Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Everything is so epic! I love the Tau Killteam! I love everything! Fantastic stuff!

Great job on your latest piece, I feel like it's a good progression from your normal clean n crisp style of painting by having some gradients on the panels like you've done here. The right gauntlet is particularly nice!

Hey all, nothing crazy to report. I painted up a tactical marine for my kill team, alongside a vanguard alpha as a test model for my admech kill team. Suffice to say that I am a kill team addict at the moment
I'm very frustrated with my lightbox at the moment, though. It feels like the photos never quite come out right at the moment. I think it needs a little revision.





LDP

The face on that marine is great, superb work bringing out the expression!

Stunning work as usual, LDP. Your marines are a thing of beauty.

Great work as usual.

Is it just me/the angle, or does his head seem huge in that picture? I know marines are not the best proportioned minis out there, but that guy picked it out for me. Could be the incredible detail.

Kill team is a lot of fun. I like how it gives you the opportunities to add some personality via specialists to otherwise boring line troops. Marines especially. Every single tactical marine is suposed to be a hero with decades of combat experience. Nice to have a change to give them some flavor.

On an different note:

What do you do to get your cluttered army shots, like the one you use in your signature? The mass of marines, rushing to battle look? That kind of snapshot really captures the feel of the old artwork, where we see nothing but shoals of warriors, pushed up onto the margins, fighting in the center, or off panel.

Is it just camera angles over massed minis? Risers in the back? Tweaked exposure settings to get everyone in focus? I’d like to try to get that same kind of pic, but my photography skills are as mediocre as my painting...

Thanks Para and Snrub, your comments are always rejuvenating and keep me inspired to work on and share my stuff.

@Neve for the army shots, typically there are a few things I try to focus on. In terms of composition, I often tier the models as though they're standing on bleachers. It's very tedious, fidgety work but the results usually speak for themselves. This means that I stand successive rows on taller objects (the first row on the ground, second on crates, third on barrels, eventually they're stood on rhinos and the like ).

Camera angle depends on whether you want to capture a down-shot heroic horde, or get a greater picture from the top-down that more easily envelops all your models.

In terms of cropping and framing the shot, I try to ensure that miniatures get cut off by the edges of the picture. It's not a convincing horde if you can see the whole body of the man that is stood on the edge. The key is to invoke the idea that this horde is 10x larger outside of the shot - as such, your force looks a bit meager if they don't spill out of it

Here's a photo I took recently that employs all of these considerations:

OMG, that picture looks freaking cool, and they all are very amazingly painted. NICE!!!

Thanks for the tips. I’ll have to see what I can cobble together.

Great group shot of the Ultras there!

Sons of Orar are looking really nice! Your whites are so nice and smooth.

Have you experimented with image stacking for your photos? That might be the missing sauce you're looking for

Such a fantastic looking army. Each and every individual painted to such a high standard, magnificent.

Just read through this thread- brilliant! So much skill, both in terms of painting and kitbashing... well done, sir.

Matt,

After browsing thru your blog/gallery ( ), I am convinced that you either had some heavy duty Lasix surgery on your eyes, or you are painting with the aid of a stereo microscope.
Amazing work!