[Dave T Hobbit]

I am feeling as if I have had my own Chaos Warband Quest to get here.

First the descent into the vasty deeps to raid the Clart Horde for my wife's old digital camera.

Secondly, a search for the Charged Batteries of Compatibility.

Then, starting a dawn, quested I across the house seeking a location with soft yet strong light.

Finally, as promised some photographs of my models:


Soullgrinder, which doubles as a Defiler.

CSM Daemon Prince

Thousand Sons Rhino

Sadly but unsurprisingly ,as I have not used a camera in anger for years, none of the other pictures came out at all well.

As my wife's photographs with her shiny new digital mobile actually look like things, I might suggest photographing my models is (i) artistic and (ii) something we could do together.

 

[tu_shan82]

Good work man, have some rep.

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

...As my wife's photographs with her shiny new digital mobile actually look like things, I might suggest photographing my models is (i) artistic and (ii) something we could do together....

In the unlikely event :grin: this cunning plan fails, I should probably have a back up plan. Anyone point me at a good article/site for troubleshooting digital photography, so I can minimise spending valuable painting time on more random experimentation.

 

[bloodthrister]

well, I'm not exactly a pro when it comes to photographing mini's I do have some tips for you:

Use a white sheet of paper and hold it like this: (quick example made on paint )

this way you'll have a nice background for photographing, and it makes the mini's pop out a little better.

Next is the lighting:
Use a daylight lamp, with a sheet of paper hanging in front of it to dim it down a little. (don't put the paper straight on the lamp, because the lamp might get hot!!!) This gives a very good light to photograph with.

last but not least: use the miniature mode (a flower icon) on you camera. (dont know wether your camera has it, or wether you've used it, but this one really reveals a lot of details on a photo.)

when using those hints you'll probablly get a photo like this one (I used mij Nokia N95's camera for this one )

I know it still isn't perfect, but it sure looks good, and the background isn't very distracting (and the shadow on the background makes him looks a little more evil IMO, but you can Photoshop that away if you want

Now on to the mini's:

I really like the mini's you have! The only thing I don't really like is the soul grinder's head, it just looks too small IMO.

I do have a question: which head did you use for the Daemon Prince??? And which wings? They look very nice

 

[Sir Whittaker]

Love the soulgrinder/defiler, how did paint the daemon flesh? It's awesome! Like the twisting and warping Tzeentch feel it has too.

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

Thank you all for your comments.

I might even summon the will to try photographing again.

...Use a white sheet of paper... this way you'll have a nice background for photographing, and it makes the mini's pop out a little better....

I tried that first; as I live in the basement I could not find an indoor light source that gave any contrast without the flash, and everything washed out with the flash on:angry:, so the pictures are taken outside ni the garden, where my sheet of paper blew away!

...Use a daylight lamp, with a sheet of paper hanging in front of it to dim it down a little. (don't put the paper straight on the lamp, because the lamp might get hot!!!) This gives a very good light to photograph with....

Good idea.

...use the miniature mode (a flower icon) on you camera. (dont know wether your camera has it, or wether you've used it, but this one really reveals a lot of details on a photo.)....

It does; I found that after the first round of failures and thought it would solve all my problems; I have a horrible feeling the camera just has a really long lower focal bound.

...I don't really like is the soul grinder's head, it just looks too small IMO....

That might be an issue with the photograph. It is actually the head from the kit; I remounted it in the centre of the body as an homage to the old style Horrors.

...which head did you use for the Daemon Prince??? And which wings? They look very nice

They are both from a Wood Elf War Hawk.

Love the soulgrinder/defiler, how did paint the daemon flesh? It's awesome! Like the twisting and warping Tzeentch feel it has too.

The flesh is

1. Black undercoat/primer
2. Ultramarine Blue over all of it
3. Enchanted blue leaving UM Blue showing in recesses
4. 2:1 Enchanted Blue/Ice Blue mix leaving some Enchanted Blue showing
5. 1:1 Enchanted Blue/Ice Blue mix on the edges of areas I wanted to stand out
6. dots/thin lines of Ice Blue to accentuate
7. wash of Asurmen Blue

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

Having just about hacked the really precise fixed focal length on the camera a few (hopefully) better pictures.

