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Fallout – Leather Raider and New Camera Photos

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It might be hard to believe but I have a fairly modest (and shorter!) update this week. I spent the week working on a Raider who for some reason reminds me of The Kings in Fallout: New Vegas. They were a gang of young men who dedicated their lives to imitating Elvis in the post-apocalypse. I was thankful this guy is mostly leather and not full of straps like the last raider I painted.

Truthfully, this mini really needs rust applied because currently its all black and grey and not that visually interesting. He is the 4th raider I’ve painted up which means there’s only three more to go.

Since my last update, MMSI updated their website so if you’d like to see entries from this year’s show, here is a link to Gallery 1 and to Gallery 2. To my surprise, my take on Bastian Carthalos is captured in Gallery 1 and not the Knight-Judicator. At least the picture is a good one! Truthfully, I’m not sure how the minis included in the galleries were selected and by no means is everything in the show included. If anything, I think there’s one photo from each exhibitor or something close to that.

Some other noteworthy things that happened this week is that I sold off my only set of MESBG dice. I won’t give the exact price but they sold for over $100 if you can believe it. Its pretty wild because I paid around $20 for them if I remember right. At least a couple sets that GW made are real collector’s items these days. I don’t think that was ever Games Workshop’s intent but here we are.

I did treat myself to a new display miniature to replace Anubis but alas, it didn’t arrive today like USPS said it would so I’ll save that for next week. I am looking forward to getting going on it here in the coming days. Its certainly going to be something a little different.

Most importantly, I got my new camera and have been testing it a bit. I’m happy to report that it definitely is an improvement on the old one. I’ll show you some pictures that my previous camera took and then the new one. This may feel a bit like going to the eye doctor, but hopefully not too much!

Here are the original Wrathmonger pictures.

And here is what my new camera took.

That is quite a bit of improvement in my eyes! The colors look much closer to what I see in-hand and the image is much sharper too. I was also pleased that this photo required almost no editing. I don’t edit photos I take much but almost none is better than a small amount!

Here is one more. Its an old project that I could never get pictures I was happy with.

And here are some newer pictures with a mis-matched background, no less. Its a cold background for a miniature where I chose nearly all warm colors.

Not quite as noticeable of a difference but there are better colors and the photos a bit sharper overall which is nice. My overall feeling is that the camera is going to pay off in the long run and it will lead to higher quality photos, especially for anything darker that I paint. I did try taking pictures of the Knight-Judicator but found no significant difference from my previous photos so I don’t think the camera is going to elevate all of my pictures which is totally acceptable and not altogether surprising.

That’s it for me this week. I think its time to mix up what I work on so what I have to show next should be a surprise for both of us.

32 thoughts on “Fallout – Leather Raider and New Camera Photos”

  3. Nice work on that Raider. I guess not everyone in a Fallout warband can be so excitingly attired and every Raider captain needs a few unglamorous underlings who don’t steal their thunder.

    I never would have thought that a new camera could make such a big difference to the photos of your minis. It’s like a completely different view point! Now it makes me wonder what I’m missing from not being physically in the room to eyeball them.

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    1. Thanks, mate! Some Raiders definitely look like they’ve gone feral while others just look like rough characters that could be alive now.

      Thanks for the kind words on the new pictures as well. Truthfully, most of the minis I show on the website look pretty close to reality. There have only been a few projects that have never had great pictures taken of them because of my old camera’s limitations. I’m really glad to finally correct that and hope that all future projects get high quality photos too.

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  5. Nice return on the dice. GW does play towards the collector with their dice, they’re always the first to sell out and never are brought back. I don’t even know if they ever actually used in tournaments, but kept in their containers. The new camera is definitely showing off your miniatures better, I’m always hesitant to take “good” pictures of mine, I prefer the distance shots 😂

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    1. I can kind of understand why GW does that with dice. They are a niche product and could be overproduced easily. I can’t imagine collecting every dice set for a game but I’m sure there are people who do. I swear that dice set rolled really well too. I would use those for the good guy’s side and they’d always roll better than the other dice I got in the Goblin Town Starter Set for whatever that’s worth 🙂

      And haha, fair enough! I hope that does mean you’re getting older and older cameras to keep the minis looking good! 😉 As I’ve said before, I think you can push your painting skills, you just keep putting that effort into terrain instead 😀

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  6. A great looking Raider and I am sure the weather will take it to the next level.

    Your new camera seems to be doing the trick. The photos look amazing!

