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Hi guys.

I would like to take closer picture of my figs, so I build a "white Box". I also use two 500W lamps, but I am not able to obtain good pic :





my setting :



I use Canon EOS Rebel XTI with a 18-55 lens.

Where am I wrong ?

The white balance is off on the first one (you could correct that in photoshop using remove colour cast). Too much light can wash out subtle shading as well, and it reflects off gloss surfaces which can be a problem if you've used inks to shade the recesses and not matt varnished afterwards.

The colouration on the second looks better but the depth of field is too low. The closer you get to the mini the more depth of field you'll need to keep it all in focus. I tend to do my close-ups in aperture priority mode (because I'm lazy) with the aperture set to f16 or higher. You've easily got enough light in that light box to stop right down on the aperture without needing too slow a shutter speed.

Thanks for the tip, using Gimp, I get this result from the "yellow" one :



Looks better

This is probably a good place to ask how to take a clear picture using household materials. (camera aside)

I just use my phone and a lamp, I get good clear close ups. if I want a nice back ground I use a curving peace of card and the lamp makes a nice fading shadow.

Watch this vid. It will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObDfiYHUDE8&feature=share&list=LLGKa3MdiRLf3FYD7fF13_sA

I can't tell from the picture if there is one, but you could shield the upper light source with a sheet of wax/bread/oven paper, this softens the light and turns down some reflections.
Second, aim your camera on the empty light box and use the option for manual white balance: the camera will set its filters so that what's in the frame should be white.
Third you could also fiddle with the other balance (don't rememer the exact name): it's defaulted as "valutative", you could try with "spot"

Also, you could add a second (or even a third) lamp on the left (or both) sides, 45° from the camera (clip held lamps are cheap and perfect for this). This way you should get rid of most (if not all) unwanted shadows.

If the pic still doesn't match enough with the model, here on dakka I found a great article at this link

Keep the iso# low, and the f# around 11

Don't worry about your shutter speed as you are using a tripod.
Turn off any Image stabilisation your lens might have.
Have a 2 or 10 second count down for the shutter button ( this way you wont rock the camera as you press the button)

I also don't use any lamps , just a long shutter speed.

I am buildinf a smaller box, with a white lamp on the top and the flash of the camera : the previous one is to big for the Citadel figs. Will show you the result.