How to take pictures of model cars as realistic.

Hi, I've been experimenting for a while to take model cars as realistic as

possible, however only 1 out of say 10 shots comes out good. Tried under the

sun, indoor, using macro , tripods, etc, but too no avail. It's really that

hard or just me. Should I be getting a a macro lense? Could someone please

advise.

 

My best result were indoor with

Exp Cp: -1 or -2/3

Av : 5.6 or 4

Tv : 8

ISO : 200

 

Thx in advance !

 

P.S. I am using 20D and a 24-70 lense

Have you considered using a prime lens? Tripod should help a lot. Do you fancy post-processing in Photoshop?

Well, the first thing would be to define what's wrong with the pictures you get now. What's not 'realistic'? Do you mean the picture to look like the one of a real car?

 

I'm not the most experienced here but I'd say it's quite difficult to make a model car look like a real one. The materials just won't look the same. You'll have a lot of trouble controlling lighting and especially depth-of-field at such close distances.

 

Are you trying to replicate something you have seen done somewhere else?

 

P.S.

And Canon EOS has very little to do with all this - another forum may be more suited.

You didn't mention the scale of the models (1/18, 1/25, 1/43, 1/87, etc) but try the following.

 

Use a tripod and natural light. A polarizing filter is a plus to control reflections. Put the camera in AV and stop down to 8 and try a few shots. If you don't have a remote release, use the self timer. Do the same at 11 and 16. If you shoot head or tail-on or profile, depth of field (DOF) is not a problem so f8 will suffice If you shoot a classic 3/4 front view, DOF becomes an issue. A macro lens is overkill on larger models such as 1/25 but could be useful for the smaller scales like 1/87. Once you have the basics down, you can try other light sources such as bounce flash or multiple flash. With bounce flash, set an extra stop of positive flash exposure comp if you can or set it on the body. Use that as a starting point and go from there. Bounce usually works much better than direct flash, especially if you are photographing models that are still in their original packaging. A longer lens may also be helpful with smaller models, but this increases issues with DOF. If your body has DOF preview, use it to check your shots before you make them. Good luck!

<p>Photoflex has a free lesson on lighting model cars.<br>

<a href="http://www.photoflexlightingschool.com/Lighting_Lessons/Basic_Lighting/Product___Still_Life/Model_Car/index.html">Photoflex lesson</a></p>

<p>They want you to buy their stuff but you can probably create the same look by using tracing paper to soften your lights.</p>

<p>The people in the lighting forum may be able to provide more help.</p>

If a model is to look real, you need to shoot from a low angle and use a focal length and aperture that will give a 'normal' look rather than a 'macro' look. To my eye, the big problem with your sample is compressed perspective making it look like a real car shot wide open with a 600mm. Using the 24-70, I'd go for 24mm and f/16 (or as low as you are willing to go considering diffraction). You want it to look like it was shot by a real (small) person standing near the car just like would be done with a real car. Small depth of field looks very odd since it is hard to get that result on a full scale shot and the error makes the image shout 'macro' rather than 'showroom'.

Just a guess, but I'm thinking that your objection to your photos is the shallow depth-of-field.

 

If you want significantly more of the car(s) to be in focus than you can get just by stopping down to f/22, you'll either have to (a) use a small-sensor (point-and-shoot) camera that would give you the same "telephoto" effect with a much shorter focal length, or (b) use a tilt lens or camera (knowing that using tilts will throw some parts of the subject even further out of focus).

The <a href="http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/offonce/pid/3708"> manfrotto</a> website has a good tutorial, like the one above it leans heavily on the use of its own products but still shows some good techniques.

I think putting an image of a dog in the picture besides the wheel, pissing on it, will make it more believable.

 

To be serious, I you can photoshop it to incorporate a true image in the picture scaled to the size of the unreal car, I think it would help alot.

 

But sorry, I dont know how to do it, I'll just read the post of others here , for me to learn too.

I'd use a fast prime like a 50 1.4 or maybe the 85 1.8 and a tripod and remote shutter release. Use as small an aperture as you can for greater DOF and try for a more diffuse lighting setup to eliminate as much glare on the models as possible. My brother assembles model tanks and I've had success with this setup, though most of my shooting has been outside in natural light. Lighting is the key IMO.

Good luck.

Wow, it is more difficult than I've expected.

 

Thx for all the overwhelming answers - learning all the time. As soon as I've grasped the technique described above I'll start experimenting. It sounds kind of technical to reach my desired result. What I'd like to do is to make shots of models, scale is 1/12 in my example, as if they're real or hard to tell it is a model.

 

Did try to shoot from a lower angle (nearly flat on the floor) but it is hard to look thru the viewfinder. Furthermore, I also deliberately avoided using flash knowing it'd overexpose the models. At the end, I tried indoor and in shade to soften the details of them. Anyhow, I'll definitely use all your tips. Cheerz !<div></div>

FWIW, a dead give away that the photo is of a model, is the amount of detail in the model. For instance, variance/tolerance of gaps in the various parts is larger than it would be in real life. You might find better success with 1:6 or 1:8 scale, if possible.

I would say try shooting it using macro lens. EFS60mm or 100mm macro. I have pretty good results.

Lighting is key.

<br/> Try this for lighting: <a href="http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent/">DIY light tent</a>. There are a few other designs on the web.

<p>There are a lot of tricks involved in making a photograph of a toy look like a photograph of the real thing. Everything from depth of field to camera placement.</p>

 

<p><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/al3/giphotojoe/Photo_Tip1.htm" style="text-decoration: underline; color:#0000A0;">here</a> is some advice from a fellow who takes such pictures of G.I. Joe dolls, be sure to go through his various pages of tips.</p>

WL Man:

 

You mentioned having trouble using the viewfinder with the camera close to the floor - yes it is - I used to shoot wildflowers from their vantage point and some were as small as your cars.

 

I found the solution, although it may not fit your budget:

 

 

http://www.adorama.com/CAAFC.html

 

 

In case this link doesn't work, the site is Adorama, and the thing I'm using myself is an "angle finder". For the current cameras such as your's, it the Angle Finder C.

 

I wouldn't be without mine - you can put the camera right on the floor.

One of the problems with this sort of thing is the much reduced depth of field. There are two things you can do to help with this.

 

First, some people use tilt and shift lenses to place the plane of sharp focus more usefully. I think this will still give an odd look.

 

Second, a better way will be to use focus stacking software. You will be able to get n X as much depth of field with n frames without having to result to very small f-stops and so loosing sharpness due to diffraction.

 

A very easy to use and free tool is CombineZ5 http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZ5/combinez5.htm

 

I use this a lot.

Put your small subject on a table, preferably in a diorama of the same scale, and get up off the floor, take many exposures with different DOF, keep the good ones. If you can find a modle train buff, his layout may provide you with some interesting settings for foregrounds and backgrounds. Also shoot cars like you see them in the magazines, not just a side view.

Hope this helps.

Put your small subject on a table, preferably in a diorama of the same scale, and get up off the floor, take many exposures with different DOF, keep the good ones. If you can find a modle train buff, his layout may provide you with some interesting settings for foregrounds and backgrounds. Also shoot cars like you see them in the magazines, not just a side view. Hope this helps.

 

Once again Thanks for the response !

 

That won't help as most of my models are in 1/12 and 1/8 scales. But thanks for the tip. Lastly, It is indeed very hard to control DOF and lighting like most said, especially 3/4 views. Anyhow, I'm trying all the tip given! Cheerz!