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So my cell phone camera really sucks, so I haven't uploaded any pics. I tried my roomies camera which is a point and shoot 10mp digital, which you'd think would take better pics, but they're even blurrier!

So how can I take better pictures with this thing? Does anyone have any setting tips or camera tips in general? Or should I just shell out for a real camera?

Check to see if the camera has a macro mode. This is usually shown by a stylised tulip symbol. If you have a macro.mode then all.you need is decent lighting. The more light from the sides and front the better.

Check for tulips. Got it!

Hey... Wait a sec...

Ok so saw your other thread and since this thread asks about it specifically

1) What camera (made model brand) are you using

2) Do you have access to a tripod?

3) How are you taking the photos - what settings/mode/buttons are you pressin

4) Is there a camera manual handy (note if you know make and model number most are online now if you don't have a physical one).

5) Search "light box" on google it should tell you how to make a simple light box to help with lighting. The article on it should also cover in short how to control lighting with the box and also why it softens the light and thus makes it easier to work with.

1: it's a Casio Exilim? No booklet. It's small, pink and says YouTube on it. 10.1 megapixel digital.

2: No, but I could get a cheap one

3: I'm just firin muh lazors here, haha! I am not a camera guy so I just click buttons til it doesn't look like crap in the view screen. Haven't gotten to it not looking like gak yet!

4: See 1

5:. Man... That sounds like work! But if I want better shots...

Okay thanks man, I'm gonna mess around and see if I can get a better shot.

I've always wondered how all these amazing pictures were taken, gonna have to get my camera out again I think....Just need to get a decent lightbox

You don't need lightbox as long as you.have a couple of.decent table lamps

 Flinty wrote:
You don't need lightbox as long as you.have a couple of.decent table lamps

That's the problem, I have a great LED lamp, but because the table is varnished it reflects way too much light so it just washes everything out.

Any DIY Recommendations?

There are ones from China that look decent enough but it'll take ages to get here

 Supershandy wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
You don't need lightbox as long as you.have a couple of.decent table lamps

That's the problem, I have a great LED lamp, but because the table is varnished it reflects way too much light so it just washes everything out.

Any DIY Recommendations?

There are ones from China that look decent enough but it'll take ages to get here

I just use a folded bit of plain white A4 paper and prop it up with something, usually another model. You shouldn't get any reflection off the paper and it'll do for smaller models.

A few thoughts

1) Darkcloak - google up your camera and see if you can find the manual. At the very least that should help you control the thing somewhat, though from the sounds of it its probably got some number on its somewhere that tells you what model of the Casio Exilim range it is.
That said its a pretty standard point and shoot so as long as you can find the macro mode and learn to view the LCD on the back and stick it on a $/£10 tripod (those cheap aluminium ones sold everywhere will do) then it should be more than up to the task.

2) Softer light is achieved by having a bigger light source relative to the subject; whilst a harsher light source is a much smaller source relative to the subject.
You can see this yourself in life; when the sun is high on a clear summers day the light is very harsh - dark shadows, sharp lines where shadows are made and very bright highlights. Throw a huge bank of cloud in the way (the cloud then becoming the light source relative to the subject) and then even though the sun is still the same source originally; the spreading out of that light over the cloud bank softens it significantly.

So if you've got a stand lamp to a model that would be a harsh source (small). Now put a sheet of paper between the two and the paper becomes the source and the spread out of the light is greater - so the light source becomes larger.

Note don't confuse weakening light with softer light. Some people will claim that you can just put a few folds of paper right infront of the flash; so the light isn't spreading out any bigger, but the layers of paper are stealing a bit of the brightness with each layer. This isn't softening the light, it is simply reducing the amount of light hitting the subject. The only way to get softer is to make the size of the source relative to the subject, bigger.


A light box/tent achieves this, though as said above a sheet of paper will also do the same. The box approach simply gives you a more stable setup for repeat shots that makes it easier to use (the paper won't get blown out of the way or fall/flop over - and you can use a bigger sheet of paper too).


