Friday 23 August 2019

On the Workbench: ECW Cavalry

Another unit has been completed for the Battle of Glastonbury. This is the Royalist, Earl of Caernarvon's Horse:

The regiment was split into 2 squadrons for the battle. Rather than one large regiment I painted the second squadron as the Earl of Northampton's Greencoats. They are virtually indistinguishable from Caernarvon's Horse but gives me another unit for future battles.

Another development involves a decision to increase my knowledge of photography! So far I have been only using basic settings on my camera and hoping they turn out ok. It will never be a hobby in its own right for me, I am just simply not enthused about cameras! However, I am conscious that some photos have not turned out as I would have liked. Daylight bulbs have been installed in my room which has greatly helped but I am finding certain colours create glare (especially desert bases) and others become garish (light blue on my Matildas and Hopton's bluecoats). So, fingers crossed, you should see more consistent photos in the future.

For camera buffs, mine is a Nikon D3100 SLR with no add-ons. Apart from that is a newly purchased Remote Shutter Release to speed up the process. Even though the camera is mounted on a tripod, pressing the shutter button can still create a slight wobble resulting in out of focus shots. I resort to using the shutter timer release, which although only a 10 seconds delay, can be time consuming if a number of photos need to be taken.

For the time being, now that I am on a roll, my ECW project will continue (with of course the 2mm Napoleonics and tree upgrades on the side). 

13 comments:

  1. Another great looking unit Jon:)

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  2. Photography is excellent and your brushwork superb! You pack a lot of detail in these little troopers.

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  3. Empathy on the camera front as I'm hopeless. That said your photos (to me) are consistently good. The painting on the cavalry is excellent: I buy and paint lots of Baccus 6mm figures so I know just how good your work is.

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  4. Hi Jon try manual focus turn auto focus off. Otherwise your usual high standard prevails.

    Regards

    Peter

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    1. Many thanks for that advice Peter. Trying various settings and will include that. Got my remote shutter release which has helped speed up taking photos.

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  5. Hi Jon
    Some of the modern DSLR's, I have two too my shame, have very sensitive Auto Focus and with 6mm will search all over the place for focus point, at least in manual you choose where to focus and I would think F8 in depth of field would be fine.

    Regards

    Peter

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    1. I had not thought of adjusting to F8 in depth of field. Something else I have learnt and will use that for the next photos, probably today with more ECW units completed. Thanks again Peter for your advice.

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  6. Good painting and photo. Whatever my phone camera turns out will have to suffice for me!

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  7. Hi Jon
    Are you using the Peter Berry rule set for these? I heard him discussing these on the podcast with Henry Hyde the other week.

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    1. I have yet to listen to that podcast but yes it is his 'Forlorn Hope' rules.

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