Since starting my blog I have been using my mobile phone camera and natural light to take images of my miniatures. Initially I was surprised at how reasonable they turned out but recently I have begun to notice the limitations. When I uploaded some photos to CMON I could really see the iffy quality so I looked up ideas for how to improve them.
Firstly I need to use a better camera, preferably a proper camera with macro mode, self timer etc. Luckily, upon investigation, my long suffering fiance's had all the necessary features so I'm going to be borrowing it from time to time.
Secondly I need better lighting and backgrounds. The solution apparently is a light box. This diffuses the light from sources such as lamps to remove unwanted shadows etc. I didn't want to spend much (read any) money on this so here is my tutorial on how I made a virtually free lightbox
What you will need:
1 cardboard box that reams of paper come in.
An A4 sheet of card
Some WHITE baking parchment (greaseproof paper)
scissors/craftknife
glue
stickytape
Step 1.
Mark out the holes to be cut into the box. These should be as big as possible on the two long sides of the box and one of the short sides.
Cut out these holes.
Cover the two side holes with baking parchment.
Step 4.
place the A4 sheet of card curved from the floor up to the back wall of the box and stick down.
Step 5.
Cover the top with baking parchment.
And you're done. One lightbox made for pittance in about 10 mins.
When using it try to make sure that you light it from both sides and above, and that all light is coming from in front of where the miniature is placed.
Some comparative pictures will be put up in the next post.
Please feel free to leave any comments, hints or tips on photographing your models.
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