Maya cast's Photography Competition.

As most of you are aware, Maya Cast are having a Photography competition. So obviously I got my camera out and started taking some snaps. This did also give me an opportunity to learn how to use my camera in more than the two ways I know. It has a lot of things it can do I just have no idea how! So first off I posted on a Facebook page. I am a member of "Strictly Yorkshire Photography" - these guys don't mess about, it is STRICTLY Yorkshire photography. I heard that one time a guy posted a pic of the sign post that said welcome to Yorkshire, and he got taken away in a van during the night. I was having problems taking photos and getting everything in focus, but a few people replied to my post and it made a huge improvement. As a side note people kept suggesting I use this technique called 'tilt-shift photography'. Its pretty cool makes real life look like miniatures. Not much help as I want my miniatures to look like real life.

An example of Tilt-shift photography

So anyway I asked my mate Matt if I could use his models again because they are way more pretty than mine. The comp is about photography not painting but we all know it will be a way better photo if the scenery and models are all looking top notch. I waited for the sun to go down so I could shine my lamp over head. I wanted this to give the illusion of flood lights or street lamps, but think it just made it look like I was shining a cheap Ikea lamp on some toy soldiers. Hopefully this will be sorted in Photoshop.

Instead of photographing lots of models I wanted each attempt to have a theme to it, or to tell a story or at least set a scene. Fortunately for me Corvus Belli make bloody awesome miniatures so this was done quite easily. I wanted to make some of the scenes look as natural as I could, so I tried to set up the scenery to look really busy and not like it was set up for a gaming table. As such there is a lot going on in some of the photographs. I started by trying to hide the bases as I felt that they draw away from the idea and made it look like models on a board.

This was my first scene I set up. The idea was something along the line of 'Stalker' or 'The hunter becomes the hunted'. I think it worked really well. The scatter terrain really makes it look natural and both the models seem to be after the other. But who is after who and do they even know the other is right around the corner? This works really well considering the Spekter has TO and infiltration but the Neisses has MSV Lv2. 

I had to zoom right out to make sure everything was in focus. This took a while to get right as the Spekter is a little further forward and it would not focus on both models at the same time. But after fiddling with the setting I got there in the end. I also tried to mess about with smoke as I had taken photos in the past where someone had blown smoke over the game table using a vaporiser and it looked awesome. All I had to use however was a cheap cigar I got at the duty free and it didn't work quite so well this time. 

Previous attempt at smoke

New attempt at smoke

As you can see it did not work out so well. Oh well, all ideas can't be winners.

I toyed with the idea of submitting a close up. Nice photo but it didn't really tell much of a story and looked more like a show case of the painting. As I am sure you all totally read my blog all the time, that was what I did for the last few posts so I didn't see the point.

Stalker

This is the final edit. All I did was crop and change a few colour setting as there was a bit too much yellow and it was throwing off the other colours in the scene. I think it works well. There is a lot going on in the scene but not so much so that it takes away from the models. They almost look alone. As if they are the last men alive and still fighting to the bitter end. I called this one 'Hunter' so its up to the viewer to decided who that is.

Hunter

Next up I used the same two models to set a very similar scene. This was my original idea. I wanted the viewer to wonder what was going to happen in the next few seconds. The thought was of both these units popping their heads around the corner and startling each other. My money would be on the Spekter at that range but who knows, maybe that Neisses is completely aware and has his pistol at the ready. I wanted to play around with the lighting so made this image a lot darker.

Close call

This was final edit. I like the photo and my favourite part is actually the sign in the background as it makes the scene look natural. Probably wont submit this but was still fun to create. Almost looks as if they both know what's going on. Reminds me of those fights in the play ground where no one wants to punch the other kid first "GO ON THEN" "NAH GO ON THEN HIT ME" "NAH YOU HIT ME" "DONT BE A PUSSY DO IT" and so on and so on.

"I have been in your phone and you have been talking to that bitch again!"

I really like the Hafza model even though he looks like a bouncer who is fed up of someone trying to convince him they "have not had to much tonight". I had the Nomad pointing for the next photo and thought the scene just wrote itself. Definitetly not going to submit this shot but had to give it a go. I have titled it "I have been in your phone and you have been talking to that bitch again!" Pretty much self explanatory really.

The next few images were all basically the same. The two models reminded me of our modern sniper teams. One spotter and one shooter. I don't think these guys are necessarily hunting an enemy. More like they are on a recon mission days before the battle begins. The lighting on these was a bit bright. Still getting used to it. Think I need a bulb that's more clear instead of standard living room bulb that gives off a slightly yellow glow.

Target sighted 

This photo worked well. I was worried that the background would take too much away from the scene as it had more going on that the foreground, but came out nicely when cropped right.

Target sighted 

This image was the better of the two. Almost gives the impression they have been scouting out building and are deciding what one to search out next. The Alguacil on the left is not shooting but using his scope to . . . well, scope things out.

This was one of my favourite images. Who doesn't like bikes? I wanted to show someone getting caught off guard and this sums it up perfectly. Shame though, considering he is Pan O he will probably fail at what ever it is he is doing and get killed to death anyway. I did have another image with the doctor on the floor but she was all out of focus so this will have to do.

Caught pants down

Final image turned out OK. One of my favourites. The blue really stands out on the Fusilier's amour against all the green in the photo.

Dug in

I wanted to use some of my own models for at least a few photographs, so got my Moblots out. I really wish they had a 5th model for Moblots that was not an Equipe Mirage. These guys make a good link and look bad ass when all together. They may be Ariadna HI but they still kick some ass. I also wanted to have a photograph in a rectangle so this gave me the perfect opportunity.

Hunted

This is actually my favourite picture out of all of them. Really looks like the Foxtrots are in their natural fighting environment. The Spekter doesn't care about his bright amour as he has TO anyway. I like this photo so much probably due to the fact I watched Predator yesterday. I wont be submitting it however for two reasons: One of the Foxtrots is not a Corvus Belli model. Secondly its not easy to see right away so will definitely not put me in the running. Anyway those are my musings and attempts at Miniatures photography.