In the previous tutorials, we covered how to use manual mode on our camera and properly light your subject. Now we’re going to learn how to compose an interesting picture using our subject itself (the Gunpla).
Also note that while this tutorial can be used for general posing purposes, I’ll be talking about posing from a photography standpoint as quite a number of action poses only look good from the very specific angles that you’re trying to photograph it at.
Photographing neutral standing poses
Frontal/Side views
This is what I like to call the “mug shot”. While good from a technical and record keeping point of view, I feel that these aren’t good at capturing your subject because you only get one plane of view. We might say that things look a little flat.
3/4 view
If we rotate the subject just a little, suddenly we can see a whole lot more. We can see depth, shadows cast, and so on. It makes for a much more interesting image to look at overall.
Low angle vs High angle
Shooting from a low angle can be used to give a sense of size and scale to your models. Here is MG Infinite Justice from high, mid and low angle.
Photographing action poses
The first thing I’ll mention is that poses that look good in real life, may not look good on camera, and vice-versa.
Building a good pose is one thing, but it’s a translating that pose into a good photo is another. We’re moving into the realm of art here, and so we need to discuss what makes a good photo.
Leading lines
Let’s once refer again to the best Gunpla poser on the internet, Lightning Ace’s blog for a photography study.
Take a quick look at the following poses/pictures. Not only are they good poses, but the man knows how to take a good photo too. Why are they so pleasing to look at? Notice anything in common?
Credits: Lightning Ace blog
My answer is that they all make use of limbs, weapons, and wings to create leading lines in the image. These lines guide your eyes when looking at the picture, subconsciously leading your eyes on how to explore the rest of the image. They draw your attention into the picture and make it “easy” to look at.
This is also the reason why the MG Gundam X is such an amazing piece of art. Almost every part of the kit directs your eyes towards the green gem in the chest, which is a focal point itself due to the colour contrast!
When taking a photo of an action pose, Arms and legs serve as natural “lines” and this might seem a bit of a no brainer, but depending on the angle we shoot at, limbs may be obscured or look out of place. Even the best looking pose may look goofy when captured at the wrong angle! Therefore it’s important when taking a picture that we tailor the pose for the angle we are shooting at.
I’ll now talk about the two compositions I typically see and use in my photography.
“X” composition
This is where lines at very wide angles roughly converge at the centre of the picture making a rough X shape. This is especially easy to do with kits that have wings or large backpacks.
The wings and legs of the Destiny Gundam create opposing lines that draw your attention further into the centre of the image. Note that the angle of the rifle and the left leg are roughly in line, as are the right leg and the wing.
Not only does the red and white on the Schwalbe Graze create natural focal points, but the gun, arms and legs are positioned to create nice opposing lines lines that lead your gaze in.
Posing all the various wings on the Gundam Portent can get tricky. In this case they are used help accentuate the lines created by the legs.
The shot of the Infinite Justice works nicely because everything directs your eyes towards the fist holding the beam saber.
Arrow composition
This is what I call when the lines roughly converge at one side of the picture. It’s usually a good way to test if your pose conveys a sense of movement to it.
Here some more examples of the arrow composition:
Convergence vs Parallel lines
In the examples provided we’ve seen two applications of leading lines. The first and most prominent is converging lines. The point where these two opposing set of lines meet creates a focal point.
Generally speaking, lining up these angles with the corners of the photo you are trying to take (portrait/landscape) would produce a more pleasing image.
In the V2 Gundam photo below the guns are angled in such a way to emphasize this. The long beam launcher roughly lines up with the back fin and the shoulder beam cannon lines up with the leg.
The second use are parallel lines. When two sets of lines are roughly parallel to each other they create a “frame” that set out the important part of the image, like the shield and the arm in the GP01 image, and the two beam sabers in the Exia.
Similar V2 pose but at a different angle. The lines no longer line up as well and as a result the image isn’t quite as punchy.
In the above example, the funnels themselves serve two purposes, to fill the dead space in the image as well and lead the eyes into the important part of the image, the AGE-2 Magnum itself. The direction of these funnels are very important, can you imagine what it would look like if they were in the same location but the directions were swapped? The overall balance and flow of the image would be lost.
Worked Examples
We’re now going to take a closer look at some the photos I’ve taken and how the poses could be better photographed, starting with the FA Gundam. Despite being a brick you can actually come up with some neat poses. The challenge with this kit is that it’s got so much going on with it that it’s hard to place everything in such a way that looks good. For example here are two near identical shots:
Left – The original pose I came up with. I want the Gundam to look like it’s flying forward.
Right – I just tweaked it slightly by moving the beam cannon pointing up. It’s a pretty small difference yet I have a clear preference for what image I’d rather be looking at. When the cannon is pointing downwards our eyes are kinda directed ‘out’ of the image. With the beam cannon up, it creates a nice blocker that returns our eyes back into the rest of the Gundam.
Left – I shot from a lower angle and lifted the double barrel gun up a bit higher.
Right – The shields are tilted downwards to create a nice “line” through the gun. We’re better but there’s still room for improvement.
Left – I tilted my camera on my tripod and got this. I feel it makes better use of the space and gives more of an impression the the Gundam is flying.
Right – Here’s another variation with the shield at a different angle. This one has a slightly better flow since the shield now creates a nice line along the double beam gun.
Left – RG Destiny Gundam doing its’ trademark Palma Fiocina attack.
Right – The same pose did not translate so well when we see it from the front. The legs look really stubby, so we’re going to adjust this so it looks better from the front.