3) Paper will reflect light. White paper is a great reflector. However you actually do want some light reflection so that the light, coming in at the sides, will bounce up off the surface under the model to give some illumination to those areas underneath the model. Not too much, but enough. A super shiny table though is likely to be a bit of a pain more with highlight control; so simply put a sheet of white paper underneath the model.
As light also takes on the "colour" of what it's reflected by - if you keep the sides and base all the same grade of white you keep the colour of the light hitting the model as uniform as possible.

you can make a light box by cutting 'windows' in 3 sides & cover them with baking paper or grease-proof paper & use a sheet of A3 paper curved to be both the vertical background & the horizontal foreground. Use at least 2 lamps & a tripod. Instead of macro i set up my camera about 1m away & then zoom in. I find that i get more of the mini in focus.
Also read the gw guide: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2016/11/13/the-model-photo-how-to-photograph-models-for-display/

That's all great advice guys but here is the real question!

What kind of camera should I buy for taking photos of models? This Casio is a piece of gak. I found the macro setting and you know what, it still takes grainy horrible shots. Seems like no matter what the model is always blurry. I clicked all the buttons and tried all the things. Farseer is still a green and white blob.

Looking at some of my old photos... They were really good and all I used was an iPad. So I'm thinking maybe grab a tablet? Which ones have good cameras?

Okay, so I did a lot of looking into this (and talking to a photographer friend) when I started doing mini photography, and there's ONE big thing you need to look for in the camera: Minimum focal distance. The smaller the better - it means the camera can focus on things that are close! Second on the scale of concern is OPTICAL zoom. Digital zoom isn't zoom, it's just picture cropping. Optical zoom uses lenses to get a bigger image without loss of quality.

For lights, get some cheap walmart lamps and put high temperature bulbs - I use Verilux full daylight spectrum compact fluorescent, but there are LED options these days. All you need is a curved white background and 2 sources of light, but a cheap lightbox doesn't hurt either.

Most of my pictures are taken on a Sony Cybershot DSC-WX1, which has 10.2 megapixels, 5x Optical Zoom and a min focal distance of 2 inches. For the $120 I paid for it almost 6 years ago, I've been very happy with it.

You know what that sounds perfect. $120 bucks is pretty darn good for a camera.

So, optical zoom, minimum focus. Got it!

Thanks man!

A 6 year old digital camera is now quite old so a newer model should have superior image quality and performance. And yes for close up work some ipads/tablets do have very respectable cameras in them. Plus the tiny sensors that they have actually benefit close up work because they give you far more depth of field than you might get of a higher end DSLR (for comparable apertures).

I agree optical zoom is the one to focus on, digital zoom just means it magnifies the photo so the image quality is always poorer.

Close focusing helps, but remember that you can also step back and zoom in as well - indeed many a miniature photo won't always have too be that highly magnified (GW central makes extensive use of lenses like 24-70mm or 24-105mm - I forget which though they might have both).


As for what camera to get - a simple bridge camera will do much fo what you want. Of course you can go all the way with a DSLR but if its just for miniatures chances are that might be overkill for you.

 darkcloak wrote:
You know what that sounds perfect. $120 bucks is pretty darn good for a camera.

So, optical zoom, minimum focus. Got it!

Thanks man!

I'm a bit of a hobbyist photographer (but haven't done much with miniatures). The main bit of advice I'd give you is don't ignore light. The thing cheap cameras tend to struggle with first is working under low light levels.

Oh, and I almost forgot, a cheap tri-pod ($20 or less). While image stabilization is pretty good these days, it's no substitute for an unmoving camera, especially if you're taking pictures from further away rather than right close.

I can also recommend a simple photo-editor. All of my pictures are taken on my painting table, a curved piece of printer paper with two table lamps. However, once the pics are taken, a simple "White balance" adjustment and occasionally a brightness/contrast adjustment to make them visible online. When taking the photo I use a Nikon Coolpix L820 (quite cheap I'd imagine), and use the Macro setting. I don't use a tripod as I rest my hands on the table and support the camera when taking the pictures. I'm about to finish up some models, so I'll try to take a picture of how I do mine as they come out quite well for non-pro photographs and zero real effort.

Lots of tips from Uncle Atom: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tabletop+minions+take+picture&t=ffsb&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=oZtE6HWXg0E

Well dang, thanks for all the tips guys. Maybe I'll have one last go at that Casio before I commit to new tech.

I admit, I didn't build a light box. I figured the camera should be able to focus without one but it sounds like the cam is struggling with light and that's why it can't focus.

