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As the title states I am in need of some helpful advice for setting up my camera for taking pictures of my miniatures. I am trying to get pictures of them while they are on my work bench to show the WIP photo's but can not get clear shots. I don't want to have to set up my light box every time I want to shoot a photo. I have a Canon PowerShot A2300 HD and if anyone could help me with setting this camera up for taking good photo's while my stuff is on the work bench it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

If you're taking pictures on your bench, then make sure the model is well lit and then use manual mode to alter the exposure time. If you're using Auto then it tends to be very dark as the camera can't work out what you're trying to do, especially in macro mode. You're looking for the break point between getting blurry because of shaking hands and a long exposure and having to use a nuke to light your models

Hah, I have a powershot too

I use a little samsung for mini shots instead as I find the powershot has a weird habit of bleaching colours a bit, but that could totally just be my model.

You want some good lighting, set it to manual, switch on macro and auto white balance, then low F factor for single figs and high F factor for units or large figs, and adjust the exposure time till it is bright enough.

1/6th a second at low F is fine, high F can need upwards of 1 second and a tripod.

Ifalna wrote:Hah, I have a powershot too

I use a little samsung for mini shots instead as I find the powershot has a weird habit of bleaching colours a bit, but that could totally just be my model.

You want some good lighting, set it to manual, switch on macro and auto white balance, then low F factor for single figs and high F factor for units or large figs, and adjust the exposure time till it is bright enough.

1/6th a second at low F is fine, high F can need upwards of 1 second and a tripod.

I am going to have to use google to decipher this because I am new to the digital photography scene. LOL

Agree with everything that have been said concerning f-stop and exposure time, and in that regard you should get a cheap tripod. It is absolutely essential.
Tripods designed for table-use really aren't expensive.

Also remember to always set the model on a piece of white paper and prop it up behind the model
.
It might be a WIP shot and you might not have the time/inclination/respect/energy to set up your light-box, but the disadvantages to WIPs from your desk-top are two-fold;
First, the camera gets "confused" as to what to focus on and how to adjust the colours.
Second, nobody really cares about your keyboard, lower right corner of your monitor, ratty cutting-mat, piles of paints and other models you are currently working on.

The best thing to do I find is have some spare sheets of paper lying around. This way you can create a white background quickly and easily by using some blue-tac/paint pots to hole it up. After this I sit the mini on the desk, set up the camera and shoot.

Because the majority of the background is white the camera should focus on the mini as it should stand out. If it is still blurry either move the mini or the camera further away. I try to keep my camera on the desk to reduce the chances of blurring from shaky hands.

Also curve the paper if you go with it so it makes the back wall and the floor. It'll help blend a little better. I also tend to put my camera on a timer to take the pictures. Set it up, press the button and then back off.

Synister_Intent wrote:

Ifalna wrote:Hah, I have a powershot too

I use a little samsung for mini shots instead as I find the powershot has a weird habit of bleaching colours a bit, but that could totally just be my model.

You want some good lighting, set it to manual, switch on macro and auto white balance, then low F factor for single figs and high F factor for units or large figs, and adjust the exposure time till it is bright enough.

1/6th a second at low F is fine, high F can need upwards of 1 second and a tripod.

I am going to have to use google to decipher this because I am new to the digital photography scene. LOL

f-stop is also known as aperture size and indicates the amount of light being allowed to fall on the sensor. A low f-stop number means a wide aperture and more light (hence a shorter exposure time) but it also only allows you to focus on a very small area, hence being good for single figures. A larger f-stop means a small aperture, hence less light on the sensor and therefore more time required with the shutter open (or the digital equivalent) to get a decent picture. It also widens the area that can be focussed sharply and hence is better for more or larger models. However as the exposure times can be quite long you then ened a tripod to prevent hand-shake from giving you blurry pictures.

Simples

The other main parameter to play with is the ISO setting. This used to relate to the diffrent grades of film you could get for different exposure speeds. A low ISO (i.e. 100-200) gives you very high quality pictures, but also needs longer exposure times, while high ISO (800+) allow faster shutter speeds, but also provide poorer quality images. I tend to stick with low ISOs as much as possible and compensate using a tripod, especially for models which won't be moving too fast, normally.

n0t_u wrote:Also curve the paper if you go with it so it makes the back wall and the floor. It'll help blend a little better. I also tend to put my camera on a timer to take the pictures. Set it up, press the button and then back off.

Yea I forgot to mention to have the paper as your "floor" aswell. I havn't tried the timer but it should work well.

Below is the results I get with my method(This is as raw an image as possible, all I done was used the dakka auto adjust on it).

Hey, I just wanted to add that, while all the things people wrote above are of course correct and useful, you want to check if you need macro mode at all. What I mean is if you make a photo of a whole mini, not some super tiny details then normal mode should be enough and macro modes in some cameras can cause severe focusing difficulties compared to normal mode. My biggest advice is take your camera, set up a scene with a proper lighting and experiment the crap out of it