Brickington Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Nope, just standard green (I already had a couple yellow ones). I saw that Avalonia was packed but Mitgardia had my heart anyway. Do you know where I can find the photography tutorial? I know I've seen it around here somewhere but now that I need it, I can't remember where. Welcome! Though as my Kai NRG already said, Avalonia isn't full. alright.. Thanks to Damaximus i'm here.. Now to get myself going with that sigfig thingy.. Welcome to the Guilds of Historica!
ZCerberus Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Nope, just standard green (I already had a couple yellow ones). I saw that Avalonia was packed but Mitgardia had my heart anyway. Do you know where I can find the photography tutorial? I know I've seen it around here somewhere but now that I need it, I can't remember where. I think there IS in fact a few photo tutorials floating out there. Here is one from Hinckley. But here are my tips... 1) photograph outside where there is LOTS of light 2) To eliminate shadows, try to photograph on an over cast day, or where it is shady outside. 3) DO NOT use the flash. it creates shadows and distorts colors. 4) Because you are NOT using the flash, you must hold the camera quite steady or the photos will "smear" I have learned a trick here. I set my camera to have a 1 second timer before it take a photo. this helps me to hold the camera steady since pressing the button and having a photo instantly taken almost always makes the camera move. 5) use the MACRO function for taking close-ups. It is the setting that looks like a flower on the camera. It is king.
Maxim I Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 alright.. Thanks to Damaximus i'm here.. Now to get myself going with that sigfig thingy.. Haha, glad to see you in here I would advice you to join Kaliphlin (the eastern styled Guild )
Captain Nemo Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Haha, glad to see you in here I would advice you to join Kaliphlin (the eastern styled Guild ) No no! Don't go for the Eastern style guild--go for the East guild! Nocturnus! Wooo!
Gideon Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 (edited) [...] But here are my tips... 1) photograph outside where there is LOTS of light 2) To eliminate shadows, try to photograph on an over cast day, or where it is shady outside. 3) DO NOT use the flash. it creates shadows and distorts colors. 4) Because you are NOT using the flash, you must hold the camera quite steady or the photos will "smear" I have learned a trick here. I set my camera to have a 1 second timer before it take a photo. this helps me to hold the camera steady since pressing the button and having a photo instantly taken almost always makes the camera move. 5) use the MACRO function for taking close-ups. It is the setting that looks like a flower on the camera. It is king. I agree with you that natural light is the best if you can have it in a good way (overcast weather in daytime make an excellent dim light source) but direct sunlight tends to be hard for the dynamic range of camera to handle. However I do not agree fully with you that flash should never be used, only direct flash is totally wrong if you ask me. When I take pictures indoors with artificial light (which I have done for the most of my builds since there isn't much natural light in the winter = building season in northern Sweden), for smaller builds I have used a "light tent" with two included spotlights which works fine. For larger builds however, I have obtained the best results by using a flash directed at a white roof above and slightly behind the camera. Unfortunately this requires a quite good flash with adjustable direction (which I was lucky enough to obtain when my father upgraded his photography kit a few years ago). An example of indirect flash lighting is this picture which I took too late in the evening to have enough natural light for, definitely some shadows but dimmer and in a more natural direction than if I would have used direct flash. The flash also helps in washing out the white background (a simple bed sheet), the picture has not been edited. Another useful tool to get good pictures is a tripod. Lately, I have started to shoot my overview pictures with small aperture size to get a full depth of field of the whole MOC...but it costs in exposure time (especially when not using flash) and my hands are way to shaky to get sharp images then without having the camera fixed. For forced perspective a tripod is also great so it is possible to fine-tune the direction of the shoot and the positioning between the objects in front and in the background. Like ZC I also use the delay timer so I have my hands off the camera before it takes the picture. Sorry for turning this into a photography discussion, I just wanted to share my views and some tips. Also I want to say a loud Welcome!! to the new members, looking forward to seeing your sigfigs and builds! Edited May 8, 2013 by Gideon
ZCerberus Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Yes, if you have access to fancier flashes or better lighting setups, go for it! Some good tips for those who have time to set up a good spot to take photos.
Gideon Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 It's nice when interests converge, my photographing had almost ceased (except for on vacation and the like)...but since I started building with lego again I've got a good reason to develop my photography skills as well. I find that to be a very important part of making good MOC presentations and I really encourage everyone who comment on my builds (and others) to give constructive feedback on the photography and postprocessing. And for those whose pictures I have criticized, it is purely because I want you to be able to improve on that aspect as well as the fantastic improvement all over GoH in build quality :) One thing I wanted to point out (but might have gone lost in my photo rant) was that with some simple care when shooting it is so much easier to post process and publish good pics. - Good lighting (enough covered already in previous posts) - Neutral background (makes it easier to publish immediately or to cut away the background, a simple piece of cardboard or a sheet goes a long way) - Ensure sharpness (short exposure time, good lighting helps here, and/or use a tripod, there are really cheap small table tripods for compact cameras that might be good enough in many cases) - Control the depth of field (zooming in usually gets you less sharp objects in front and behind what's in focus if you don't have a camera where you can compensate with the aperture). But if you do fp, then you don't want good depth of field ;) - And probably more easy tips, can someone help me here?
kabel Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 (edited) yeah, getting a good camerca definetely helps! It may sound weird, but since I got myself a DSLR I do recieve more feedback for my builds although I think my building skills may not have evolved that much since then ... Edited May 8, 2013 by kabel
Maxim I Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Lately, I am taking all my pics with my smartphone (I have to admit that he is new, so I can't speak for the previous generations). Sometimes I do have to take more than one picture, but on a general note, I can say that the quality is excellent!! So if you don't want to spend 500$ on only a camera, you can buy yourself a new cellphone instead
SkaForHire Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Aw well, welcome anyways even though you picked the wrong guild... actually I think the Avalonia is full thing is old... they should really take it down... it kept me away! (I don't remember seeing a photography tutorial - except in the RA - though). Had you joined Avalonia, we would have probably just kidnapped you and brought you to Kaliphlin where you belong, anyway. Nope, just standard green (I already had a couple yellow ones). I saw that Avalonia was packed but Mitgardia had my heart anyway. Do you know where I can find the photography tutorial? I know I've seen it around here somewhere but now that I need it, I can't remember where. Wrong guild, but welcome any way!!! :) I think there IS in fact a few photo tutorials floating out there. Here is one from Hinckley. But here are my tips... 1) photograph outside where there is LOTS of light 2) To eliminate shadows, try to photograph on an over cast day, or where it is shady outside. 3) DO NOT use the flash. it creates shadows and distorts colors. 4) Because you are NOT using the flash, you must hold the camera quite steady or the photos will "smear" I have learned a trick here. I set my camera to have a 1 second timer before it take a photo. this helps me to hold the camera steady since pressing the button and having a photo instantly taken almost always makes the camera move. 5) use the MACRO function for taking close-ups. It is the setting that looks like a flower on the camera. It is king. Although Gideon beat me to the punch... I always use flash, but I have a DSLR with a really good detachable flash. The trick is not to point the flash at the object, sometimes in photography this is referred to bouncing the flash. It is a trick I use when shooting weddings indoors, but works with almost any type of shot. As Gideon said, white walls and ceilings work really well for this. My problem is I am too cheap to buy a photobox to bring more light into the photos. That and half the time I don't bother switching to my macro lens when I should. I have also developed this weird un-level-ness when shooting Lego, but nothing else. Oh well, probably will have to practice my MOC shooting this summer. But with a point and shoot, when I pull one out, I never use the flash, I also have one of those cheap bendable tripods to hold the PoS, so that my shaky hands don't mess it up.
kabel Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 (edited) it's really been a lot of fun participating in this project and i think we really managed to become some sort of group, so for some reason I feel like I'd really like to meet a whole bunch of these people here in real. so maybe having some sort of GoH conference (party) should be really cool, and maybe we should have a european, northamerican and australian/newzealandic conference (party) happening at the same time, anyone who thinks so too? Edited May 8, 2013 by kabel
Simon_S Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 it's really been a lot of fun participating in this project and i think we really managed to become some sort of group, so for some reason I feel like I'd really like to meet a whole bunch of these people here in real. so maybe having some sort of GoH confercen (party) should be really cool, and maybe we should have a european, northamerican and australian/newzealandic conference (party) happening at the same time, anyone who thinks so too? Oh man, that would be awesome . Wo lebst du in Deutschland? Ich wohne in Basel, daher vielleicht gar nicht mal so weit weg .
Kai NRG Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Had you joined Avalonia, we would have probably just kidnapped you and brought you to Kaliphlin where you belong, anyway... Hehe... well, chances are I wouldn't have joined Avalonia anyways, but that wrote it off my list right away. You guys are making me wish I knew more about photography before I got my camera... I find it works well (I don't even bother to shoot with a tripod...), but I do have trouble with the flash sometimes. In general I find close-up shots turn out best in shade or even cloud cover, but overall shots are better in sun (they need brighter light) even if there are shadows.
kabel Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 buurli: I live in Kassel just a mere 6 or 7 hours down the A5!
Maxim I Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Maybe some of us are going to the Lego Fan weekend in Denmark 29 September? Normally I will go to there
soccerkid6 Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 @kabel: That would be really neat Might be difficult to organize though, so many different locations represented in GoH
Str0ngbad Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Wow! Thank you guys for all the tips and the links to the tutorials! For now, I only have my old iPhone to shoot with so I'll only be able to do so much. I'm waiting on a Bricklink order to arrive before I introduce my character to the guild so I should have a few days to play with photos and work on a story. Thanks again for the warm welcome and all the great answers to my question. I'm awfully glad Z posted in the general History forum.
kabel Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Might be difficult to organize though, so many different locations represented in GoH true, with three rigional meetings though?
Maxim I Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 ZC forgot to mention the GoH wiki (you see, even he is not perfect) http://guildsofhistorica.wikia.com/wiki/Eurobricks%27_Guilds_of_Historica_Wiki @Soccerkid & Kabel: It would be best indeed to stay in the homecontinent. As Legonardo, Brickington, me and some more are still students, an intercontinental meeting would be too expensive For Oceania and America I can't speak, but in Europe, it looks like most of us are located between Switzerland and Denmark (mainly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark). So it is indeed possible for us to meet somewhere central (or at least very reachable)
SkaForHire Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 Yeah, just a conference for North American members would be hard. Our geography is much greater, and we don't have nifty bullet trains to get us together in a relatively cheap manner. If I have paid attention, we have at least one in Minnesota, one (two?) in Florida, one in upstate New York, One in California, and I am in Texas. That is at every end of the United States... I think we have a Canuck too, and who knows about the people that have not said where they are from in the past. It would definitely be cool, but probably hard to do logistically in this area of the world.
Kayne Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 I'm in the middle in Michigan, so you can all just come here
ZCerberus Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 Myself and another member are in Minnesota though we have not met IRL. I know in Avalonia we have an active member from each of the following states... South Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Rogue Angel Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 There will be at least 6 Historicans at Brickworld Chicago this year (June 14th) - Kayne, you could make it there if you wanted. I know this is a bit of a trip for a lot of our North American members, but it will be a mini-meeting at least, and we will have international member attendance as well!
PenPlays Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 You Avalonians also have an active Oregonian. I would like to say though, if we all had Skype or some similar piece of technology, meeting up would be a cinch, especially for us students. The only problem are those of us that can only write in English... That is if there is anyone with that very minor impairment.
SkaForHire Posted May 9, 2013 Posted May 9, 2013 Myself and another member are in Minnesota though we have not met IRL. I know in Avalonia we have an active member from each of the following states... South Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin. You were the Minnesotan I had in mind. I actually didn't realize we had so many Americans in GoH. You Avalonians also have an active Oregonian. I would like to say though, if we all had Skype or some similar piece of technology, meeting up would be a cinch, especially for us students. The only problem are those of us that can only write in English... That is if there is anyone with that very minor impairment. That could end up being very educational though. Call it an immersion class!
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