Taking pics of minifigs?

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

Hey guys,

DSR here, in need of some help! No matter what camera I use, I can't seem to get a clear, crisp shot of any minifig. So, I assume it isn't the camera. I'm also using a tripod and a hard surface, no flash, with overhead and one side lights (cieling light and a bendy-neck lamp). I'm also using a white background. Why the hell do my pics turn out so crappy? The camera is completely still, so that can't be the problem. No camera I've used wants to focus on minifigs! (My dad's kodak, don't know what model, and my new Canon (not sure what model, can find out quickly if necessary)

What I need to know is, what am I doing wrong? Any tips, guys? I have some great custom figs I'm dying to share, but not until I know the pics are perfect. I also have a similar clearness problem with the color red (namely, the Wolfen). Please help me out!

Thanks in advance,

DSR

[Zorro]

a) Did you use the automated focussing function of your camera? If not, give it a try (read the manual about how to)

If yes, try to do it manually.

I think you might not have used it, because else at least some would be good. Unless the lens or camera is broken.

Also check the camera stance: you often have many like "moving people, nature scenes, automatic,..."

b) Maybe you should post your camera specs. here, so we know what the problem could be by proces of elimination.

c) Always take some distance, the larger the Lego set is, the more distance you should take. Rather use the zoom function to get a larger image! (warning: do NOT use digital zooming, only lens zooming!)

lens zooming: You zoom in by using the lenses of your camera, the pixels remain the same: no quality gets lost.

digital zooming: You zoom in by enlarging the pixels digitally with the software of your camera: quality gets lost!!!

I suggest you leave 40-50cm of space between you and a 32x32 building set.

Edited October 13, 2008 by zorro3999

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

A) Yeah, I am using the auto focus. Only thing is, it doesn't want to focus on anything! It focuses on other things just fine, I checked.

B) Check my most recent pictures on Flickr, link in my sig, it gives you full camera specs.

C) I do, and I do use zoom. But when I zoom, the quality goes to crap. It isn't the camera, I tried multiple cameras, and have nearly the same problems. I'm assuming the main problem is me.

DSR

[VBBN]

Macro Mode will do the trick. Ana good amount of lighting. That's all I use, and look at my sigfig pic in my Avatar.

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

Macro Mode will do the trick. Ana good amount of lighting. That's all I use, and look at my sigfig pic in my Avatar.

Just switch it to macro? Thanks, I'll try that!

DSR

[Dadster]

Just switch it to macro? Thanks, I'll try that!

DSR

Well - did it work?!

The suspense is killing me...*nibbles on chocolate bar*...I hope it lasts.

[The Who]

Well - did it work?!

The suspense is killing me...*nibbles on chocolate bar*...I hope it lasts.

Nice quote there, Willy Wonka.

Did it work anyway?

My technology at home will not allow me to take pics of my many mocs, simply because my technology is crap.

[MrSix]

Is it that the lighting is too harsh? I've never tried photographing minifigs, but for other macro/still-life shots I made myself a light tent (a quick Google should find instructions) to minimise any shadows. At a pinch, you could try create a large 'tunnel' out of tracing paper (or some other opaque material) and standing the fig under it, making sure that the lamp is shining through the paper rather than directly onto the minifig.

Best of luck!

[JimBee]

Use the flower setting on your camera, represented by a flower icon, that should help. Also, don't use the automatic zoom, just move closer to the fig. I only use white paper and an overhead light, with flash, so that should work. Hope I helped!

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

Well - did it work?!

The suspense is killing me...*nibbles on chocolate bar*...I hope it lasts.

LOL.

Nice quote there, Willy Wonka.

Did it work anyway?

My technology at home will not allow me to take pics of my many mocs, simply because my technology is crap.

Haven't gotten a chance to try yet, sorry.

Is it that the lighting is too harsh? I've never tried photographing minifigs, but for other macro/still-life shots I made myself a light tent (a quick Google should find instructions) to minimise any shadows. At a pinch, you could try create a large 'tunnel' out of tracing paper (or some other opaque material) and standing the fig under it, making sure that the lamp is shining through the paper rather than directly onto the minifig.

Best of luck!

I doubt it. I'm only using the overhead lights on my fan(there's only 3 bulbs, angled towards the walls) and a small lamp because the overheads are yellowish and don't give off enough light. I don't shine the light directly on it, it's set so it shines over the large paper stock I'm using.

Use the flower setting on your camera, represented by a flower icon, that should help. Also, don't use the automatic zoom, just move closer to the fig. I only use white paper and an overhead light, with flash, so that should work. Hope I helped!

My Canon doesn't have a flower on it. Is that the macro, though? If so, I'm going to try it soon. Been busy all day.

Thanks for the tips so far, guys!

DSR

[frogstudio]

Hi!!! Being a photographer, I think I can help on this one. Firstly, you must be surely using some kind of pocket camera (either film or digital) Here comes the first problem concerning something calle paralx error. In this type of caneras, the lens isn't exactly capturing what you're looking at in your visor. With wide photographs, this isn't a problem, bur with close ups yes, simply because you camera is either focusing behind or in front of what you actually want to shoot. Most cameras have something called an autofocus assist beam. This is a red light that helps the camera focus under dim light. You should try to position this light over the minifig, ignoring what you see in your visor. Second problem is all camera lenses have a minimum focusing distance (even real macro lenses for SRL cameras have a minimum focusing distance). As someone mentioned, to solve this, you should place the camera quite far away from the minifig (no less than 1.5 metres, that would be a safe distance) and use the optical zoom of your camera in order to get a big image of it. The third issue you should take into account is camera shake. When using a tripod, although you don't notice it, when you press the shutter buton, the camera shakes and moves. When taking wider photographs or when you're not using a zoom, this is hardly noticeble, but, when doing close ups, it REALLY pops up. Best thing to do: use the self timer of your camera to solve this. If after doing all this you're still having blurred photos, the you've got some kind of problem with your camera. Hope this has helped. Cheers!!!!

