Still Here ;)

Not much words here, just been busy trying to up my painting game.  Check it out.  Most are WIP, with the exception of Kharn the Betrayer, I painted him years ago!

I have loads of painting projects on the go and Im trying not to buy and complete what I have, but this last 18 months Games Workshop have just been smashing it for six!  So many cool products have been released.

Anyhow, all these models I thoroughly enjoyed to paint, let me draw extra attention to the melting ice chunks on my Thunderwolves.

Until next time,

Mike

Photographing your Battles

Recently I managed to borrow a friends Macro Lens.  What a difference it made to my photography of minis.  I was well impressed, so much so, I plan to get one myself by hook or by crook!

I had to get using it, I got out my Space Wolves and some old Orks I had lying around and set up a demo game.  I played though a few turns to see what I could come up with.

The lens does have its flaws especially in low light conditions such as a dim room with a low watt bulb so have a flash unit or other light source handy.

For example, a low light setting will ensure you need an wide aperture setting which in turn reduces your depth of field or amount in focus.  For our miniatures this isn’t good as your want to show off as much of your hard work as you can.

However there are some techniques that you can use to your advantage!

Get in close – This lens excels at photographing things up close, so do exactly that, and highlight memorable moments from your game such as the showdown of your general versus the opponent’s general.

Picture the scene – There will be opportunities to make a vignette of the events as they unfold in the game such as the big enemy advance as your troops pump ammo at the opposing horde.  We can use the depth of field to put emphasis on certain areas of the battlefield.

Ultimately the technique can be used to record those great moments of sacrifice as your troops are overun.  In addition you can then use the images of mighty events to your army’s fluff and background history.

Make sure you take a photograph as each turn starts from roughly the same place.  This way you can see how the game develops through a series of pictures and use the above to add to the narrative.

Remember to get a decent shot of the enemy General 🙂

Personally I am waiting to finish all my Wolves until I put them on the field of battle.  I hope you like my Rhino which is a new addition and my finished Wolf Priest.  I am saving my bases until last as I am using the new Agrellan Earth tech paint.  I am yet to complete the process on my Scouts but Ill show you the details in a future blog.

Photographing Miniatures – The Light Box technique

Its not easy taking pics of your mini and the hard work that you did painting them up.  So for this post I thought we could look at one technique, the light box.

Buy one from ebay or make one like mine.  A simple cardboard box with the sides and top cut out and covered in tracing paper.  I use flashguns in the pictures Ive posted but some decent desktop lights will suffice to light your models up.  You need to do this if your model is of a dark pallette.  I see many images posted that are simply too dark and dont show off the model enough.

You then need whats called an ‘infinity curve’ which can be made with paper and curved in.  You can also opt for a colour gradient on the paper.  Easy to either set up in photoshop or equivalent or download one like I did.  See the pics of my Inquisitor models.

 

Alternatively with a paper infinity curve.

A small amount of work can help you produce better looking pics of your models, worth a try eh?

 

Mike

From small beginnings

My love for this great hobby began when I was 12 years old. I was outside my home in Manchester, North Uk and I came across a small figure on the floor. I found others too. I had my first small collection of models that someone had just thrown out, I think many of them were from the original LOTR range. One of them was definitely Gandalf.

I soon met other guys at school who were also into the hobby and I was soon playing the old Judge Dredd RPG and the original Rogue Trader 40k. These guys also introduced me to GW, back then in the early nineties it was still very much a back street hobby and was still quiet cheap. I used to spend money from my paper round to buy my early Orcs and Space Marines. Many of which I still have.

I grew up playing 40k and Necromunda, Space Hulk and Dark Future. Over the years I have owned many of the mainstream games from GW. I’ve always been more of a painter than a gamer.

Fast forward back to present day, I’m 36 with young children and a life moving with the Military meant, sadly, I sold off at least two thirds of my collection. Many original models/books went the way of eBay. Very sad times but the space was needed.

Nowadays I am content with my few armies and projects. I still have my original Ultramarines army and have built on them and have around 3k points worth. I also branched into Warhammer with a Warriors of Chaos army and some Orcs which are yet unfinished, both of which are yet to be bloodied. I still have a Blood Bowl team and my old Necromunda Goliath gang. I have also kept an Inquisitor warband and an old friend found my bulked up Advanced Heroquest in his attic complete with original Heroquest parts. Result! Add to this the recent addition of Space Wolves for 40k but I’m still yet to sell off my Dark Eldar and Ork army.

What does the future hold? Well I’d like to get back into gaming more. I now live on the outskirts of Gloucester and with two great local gaming clubs there should be no shortage of generals to take on in battle. I’m also enjoying trying my hand at the photography of models. Not an easy task even for me, a professional photographer.

So there it is, plenty to blog about, I’m just an average bloke who enjoys this hobby. Do come back from time to time to see how things have developed.

Regards,

Mike