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So.... Because I am doing a LOT with digital technologies, I bought a Nikon D3200 DSLR.

Even though my miniature painting is no where near good enough (I hope that I can say "yet... Again") I think having the camera will help improve the painting.

I am smart enough (barely) to Google "DSLR tutorials." And, I have a membership to both Digital Tutors, and to the CG Society

So... I have gotten a slew of Tutorials on how to use the camera, which is obviously a step-up from point-shoot. Both DT and CGS have a great many tutorials on correcting photographs, which will come in handy when I want to make my painting look better than it really is.

The issue is that I need some tutorials on how to photograph miniatures specifically.

Anyone have any resources?

MB

The tutorial section of Dakka has quite a few, like this one;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/jforum.page?module=search&action=search&forum=68&match_type=all&sort_by=time&search_keywords=photo

Me I just made a light box from a cardboard box (cut the sides and top off and cover with greaseproof/baking paper) then shine a desk lamp from each side.

My pictures went from;



to;



Both were done with a handhelp iPhone 4, so nothing special in the camera department.

I even found a picture of the set up, it took about 30 mins to make;

A light box was the next items on my agenda.

I did a few test-shots with the camera, and even without the light box, the shots helped show off my work much better (and illustrated a few places where I need to touch-up the miniatures).

Having this is going to be really helpful in making sure that details are clearly visible.

MB

You can definitely create your own lightbox, which really helps with photographing miniatures! Right now, I just use an Ott light held very close to the miniature, and it gives decent results:



You can get them at all sorts of places (like Joann Fabrics, Staples, Amazon.com, etc) but here is their main site:
http://www.ott-lite.com/c-39-desktable.aspx

I'm also waiting on the below to have a lightbox setup - hoping it really improves my results by giving lighting from multiple angles:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangemonkie/foldio-2-bigger-and-smarter

Aperture control is vital to ensure everything is in focus so.. camera on a tripod or bean bag, use a cable release/remote shutter release. long exposure times if needs be. If your camera has a macro function then all the better.

There have also been some great tutorials on the 'tale of painters blog' recently which demonstrate most of these points.

BeAfraid wrote:
The issue is that I need some tutorials on how to photograph miniatures specifically.

There's really nothing special about miniatures, but here's some general tips for photographing smallish objects where you don't care about being artistic and just want a clear shot of the thing:

1) Always use manual mode (or whatever the "nothing is automatic" mode is called). This is true in general, really. Not only is it nice to have full control of all of the settings and never be surprised by what the camera chooses it also forces you to learn how everything works since you can't just tell the camera "make me a good picture" and let it figure out the hard stuff.

2) Make sure the subject is well lit (with a soft light, natural light from a window is great) and has a simple neutral-color background. The background does two important things: it removes all of the clutter from around the subject and lets you focus on what matters, and it bounces some of the light back onto the subject to avoid dark areas. And the soft light part is very important, a dark environment with a single bare bulb or your camera's default flash will produce an ugly combination of bright over-exposed highlights, washed-out colors, and dark shadows on everything that isn't over-exposed.

3) Use a tripod and a long exposure. To keep the whole model in focus you'll need to use an f-stop setting that doesn't let much light in, and to avoid having a grainy picture you'll want to keep the ISO low. Since you're avoiding harsh lighting the model won't be all that bright and you'll need to compensate with a shutter speed that's too slow (about 1-5 seconds, in my case) to avoid getting blur from shaky hands. Set the tripod up, put the camera on a delay (or use the remote) to avoid bumping the camera when you press the button, and take as long as you need to get a good image. With the right setup a 30 second exposure will be just as sharp as a 1/1000 second exposure.

Good suggestions. Very helpful.

MB