Wee Men

Wee Nun Tries Dating (single shot)

I have neglected my blog for way too long and as a way back into it again, I thought I'd try to put together a post about how (and maybe why) I shoot "wee men." In Irish and Scots slang, "wee" simply means little or small. I got into the Wee Men through the fantastic work of Slinkachu; if you haven't checked out his work, you should really do so.

Gear
I shoot with my Nikon D800. I like the resolution on this beast and it seems to do pretty well with macro photography. That said, any DSLR that you can stick a macro lens on will do the job for you.
I use a Nikkor 60mm f2.8 lens, mainly because it is the only macro lens I own - macro means it will have a much closer minimum focusing distance that most lenses which lets you get in close to small subjects.
A tripod
A remote or cable release ( nothing fancy needed - my third party cable release cost £10 from amazon)
Some wee men - you can buy these from Amazon (search for model railway figures) or from sites like Priesar or Gaugemaster in the UK. I find HO gauge works best but there are other sizes/gauges available.
Agave syrup. This is invaluable for getting little figures to stand upright and washes right off afterwards. I tend to dip my wee men's feet in it when needed.

Setting Up
I do some table-top shots and some outside in various locations such as streets, parks, the garden etc.
The key to really good wee men shots is to have a narrative in the shot - a story; something that says something or means something. Not having a narrative will still produce decent shots but they will lack either the impact or interest of shots that tell a story.

How To Shoot Flag Protests (single shot)

My advice would be to have an idea for the narrative before you start to shoot.

Forensic Investigation (single shot)

Shooting
Set up your scene, focus on the central figure(s) and away you go. With macro lenses you get very shallow depth of field so take account of this, or shoot for focus stacking later in post processing.

Focus stacking is what I prefer. This means using one single focus point and taking a number of shots with the focus point set on different parts of the scene.

Choppers (6 shots, focus stacked)

Post Processing

For single shots, there's very little that I do other than cropping and boosting the colour saturation and perhaps adding a slight vignette, all done in Lightroom 5

For focus stacked shots, the process looks like this:

1. Import RAW files into LR5 and crop, adjust etc one shot as needed then sync across all shots
2. Export files as either tiff or jpeg
3. Open Photoshop (CS5, CS6 or CC)
4. Go to File > Scripts > Load Files Into Stack
5. Use the browse window that pops up to select all of your stacked tiff/jpegs and open them
6. Once all the files have loaded, select them all by control/clicking each one in turn
7. Go to Edit > Auto Align Layers and select "auto"
8. Wait for photoshop to align the layers then Edit > Auto Blend Layers and choose "stack images"

Vatican Makes Surprise U-Turn (12 shots, focus stacked)

Once this has finished, flatten your image
I would make any final adjustments at this stage then sharpen the image by adding a new layer, selecting the high pass filter and setting it to a value of around 10-11 and then using "overlay" as the blend mode.
Flatten the image again, and Bob is (as they say) your uncle.

2013 365 - 32

Things are picking up a little after the past few weeks and a little (very little) mojo seems to be returning. A couple of kicks in the teeth this week; couldn't take up an offer to go to a music festival (sick child) and another roller derby promo shoot was cancelled at late notice. However, I plugged away and the wee men were out this week as well as a lot more shooting with the fisheye.

5/08/13

Absolutely loved this shot from last night's wrestling in Antrim. All the elements I've been trying to catch came together at the right time. For the first time I was able to use a three light set-up for the wrestling thanks to the balcony' two speedlights on the balcony to cross-light the ring and one on the camera for fill. That's one going off behind Eamon as he launches himself off the corner post.

6/08/13

I'd promised myself that the wee men would get an airing this week and took them out to the garden and greenhouse. Here they are harvesting the shallots.

7/08/13

This is such a simple shot. It's a weed growing in the middle of the back garden. 60mm macro lens and the whole backdrop blurs into green.

8/08/13

The wee men again. It is sad to note that it is now Augusts and my tomatoes are still green. A couple are threatening to ripen but it's pretty much wall-to-wall green tomatoes in the greenhouse.

9/08/13

Donaghadee lighthouse, shot with the 8mm fisheye and given some faux-hdr processing to bring up the sky.

10/08/13

A bit of fun with the fisheye as well. Can you tell that I'm loving this lens? Depth of field is amazing and the distortion can work very well as a creative tool.

11/08/13

Yep, more fisheye fun, this time at the top of Victoria Square in Belfast. Went there to try some shots of the roof of the viewing gallery and then accidentally put my hand in a shot (not hard to do with a lens with a 180 degree angle of view) and had an idea to try this.

2013 365-24

Back to basics this week, and it looks very like summer has been and gone here. The rain descended yet again, forcing the cancelation of at least one outdoor photo project.

10/06/13

I did the third in a series of "bump" shoots this evening with the amazing Ell'o and Pier. We had planned to visit Belfast's Botanic Gardens this evening; I had anticipated sunshine but got overcast and cloudy instead. I ended up using some flash for a dramatic effect (?) and can't say i'm totally happy with some of the results. We had about four different set-ups around Botanic, this was outside the Palm House and I picked it because it's a good shot of Ell'o's bump.

