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.

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.

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.

367-50 Week 30

Silence descended this week, a silence I can only best describe as "uneasy." It's strange, but when you're shouting/being shouted at you yearn for silence and then when you have silence you yearn for shouting.

What's that you say - this is a photography blog - get on with it? OK. I've made a slight change to the look of the blog over the last couple of weeks. I think that the black background works better with photographs? Double Bank Holiday this week for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Guess I should get out there and record it. My arse. As a fervent anti-royalist and republican (not the IRA-type, the not having a Queen type) the whole thing just seems like a monumental waste of time, money and energy.

4/05/12

I did however take the dog for a walk this morning to discover the Family Fun Day at Stormont. Lots of families, very little fun. They'd even wheeled Uncle Hugo in to present his show live just to make sure that no-one enjoyed the day. Had a nice walk, met a an old friend from University days and we had a bit of a natter and a cup of coffee. I still can't figure how she looks twenty years younger than me when we were in the same year at Queens. Damn. Anyway, I started thinking about doing something with the wee men - it's been a while. I also started thinking again about Slinkachu's approach where he creates "installations" of a kind by gluing the figures in place and leaving them there. That evening, armed with a box of random wee men and a tube of superglue, I returned to Stormont, a plan hatching in my little brain. I set about six scenes up around the paths and they turned out really well. I also made sure to take the type of establishing shot that shows the placement of the pieces a little more. I love the depth of field in this shot, but I got some other pretty good shots too. Shall we try to make it a wee men week? I think so.

5/06/12

I visited Stormont this morning, to find that five of my six set-ups from the previous evening were still there. On the way home I saw the empty bus shelter and had this idea. I waited until it was late afternoon/evening and the light was dimming before attempting this shot - the car headlights are a nice addition.

Later that evening, on my way home around 8pm, I passed the bus stop and there were two people waiting for a bus. And the wee men were still where I'd left them.

6/06/12

Took the box of wee men and my tube of superglue to work today. At the side of our wonderfully named office ("The Chalet") is a wall which is in the process of falling down. There is a line of bricks standing out from the main wall, and it looked perfect for two little walkers to stand on an survey the landscape. I sort of envisage the lady saying "one day son, all of this will be yours......." of maybe "I can see your house from here."

7/06/12

Ok - it's not a whole week of wee men, my apologies if you're devastated. I was working in Slemish College, Ballymena this afternoon when the whole school emptied at 2.30 because the Olympic Torch was coming along the Larne Road. It was raining and not the warmest, but I took my camera and took a few shots. One of the school staff (bear in mind I've only worked with the school for four years) asked me what paper I worked for. Every bloody togger in Northern Ireland seems to have taken a photo of the torch on it's travels, so I guess I didn't want to be left out. Once in a lifetime opportunity and all that.

8/06/12

Damn if I'd didn't sidetrack myself from more wee men shots. Went off to shoot the Fresh Meat intake session for Belfast Roller Derby this evening. Fresh meat means new recruits, by the way. Great fun was had by all, and coming from someone who does Aikido, falling over has never looked like so much fun. There's a real family feel to BRD and seeing daughter number 2 giving it a crack this evening was amazing. The session was run by the extremely able Lil' Miss Guttersnipe, who even had a hug for me at the end of the evening. BRD travel to Dundee tomorrow for a bout - how I wish I was going with them!

9/06/12

Back to my photographic desecration of Stormont. This slightly germanic-looking mom-and-pop set up has lasted the longest. It was still there today, and this must be due to them being placed under a barbecue stand on a picnic table. The fact that it's rained all week might also have something to do with it.

10/06/12

This guy has a certain something - the confident stride, the way his head is turned, the path bending and fading out of focus behind him. I'm not sure what it is but I do like this this shot. The colours work quite well - greens and blues seem to be quite pleasing for some reason. I've enjoyed getting back to the wee men this week. The idea of actually putting them somewhere and then leaving them has also been an interesting exercise. By today (i.e. Sunday) of my original seven pieces, only two remain in place. What happened to the others? Guess thats why it gets interesting.

Post-script
I think that one other thing that I've learned from this week and the wee men shots is that my previous preferred macro lens (Sigma 105mm f2.8) is not as good in terms of sharpness and colour rendition as the second hand Nikkor 60mm f 2.8 I picked up about a month back. Anyone interested in a second-hand Sigma 105mm give me a shout (michaelbarbour902@btinternet.com). It's in a nice zippy padded pouch and hasn't see much abuse. Pretty good condition all round - make me an offer.

Railway men and Macro

I'd seen a few shots lately of little railway figures used in a variety of settings for macro photography. The one that caught my eye was a cracking shot of a a little hunter with his rifle raised facing an oncoming (full-size snail). I tried to re-create this shot, but failed due to a non-cooperating snail. I therefore retreated to the kitchen armed with a set of mountain climbers and hunters/lumberjacks. I found a large slice of left-over chocolate birthday cake for the climbers and then found I had to chop a butternut squash for dinner - time to call in my own miniature lumberjacks.

Technical stuff - Nikon D90 with Sigma 105mm macro lens. Set on aperture priority mode with and f-stop of 5.6. This gave shutter speeds of around 4" so I set up the camera to take shots on self-timer and naturally stuck it on a tripod. Post processed in Lightroom to saturate colours a little and a spot of vignetting to focus the eye on the central characters.