Diorama photography and scenic backdrops

I really like scenic pictures of miniatures and battle scenes. They capture the stories of the scenarios we play so well. One great example are the motives on the Calendar by Stronghold Terrain they released as part of the German translation of the rulebook.

Other examples are the incredibly well done pictures by Jomada / HvM Workbench. He covers his high quality painted miniatures arranged with terrain pieces and backdrops.

I am working on painting more miniatures, and I have quite a decent collection of terrain, so what am I missing to try out taking such pictures? Well, primarely the backdrops.

I used motives I found with the Google Image search and from my travel pictures. I ordered a couple of printouts of those motives in the size of 60 x 20 cm (24 by 8 Inch) at Posterxxl, as they had another sale and put a coupon on top.  That way I could buy 7 backdrops for roughly 25 EUR. They arrived about a week after I ordered them.

The set is just loosely to see if they work, so this can be made and will be done in a much more professional way in future, but I wanted to try it out right away.

Most important is a flat angle and that you have a lot of light. I took a picture and post edited really quick and dirty, to cover up the bases, added a bird flying high up in the sky and smoke to the gun.

There are a couple of links that I found and will study to get deeper into that topic and take better pictures of upcoming projects.

• Shutterbug – How to take scenic photographs of miniatures part I
• Männer allein im Wald – How to take scenic photographs of miniatures part II
• Wargames Photography @ TabletopGaming
• HvM Workbench Galleries
• Fotografieren von Figuren und Dioramen

And of course there are the very lively pictures, that the Perry twins share with the community among other channels via facebook.

If you have tips or tutorials to add, please let me know in the comments.