I am pretty busy with work, oddly enough, but when I get time I will build the box and try again and post the results here.

Like, dang I just wanna share my work and maybe plog my Eldar and DG armies, but it's rather hard to elicit criticism when your pics are all blurry!

Here you go. I put together a quick blog post while taking pictures of some minis.

Note: this is from a non-photographer, just some tricks to take crisp and clear pictures of minis.

https://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2018/02/hobby-tips-taking-pictures-of.html

Few weeks a go i got myself one of these.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Photo-Studio-Light-Box-Photographie-LED-Mini-Backdrop-Portable-Light-boite-EP/192402528727?hash=item2ccc1599d7:g:APYAAOSwoA9ZhBP5

So frigging good for the prize. If you can wait for a month or so it is worth the try.

Here's a sample pic I took with my phone.

Here's a pic I took off my phone with no paper or anything. Just during painting.

I don't think it's too bad, most of the details can be made out on the models.

I think my phone camera is 10 megapixels so you can do decent enough shots with a poor camera I reckon, it just takes practice.

1) Get a tripod. It is impossible to take good miniature pictures without one, blur from shaky hands will inevitably ruin the image.

2) Use a long exposure and a very high f-stop. The tighter the aperture the sharper the image, but you need to increase the exposure length to compensate for the greatly reduced amount of light hitting the sensor. My normal exposure time is 5+ seconds most of the time, which is why you need a tripod.

3) Use good light. Lightboxes have been covered, but a simple white background indoors in decent daylight will produce enough of a diffuse light source to give you a good image. This is less important for sharpness, but it is mandatory for getting good shadows and accurate color.

4) Megapixels aren't everything. Lens quality, sensor quality, etc, matter a ton as well. There's a severe point of diminishing returns on pixel count, and pretty much any camera you can buy in 2018 hits that point. For example, my ~5 year old DSLR is 18 megapixels, but is going to produce an image that is immensely better than a 10 megapixel phone camera, even though it only has twice the pixel count. Focus on image quality, not mere resolution.

To add to Peregrine's points if you want to avoid tripod and long exposures you can use flash (ideally using flashes off the camera not on the camera - ergo not the popup flash). Cables and some cheaper 3rd party flashes can work with most DSLR type cameras and would replace the stand lamps on the sides of a lightbox. Flash being a super fast pulse of light, if its the only light that is contributing to the exposure in a meaningful way (ergo if you turned the flashes off and took the photo you'd get a black photo); then it replaces the need for a fast shutter speed to get a sharp result.

A tripod still helps a lot though; it lets you position everything in the right place and take the shot without issues



Also take note of the floor, yes the floor underneath the tripod and table. Many a photographer has set everything up right and taking a slow exposure using lights and then found that they still got a soft photo. Because the floor was carpet or wood or another surface that moves every little bit with the motions of them standing around the setup.
Ideally you want a nice hard floor surface, even going outside onto firm soil works (keep in mind the wind). Otherwise you can create your own problems, esp if you are taking shots a few seconds long

 Overread wrote:
To add to Peregrine's points if you want to avoid tripod and long exposures you can use flash (ideally using flashes off the camera not on the camera - ergo not the popup flash). Cables and some cheaper 3rd party flashes can work with most DSLR type cameras and would replace the stand lamps on the sides of a lightbox. Flash being a super fast pulse of light, if its the only light that is contributing to the exposure in a meaningful way (ergo if you turned the flashes off and took the photo you'd get a black photo); then it replaces the need for a fast shutter speed to get a sharp result.

You could do this, in theory, but I have no idea why you'd want to. A cheap basic flash is going to produce ugly glare on a model and wreck the colors, more expensive flashes with proper light diffusion are going to be more time and effort than just getting a tripod. The whole idea of "avoid a tripod" makes no sense at all in this context.

Depends if the person wants to get more into cameras or not since the thread is starting to slip into general photography discussion.

Cheap or expensive flashes will produce similar light if they are both being diffused through something like a lightbox/tent setup.

Certainly the tripod is the cheapest option out there, esp if one only has a smaller lighter camera and thus those light aluminium tripods are more than capable of performing well.

If you want a cheap and easy solution: get a tripod.

If you want to get more into photography in general: get a tripod and the light box/flash/etc, you need a tripod anyway.