    Mrs. GG loves dice and we currently collect all of the MESBG dice sets… although I foolishly gave away several dice from each of the early sets because I did not realize they would become collectors’ items. I thought we would only need a couple of each set. Lesson learned. I loathe how GW plays on the Fear of Missing Out to make money.

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    1. Thank you, mate! The raiders are getting closer and closer to being ready for the tabletop which is nice.

      I’m really glad to hear you like the camera as well. It seems like it was money well-spent which is always what you want when spending more than $100!

      That is cool that you have a large amount of the MESBG dice. I think one thing about them that is cool is that you can potentially get dice to match the army/faction you play. There is definitely something cool about having themed dice in that sense! With that said, I do think the FOMO side of the dice is unfortunate. They seem to be an unintentional collector’s item more than the other way around…

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  8. Nice work on the Raider, I like the hair. I’m also not surprised on the dice. Some of the Blood Bowl dice can fetch a pretty penny too. The problem I find is that eBay can be so random. Often I lose money. Was the winner an international bidder? Been a long time since I’ve had one now, but the end bid usually ends up quite a bit higher.
    The Chaos guy is a hard one to capture, as he’s pretty 3d. The camera is having a hard time figuring out where to focus. The second set of pics are pretty nice though. I think your model works better on the cool background. You would think the warm would be a smarter choice, but I guess it’s the contrast that helps. You can see how the cooler bits (like silvery metal edges) come more alive in that second set of photos and create even more visual interest. I definitely think you got something there and it’s nicely highlighting your paint job. Question about that one, are the gems on the shield freehand or were they part of the model?

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    1. Cheers, Brian! I never put stuff on eBay in auction format so I set the price that I will accept. I did that with the dice and there was very little interest for nearly a month before someone bought it. I was pretty surprised when it sold.

      You’re spot-on about the Wrathmonger being hard to photograph. Its especially true on the backside which is nearly impossible to get good pictures of. Fortunately, that part of the mini isn’t that interesting.

      I’m glad to hear you like the cool background as well. It was mostly what was handy but I think you’re right that it works in this case. The problem is that I made a “novice” mistake with that miniature and painted everything in warm colors. I think that really takes away from it truthfully but you live and you learn. Just hopefully not on such a time consuming mini! 🙂 To answer your question, the gems on the shield are sculpted. They are pretty tiny and were a pain to get right, if I remember correctly.

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      1. I’ve thought about doing the same on eBay, but never gone that route. A few questions pop into my mind. Which I should probably ask through email or something! But here goes: Do you list multiple items on EBay at the same time? Free shipping with your set price? Do you combine like items? Is there a relist fee?

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      3. Thanks Jeff, I copied down your email for later. So feel free to delete away. I seem to have gotten sick yet again, so it might be a couple days before I reach out with those questions.

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  9. Excellent work on the raider Jeff, and having already seen the finished version it is a stunning piece. The new camera seems to be making the colours look a lot crisper, and I’m sure with time, they will only get better, as you learn all the little tricks with the new camera.

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    1. I suppose you spoiled some of this one for yourself by working back newest to oldest! I’m glad to hear you can see a difference with the new camera too. Its always nice when a big purchase lives up to your expectations.

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      1. I had seen your posts while I was away, but had been unable to comment on my phone (damn technology ! LOL) Just forgot to comment in reverse, I blame getting old ! LOL

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      2. I’ve never left comments using my phone. I could see it being kind of challenging, in fact. I use a desktop computer like an old person instead 🙂 I did almost leave a comment to tell you to go to bed last night. You were up pretty late!

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      3. I used to be able to comment on my phone, but when Blogger and WordPress did their updates I lost the ability, probably as I have all the tracking settings turned off ! LOL I use a desk top to, but then I am old ! LOL Asa for the lateness, I was still working on US time, and finding it hard to adjust back ! LOL

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      4. Haha, that makes sense! I didn’t realize you were back from the States. If I had known that, I would have cut you some slack! I’ve only been to Europe once and adjusting to the time change was a bit of a challenge to be sure.

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  11. The new photos really are an improvement. I know phone cameras are insanely more advanced than people thought they’d be but they’re not really designed to take photos of smaller objects. A DSLR is, and their software is also way better at things like white balance and colour depth, and they obviously have way better focusing abilities, not to mention the option to add an external flash.

    The raider looks cool in that black leather gear and shades, he’s almost got the look of a chubby Terminator LOL!

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    1. I think you said it well, Matt. The programming in my new camera is clearly better than the old and I think that is making a difference in the photo quality, thankfully.

      Haha, a chubby Terminator! I’ll take it 🙂

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