Taking pictures

[ThornDJL7]

Alright, I've been attempting to photograph my minis so that I can show them off and get critiqued. I've got a fairly decent point and shoot (Canon Powershot SX10) but my shots don't come out nearly as good as some of the stuff I've seen on here. Is it just a matter of I don't have a lightbox and a tripod to hold my camera still to get a decent shot? Mine always seem blurred and dark.

[Wilwarin]

A lightbox will help out a lot, I know it did me. They're easy to make too, just need a cardboard box of some kind (I've used shoe boxes and boxes from the mail.) Just cut out the four sides (Making it look like a box skeleton) but don't cut out the bottom, glue tissue paper on the sides (as thick as you want) and there you go. I use a sheet of printer paper on the back of mine to give it a white background. All you need then are 3 bendable desk lamps, one centered on each side so you have light coming in from all ends. You can get them cheap anywhere, I lucked out and got mine at Walmart during "Back to School" season :D I have seen some nice ones at the thrift store too, in the case you don't want to spend too much.

 

For a great tutorial on taking pictures and developing them (do you have Photoshop or something similar? If you don't, GIMP is a free version that is literally almost exactly like Photoshop) I recommend visiting MamaGeek's Photo Tutorial as that will help you out a TON.

 

I hope that helps :D

[oracleartist]

HI, make sure you are putting your camera on macro mode, usually shown by a tulip or small flower on the camera. Then BLurriness usually happens when you are zooming in on the image, so focus all the way out so that the image is as small as possible, and then hold the camera as close as you can to get the image to fill your picture.

good luck!

[ThornDJL7]

I'll try these out at the next opportunity, and see how things turn out. Thanks guys.

[Spike]

Keep trying. I have a Powershot too so I know it's a good camera. Sometimes it just takes a bit of trial-and-error to find that perfect setting that works for your photo-shooting environment.

 

The three things I find to usually be the cause of less-than-perfect photos are 1) shaky camera, 2) too little light or too much of the wrong sort of light and 3) bad contrast.

 

A tripod will fix the camera-shake problem. If you don't have a tripod, try placing your camera on a good stable object and using the shutter timer so you won't be handling the camera when you actually take the picture.

 

Fixing lighting issues can be a bit trickier. A light box will certainly help, but be careful not to over-light the mini so that it ends up just a silhouette against the white backdrop. And if at all possible avoid tungsten bulbs. They produce a light that makes pictures come out yellowy or even reddish if the bulb is too close to the subject.

 

Powershot is pretty good at setting the ideal shutter speed for the light present, but if yours is like mine, you can go into your menu and choose from several metering options. The default setting is probably "Average" or "Evaluative", but for mini photography you will be better off using spot or center-weighted spot metereing (depending on how close you are to the subject). Ideally, you should be metering only the miniature. Be careful though. If you have a white backdrop and a dark miniature, and you spot-meter, the camera will set itself for a longer exposure and the white background will end up "blown out". The best way to avoid this is to pick a neutral medium-shade grey or earth-toned backdrop that will not detract from your mini.

 

Goodluck with your experimentation. The payoff is worth the hassle.

[GreyHorde]

Just a note, agreeing with others and expanding a bit on Spike's point re: a good stable object - this can be as simple as a bag of rice, beans or whatever. I once used a zippered storage bag half-full of sand. Set it on the table or on top of a small box, mash the camera into the bag until you get the angle you want, and set the delay/timer function to eliminate the vibration from taking the shot.

[Doug Sundseth]

Beyond what's been mentioned in this thread, the other thing to think about is your camera's aperture (f-stop). (This is mentioned in Mamageek's tutorial, but it's important enough to call out again.)

 

When you are in macro mode with a very tight zoom, your depth of field (range of distance from the camera at which you can get decent focus) is very small. It's fairly typical, for instance, for a figure's hand to be in focus while the face is out of focus.

 

The smaller your lens's aperture setting (the larger the f-stop number), the greater depth of field you can get. So, use aperture priority or manual mode to set your aperture to the largest available number (smallest aperture), then take your picture. With some higher-end DSLRs and macro lenses, you can get as far as F32, but lower-end cameras don't have that range; go as far as you can.

 

Then light your mini as brightly as you can (to reduce exposure time), use a tripod or other mount, and take your picture, preferably with a timer or remote shutter release.