This short tutorial will tell you how to recreate the iconic White Dwarf style of photographs we all remember and love.
In the 90s and early 2000s, Games Workshop filled their catalogues, rulebooks and their signature White Dwarf magazine with photos of miniatures. These photographs were often shot against a distinctive blue to white gradient backdrop. Recreating this effect is easier than you would think. It only requires a camera (even a smartphone one), a couple of desk lamps, and access to a colour printer.
PHOTOGRAPH AND BACKDROP Setup
The top picture above shows how I set up my hobby desk to take the photo you see below it. As you can see, it really doesn’t require a fancy lightbox, camera setup, or other expensive equipment. The keys features are below.
LightS
The first key element is light. I use two Ikea lamps as lights, and they each have daylight bulbs in them for neutral light while painting. This is conveniently the type of light you want to ensure nice, clean, bright colours. One lamp is angled down, facing slightly behind the mini to kill the shadows generated by the other lamp, which is pointing directly at the miniature from as straight-on an angle as possible. They approximately fulfil the roles of the back light (or background light) and fill light in the traditional three-point lighting setup. This is really the minimum number of lights you need to achieve classic White Dwarf style photographs.
Camera
Secondly, set your phone up nice and level, propped up on something so you don’t get camera shake. My phone has a so-called “Pro” mode where I can manually focus and adjust the exposure and white balance, but this isn’t required. Of course, if you have a proper camera, a tripod, or other fancier equipment this will be a lot easier. You’ll also probably know more about photography than me, in which case thank you humouring me by reading this post.
Action! (The Backdrop)
Finally, download the zip file below. It has an A4-sized backdrop pictured above, as well as a letter-sized variant for my North American visitors. Also, it’s free!
Click here for retro backdrop goodness!
I put this together in Photoshop and printed it off on my home Inkjet. I then taped it to something moderately tall and heavy; in this case a big tub of mod-podge. Then, curving it flat, I held it in place with a weight. I use empty bottles of GW shade paints filled with sand as painting handles (hooray, bonus hobby hack!) and these work great.
Position your miniature so that, if you crouch down and look at it face on, the gradient falls nicely around the model’s waist. You can tweak how far you curve the backdrop, or move the miniature forward or backward, to achieve this.
With these tips you should be able to get the retro, classic White Dwarf style photographs your oldhammer miniatures have been clamouring for! And if you don’t have any nicely painted miniatures, how about paying me to paint you some? Head over to my commissions page and get in touch! For more pretty pictures, check out my Instagram. Happy snapping!