How exposure affects miniature photography

Before you can improve on your miniature photographing skills, it is crucial to get to grips with a basic concept i.e. exposure, which is a measure of how much light the camera's image sensor is exposed to during a shot. In simple terms - an underexposed shot is one that is too dark while an overexposed shot is one that is too bright. For a better understanding of exposure, you will have to explore all the elements involved - ISO, aperture and shutter speed - or the exposure triangle in short.  

Before I get to the more practical aspects of how to utilise the exposure triangle to get the shots that you want of your miniatures, let us first have a quick look, individually, at the three components of exposure as well as some basic theory of how they relate to one another.

Exposure Triangle in a nutshell
a) ISO is the sensitivity of camera sensor to light in which the higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive the camera sensor is to light so less light is required when taking the shot. Too high an ISO setting may introduce noise (grainy patterns) into your shots. General rule of thumb is to keep ISO as low as possible but the latest DSLR cameras are able to take good quality shots at high ISOs.

b) Aperture is an opening at the camera lens which controls how much light passes through to the camera sensor. While a bigger aperture size allows more light into the camera, the trade-off is a lower depth of field. Aperture size is measured in f-stops in which the larger the f-stop number, the smaller the opening (this takes a bit of getting used to) so f4 is a larger aperture opening than f8.

c) Shutter speed controls the length of time light is allowed to hit the camera sensor. At high shutter speeds, less light is allowed into the camera but your shots won't be affected by shaky hands (something important to consider when you are taking shots with a dedicated macro lens). While a high shutter speed also allows you to freeze-motion-capture a fast moving object, this is not an important consideration when taking shots of stationary miniatures.

So how do they all tie together? Well, when you change any one component in the exposure triangle you will most likely need to amend one or both of the other components. For example, you have just taken a perfect shot at the correct exposure and then decided to increase the depth of field by using a smaller aperture opening. Now less light will hit the camera sensor (shot is underexposed). To regain the correct exposure, you will need to use either a slower shutter speed which increases the length of time that the light hits the sensor, or set a higher ISO to increase the sensor's sensitivity to light.

In general, when taking photographs of miniatures, I prefer a high depth of field so as to take in as much detail of the miniature(s) as possible. This means the lowest aperture size I can get away with before a lack of light becomes a hindrance. I also try not to set the shutter speed too low because although I use a tripod to take shots which can help mitigate against shaky hands, at a low enough shutter speed, the act of just pressing the shutter button itself can shake camera slightly and spoil your shot. This can be solved by using a camera trigger cable but I don't have one yet.  

Practical application of the Exposure Triangle
To show the effects of the exposure triangle when taking shots of miniatures, I decided to use two Word Bearers Anointed minis placed side-by-side but with one slightly behind the other. There was no editing done with any image software so the photos are WYSIWYG.

Shot 1: Shutter speed 1/500th of a second, Aperture at f4, ISO 400

Low depth of field at 1/500 - f4 - ISO 400

In my first shot, I used a low aperture setting of f4 which meant a very low depth of field, the effect of which is the blurred out miniature in the background, on the right.


Shot 2: Shutter speed 1/60th of a second, Aperture at f11, ISO 400

Better depth of field but still not good enough - 1/60 - f11 - ISO 400

To get a better depth of field I made use of an important concept in the exposure triangle i.e. reciprocal exposure. To keep it simple, reciprocity refers to the fact that shutter speed and aperture can be adjusted by the same amount in opposite directions to get the same exposure. In this case, I adjusted the shutter speed by three stops (one stop is a measure of light) from 1/500 to 1/60 while the aperture was also adjusted by three stops in the opposite direction from f4 to f11. (A quick search online should give you a chart showing various reciprocal exposure settings).

To explain further, I had reduced the shutter speed which allows more light into the sensor while lowering the aperture size (better depth of field) which reduces the amount of light that hits the sensor. End result is the same exposure as Shot 1 is maintained but at different shutter speed and aperture settings. Note that the ISO value is maintained at 400 so it is the constant variable here.


Shot 3: Shutter speed 1/30th of a second, Aperture at f16, ISO 400

Much better depth of field at 1/30 - f16 - ISO 400

While the depth of field on Shot 2 was much better, it was still not good enough as the miniature behind was still a bit blurry. Using the reciprocity rules, I increased depth of field and compensated with a lower shutter speed. But the shutter speed was so low that any slight vibrations of the camera would have resulted in a blurry picture. So a better solution if you do not have a tripod-camera cable trigger combo would be to take the shot at a shutter speed of 1/60. To get a better depth of field at even lower aperture settings, we will have to change the one thing kept constant so far - ISO. 


Shot 4: Shutter speed 1/60th of a second, Aperture at f22, ISO 1600 

Required depth of field at 1/60 - f22 - ISO 1600

Using the settings of Shot 2 as the base to work from, the aperture was set as low as the lighting conditions allowed which was f22. As I wanted to maintain the shutter speed at 1/60 that meant I had to change the ISO. Under the reciprocity rules, I set the ISO at 1600 to ensure that the exposure stayed the same as (or at least close to) all the other shots so far. Now the differences in the depth of field might not be substantial enough to necessitate reducing aperture settings to as low as f22 but that's a judgement call the photographer will have to take depending on the way the minis are set up.

Next up for macro photography: Achieving the perfect black background in your shots

Word Bearers Anointed [Completed]

After a lot of procrastinating, I finally managed to complete my Anointed squad. I was generally pleased with how they turned out even though they can be improved on further. I am just glad to get them done and move on to other miniatures in my Chaos army.

