The PoO in the Light Box
Having just completed my Hinton Hunt Prince of Orange I thought it an ideal opportunity to try out a light box I bought with the hope of improving the quality of my photographs. So, here he is:
As usual, close ups show up the difficulty I always have with metallic paints - why will they never flow like other colours? As for the light box, it doesn't seem to produce enough light and I had to put a box under the back drop (need some better back drops) to bring the figure nearer the lights.
All in all, I'm a little disappointed with the light box, but then it was the cheapest I could find (c. £7) so I guess cheap is as cheap does. Unfortunately, it hasn't really answered the question as to whether it's worth investing in a more expensive version. If it weren't overcast days, I'd be happy using natural sunlight but waiting for better light at this time of the year seems hopeless.
Lovely little miniature and a cracking job on him, really nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie, I'm pleased with him apart from the dodgy gold braid. Anyway, he looks fine to me if I don't wear my painting glasses.
ReplyDeleteI also got a cheap one - probably the same one - here in New Zealand. I cannot fit a unit in line in it. So I brought some white foam core and am making a bigger one using the LEDs from the cheap one I brought.
ReplyDeleteMine was a "Photo Studio Lighting Box Green Screen Photography Backdrop LED Light Room Tent". I've not tried anything other than single figures in it yet so maybe I'll have the same problem. I don't really like the black or primary colour backdrops, but when I tried the white one, it reflected so much light that the figure appeared backlit - which sort defeats the whole purpose of the light box!
DeleteNice little addition. I have a middle of the road light box but still cannot achieve the results I used to get with an old fluorescent lamp which sadly died 10 years ago!
ReplyDeleteI sympathise, old much-loved gadgets always seem to work better than the new - shame the same doesn't hold true for people.
DeleteLove that you have given this piece of PoO a great home. That beak of his could rival ole Nosy himself! As usual, your paintwork is amazing and attention to detail astonishing. The colour and detail on the back of the figure is particularly impressive! Are you photographing with a camera or phone? I find my phone actually has better light sensitivity than my camera and is certainly easier to use. To me it looks like there is a little distortion in proportion going on, as if a very wide angle lens was used. I tend to back away a bit from the subject and use a tighter angle to minimize distortion.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for letting me have him. I did consider shaving his conk down a bit but as I'm pretty sure he's an original HH casting I felt I would get in trouble with the HH zealots down-under. His horse was a different matter, surely a recast, but good one, so I took off the breastplate and crupper and added some fur covers to his holsters.
DeleteHi Rob, If memory serves he came in the original packaging, but I believe it was a Dave Clayton casting. I believe the HH collector down-under has said DC had originals of the generals from which to cast, so that would make sense that he was a nice crisp figure. Maybe the horses were not included with the originals.
DeleteAw! Don't spoil it! I have so few HH originals.
DeleteThe vast majority of mine are DCs I believe, so very few cast by Marcus as well. :(
DeleteSorry, I forgot to answer your comment about the device and the lens - it's an old camera, a Canon Digital IXUS 970 IS and has a 'macro' setting that will focus as close as 2cm hence the distortion.
DeleteLovely paint job Rob…
ReplyDeleteNot bad for a £7 box…. I think my light box cost about £25 it has a 50cm x 50cm footprint I can just get a full unit ( 18 to 24 men… depending on the scale) into it…
I also use boxes to get the figures closer to the light…
The backdrops you get with these things are all pretty terrible…
I found an image on line and printed it out…
All the best. Aly
Thanks for the tip about sourcing online images and printing them off for a backdrop - I shall surely do that.
DeleteThis is one of my favourite HH personality figures and you have certainly done him justice!
ReplyDeleteI gave up on my light box a long time ago and decided that the key is really the photo editing software although I only use the basic one included with Windows.
Thanks, I also use MS Photos to tart up my pictures - I thought I'd try a light box as I'd hoped to get sharper images to work with.
ReplyDeleteI'm a chopper myself when it suits me, Rob. I'll also add things with a fair bit of abandon. I try not do this on originals, but when needs must ...
ReplyDeleteI think he looks splendid. I've never bothered witha light box. What I have three anglepoise lamps with powerful bulbs in them, so getting the lights up close is not an issue.
Thanks, I've become quite pleased with his conk, it looks better painted up than it did on the bare casting and it will make up for the more nasally challenged figures in my scratch force (still a very long way off from being an army).
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