You may have noticed last build that I used the black background in the lightbox. It’s been a while since I’ve done that.
Also, it looks different! There’s a reason for that!
Simply put, the stock black insert that came with the lightbox is too shiny.
It makes the background way too distracting (especially when it picks up dirt and hair), and in some cases, like the photo above, it’s so reflective that it actually makes the model too bright:
I tried different things, like using the black cardboard sideboards that came with my older, smaller lightbox:
But those are a pain to keep in place.
I also tried lowering the lights, but (at least for most of my time in this hobby) I didn’t know how to deal with low light shots, so they were usually a blurry mess.
My next idea was to simply apply matte clear coat to the insert, which you can see below with Epyon:
So then I went and got some black felt and attached it to the insert with velcro:
Now it’s not shiny, but it’s wrinkly. It’s also still really bright. So let’s try it again, but this time I’ll use the ring light for a lightsource, rather than the LED’s built into the top of the lightbox:
The background looks better, but the lighting on the model is weird now.
I finally got fed up enough that I did the thing I probably should have done in the first place, which is look into how to do low light photography, and how to better illuminate the lightbox.
Long story short, I found some camera settings that seem to work okay. I also re-positioned the light source, and pulled the model as close to the front (and thus as far away from the background) as possible.
I’ll give you a sneak of some of the shots I was able to get on my most recent build. Keep in mind that this is still with the felt background:
These aren’t perfect, but what’s important is that I don’t hate them. And now I feel like I have a couple of tools and settings I can fiddle to try and get even better shots.
It’s progress, and that’s what counts. And hey, maybe now I’ll finally get around to photographing Real Grade Wing Zero and Epyon. I’ve been wanting to do dark shots for them both, since they primarily fight out in space, but up until now it never felt like a viable option.