# Jurassic Park 4.5... Velociraptors are Dangerous!



## cgipson1 (Jan 8, 2012)

Ok.. So I was bored! I went to Hobby Lobby and checked out the toys... to find something to play with. This is what I found!






















Now this is plastic.. and somewhat shiny plastic at that! I tried to show off the "Muscle Definiton" and the "Skin Texture" by using two different lights in various ways...

not bored anymore!


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## Overread (Jan 8, 2012)

The link is on my other computer, but look up Cross polarization flash lighting- or something along those lines. Basically taking polarizing film and putting one section infront of the flash and then putting a polarizer on the lens itself. You then turn the polarizer on the lens and you get a varied effect which will either have no effect or will fully cancel out a lot of reflections from the subject. It can render things very different looking, but for the shiny plastic might well be a great option to lose its shinyess


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## cgipson1 (Jan 8, 2012)

Overread said:


> The link is on my other computer, but look up Cross polarization flash lighting- or something along those lines. Basically taking polarizing film and putting one section infront of the flash and then putting a polarizer on the lens itself. You then turn the polarizer on the lens and you get a varied effect which will either have no effect or will fully cancel out a lot of reflections from the subject. It can render things very different looking, but for the shiny plastic might well be a great option to lose its shinyess



This was only really reflective with hard light... I just softened it up a bit and it wasn't too bad. I purposely left them a bit dark.. kind of fit the look, I thought!    That is a good call on the polarizing film, though!


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## cgipson1 (Jan 8, 2012)

Some B&W conversions... 

Dark.. meant to be spooky!  lol!






Hmmm.. where is Lightspeed? and wheres the ketchup?


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## Desi (Jan 8, 2012)

To me, this is inspiring.  You have made them look more "real" than seeing the toy dinosaur itself.  I have twin almost 3 year olds, so I have an entire zoo of these animals in their room.  I've got to give it a go.  But I'll have to make do with only one light.  Thanks.


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## LightSpeed (Jan 8, 2012)

The last one looks GOOD.
You know the one you posted to make me look bad.
Damn thing looks real. Your use of light in this, is in a word, astounding.


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## LightSpeed (Jan 8, 2012)

The damn thing in the last one LOOKS REAL. Jesus.
I mean it looks real.


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## cgipson1 (Jan 8, 2012)

Desi said:


> To me, this is inspiring.  You have made them look more "real" than seeing the toy dinosaur itself.  I have twin almost 3 year olds, so I have an entire zoo of these animals in their room.  I've got to give it a go.  But I'll have to make do with only one light.  Thanks.



Desi.. Thanks! It is kind of fun... and definitely good practice! you can even work on your depth of field practice...


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## cgipson1 (Jan 8, 2012)

LightSpeed said:


> The damn thing in the last one LOOKS REAL. Jesus.
> I mean it looks real.



Thanks Lightspeed.. Just having some fun! And it is good practice!


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 8, 2012)

Just want to give you an idea what you may want to do next.


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## cgipson1 (Jan 8, 2012)

Schwettylens said:


> Just want to give you an idea what you may want to do next.



May have to give that some thought!  I remember when you first posted that shot.. I thought it was cool then, and still do!


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## Demers18 (Jan 8, 2012)

cgipson1 said:
			
		

> Some B&W conversions...
> 
> Dark.. meant to be spooky!  lol!



well it worked lol. That second one looks so damn real it's creepy.

You mention that you used two lights. I'm curious to know the positioning of them in that last photo.

From what I can tell you had one light on the right hand side slightly back and up some from the shadow ( please correct me if I'm wrong). I can't seem to figure out where the second one came from, unless you has one above and the other to the right?

Could you shed some light as to how you did it?


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## cgipson1 (Jan 9, 2012)

Demers18 said:


> cgipson1 said:
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The full body B&W? 

