Taking Pictures of Miniatures: Troubles and Tips

I'm gearing up for a long series of posts where I'm partnered with the boys over at Campaign Mastery. A key component of the series is extremely close-up pics of miniatures.

I wanted to share an image I'm especially proud of from a recent shoot and mention a few of the tips I've been offered (and am offering) and troubles I've discovered.

Troubles

• To get any decent detail and proper framing with a mini you need to be extremely close. On larger minis this means you sometimes lose focus on part of the mini, even while the rest is perfectly clear.
• Proper lighting is a real issue, and one I'm hardly qualified to comment on at length.
• Backgrounds become a really big deal when you're shooting on such a small stage.
• Dust, dirt, and grit hardly visible to the naked eye leaps into your eyeballs when reviewing photos after the fact.

The detail, angle and background really make this mini seem larger-than-life. Do you like it?

 Tips

• Choose a solid colour background that you can stand up behind the shot. I shot at my FLGS and grabbed some miniature-case foam to create a little photo cave. This gave me a solid background for contrast, and let me forget about what was behind the shoot.
• Use the macro setting on your digital camera (the icon is probably a flower, insect, or a gnome in really rare cases). It's designed for close-ups.
• If you're having trouble focusing on your mini, try pointing at something else that's a few inches from the camera and let the auto-focus do its work, then return to the mini and adjust your shot (or even bring the mini right over beside the object you were able to focus on).

That's it. I'm no photographer, so I'd love to hear if any of you have any tips to share or troubles to avoid. Oh, and have great weekends.

Comments

[Trask]

I have a relative that sells jewelry and has many of the same problems as I do when I shoot a miniature. Their solution was the "Digital Concepts Ps-101 Portable Lighting Studio." It uses indirect lighting and makes shooting shiny/small items much easier.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

[Tom]

I highly recommend the photography articles on Coolminiornot.com. I can't seem to connect to the site right now, or I would link specific articles.

Look for the "articles" link to the right, then scroll down to the photo aricles.

shameless plug - While you're there, why not vote on a few of my minis! :D http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/TKNY

[Johnn Four]

great link Tom. Thanks.

Looks like photog articles are here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/go.php/go/articlephp/levels/99/expand/all?

[Joshua]

* Use a tripod. Maybe that goes without saying.
* Turn off your flash. Even if it doesn't over-expose, you'll cause hot spots if there's any even slightly shiny part of the figure.
* Use a lot of light. I mean A LOT. From more than one direction. Try to get it so you don't see any shadows.
* Bounce the light off of something white (such as construction paper or bristol board). Something like the portable studio light-box that Trask mentioned is good, but you can fake it pretty cheaply.
* Use the camera's timer if you find there's any motion blur caused by the act of you pressing the button
* You may have to try different bulbs (or be prepared to correct in photo software afterward) to get light that doesn't have a noticeable tint to it in your photos
* Adjust the model a couple of times and take several shots, you never know which one will look best just eyeballing it

[MJ Harnish]

This is the best explanation of macrophotography specifically related to miniatures that I've ever found: It's by a guy who used to do (and maybe still does?) photography for Games Workshop.

http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=5813

[RPG Ike]

Awesome tips and links, guys. Thanks very much!

My next sortie will be mich more effective than the previous two, I'm sure.

[Chris Tregenza]

Just letting you know that this post has been included in this week's round up of best miniature related blogging: Lead Bucket