)

Incidentally, having dust in that image was quite good I think when trying to assess sharpness. If it wasn't for the dust there wouldn't be any fine detail to examine in that image. You may do better to practice on subjects/scenes with more detail in them.

Then there is the issue of Depth of Field (DOF) - how much of the image is in focus front to back. You might want to experiment with using different apertures and seeing how that affects the DOF. That scene shows where the DOF falls very nicely. You can see that it is quite narrow. Getting enough DOF can be quite a problem when photographing small things.

When starting out you may find it useful not to worry about "artistic" issues and concentrate on getting a feel for some of the technical issues. The relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO is one of the major issues, and lighting is another. (You may have to use artificial lighting (probably flash) if you get further into the business of photographing small things. Partly it depends on your subjects. Your camera with that lens should work nicely for closeups of flowers (I use a somewhat similar Canon camera and lens for flowers), and I always use natural light for flowers. But if you want to get into insects etc smaller than butterflies then you probably will need to use flash and also get some additional glass. This might be a specialised macro lens or a less expensive addon lens (I use four different addon lenses of different power). As you are starting out with all this you may find it helpful to have a look at this thread to read about the options for lenses. To see the many different ways you might tackle artificial lighting, this thread may be helpful.

Oh, and if you like the look of mixed colour and black and white, go ahead. As with some other approaches though (such as "HDR"), be prepared for some flack. But ultimately it's what you like that matters as far as your photos go. IMO.
 
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