"My New Cannon Rebel XTi 10.1 Megapixels ??" Topic

OK so I got a Cannon Rebel for Christmas from the Wife. :) Now I am ready to take some good pictures of my miniatures. What type of lighting do you suggest for taking pictures of miniatures? I have heard you should use at least 2.

use enough light to illuminate the entire figure, front, back, sides, intense enough so that you can snap the shot without causing you cameras flash to go off.
(dont turn the flash off or you wont know when you have enough light).
ymmv,
R.

NO, DO NOT USE FLASH – you will ruin the photograph! Make sure you have enough good sources of light illuminating the figure from several directions (well-lit back space is important).

Even if the photograph comes out darker than you light, you can bring out the light in Photoshop, or in Picasa, which is available from Google free of charge. Do not be afraid to improve the picture in a photo-editing software. With a camera like yours, even a dark picture will contain enough "innate" information for it to become a good one, even if you do not see it at first. That is why software is important – it sees things that human eye cannot in a seemingly bad or dark photograph.

Do not be afraid to take as many shots as possible per miniature – all you need to do later is select the best ones and discard the rest. You will be surprised at minute differences between the shots.

Experiment with zooming in and zooming out, and varying the distance between the camera and the mini. Even if shooting in Macro (forget the "if", when photographying minis you should ALWAYS shoot in Macro mode), with a high quality camera greater distance from the mini will still yield good results, so experimenting is the key.

Hope this helps. :-))

A good tripod will make up for a lack of high power studio lighting – allowing slightly longer exposures without blurring.

I use a couple of cheap IKEA desklamps fitted with 80 watt "daylight" bulbs and mount my camera (an older digital Rebel) on a sturdy Slik tripod.

A sheet of pale blue or white construction paper makes a good base and background for shots.

A couple of quick points from a Canon XT user:

a. You have two basic ways to go: take jpgs and set the contrast, saturation, etc. the way you want in the camera--or--take jpgs with the settings neutral (or take raw) and get the final results you want in Photoshop. Camera works well either way. My guess is that you'll want to start with the first option.

b. Try to avoid using the built-in flash except for fill on already well-lit scenes. An add-on flash is a whole 'nother world however. :-) As noted, the more light, preferably indirect, the better.

If you want to explore further, I highly recommend:
photography-on-the.net/forum

Lots'o'stuff there, but it's a gold mine, and there are a lot of helpful people around.

best,
jeff

Sweet thanks for the help.