24" softbox 45 degree right / 45 degree high about 12" away with one SB-900 at 3/4 power.....on left at 90 degrees , one Sb900 at 1/4 power with the bounce card pull out and the flash head pointed up at about 60 degrees, just for a little fill. Both on pocket wizards, controlled by SU-800... camera on manual - ISO 400 | 1/200 | F14


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## Desi (Jan 9, 2012)

Damn you Gipson.....I was just about to go to bed too......then I saw these.  Had to sneak into the kids room and steal their toys.  All right, this was a lot harder than it looked.  Got a few crappy shots, but had to post my efforts.  Oh, cool shot Schwetty.




DSC_0148.jpg by Javier Descalzi, on Flickr




DSC_0145.jpg by Javier Descalzi, on Flickr

I've got to take the kids shopping for cooler toys.


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## Demers18 (Jan 9, 2012)

cgipson1 said:
			
		

> The full body B&W?
> 
> 24" softbox 45 degree right / 45 degree high about 12" away with one SB-900 at 3/4 power.....on left at 90 degrees , one Sb900 at 1/4 power with the bounce card pull out and the flash head pointed up at about 60 degrees, just for a little fill. Both on pocket wizards, controlled by SU-800... camera on manual - ISO 400 | 1/200 | F14



Yes the full body B&W.

That is quite a range of equipment. I'll have to google a couple of them as I'm not familiar with them all.

Did you go into your shoot with a preset of how you will place your lighting or is it trial an error? For example using the SB-900 @ 3/4 power?


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## cgipson1 (Jan 9, 2012)

Demers18 said:


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I actually played quite a bit with both the lights and the modifiers... I would shoot, check it.. and adjust something. Trying to make sure I didn't get glare off of the plastic, maintain good exposure, and get the DOF I was wanting... it was fun! Different positions on the lights / modifiers had the greatest effect... and yes, I tried several. I have done enough of this type of shooting to have some general idea what I wanted to do.. and then it just took fine tuning.

As a starting point.. look at any two light portrait setup... principle is the same.


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## Demers18 (Jan 9, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> Demers18 said:
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That's awesome, you really did a great job. I look forward to the day where I can get some "actual" photography lighting equipment and setup a mini studio in basement. (currently renovating it and making a little area for it) 
Lighting is something I haven't studied yet as I'm still focusing on composition and exposure. Once I feel I have a good grip on those I will add another element to my shoots and so on.


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## cgipson1 (Jan 9, 2012)

Demers18 said:


> That's awesome, you really did a great job. I look forward to the day where I can get some "actual" photography lighting equipment and setup a mini studio in basement. (currently renovating it and making a little area for it)
> Lighting is something I haven't studied yet as I'm still focusing on composition and exposure. Once I feel I have a good grip on those I will add another element to my shoots and so on.



Thanks! It adds another element of FUN to it also... you can do a lot with it!

btw... I cleaned up that Velociraptor shot some.. got rid of the molding line behind the hind leg.. and fixed the eye. Don't have it where I can post it here.. but it is on my Flickr... let me know what you think. Toy Velociraptor | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## Demers18 (Jan 9, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> Demers18 said:
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> > That's awesome, you really did a great job. I look forward to the day where I can get some "actual" photography lighting equipment and setup a mini studio in basement. (currently renovating it and making a little area for it)
> ...



The eye definitely looks better, seems to "pop" more and gives it more life. 
As for the leg, you can still kind of see where the line is but that's with me looking back and forth between the two and trying to look for it. If you didn't have the other photo to reference it I think anyone would have a hard time seeing it. Although, I'm sure you'll get it up to snuff in no time.


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## momo3boys (Jan 9, 2012)

Very cool! My 6yo thought they were real for a minute! I'm going to have to play with some of the boys toys too now...


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## cgipson1 (Jan 9, 2012)

momo3boys said:


> Very cool! My 6yo thought they were real for a minute! I'm going to have to play with some of the boys toys too now...



It's kind of fun! Get the boys involved.. maybe even get them a print of their favorite!  lol!


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