1/6 Hot Toys - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Scarlet Witch Figure

choombaz said:

Spanbauer, excellent pictures! Do you mind me asking you a couple of questions? Have you got the Wandavision figure and if so do you think this one is an improvement? I was a bit disappointed in the WV figure. The sculpt expression was a bit dead and the hair just annoying. I was thinking though I might just wait for the Artisan figure.

Also, I am looking to upgrade my camera and was wondering what camera and lenses do you use. The sharpness and color on your photos is really impressive. Is it Nikon? Thanks in advance!

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Spanbauer said:

Thank you! I actually had the Wandavision version on order but it was delayed for so long I was able to cancel it and order this one instead. After having spent a lot of time with this one and then seeing in-hand photos of the Wandavision version with fresh eyes, I can say this one is vastly superior. I think this one looks far more like her, and the costume doesn't leave any ugly exposed joints.

My camera is a Nikon, an old D5300, and I use this lens. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M74EPJJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

BUT, the photos don't look like that right out of the camera; I do a lot of RAW adjustments and then Photoshop for final color adjustments, vignettes, effects etc.

Here's a rough idea of before and after. if you're curious.

View attachment 717154

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Spanbauer said:

Thank you! I actually had the Wandavision version on order but it was delayed for so long I was able to cancel it and order this one instead. After having spent a lot of time with this one and then seeing in-hand photos of the Wandavision version with fresh eyes, I can say this one is vastly superior. I think this one looks far more like her, and the costume doesn't leave any ugly exposed joints.

My camera is a Nikon, an old D5300, and I use this lens. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M74EPJJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

BUT, the photos don't look like that right out of the camera; I do a lot of RAW adjustments and then Photoshop for final color adjustments, vignettes, effects etc.

Here's a rough idea of before and after. if you're curious.

View attachment 717154

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Austano said:

Do you have any recommendations for a lighting set up and backdrop sets for your figures? Backdrops are always the hardest I feel when doing toy photography. I have Nikon D3500 as well shot with lense 18-55mm.

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Spanbauer said:

Happy to! This is what I’ve cobbled together:

This backdrop: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09CYY1276/

With these supports: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098NMG2JR/

And a large webcam ring light as my main light source: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D3D266R/

With two of these for accent lighting: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MDQ3CJY/

And this set of dimmable soft boxes for fill lighting: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B9SDSK22/

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Austano said:

So would you say when photographing your hot toys figures. That the webcam lighting helps capture the sharpness more than the studio box lights? Is there certain settings you have for your nikon set to? With my photo of Doctor Strange I attached. I still feel it it fuzzy and blurry to much when zoomed in. So not sure if I need to change settings on my Nikon.View attachment 718079

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Raνen said:

Your aperture settings are very low. The F number I mean. So you're getting a very shallow depth of field, which is why its blurry around the edges. You need to increase that to get more sharpness.
You should also try to always use a tripod if you aren't already

When you increase the aperture you also need to modify the exposure and shutter speed to capture the light

More often than not its the camera settings you need to change so you have to play around with them, look at what you're doing and learn from your mistakes.

That shot is fine but remember that too much light can also be a bad thing. Shadows and contrast are equally as important. You're sure to develop your own style with time.
This shot for example was done with no artificial lighting. Just daylight and the appropriate camera settings
https://cdn.imagearchive.com/sideshowcollectors/data/attach/525/525641-DSC-7195-Enhanced-NR.png

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Austano said:

So would you say when photographing your hot toys figures. That the webcam lighting helps capture the sharpness more than the studio box lights? Is there certain settings you have for your nikon set to? With my photo of Doctor Strange I attached. I still feel it it fuzzy and blurry to much when zoomed in. So not sure if I need to change settings on my Nikon.View attachment 718079

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Spanbauer said:

In addition to everything Raven said, i would add a few things. The studio box lights alone would create very flat lighting without much contrast, and the result would be very similar to your example image there. The ring light I use allows me to bring the light in close to the figure and position it to cast shadows in the most flattering way - and that’s the secret to bringing out the likeness in any sculpt.

And when I want an intentionally dark scene, I turn off the soft boxes altogether.

Then you of course have to adjust your camera settings so that the figure’s skin isn’t over-exposed and blown out.

You also want to take control of the camera focus point and make sure it’s always on the figure’s eyeball closest to camera. In your image it appears the camera has chosen to focus on the cloak fastener, which is part of why the sharpness of the face feels soft.

Here’s another behind the scenes. With the light this close, I’m usually shooting F5.6, 400 ISO, and around 1/100 shutter.

View attachment 718110
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Austano said:

Thank you for the tips and photo examples! So I know you mentioned previously that you do change sone things in photoshop. So the backdrop you had was white then you changed the color in photoshop instead of using a grey backdrop?

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Spanbauer said:

Welcome! With the lights so close to the figure and the camera exposed for her skin, the white backdrop becomes grey very quickly, but in that and a lot of my images I’ve added additional vignetting in Photoshop to make the background even darker - yep!

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Austano said:

Sorry if I am miss reading the amazon links you sent. I don't recall finding the link for the tripod the mini ULZANZI VL49 RGB Video lights attach too? Do they come included with the lights?

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Spanbauer said:

Ah! Yeah the little tripods weren’t included. I actually have two ring lights and the little tripod came with this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088FK5PDW/

And that other contraption is called a Gorilla Pod; I’ve had that around forever.

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choombaz said:

I have a tendency to keep breaking them lol.

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