Covering new ground

Here's another one of the Dark Sword miniatures that was used in the "How to cover a broccoli base" series of posts.

It was a fun exercise in muted colors, and balancing the browns vs greens.  Grey was used as a "go between" color, to make it easier in blending those two together.

Also, this was my first chance to try out the new foliage that I brought back from Reapercon.  I really loved it!  Not only did it mimic the colors I painted on the figure, the leaves were light enough to stand out against the shadow areas of the cloak!

The individual leaves are very nice... actually shaped like real leaves, with a touch of the veins in the lighter ones.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221798815146?

Know when to fold 'em

This product is something brand new... a photo studio that really is portable.

It's from Foldio, appropriately enough, and I think it will be just the solution to my 'on the road' photography issue. This box holds everything, even the lights!

That was always the bugaboo with my previous "portable" suite.  The backdrop folded up, but it was heavy, and I was still left with two pretty big lamps that would get scalding hot.  This meant that I had to wait for the lights to cool down enough so that I could pack them.

Not such an issue here, as you can already see the LED light strips.

It comes with all sorts of AC adapters, so they will work in all regions of the world.

There were four backdrop colors.  I have a great deal of testing to do with these.  For instance, I am very curious to see how the black backdrop might work in this system.

Furthermore, I am quite hopeful that the Hangar 18 backdrops will work with this system.  My assumption is that the larger backdrops will be required.

As I mentioned before, it is very lightweight, and small.  It uses magnets to allow you to assemble and take it down in no time at all!

You can see the magnets pretty well in this image.

Now the box is turned right side up...

And we have the LED strips.  What's truly amazing is the concept of allowing you to control the intensity of the light!  Those round dials on each strip let you turn the light up or down as needed.

It took a few seconds to stick them onto the surface.

This is the bar that holds the backdrop in place.  It is so much better than my previous system, where the backdrop was held in place by a velcro strip that was tough to use, and didn't work with anything else besides the one or two backdrops that came with the set.

These are the four background colors.  Again, I want to see what happens with that black backdrop!

For my initial experiment, I went with the neutral grey backdrop.

Lights are plugged in, and a figure in the box!!!

Did I mention that this suite is quite large for something so portable?  That's a 40mm base, and it looks tiny.  So, this should fit those vehicles, big monsters, groups shots and even buildings!

My next post will show you all the various test results.  No matter what, it will certainly be replacing the massive, bulky setup that I must drag around with me when the show goes :on the road".

Stay tuned!!!!