Scale Models Photography - X-Rite Color Checker

Yukikaze, 1:700
43mm, 1s, f/16, ISO100

Slightly different topic from my usual landscapes and concert photos this time. I mentioned the other day that my trip to Poland was a combination of different objectives. One of them was Polish Scale Ship Modellers' Convention in Tczew.

Being modeller myself and a photographer at the same time I had to take a chance to shoot some good quality pictures of some of the models exhibited. I actually waited till exhibition was over and had a session in  a... kitchen.

Using just one fluorescent light covered with white A4 sheet of paper to diffuse light . As a background I used relatively large piece of white backside of wall calendar. The setup could not be simpler. Light source was positioned around 30 cm above of the model.

Gdynia, Baltic Sea Behind The Scene Snaps, Cont'd

Dębki Beach, Poland

Following up with the post from yesterday featuring Baltic Sea shots, I have received pictures of myself from Basia Kramczyńska from Gdynia, Poland, who snapped me on few occasions while I was fiddling with the camera.

All pictures (except two) in this post - courtesy of Basia Kramczyńska.

Even those few shots show that I love low angle and vertical framing. 16mm on full frame in vertical mode and shot from very low level produce really nice pictures.

Few Days by the Sea in Poland

Dębki Beach, Poland
16mm, 2.5s, f16, ISO 50

Lots of kilometres last longer weekend. Just came back from Polish seaside having on the clock over 2'500 new kilometres. Took me one day longer as I had small issue with the car and had to service it before hitting the road back to Vienna.

Nothing major, but could be very major if not fixed on time. 

I attended Polish Scale Ship Modellers’ Forum Convention in Tczew, about 30 km south of Gdansk. Being there I had to take the opportunity to take some shots by the sea. Especially being land locked all the time here in Vienna.

Dębki Beach, Poland
27mm, 4s, f16, ISO 50

Unfortunately I have not had much time to move around but tried to make the best from what I could. On Saturday afternoon we went all the way to the north to hit open sea - to Dębki to shoot sunset. For the following day we planned sunrise in Gdynia and trip to Hel peninsula. So the plan was tight. Distances are not dramatically big but when I saw what was happening on the roads I knew I would not be able to do very much. It is middle of the holiday season and tourists with their cars simply flood everything and everywhere.

Aha, I forgot to mention, I travelled with my friend’s sister and her friend who both have lived in Gdynia for years and knew the places and are very keen on photography. I very much appreciated their help and tried to show them some of my tips and tricks in return.

Coming back to day 1, that is Dębki beach (coordinates 54.833486, 18.062457).

Shooting Panoramas

I have recently watched video tutorial by Gavin Hoey about shooting panoramas and thought I would give them a try. Up to now I was not really into panoramas, sort of left them for later. He made it look so easy, and now having been inspired by Gavin I headed towards Vienna city centre, its old town and started to shoot...

Vienna Hofburg Panorama stitched from 7 vertical images

You need extremely wide and interesting building or structure. What could be better than Hofburg and Parliament, perhaps Schönbrunn but I will shoot it the other day...
I was after specific oval distorted effect to bring some extra visual impact. I stood in front of the central point of the structure and looked from left to right. It was supposed to be almost 180 degrees panorama. You need series of images that overlap by at least 30%. More overlapping areas will help to generate better and smoother panorama.

7 vertical images used for panorama