Everybody’s Scalin’ – A Photography Tip

One of the unheralded contributors to the scale boom is the smart phone. The smart phone camera, to be more precise.

Think about it. One of the first things a scale enthusiast does upon purchasing a new rig or completing a new project is whip out the phone, snap a pic, and post it on their favorite message board or Facebook group. It’s become so common that at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Axial put the step in their instruction manuals!

With that in mind, as a guy who is active in the scene (and therefore active online) I’m inundated with seeing hundreds of r/c pictures each week – be it from an excited un-boxer or a group that is showing off last weekend’s trail run. Some are great, some so-so, and some are horrid.

A smartphone is perfectly serviceable for decent pics (it’s what I started with a few years ago), so let me share a big tip if you want to be the darling of your Facebook group – watch your angles and get low!

Camera angle is always important no matter what you shoot, but for small scale stuff it’s integral. For a couple examples, the pictures in this article (both at the top and below) were shot on my iPhone 6 with zero editing. They are each shot with the truck in the same spot, the only difference is camera/phone position.

As you can see in the pics, the up close, dramatic angles used in the right side are more visually interesting (and help to make the SCX10 look like a real truck) compared to the far away, walking height shots. Yeah, getting low to capture a cool pic can be a real pain out on the trail, but if you want it to look realistic dems da breaks.

There is a lot more to talk about in regards to scale photography, but just know that if you shoot your pics at good angles you’ll have a solid foundation and more often than not will wind up with good stuff.

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