Miniature Photos 101

[Darkson]

So I am going to give some tips on how to improve photographing miniatures in this topic.

1. Use Lighting. This is very important and I can NOT stress this enough us lights when photographing miniatures. A good point to start at is above the miniature and just a little in-front of your subject.

2. Background. The best thing you can do when photographing your miniatures is to eliminate background distractions. The essayist way to do this is with 2 pieces of blank white paper. One for the miniature to stand on and the second to place behind the miniature. Not only will this eliminate distracting background stuff it will act as a reflector an add some light to the underside of your miniature increasing your chance of taking a better photo.

3. ZOOM... No not the noise a superhero makes it is a function on your camera. Use it to your advantage step back from the miniature at least a foot (12 inches) and zoom in on your masterpiece. By zooming in you should see some improvement over sitting on-top of your miniature and trying to snap an in focus photo. Things will become much more clear if you try the ZOOM. Trust me give it a shot.

Next Time I will give the technical stuff that will help back up what I just told you for those of you who are into that stuff..

Till next time ................................ ;D

Cheers,
Robert

[tordenskjold]

This is really a great help, going to try it out one of these days and upload some better pics of my minis.

[xeoran]

Thanks....makes me wonder whether I should photo my minis with my Leika......

[kousa]

zooming at macro mode? hmmm, never knew that it would improve the pic quality, must try it out!

[Darkson]

Some good photography links posted by someone on the Rackham Forum.

1. I liked this for proving you don't have to spend a lot and can use just about anything
www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19002.html

2. This is the one with a link to a blue/white fade sheet
www.dragon-miniatures.com/tips.php?page=diffusion

3. This links to a couple of useful articles
www.jyoseph.com/extras/

4. Another light tent/box thing
www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent

5. And some more stuff
www.dennisonbertram.com/hackmaster/2005/02/macro-light-box.htm

[xeoran]

Wow, some nice links. Thanks.

[Darkson]

olaf said:

I know what you mean about taking photos, this may help it certainly help me improve on mine.

www.twfigurines.de/main/workshop/photos.htm

[malebolgia]

Here is an excellent tutorial by Spacemunkie how to edit pictures very easily with Photoshop:

www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?t=385

[Darkson]

Here is a fun one.

www.perry-miniatures.com/pictures.html

[privateryan]

Is there a free version of photoshop available anywhere?

[feuersoldat3]

privateryan said:

Is there a free version of photoshop available anywhere?

No but you can download gimp which is free or, buy a real old version of photoshop on ebay as they go from around $10 and up if you are lucky. Unless you suddenly become a professional photo editor or start shooting in RAW you don't need one of the newer versions at all

[ake]

That Photoshop article from Wyrd is slick

You can get Photoshop Elements for around $50.

[Darkson]

Welcome to the forum ake.

You should post something in the Welcome Thread in the Off topic section. ;D