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Every time i set up some lights to take photos they look gakky, like utter dog turd!
Is there anyone that would be willing to share with the dakka community simple techniques to improve how to photo your mini's?!

It would be good to see examples of photos with there techniques and if a dump camera can be made to take good photos with the correct prep work!

This could be solved with google im sure but would like the personal input if people are willing and im sure alot of fellow dakkarites find them selves like me with photos of there minis that dont represent the work that has gone in to the model its self...
Even if you have a link to a tut thats helped you out you wanna share thats great too!
Thanks

You need multiple sources of light for one. If you're shooting against a white backdrop, use plain white paper instead of a kinda grody napkin. Finally, white balance, which you can do in any photo editor. Uploading to Dakka's gallery and using the auto-adjust checkbox might help.

You mean like these articles?

Debuking the Myths of Miniature Photography

Photography: It's All About Light

Brother SRM wrote:You need multiple sources of light for one. If you're shooting against a white backdrop, use plain white paper instead of a kinda grody napkin. Finally, white balance, which you can do in any photo editor. Uploading to Dakka's gallery and using the auto-adjust checkbox might help.

Dark Severance wrote:You mean like these articles?

Debuking the Myths of Miniature Photography

Photography: It's All About Light

Thank you both very much for your input i hope it helps more people than just my self i know it may seem selfish to just ask for help and not seem to be looking/trying but i have looked this was just additional as i wanted to gain input from the horses mouth so to speak as to what to vet out! Again thank you. If any one wants to elaborate further it would be great.

The quick and easy thing to do is get a clean background and a number of lights. This can be as simple as a bit of paper and some lamps.

My old setup:


Or for about $50 you can get something dedicated to the job.
New setup:


Here is the same mini, old, then new.


White balancing is a simple and easy step. Most photo apps should have a built in tool.



How bad this is depends a lot on the lighting. I’ve found that my new light setup, with the two LED lamps puts out a much better white. I don’t need to balance it these days.
All pics are with the same camera. A point and shoot Canon S95. While it might be a step up from a phone camera, I’d not bet on that these days. Sometimes I use a tripod, other times I just brace the camera.

First, a tripod or even just a beabag is a great way to fix your camera in place and prevent wobble during a long exposure. This will let you use a small aperture, which will improve depth of field and get more of the depth of the scene in focus. To avoid camera shake from the button press, use the self-timer if you do not have a remote shutter release.

Second, metering is difficult when you have a large pale or dark pale background. The automatic camera averages across the whole frame, and if it's mainly white, the camera will stop down the aperture and this will make the figures look too dark. A neutral gray background will reduce this problem.

Those are the two most obvious things to think about.

There are ways to improve lighting. The standard setup is called three point lighting.

Woo! Thanks guys, i will try some of this (as best i can with what i have at hand) to night and post back tomorrow or maybe this eve! will take photos of the same dudes! lets see what i can make of them! x

Just to see the difference, I took my phone downstairs to snap a pic.

Once again, the good Captain poses. The first two panels are the same pics I showed earlier. My “good” camera, one on a table with a pair of arm lamps, the other in my lightbox, with a light on either side and a lamp above. The 3rd pic is is with my iPhone 4s. Not exactly state of the art. But with the help of a stable platform (my lightbox came with a phone adapter for it’s little tripod) and a decent setup, it takes a perfectly serviceable picture.

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tripod, at least 2 lights, diffuser, time delay.