Photographing a model of a 17th century caravel

[BarryS]

How about photographing it against a blue screen or green screen, dropping out the background, and compositing it onto a stormy sea?

[wfwhitaker]

...the organisation wants to use a photograph of the model to raise money through the sale of postcards, prints, T-shirts, etc.

Images that sell within this context are usually graphic and straightforward, often dramatic. I infer from your post that you're thinking more of a literal interpretation of the model itself. The general public's attention span is short and while some may be fascinated with the workmanship shown in the model, the idea of the ship itself is more important and is what should be conveyed to the buying public's mind. Perhaps you might concentrate on the emotional qualities of drama and romance rather than on the clinical details of model making. Fine detail isn't going to come through on an image screened onto a T-shirt anyway. Sometimes a lot more can be said through mere suggestion than through complete revelation.

[Lee Christopher]

Yes, I can use a mirrored surface. Also, I had a look at Christopher Broadbent's still life photographs last night. I admire his work, and his style of background might work very well for something like this. I've also thought about incorporating other objects into the photograph, such as a very, very old hand plane used for shipbuilding. Of course, if I do this, I'll be abandoning respect for scale, but I'm not sure that that is a bad idea provided that it doesn't result in the model looking dwarfed. I also have access to things like fishing nets and very old cod fishing lures, all objects relevant to the function of the original vessel. I do have a concern that adding additional items will just look kitschy, and that it would mostly be a sign that I couldn't come up with a way to photograph the model on its own terms.

Something else that I've considered is photographing the model in the hands of the man who built it, or in the hands of a stand-in, maybe one of the local fishermen or boatbuilders.

r.e. I think that sounds like a very attractive idea (to me) - to photograph the model in the hands of a craftsman. Lit correctly for dramatic or romantic appeal, and as cliched as this may sound - one can almost smell the musk and lacquer of the workshop. The human element adds a direct link with viewers and that may help get better response than a static model ship.

CHEERS!

[csant]

Somehow I always liked dioramas... Thinking about some inspiration, I remember a setup of ship models in a museum: they had reconstructed everything, there were wales in the sea, there was a shore, boats and ships on the sea - just instead of water, there was... nothing. They used light to illuminate all objects, the rest would be swallowed by the darkness of an empty hole underneath. I really liked the idea (but didn't get around to photographing it yet).

Another shot I really like (maybe nice for some inspiration?) is here.

[Steven Tribe]

As they are aiming at building a replica there must be a lot of exciting technical drawings around. I remember visting the HMS Victory at Portsmouth and the associated museum years ago. The thing that sold best from ye olde gifte shope was constructional plain ink drawings about 1mx1m. In terms of T shirts I would have thought that a simplified reproduction of the hull and sails would a useful starting - also as a logo for the project. Plenty of space for a circular text framing it. I enclose a rushed simple print of a similar Swedish ship.

[r.e.]

Hi Steven,

I will probably suggest to the museum that it consider artist renderings of the ship in any event. I agree with you, and with Will who has made a similar point, that they can be very effective.

There are no pictorial or technical drawings of the original ship. The model is based on a brief written description of the vessel by the man who commissioned it, as well as fairly exhaustive historical research. Last week, at a wooden boat conference, the man who made the model gave a presentation on the research that he did, and I and others were impressed. There are some educated guesses involved, as there were when John Cabot's ship, The Matthew, was re-created in the UK a few years ago, but I think that the gentleman who did the work on this vessel is very close to the mark.

You are quite right that there is no shortage of photographs of model ships on the net (there seem to be thousands of them), and also right that the photography, or at least what I have seen of it, is uninspiring. Given your background in both model building and photography, I would love to see how you would approach photographing your own work.

[Jimi]

Okay, I am probably missing the point but I want to throw this out, anyway:

Why not make a setup where you show the ship model amongst the tools that were used to make it? A sort of workbench scene? What I mean is that if it is hard to show it as a "real" ship, why not accept that and show the model as a representation of the ship that will be reconstructed?

[Armin Seeholzer]

Could you not but it into real water on a nice little lake?
This is for what ships are normaly!

Just my 2 cts. Armin

[Steven Tribe]

Models of ships, just like real ships, need ballast down in the keel. Otherwise they displace only about an inch of water and capsize. Even if they didn't, the waterline level would look very strange. About 6 kilos of lead/iron would be necessary. Model makers usually make things true to life and getting ballast down tiny hatchways would take a full crew of lilliputians a couple of days!

[Mark Barendt]

How about shooting less than the whole; get close and use camera position to suggest that the ship is not level, use movements and vignette to control what the viewer focuses on/sees.

The other thought I have is an extension of that, photograph it for mood not detail. Most model shots seem to be photographed to show the craftsmanship of the model, that does not seem to be the point of this project. Add fog with dry ice and water.