We’ve managed to recapture some of the dramatic nature of the pose by re-positioning the legs further apart, and the beam rifle is angled further up to match the angle of the leg a bit. It looks absolutely hilarious when viewed from the side in real life, but this translates to a much better photo. I did these adjustments while checking my camera viewfinder once in a while to help position the limbs.
Always be sure to do test shots inspect your photos on a PC before switching to the next pose. Chances are you with some minor tweaks you can get an even better result. I got a more aggressive slash out of the Mega Shiki here by changing the angle of the shot a bit and lifting the back beam saber higher.
These flying beam rifle poses can be easily converted into a fly kick, all you need to do is turn the head around and shoot at a slightly different angle!
This shooting pose can easily be transitioned to a flying pose by adjusting the head and arm.
Playing with angles
It’s a good idea to disconnect your camera from the tripod once in a while just so you can explore other angles shoot at. Sometimes you can a more expressive or dramatic photo of the same pose just with a slight rotations. Sometimes you can even get new poses with very little work.
I was able to sneak this running pose from the flying pose by shooting from the front at a lower angle, pulling the leg forward and turning the head slightly. The shield and rifle are roughly parallel which creates a frame that also directs your attention to the head.
The camera is tilted for these shots to make better use of space and generate a sense of movement in the image.
The same Graze Kai pose I copypasta’d from the manual shot at different angles. Which one do you think looks best?
This MkII kick gives off a different vibe when the camera is rotated so the leg is closer to horizontal.
Left – Another prime example of where the angle can make a huge difference. Mega Shiki displayed upright as-is IRL.
Right – A simple rotation of the camera frame and it now looks like a convincing flying pose.
The concept of Silhouette
So now that we have a good action pose in real life, how do we turn that into a good photo? Well let’s talk about the concept of silhouette and how we can apply that to composition.
Silhouette
noun.
the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible in restricted light against a brighter background.
Silhouettes are important and overly visited point in character design. To go directly to the point, a silhouette needs to be uniquely recognizable. This has gone to the point that we all recognize a ball with two smaller balls on top of it side by side as Mickey Mouse’s head, and that silhouette cannot be replicated and sold. This applies to giant robots as well, and if you’re into robots, the following ones should look familiar.
Now let’s consider an example of this could come into play. Below is the 00 Diver Ace, with a good action pose but a not so great photo. Let’s see why.
Left – 00 Diver Ace in an attacking action pose. The pose itself is not bad, as you can get a sense of movement and action. I tried to experiment by kind of squashing the legs together to create somewhat of a curved line.
Right – I would not consider this to be the best photo or angle to take this picture, because when you examine the overall silhouette it looks a bit like a giant blob and you can’t really get a feel for what is happening.
Left – A slightly modified version of the pose above, the leg are moved apart a bit and the camera was moved over to the right.
Right – This picture presents an overall stronger silhouette than the previous version. There is more interest to the image and you can distinguish the action and limbs now.
I hope the above examples illustrate the importance of having a strong silhouette when tweaking your poses for the camera. It’s not always possible to get a clean outline, especially if your Gunpla is very bulky or has a large backpack or gimmicks, but nonetheless it’s important to consider placement of limbs and weapons to create a more interesting picture.
Using Bokeh
Our eyes are naturally drawn first to the area of the image with the most detail. Using the bokeh effect we learned in the “Learn to use Manual Mode” tutorial, we can help guide the viewer’s eyes to the important part of the picture.
This is also one reason that kits with an excessive amount of detail can be difficult to look at – they might be a technical masterpiece but your eyes just don’t know where to settle on!
MG 00 Gundam shot at a very large aperture of f/2.8 vs f/9. Because the head is the place that is the clearest that’s where you first look.
Changing the focus helps direct the viewer’s attention to certain aspects of your subject.
Further study
In this section I thought I’d show some examples of commercial work like box arts putting this into practice. These were created by professional designers and elements are usually placed in a way to catch your eye.
HG IBO Boxarts
Left – Boxart for the HG Gundam Astaroth Rinascimento. The massive sword and shoulder binders act as a “frame” for where your eyes should be looking.
Right – Boxart for the HG Reginlaze Juila. The limbs lead towards the head in the corner, there’s also a nice eye-catching thruster flare at the same location. Even Iok-sama’s gun in the background is also pointing towards the focal point.
Left – HG Barbatos Lupus boxart. This one kind of bothers me, I feel like the mace at that particular angle breaks the flow of the overall picture. Do you agree?
Right – HG Lupus Rex box. The overall pose has a nice flow that directs you to a focal point at the left. But then you see subtle things like the hand pointing your eyes back into the main body, and the mace acting like a blocker stopping your eyes from wandering the wrong way, and the tail goes back to the hand. Just brilliant.
The beam saber and shield create parallel lines that help frame the image, while the beam rifle pose has a nice flow pointing towards the right.
Left – MG Justice Box art. Limbs are positioned in a way to direct your attention to the head. The Beam saber “slash” also creates roughly parallel lines which help put the focus on the main body.
Right – MG Freedom Box art. This one kinda combines X and arrow compositions, with the beam saber and shield creating a right-pointing arrow and also a rough frame for where your focus should be (around the head).
My Force Impulse from 2012. The pose itself is not too bad, but based on what we’ve learned, why is this picture so hard to look at? How would you improve on it?
Final words
I hope this guide has helped you understand the science behind a good photo and how you can use it to take better pictures of your Gunpla.
To summarise, the following contributes to a strong photo:
- A clearly defined silhouette
- Being able to direct the viewers attention to the important part(s) of the image
- Use of camera angles and lines to emphasize movement
Next time you look at a box art I’d love to see what you come up with so feel free to post links to photos you’ve taken in the comments!
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