Model photography

OK. its not what you think but the models I am interested in photographing are the ones of a plastic kind. I am limited to just the camera and the ambient lighting. I use a sheet of blue poster board and a blue full spectrum light as well as some florescent lighting. My set up is a stock EOS 3Ti Rebel and the 55 mm lens. I want to find out some ideas and maybe some sort of critique of my shots. I just want to be a little more creative.

Here are some of my completed builds.

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Those models are beautifully done!

For the photos:
- For the wider angle shots, try to avoid cutting off the wings, pitot sensors etc.
- The shadows coming straight down are a bit distracting. I would google product photography and cheap/diy lightbox configurations for ideas on how to get a bit more light diffusion and try to alter the angle of the light, if you can.
- It looks like your light source might be a little dim, resulting in difficulty focusing. Are you using a tripod, or holding the camera?

Just a few thoughts. Love the models, those are great.

Leffe67 wrote in post #15358218
Those models are beautifully done!

For the photos:
- For the wider angle shots, try to avoid cutting off the wings, pitot sensors etc.
- The shadows coming straight down are a bit distracting. I would google product photography and cheap/diy lightbox configurations for ideas on how to get a bit more light diffusion and try to alter the angle of the light, if you can.
- It looks like your light source might be a little dim, resulting in difficulty focusing. Are you using a tripod, or holding the camera?

Just a few thoughts. Love the models, those are great.

Cheap tripod on some and hand held on others. I was experimenting with my f-stops so the pics there are sort of stuffed. I have a blue 45 watt plant bulb and a florescent tube behind it. I was also told not to use the AF function and do more manual shots. Thank you for the info and the compliments on the models.
Cheers. Paul

The models are excellent, unfortunately IMO your pics don't quite do them justice yet.

To my eyes the main issue is the lighting, too many shadows everywhere. I think you've got the right idea with the clean background but I would recommend taking the model outside to photograph on a nice overcast day, so you get a bit of "free" realism to your light.

Also try looking at a really good model plane photo and try and "reverse engineer" it.
In the meantime there are loads of youtube tutorials on product photography that explain way better than I could how to set up these sort of shots in a studio.

edit:
I'll add that with the sort of attention to detail mentality that is needed to build and paint such models you'll find picking up photography a breeze!
Good Luck.