The Sniper Shots



Ok, Where to start? Start with an Idea. I wanted to show a sniper TEAM. So often people think that snipers are the lone wolves of the battlefield. This is a misconception. They work in two man teams. One Spotter, one sniper. Both are Expert marksman, but I digress. I wanted to show two snipers, at night. I found some Halloween lights (or Lamps if you prefer to call them that) at Michaels.

The lights from Michaels.

The lights in the package and out.

The lights turned on!

I found them in the Halloween section, they had a little town scene, similar to Christmas scenes, but what caught my eye was the bluish-purple hue of the lights. I immediately bought a set intending to use them to illuminate my Bailey bridge set.

My Bailey Bridge

Anyway, I started with some background stuff:

1.) Styrofoam boards (black) from Staples.
2.) Tree trunk decorations for a fish tank from PetSmart
3.) A piece of interesting twisted wood I found on a walk (Sorry, guys, you want one, you gotta go for a walk in the Mojave Desert and hope you get lucky!)
4.) Moss from a train hobby Store
5.) A light up moon from Michaels! (you gotta love that Halloween section!)
6.) a sheer piece of black cloth. When I did this the first time, I didn't have this piece of cloth, so I used a piece of my wife's lingerie and it worked well.
And as an added bonus, it worked out well for that little celebratory cross-dressing after I got the shot....err..I mean...nevermind.....but the lingerie part is true!



I wanted stars and moon behind my shooters, so I got some small lights from Michaels in the floral department.
They come in a battery powered 10 packpack and they use AA batteries.

Using tape I taped them randomly to the black Styrofoam backboard.

I found out in an earlier shot (check out my Zarana/Roadpig on the Black Pearl Pics) that the lights were too bright, so to dim them, I draped the black cloth over them.


Then I positioned the light up moon,


Then I positioned the trees.



I added the Moss to give it a realistic feel.



Then, I positioned the purple Halloween lights.

Check your light position!! Make sure it's illuminating everything you want it to!

Now, to chose your subjects and accessories!!!

I went with DTC Lowlight and NightForce Crosshairs(1) because of their night colors. For the choice of Rifle,
I tried the BBI Barret .50 cal.The Desert Version(2) was too bright and the gun metal gray(3) was too big to fit in
LowLights shoulder. The Corps!PSGAT (4) lacked the bipod that I wanted to show the rifles power.
I didn't want to use the Power Team Barret (5) due to it's cartoonie look. The Marauder Dragonov (6) is for bad guys.
The Bivouac scope(7) was too big and the Power Team binoculars (9) couldn't be seen at night. I ended up using the
PowerTeam Scope (8) and the Power Team Barret (5) because it fit best in LowLights hands.


Next, position your figures! It takes time and work. Every time I set up Crosshairs, I had to adjust LowLight.
After 20 min, this is what I came up with:

Turn on the Purple Halloween lights and turn off the Garage lights and Viola:


Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I don't know it all, and I don't claim to.
I have a crappy camera (but I'm getting a better one soon!) but I found a
way to make it's grainy quality work for a change! The best way to see
what works is try it and post it. Maybe someone can give you advice on what
works for them, and it might work for you. If not, maybe it will give you an idea.