A MiniWarGaming Guide to Good Warhammer Photos: The Basics

Everyone enjoys taking photos of their cool terrain or freshly painted armies. So whether you’re setting up a nice shot with a Demolisher or zooming in to a battle between Aragorn and the wraiths on Weathertop, you want to make it look good.

The terrain may look great in real life but a poor photo will diminish any cool factor and dilute the desire to take any more. On a more optimistic note, a well taken photo of even a simple and basic army or terrain may enhance what really is there.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no professional photographer, but I’m sure you can clearly see the difference between the above photos. Although playing with the figures on the right was fun in real life, the photo on the left is more aesthetically pleasing to the viewer.

Background

Background in most cases is most crucial when it comes to good photos. Your best painted Gene stealer wont do a picture justice if the background is cluttered or messy. Below is a prime example of a photo with poor background.

In the photo above, can you tell what we’re trying to focus on? Perhaps the crater with green ooze gave it away, seeing as that it’s the most unique thing in the photo. Now, here’s a photo of a crater with a solid white background.

It’s a lot easier to tell what we’re focusing on for obvious reasons. Here’s the same crater with a jet black background.

Which do you like better? The white background serves for a better photo in that you can see the crater a little more clearly. Whereas the black background allows you to imagine a darker, more menacing feel to the terrain.

For photos such as these I use 22″x28″ bristal board. They are set up like so:

Lighting

Good lighting is half the battle. Check to make sure your flash is off if you have sufficient lighting. Here’s an example of a photo taken where flash was used but was not needed.

And the same photo without flash.

Notice how the second photo looks. There are more visible values and the light is evenly distributed. Natural light is the best if you can get it. It shows the true color of whatever you’re taking. Incandescent light normally has a yellowish value adding more yellows to your photo.

There are always options

Sometimes we feel that there aren’t too many options when taking photos. There isn’t enough lighting, there’s too much clutter, or everything doesn’t fit in the picture. Here’s an example of this very thing.

Notice how the top of the rocks is cut off in this photo. It doesn’t exactly look right wouldn’t you say? What about this photo:

Although all the rocks fit, the black bristal board background doesn’t cover all of the background. Let’s see what happens when we move the rocks further back:

Aha! There we go. Much better. All the rocks fit into the photo and all the background is solid. Now let’s see what happens when we get rid of our natural light:

Well…that’s obviously no good. So now we know we definitely need lighting and just how important it is. Now let’s try something different. Let’s go in close from another angle:

It gives for a more interesting view doesn’t it? Like going right into battle. Let’s put a few Elven archers into the photo:

Hummmph…I suggest if you’re going to take the time to make some photos, you’re best off painting your figures first.

There’s just no comparison when it comes to the difference. Let’s make the photo more interesting shall we? Let’s see what happens when Sauron is thrown into battle.