El Dave Photography

I'm jealous of extreme photojournalists. I envy their bravery and determination to get the shot, no matter how dangerous the situation or how great the risk to themselves. That said, however, you won't see me doing that. The greatest danger I want to face is looking at the flash when it goes off!

Thankfully, wargaming miniatures allow me to indulge myself without anyone being put at risk.

The Set: Gothic City Ruins by Pegasus Hobbies
The Subject: Laser Grenadiers by Dust Tactics

I wanted to capture the squad of Laser Grenadiers making their way through a burning city, their lasers having cut through whatever war machines the Allies were using. To get the lighting right took a little work. I put the table lamp pointed down through the side windows and put a redish-pinkish-orangeish piece of scrapbook paper directly behind the set piece to reflect the light and color through the back windows.

I took it into Photoshop and increased the glow, making it more vivid and less like scrapbook paper. Then I added the heat glow and called it a day.

How did I do?


(Click to see larger)

Be good,
-Dave

I promise one day she'll pray for me

|

Here's the thing. I don't like horror movies. Being scared holds no fascination for me and I can't handle gore. That said, however, there is something about the old black & white monster movies that just grabs me. What I like most is not the makeup effects (although Frankenstein is my favorite monster), but the cinematography. That the best tool the filmmakers had to convey emotion and mood was light and shadow.

Harsh lights, cheesy fog, and deep shadows are all a guy really needs.

Ok, maybe some sort of character wouldn't hurt the scene any.

Enter: Darkrasp, Death Priest by Reaper Miniatures.


(Click to see larger)

I think the biggest things missing are a full moon, bats, and cheesy organ music.

Be good,
-Dave

Boy be brave, don't let them take you no!

|

Oh man, guys. I almost blew it this week.

One of my resolutions this year is to not miss a weekly update. At some point between Sunday and Saturday each week, I will have something new to share with you, and I nearly let you down this week. Mea culpa.

In fact, my tardiness has caused some problems here in the studio. We had an appointment for a shoot with Thanos that turned sour when another gig ran long and I couldn't get back in time. My assistant, Reflector, tried his best to keep the Mad Titan busy, but there's only so much a toy camera can do. Thanos stormed out just as I was coming through the door. He shot me the old evil eye and kept walking.

"Hey Dave, there goes your eleven o'clock."

Oops.


(Click to see larger)

Be good,
-Dave

Lock my door, close my blinds
I wanna be by myself

|

Back in the scifi mood this week, so I thought I'd take the bulkhead set (is that what I'm calling it?) out for another spin.

Since I've been playing with the set for awhile now, I wanted to try some different lighting and see if I couldn't open it up a little more. Last time I kept the light low and the zoom tight to make it seem claustrophobic, but I'm hoping for a little more versatility from my set than just, "Oooh, so scary!"

In the foreground: Necron Lord
In the background: Necron Destroyer
(I would love to link to an online store, but Games Workshop makes that difficult)

The light setup on this is a desk lamp just a few inches above the set, angled down on the models. It lit up the Necron Lord's staff (appropriately called a Staff of Light) and definitely opened up the set. Now it looks almost like a glass roof or dome!

Ok, yeah. I like these sets and will be building more in the future.

Click.

(Click to see larger)

Be good,
-Dave

I walk over and ask
Ask the question will I ever last

|

Whoa. Bit late this week, aren't I? Well, I have a good excuse. On Sunday night I got to see one of my heroes perform live. For those that know me, you know I'm a huge fan of lucha libre, Mexican masked wrestling. Two of the biggest stars are El Santo and Rey Misterio and guess who got to see them both from ringside?
So yeah, I had a little over 500 photos to sort through, but you can see them on my Flickr page!

This week's shot is another fantasy scene. Taking what I learned from Boss Fight, I wanted to expand that out and improve on it as best I could. Where better to take inspiration from than from the Granddaddy of fantasy storytelling, Dungeons & Dragons? I dug through my old books for ideas.
Maybe some vampires and skeletons? Nah.
Goblin hordes? Nah
Displacer Beast? I don't think anyone would know what that is.
Finally it hit me. Why was I trying so hard? The clue's in the name. All I needed was a dungeon and a dragon. And maybe a few poor adventurers seeking to claim the dragon's horde.

For this shot I used:
Cathedral Wall from Armorcast
Water Dragon from McFarlane Toys
Devin Dunhaus, Mercenary from Reaper Miniatures
Dwarven Fighter from Wizards of the Coast

This one fell into place by itself. Hold the desk lamp above and behind, line up the camera, and... Click.

(Click to see larger)

Be good,
-Dave

I can go way back
in my mind

|

Remember when we spoke about Hirst Arts molds and I said I wanted to build a small set piece? Well, it's finished!


(Click to see larger)

Now I know, I know. It doesn't look like much now. It looks like some plaster pieces glued together, covered with paint and weathering powder. That's all going to change once we get our subjects on-set and do a little dramatic lighting.

Subject A: Lego Minifigures Spaceman (Series 1)
Subject B: Lego Minifigures Robot (Series 1)

Using a desk lamp, I lit the whole thing from behind so that the light would be spilling out over the Robot and we would get that great reflection off Spaceman's helmet. Make sure the poses are interesting; the Spaceman's gun is slightly elevated and the Robot is "walking". Fiddle with the lights one more time. Argue with assistant over exposure time. Hold your breath...

Click.



Be good,
-Dave

I hope it catched you up

|

Aaaaand we're back. Welcome to 2011! Did you enjoy your holiday break? I know I sure did.

One of the things I've been working on and really trying to improve is really opening up my idea of what my "Go To" shot is. As it stands now, I default to this:

(Click to see larger)

What I would like to do is expand that out and explore more of the scene. Bring a little more action, more dynamism. To do that, I'm going to need more that one figure... A quick glance at the shelves yields two fantasy figures that look promising. Benedikt Hellhorn by Reaper Miniatures and Ligori from Anima Tactics should do nicely. As a backdrop, I picked up a bit of resin cathedral wall from Armorcast and lit the whole thing with a table lamp, from above and behind.

I chose Benedikt and Ligori over other models because Ligori is head and shoulders taller. He towers over the smaller Benedikt! And really, how intimidating is a boss fight that you can look in the eye?

So what do you think?

(Click to see larger)

Be good,
-Dave

voices call, they call out my name, (my name, my name)

|