If you do have older flash guns then the link below is useful to look at:

www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

Cheers Chris

Hi, besides mere collecting, the cataloguing and photography of my miniatures have always been equally important. It gives me a lot of fun and satisfaction and, of course, great control over the collection.

In this thread I have seen a lot of technical aspects regarding photography of models, but I wonder for what purposes and how fellow collectors use their photography for possible applications.

For me, I can demonstrate five applications of my pictures:

1. It all started with the need of pictures for complementing the registration in my printed catalogue and periodical printed updates.




2. Of course nowadays this registration function has been taken over, or is at least parallelled now by electronic images, stored in computer files  and folders etc. But I still love periodical printed stuff in this respect, for which these electronic files are an indispensable base.


3. Two years ago I started an experiment by using the well-known facilities offered nowadays by many services, shops etc. for making your own 'holiday album', printed and bound on the basis of your digital uploads.

Adoption for my Dinky collection was a next challenge and proved to be a big and successful surprise for me. All kinds of pictures can be photographed, scanned, completed with text blocks etc. It produces a nice 'coffee-table book' impression of your own collection. Mine has 125 pages and includes about 500 pictures and text. Size of each page 30 x 30 cms.


4. In the wake of this photobook experiment I tried a similar make-your-own-calendar facility, which also produces beautiful results. It is a bit more expensive than regular printed calendars, but the difference is that it is your own collection that you are looking at all year long.


5. And finally, it's very nice to have control over the illustrations when writing your articles. If you deliver good photo material to the editorial board, they will like it, and you will be satisfied that the models are shown exactly the way you want it.

May be this way of adopting my photography will be an inspiration for others, but, again, I would be very interested to see how others use their model photography in practice!

Kind regards, Jan

Hi


Very interesting, and some great pictures and ideas.


My interest in photographing model cars and trucks stemmed from writing up my own history to show my descendants the vehicles that were around when I was young. I looked on various sites and noted that many people were having problems showing their models to the best advantage. While I knew a lot about photography, I knew little about model collecting. I have learned most of what I now know on this site.


I realised that model collectors would be more interested on spending their money on models than on expensive photographic gear. That's why I decided to show how to take good pictures using basic cameras. (I say basic, though most consumer compact cameras have more features than professional cameras of yesteryear.) I wanted to show that the picture depended more on the choice of viewpoint and background than it did on the camera.


The book has been on the backburner for about a year. I still haven't got the structure of it hammered out. I also want to write more on the subject of lighting before I publish it. So much to do, so little time.


pix

Thanks for your reply pix! We seem to do things the other way round. I started with the love for miniatures and tried to learn more about photography in order to support that hobby! I do not have extremely advanced equipment, but I think dedication and perseverance adds a lot to the succes of the photography of one's beloved miniatures.



Kind regards, Jan

Nice photos Jan and great ideas you really do have a great collection there.

did not know that these rear covers were available just the thing for sunny days .

Nice ideas Jan



For me last year I published a book using Blurb software. It was just a one-off for me to enjoy. However, when I get time I would consider a full book to sell on Blurb's site.


Like you Jan I like hard copy files AKA magazines. To this end I have prepared articles to be published in newstand magazines. Luckily for me all my recent efforts have been published. Last year I got three articles published in Diecast Collector magazine. So I use some of my photographs for this end reason.


Cheers Chris

Jan--
Very neat and interesting post you did...so many wonderful ways to weave the collection of small cars and the photographing of them together into something special. That coffee table book is fascinating to me, and would be real eye opener to some guests!
I just purchased a good SLR this past year and a tripod, so I think I will be spending more time like you taking interesting pictures of my collection and have given me some great ideas...thanks again for sharing!

Thanks very much for your comments and information! Yes this Blurb software is an option too. I don't know which alternative is more economical. Geoffrey Webster made his Dinky Toys aircraft book that way. The photoalbum I did cost 100euro for 125 pages. What does that blurb publishing cost? Possibly it has more typographical options, although that photoalbum offered enough for me in this respect.

Sorry, what is AKA magazines (perhaps a stupid question). 

It is my experience that the more mature and 'complete' the collection becomes, the more you are looking for not just collecting but also spending more time on these 'para-collectional' activities like displaying, care and conservation, cataloguing, publishing articles and ... photography.

My camera is simple but reliable, a Canon EOS 350D, over five years old now, I always use my tripod, and I use some various pieces of thin cardboard backgrounds, simply wherever I can mount it (mostly just a chair) and without flash in good dispersed daylight. The camera always in the manual mode, for a good personal choice of shutter time and diafragm.





I appreciate continuing exchanging experiences!

Kind regards, Jan

Hi Jan


AKA = also known as


Blurb has a range of prices - see link:


eu-landing.blurb.com/uk/bookmaking/?ce=g...tm_campaign=GoogleUK


Blurb have a number of templates and some of these offer text spaces so that you can produce a real book.


My DSLR is also a few years old and I prefer to use a tripod. Images are taken using aperture priority. However, there are times when I hand hold:


UH Dodge Ram 2500 10 by Chris*4, on Flickr

Dinky Toys Bedford TK breakdown lorry by Chris*4, on Flickr

Cheers Chris

I use my youtube channel  to show picture-video's about my scale models. A clean white background looks professional, but I like to place my models in a natural environment.


I don't use any fancy camera, all my pictures are taken with the 5megapixel camera from this phone:

This is the end result, pretty neat for a mobile phone don't you think?

Very good result! After all, it's mainly the photographer and not the camera who makes the photo a success! Regards, Jan

I think it's mainly the autofocus who does the job with a non-professional camera

Interesting read this thread i now wonder about how good my camera is, i've got a Panasonic Lumix 12.1 mega pixels, 4x optical zoom, optical image stabilizer and can capture in HD also amongst other things. Must wait for better weather and set something up and try it out, need one of those fancy stands too.

Good point AcceoCitroen! That's why it amazes me that some still succeed in making horrible and out of focus photographs! Have a look at eBay etc. Regards, Jan