First, a view of my pet Space Puppy:

One of my other Spawn:

Depending on my mood either a Terminator Champion or Sorcerer Lord:

More Terminators:

The other Defiler:

And some mutant Chosen:

Two Lightning Claws

Power Weapon

Body of a Flamer

 

[JB Mallus]

If you can.... try and crop the pictures so that it focuses on the mini. If you don't have the software I would suggest either Irfanview or Gimp.
You are making progress on the photo front

JB Mallus

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

...If you can.... try and crop the pictures so that it focuses on the mini. If you don't have the software I would suggest either Irfanview or Gimp....

Good call. GIMP is really easy to use.

Amazed at how much better they look just with cropping.

...You are making progress on the photo front ....

Thank you.

This reminds me why I gave up photography though; the judging distances by eye, focusing on the appearance of things instead of their value, half an inch making the difference between success and failure... hang on a second... :fool:

 

[KhainiteAssassin]

In my WIP, I have a bunch of pictures taken by a moderately cheap digital camera.

The way I do it is simple: 1. get good lightning (I use Florescent lights) 2. get a tripod to steadyness. 3. turn the flash off, and small object mode on, and 4. find a way to open the camera shutter. if your camera auto adjusts aslong as the shutter is open abit more to take in more light, it will make the models come out much crisper. It took me practice on how to get the models coming out perfectly in the pics though, since is the camera shakes while you open the shutter more, it will blur the pics.

 

[JB Mallus]

Now that I can see something
I really like the marine with the one large red eye. oh, and the bird man, too.

JB Mallus

 

[The Sullen One]

These are some truly stunning models mate, I love the converted soulgrinder, and your birdhead terminator, but my favourite has got to be your Daemon Prince. Arguably its best aspect is the contrast between the dark blue armour, and the green/yellow of the wings.

Having built so much in the way of Nurgle and Slaneesh recently, I'm branching out to the other two Chaos gods, and currently focusing on Tzzentch, so any tips or ideas you've got would be welcome.

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

The biggest problems I found were:

1. Avoiding too much change; good individual models do not always gel as a squad, so make sure there is a theme to the army and a theme to the squad.
2. Avoiding comical mutations; spawn arms are a case in point, bits that looked really creepy on the sprue looked like children's cartoon bad guys when I put them on the model, so I always dry-fit my changes first.

To try and keep it consistent, I came up with a few starting rules for my army based on my view of Tzeentch as change and subtlety:

1. To emphasise Change everything apart from Thousand Sons has a conversion/part swap
2. As these are a regimented force that had mutated, the armour colour scheme would be consistent (dark blue, gold), with mutations/detailing having a few common colours (green, pink, bright purple)
3. Tzeentch is fluid not tearing, so minimal spiky bits and horns. Where possible, any horns would be ridged warm bone rather than smooth
4. Trophies are a fixed view of the past, so I would avoid skulls and racks where possible.
5. Bright colours and no weathering, to give a magical look.

Bits-wise, the Spawn and Possessed sprues are a great start, as is the Arcane Books pack. However, to add personality, going through every single model in every single army on the GW site, with the question "How would I change that to fit my army?" turns up some surprising ideas.

Also, Tzeentch does not have to make mechanical sense; consider how else you might achieve a goal: instead of a special weapon, a flaming mouth; instead of a mammalian physiology, an arachnid. Try to come up with a list of crazy alternatives and put it somewhere you can add (but never delete) and review at will, then make a smaller list of the ones you can think of how to build/paint and start with those.

 

[NagashKhemmler]

Quite nice, I can't help but feel that a little bit brighter highlights would really work a charm however

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

Quite nice....

Quite nice! Talk about damning with faint praise!:grin:

I can't help but feel that a little bit brighter highlights would really work a charm however

The highlights are brighter in person; these are some of my earlier attempts at photographs so it is not as clear.

Of course - apart form the Soul Grinder - they were also all painted some time ago, so are slightly less skilled than my current work.:wink:

 

[Yllib Enaz]

Pretty good, I like the guy with the beak in particular.

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

Pretty good, I like the guy with the beak in particular.

Thank you.

 

[PapaSmurf124]

Those are some awesome minis. I love the Soul Grinder and your Daemon Prince is awesome. You did a lot of excellent converting on these models. +rep

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

You did a lot of excellent converting on these models. +rep

Thank you.

The possibility to indulge in conversion was one of the main reasons I left the False Emperor and joined Tzeentch.

 

[DestroyerHive]

Love the Defilers! But the Termie Lord looks too... Undivided...