11/06/13

Responsible pet ownership, rural style. I was going to say "Ahoghill style" or "Tyrone style" but chickened out in case I offended anyone reading my posts who lived in either of these places.

12/06/13

I was working in Glenarm today and had a strange notion to check out some wee men that I had put in place in an abandoned factory outside the town. Of the four original wee men, only one remained, looking as fresh and as well as the day I placed him there. His female companion had long since vanished.

13/06/13

The angriest robot in the world. Found this guy in a classroom I was working in this morning and he looked so fearsome I just had to take a shot of him.

14/06/13

I was doing some cleaning and tidying this evening when I found a handful of big elastic bands. One thing led to another. I took about six different shots with different arrangements of the bands. I think I need more bands and stronger bands -  I'm coming back to this one.

15/06/13

Thanks to the unrelenting rain, we were stuck indoors all day and decided to convert the kitchen into a mini studio. This was my favourite shot of Sarah, and it really needed minimal processing. Sarah then got her own camera and took some of me. They weren't half bad - she has a real talent but is way too bossy when directing her models.

16/06/13

Sarah again, riding through the new bike trails at the Mary Peters Track. Second time we've visited these and they're pretty fun. A nice way to spend a Sunday morning and get some exercise. Not bad way to spend father's day either come to think of it.

2013 365-23

Jesus, but summer seems to arrived in Belfast. Scorching hot weather all week and a trip to Donegal with the lads at the weekend? Yes please.

3/06/13

Taken and processed on my iphone 4. This scooter has been sitting in the street all week. Kinda spooky. Why? What happened to it's owner? Why has no-one stolen it (given that this is East Belfast)?

4/06/13

Bright sunshine isn't always the best weather for photos. Luckily I got my hands on a couple of sets of wee men from a tiny (and very weird) model shop near where I was working today. This is titled "Bob didn't know if it was the drink or the heat, but he knew he had to get Anges home."

5/06/13

"Jim's neighbours were a wee bit precious about their bins." I have on occasion taken the wrong bin, with far from hilarious results.

6/06/13

Travelling down the Ards peninsula this evening, armed with only my little Sony Nex-3 camera which I was getting re-acquainted with prior to heading off to Donegal. Had to stop and take this shot as the sun went down at Kircubbin pier and a few kids jumped into the water off the pier. The wee Sony coped well with the shot, although I did nearly cry when I realised that I didn't have my big camera with me. Thanks also to Maxie, another togger who'd stopped to take the same shot and ended up talking with me for so long, I was well late for dinner. It was great yakking about photography to someone whose eyes didn't glaze over when you mentioned white balance and ISO.

7/06/13

Colin, enjoying himself in Donegal. This was taken after he'd done his usual mugging for the camera and actually just relaxed. The sun was setting and the light was just as golden as I've ever seen.

8/06/13

Martin's mussels. I'm not sure I'd have taken this shot if I hadn't had a few pints and a wee whiskey, but I climbed up on a chair and zoomed my 18-55mm lens all the way out. This was the rather fetching  result.

9/06/13

When this is the sight that greets you when you walk out of the door, it doesn't half put a spring in your step and a bit of lead in your pencil. Taken before Alec went swimming and lost a tooth, but that's another story entirely. Donegal and the beach were not to blame.

2013 365-13

This week brought some strange and interesting offers and opportunities in terms of photography, sadly none of which I can talk about just now as I need to see how they will progress over the next few weeks. Plenty of shooting this week, and plenty of roller derby.

25/03/13

Promo shoot for Belfast Roller Derby yesterday afternoon, on the theme of Bloctopussy (Octopussy) where we were trying to recreate the origianl movie poster. It all worked out well, although it did take a fair bit of pre-planning and practice to get the four separate shots needed in order to merge them in photoshop. I wrote up a write up of how I did this - check it out here:

Bloctopussy Shoot

26/03/13

Was up and around early this morning and tried this panorama across Strangford Lough to Scrabo Tower. Not 100% happy with the shot of the processing of it, but its the best shot I took today.

 27/03/13

This is John McCullough, taken outside the Duke of York bar in Belfast. John is finally retiring and we met up for one last pint in the Duke. John was my first supervisor when I was a trainee psychologist (25 years ago) and he has had to live with the shame of this ever since. A genuinely nice guy and I hope he enjoys his retirement.

28/03/13

Fishing boat in Portavogie Harbour this morning. It's HDR processing, it's a wee bit over the top but it does bring out the sky really well. Might try this again, only without the big building on the right.

29/03/13

Flag protestor in tragic yet slightly ironic accident. I started playing about with a tube of toothpaste and various different sets of wee men. One thing lead to another and before long the red, white and blue toothpaste got me thinking about flags and this shot just appeared.

30/03/13

Robert suspected he was on a promise. Toothpaste wasn't the only thing I bought in the chemists. I had thought of doing something using a box of condoms and my wee nuns but this ended up being the best shot of the day.