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

Hi!!! Being a photographer, I think I can help on this one. Firstly, you must be surely using some kind of pocket camera (either film or digital) Here comes the first problem concerning something calle paralx error. In this type of caneras, the lens isn't exactly capturing what you're looking at in your visor. With wide photographs, this isn't a problem, bur with close ups yes, simply because you camera is either focusing behind or in front of what you actually want to shoot. Most cameras have something called an autofocus assist beam. This is a red light that helps the camera focus under dim light. You should try to position this light over the minifig, ignoring what you see in your visor. Second problem is all camera lenses have a minimum focusing distance (even real macro lenses for SRL cameras have a minimum focusing distance). As someone mentioned, to solve this, you should place the camera quite far away from the minifig (no less than 1.5 metres, that would be a safe distance) and use the optical zoom of your camera in order to get a big image of it. The third issue you should take into account is camera shake. When using a tripod, although you don't notice it, when you press the shutter buton, the camera shakes and moves. When taking wider photographs or when you're not using a zoom, this is hardly noticeble, but, when doing close ups, it REALLY pops up. Best thing to do: use the self timer of your camera to solve this. If after doing all this you're still having blurred photos, the you've got some kind of problem with your camera. Hope this has helped. Cheers!!!!

Thanks for the tips! I'll try the timed shot. My camera does have a focusing beam, I'll try that too. My camera has a 4x optical zoom, is that enough?

DSR

[frogstudio]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try the timed shot. My camera does have a focusing beam, I'll try that too. My camera has a 4x optical zoom, is that enough?

DSR

It won't give you a huge close up of the fig, but a nice image. Try to shoot the image in the best possible quality. If it's small, PM me and I'l blow it up for you in an almost losless way. Cheers and good luck!!!!

[Captain Zuloo]

It won't give you a huge close up of the fig, but a nice image. Try to shoot the image in the best possible quality. If it's small, PM me and I'l blow it up for you in an almost losless way. Cheers and good luck!!!!

Couldn't you just crop the image to make it bigger?

[frogstudio]

Couldn't you just crop the image to make it bigger?

Surely, but he would still have the same size of image, pixelwise... :)

[rriggs]

...simply because you camera is either focusing behind or in front of what you actually want to shoot...

On both of my compact digital cameras you press the shutter button gently/briefly in order to set the focus. Then press it again to take the shot.

...you should place the camera quite far away from the minifig (no less than 1.5 metres)

That seems very far! In macro mode I position my camera about 30cm away and have never had an issue. That said, I do sometimes take a wide shot of a minifig and then trim it back once uploaded using Paintshop/Photoshop. The high res of modern cameras mean that works well. I like an appropriate background (normally out of focus) behind my minifig close-ups!

The third issue you should take into account is camera shake.

I use a tripod and I either use the timer (which is hassle and makes everything take longer) or I use my non-photo-taking hand to hold the camera and tripod extra steady. Works every time.

I also make sure that I take (at least) two of each shot and then select the clearest and best once they've uploaded to my PC. Several different angles each time too. What looks good on a 2-3 inch screen can be a whole heap different once it's proper-sized!

Cheers

Rog

Edited October 14, 2008 by rriggs

[Bobskink]

Didn't read the reply's, but here is what I do and it works very well.

1) I take my pictures inside at day but make sure the flash does go of. There has to be a normal visiblity inside. The mixture of that normal visiblity and the flash which works as an extra gives me pictures which don't need adjusting in photoshop. The only problem is you need to pick the righ hour of the day, I do it when the sun just starts going under near a window.

2) An other important thing is to put a white peace of paper in tha back so you don't have a dark and distracting background. Do it like this: http://www.pbase.com/ed154/image/87901123 , but make sure your minifig isn't to close to the back, or you'll have a dropshadow, unless that is what you want.

3) An last important thing is to take pictures from a distance, about one meter or more, don't get to close, you'll never get a good focus. Digital cameras these days have a good resolution, just adjust the size of the picture in Paint and get rid of what you don't want to be seen.

Hope this helps.

Here's an example:

[Guss]

personally , I use an old Olympus c-2500L, and to takes pics of my minifigs

( like these one )

I select the macro mode, I put the camera at 30cm from the minifig, then I adjust by zooming in, I edit the picture in any image-editing software to adjust the frame and here is an example of the result with a pic of imperialscout :

( click to enlarge)

Edited October 14, 2008 by Guss

[Skinny Boy]

3) An last important thing is to take pictures from a distance, about one meter or more, don't get to close, you'll never get a good focus. Digital cameras these days have a good resolution, just adjust the size of the picture in Paint and get rid of what you don't want to be seen.

Really, I do the opposite. This pic (hope i'm not bragging):

was taken, as you might tell, with the lens right in front of the chinamans face, yet (I think) the man in the back is clear.

I'm not saying Bobskink is wrong in anyway, just focusing involves (for me) near contact closeness. Hope this helped, though you have gotten many replies already

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

Thanks for all the help guys!

As it turns out, all I needed was a smaller surface (Moved from my desk to my dresser) the light more overhead (as opposed to coming in from the left side) and using the zoom much, much more. All these things made them turn out exceptionally clear. Check them out on my flickr if you get a chance. Link in my sig!

Thanks again, everyone!

DSR