It never pays to ignore the Word of Lorgar

Pride of Guilliman ... or not

Generally, I took longer with the final two Anointed as they had more details to paint. For example the trophies of war mounted on the spikes were more elaborate and the unmasked Anointed had flesh tones as well as a loin cloth which I wanted to spend as much time on as I could to avoid them coming out looking ... well ...bad. I hope I managed that at least.

Final two Anointed to complete my squad of five

Flesh tones came out a tad too healthy-looking with too much Ogryn Flesh wash added to the Dheneb Stone basecoat

Nice side view of the Ultramine head on a spike as well as a bag containing the warrior's Kahonas

Loved painting the skull icon ... it never gets old for me to do that

Less details than the unmasked Anointed but more details on the trophy spikes

Ogryn Flesh kinda does a good job at simulating rust on the blade

Can you feel the energy being pumped into the power maul?

There is no "I" in Team Lorgar

To prevent too much dust from settling on the miniatures, I placed them in a display case I got from your local Daisho shop. Got the display cabinet more than a year ago but never got around to using them till now. Was reminded of them when I saw them being used by a fellow blogger LordAK. They cost more than the regular RM5 as it is with most items in a Daisho shop ... around RM10 to RM20 me thinks, don't really remember. Need to get more as the IKEA display cabinet doesn't really keep dust away, not that I expected it to.

A Word Bearers cultist and Anointed squad in a stasis chamber

Stasis field engaged

So that's it then. Might start working on the Dark Apostle now or Cyrene Valantion or ... hmmm ... I guess I should do up a schedule to better plan my time, a 2Q 2013 hobby guidance if you will. Till my next post, thanks for reading and any comments are most welcome.

A Gooey Mess and Two More Anointed

Having used the old Citadel paints for close to two years now, I find the paints are still in good condition. It helps that I am very careful with them in usage and storage so as to prolong their useful shelf life. Currently, I only have three paints from the new Citadel paint range namely, Runelord Brass, Sycorax Bronze and Brass Scorpion. Unfortunately, less than a year after using these new paints, the first two colours have gone bad and turned into a gooey texture that renders it unusable.

Gooey sticky texture that has rendered the paint unsuable

I am still at a loss as to why this happened as it can't be a coincidence that two colours went bad so quickly. It seems as if the medium on which the pigments rest have dried up. I am sure I was very careful when using the new paints so I am left scratching my head as to why this happened. Sigh.

More Word Bearers Anointed joins the ranks
With the recent lunar new year holidays, I managed to complete two more Word Bearers Anointed. Trying to get as much painting done as I possibly can seeing that I am way behind schedule on my first W40K army. Am thinking of painting the Black Legion portion next to break the monotony.

Two more Anointed join the ranks

Same two Anointed from a different angle

This Anointed's left arm reminds me of the classic movie Evil Dead for some reason

The green sack actually holds some Gulliman warrior's kahoonas

Well that's it for this post. Hope to make more progress on the Word Bearers this coming weeks.

Word Bearers Army - First Anointed

It feels good to be back on the hobby bandwagon. Painting my first Anointed with my favourite blues tunes playing in the background ... it almost doesn't get better than that. For the Word Bearers Terminator, I tried to find a balance between a dirty grimy chaos theme, and clean clear lines of the False Emperor-loving Space Marines. It will take some work but I hope to eventually pull it off.

My first Word Bearers Anointed

The Anointed's tusks were a difficult challenge for a noob like me

Side view of the Anointed

Highlights on the shoulder skull icon was a bit tough to do

Back looks a bit too clean but I couldn't bring myself to splash more wash on it

Different colour mixtures with Boltgun Metal gave depth to the Reaper Autocannon

A wash of Devlan Mud kept the decal from being too shiny

Can you spot the Eye of Horus?

That's one down and four more Word Bearers Anointed to go. I took a lot of step-by-step pictures during the painting of the above Anointed, and it will all eventually be put up in a later How-To post. Still mostly using the old Citadel paints so it will be an old skool painting guide. 

Obstacles in my way?
Just reached my 100-hour mark in Skyrim and I am still hooked. Moreover, I am not even halfway through the main quest yet ... this game is massive. Trying to pull the arrow from my knee but it's a half-hearted attempt at most.

Saved up for two years for this beauty with a single coil pickup

Worse still, a software called Rocksmith has me picking up my guitar again after more than a year (took lessons for a year but never really practised as much as I should have). Other than painting up my Word Bearers army, my lunar new year resolution also includes finally learning to play a blues tune on an electric guitar. 

Building a Word Bearers Anointed Terminator Squad

After nearly two months of inactivity, getting back on the proverbial hobby horse was a challenge but a welcome one. Taking a break from the hobby kinda recharged me and I was psyched up to resume work on my Word Bearers army. So much so that I finished assembling a whole terminator squad in just half-a-day which is a record for me. So now, despite the Skyrim arrow still being firmly lodged in my knee, I am now at least back to hobbying again.

Why did the Anointed cross the road? To wipe the smirk off a warrior of Guilliman. What up!

Word Bearers Anointed - ready for paint work to start

A more detailed look at the Anointed

Termie (right) has a mutated arm cause I haven't figured what weapon to choose ... so it's a proxy for something or other

Other Word Bearers stuff
Other Word Bearers army related work that I manage to work on was to paint on the Scab Red basecoat for parts of the cultists. I tried to vary the placing of the red colour scheme so as to not overwhelm the minis with too much red as well as to imbue them with some variety.

Word Bearers Cultists with autoguns

Meanwhile, work on Cyrene Valantion has stalled a bit as I am a bit scared to embark on the next stage of the painting i.e. the mid-tones. Thus far, Cyrene has only been basecoated and given a wash. Still working up the courage to attempt the mid-tones for fear of messing up.

Work in progress for the Blessed Lady

Hopefully I will have more progress pictures in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading!