lighting a figure

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brian

A Fixture
Joined
Jun 5, 2004
Messages
4,781
Location
scotland
I'm in the progress of painting this figure of Pegaso's Sherriff and have noticed the difference a background colour affects the figure,hence the reason i've posted 2 pictures.
Brian
 

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hi brian, first can i say great job on the figure both times. i see what you mean about how the background colour can affect the figure. which does lend itself tomake you wonder if some off the finished figures we see painted up look like that when you see them in the flesh. on the other hand i read peoples comments that say a photo does not do the figure justice. to my eye the one with the red background looks the better it would be interesting to hear off others as to which they prefer. :any road up : nice work. dave.
 
i dont know the figure with the red background looks darker in color .anyway this is a detail. great painting by the way!!!
 
The background will certainly affect how the figure looks, especially in a photo, because it provides reflected light that helps light the figure. Personally, I prefer dark, neutral backgrounds because they make the figure "pop" and do not alter the color balance I worked so hard to achieve on the figure. I guess, in the end, there is no right or wrong; just what you prefer.
 
colors and optical illusions

Interesting! Well, there is no visible difference in the colors of the figure between either photo, except that the one with the red background is more highly saturated. This means that it is slightly under-exposed (or the blue one is over exposed, take your pick).

Any difference color-wise between the two is purely imaginary. When I photograph figures, I tend to go with the opposite of the "tendency" of the figure. This figure is clearly "warm". There is no cool color on it at all. So I would choose a cool background such as blue. It looks fine against the red too, although this is a little counter-intuitive to my thinking.

The one thing I would say about the blue is that it is a little "neutral" looking (grayish in this case) so it does not "read" as well as the red. I think a more bright and pure blue color would give a better visual effect than the red shown here. But since the blue used is grayish and the pic unsaturated, the red reads better in this case....
 
I agree, the esposure on the blue has a slilghtly higher value, maybe a stop or two, since the highlights in the holster and pants show up more. Do you have a spot meter on your camera? If not, a slightly darker background will average the whole image higher.
When I photograph my figures. I choose a relatively light spot on the center and set the meter to that, I can then adjust the compositin and get the exposure I want.
 
Thanks for all the feedback.I'll finish painting the figure and take on the tips you lads kindly posted
Brian
 
nice one mate. i preffer the red back ground also, makes the colors stand out more!!! I bet it looks completely different in real life to!!!!!!!

It looks better in real life as do all of my figures.Which proves i'm not the best with a camera,but it would be worse if it was the other way round!!
Brian
 
hi Brian
nice work .The one with th blue background is the one i like best
Regards
Roberto
 
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