SPA Modeler

I recently painted a few GamesWorkshop Goblins.

WIP tread:

http://www.spamodeler.com/forum/viewtop ... =33&t=3197


The result:

Very cool Borg! You do some fine work on those goblins!

My son is starting to do Warhammer 40K, and is learning figure painting off you tube videos. He also builds Gundams. Different side of the Hobby from dad, but it looks like he is one of us now... LOL!

Thanks Stikpusher! I am still figuring out how to photograph figures properly. They seem more sensitive for light then aircraft.


As for your son, nice that he is also into modelling! I build all sort of stuff including Gundam and warhammer. It is all cool and a lot of the techniques are transferable. Maybe he can post some of his stuff. Because I am still figuring out how to do Gundams: assemble first then paint or paint all the parts in de molded colour and then assembly....

The photo challenges are probably due to all the small details, contours, and tonal variations in the paint work. I’m sure Speedgraflex aka Bruce can give some tips on how to better photograph your figures.

My son will be home on leave in a couple of weeks and I’ll see if he would like to join and share his work with us here.

I figured out that lighting was the problem. So I toke the photos again. But this time with daylight, a blue background for the white balance and my daylight lamp for extra light. I used a small cup as a pedestal for the figure so it would be roughly at the same height as the figure. There is a photo of this little setup sandwiched in between all the others.
I thinks these are better.

The plain background is a big improvement. It eliminates any distraction from your subject.

I agree, much better!

Thanks for your positive feedback guys! I am suprized how much the lightning and background can do for a picture. I will experiment further in coming builds.

The goblins have such presence! Fierce and aggressive. I agree with the others about the reshoot with the blue background! The use of an inverted plastic cup as a stand is ingenious! I am going to remember that idea since so much of what we do is “out in the field with whatever is handy,” or as my buddy calls these on set fixes: “crazy make ‘en ups.”

A few small points: as is often the case, generalizations are not useful, however I am going to suggest that for your figures to use a vertical frame, and I believe that by my comparison of one photo from each series (I downloaded the photos to my phone and imported them into VSCO), that your focus is on the right foot, not the face.


This particularly figure is brilliant, and the base compliments the sculpt perfectly. I hope you are alright with me adding an edited version to your posting, I also increased contrast as well (digital cameras tend to reduce this), reduced shadow, reduced aperture as well.

Thanks Bruce! I am very much open for advice on any subject but particularly photography. I am trying to improve my pics via two ways. First, improving lighting and background. I did this with these figures. And secondly with a bit of editing. I tried that with my Baynes Bat pictures. I cut/reframed those and I worked on the white balance. I use Snapseed for that. It is pretty easy but I am still figuring out what all the options are and which uses they have.