31/03/13

Staying on the theme of wee men in the bathroom, I noticed how the oval shape of the sink would lend itself to some tiny skaters. My bathroom is pretty small and getting a camera on a tripod, two speedlights and a cardboard box of wee men wasn't easy and involved me falling in the bath at least once.

How Not to Photograph Street Protests

A couple of pointers for anyone thinking of photographing the current street protests in Belfast, although the best advice (given the way protestors have been treating photographers) is simply "don't."

Not Advisable

Potentially Suicidal

Better, But Still Risky

2013 365-2

Don't be asking me to explain why, but this week ended up as a week of macro stuff featuring (mostly) the wee men and some dinosaurs. If you read last week's post, you'll have spotted a reference to the currently ongoing protests in Belfast about the removal of the Union flag from Belfast City Hall. These have kept going this week as well and I started off the week with another shot, which led to another, which led to another and so on. The shots about the flag issue have proved very popular on both Facebook and Flickr; I'd rather the protestors gave up and stopped giving me ideas for photos. I'd probably also settle for people protesting about what I happen to consider to be more important issues like jobs, benefit cuts, cuts in public services and so on. Things that actually make a concrete difference to most people's lives?

7/01/13

I put this up with the description "after baton rounds and water canon failed, the PSNI try a different approach." This was (I suppose) expressing some of my annoyance and irritation about what I see as the pointlessness of the protests. I can't help but think that a small group of people are intent on damaging their own communities (either intentionally or unintentionally) and Northern Ireland as a whole for the sake of what flag flies or does not fly over one building. I would fight for people's right to protest peacefully and democratically about what they believe in but tend to see the violence in Belfast as being driven by other less noble factors, represented by the dinosaurs. Old stuff, and stuff that might never change. I also can't help wondering what would happen if more people, particularly in loyalist/unionist communities actually came out to vote come local elections - actually used the democratic process to effect change. One thing that has emerged from the current events and which I do agree with is that there is a very significant disconnect between elected politicians and the ordinary working class people, particularly in protestant/unionist /loyalist areas of Belfast. I wonder if that can be expressed through the medium of wee men and macro?

8/01/13

I hadn't realised that it would be so hard to buy a "normal" looking toy car. This was the best I could come up with although I did also find a dead ringer for my own car in the same Tesco bargain bin. I'd obviously never make a good rioter since it took me 20 minutes and half a tin of lighter fluid to get the toy car to burn. Also incinerated a couple of wee men and a flag who had got soaked by the puddle of lighter fluid. All in a good cause I suppose.

9/01/13

Nearly 200 shots to get two shots like this. a syringe of green food colouring suspended from my backdrop stand over a white floor tile with another tile as the backdrop. Trying to time the drops with hitting the shutter release at just the right moment was nearly impossible. Also messy - the table, floor and dog were all splattered with green dots by the time I gave up. Low shutter speed (1/160) with two speedlights placed to each side seemed to work well in freezing the corona of the splash.

10/01/13

The morning after. The wee forensic scientists get stuck into my burnt out car. As is anything like this would ever happen in Belfast. I'm afraid to ask how civil disturbance sits with my car insurance.

11/01/13

Sadie and Anges have been absent for some time, although they did make the effort to get some practice in for Operation Standstill tomorrow evening. This is being touted as Belfast City Centre being brought to a complete halt by flag protestors during the evening rush hour. I shall be aiming to be at home from lunchtime.

12/01/13

Operation Standstill appeared to pass off relatively quietly; in Belfast terms that means only one pipe bomb thrown at a house and only one bus burned out in East Belfast. That and stories of medics and carers being denied access to their patients and more police officers being injured. That's "quiet" for Belfast I suppose. Gordon the Express Engine was discovered in a charity shop bargain bin, which was where I got the idea for this from, although I'd have preferred it if he was looking just a bit grumpier.

13/01/13

Burning the car again, although I thought this made a nice shot with a bit of humour and some narrative. Entitled "Sister Assumpta never got to join in with the other nun's fun" I just like the ideas of the wee nuns getting up to all sorts of badness in their spare time. Next up is trying to figure something out with the wee nuns and the wee monks.

Wee men and a Telephone

Was doing a bit of clearing out today and found an old corded phone handset. Just happened to have my box of little people on the table at the same time. An hour later, I got back to work.

Christmas Buckie

In between prepping the family Xmas dinner and cleaning the house, I came across a bottle of the infamous Buckfast tonic wine, drink of choice for the young and the desperate. The fact that this rather lethal concoction (15%) is really made by the Benedictine Monks of Buckfast Abbey never ceases to amuse me. Having just taken delivery of a set of miniature monks, the rest, as they say, was history.

Product testing and quality control, Buckfast Abbey

On a slightly different tack, I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and can't wait to see who got a new camera from Santa. Happy snapping folks, happy snapping!

Wee Men in the Kitchen

Had a hour to kill and decided to get the wee men out this evening and play with them on the kitchen table.

The carrots didn't make it to dinner sadly. Neither did the dog.

This is a pretty straight copy of a shot I'd seen done in a book called 52 Photo Ideas (I think). I felt better for doing this. Wee men, concentration, thinking about narrative.