Thanks!
Krule, I thought about trying to sculpt some food next to a broken plate. Although I suppose a broken bowl and spilled stew wouldn't tax my sculpting skills too much.
Demi, yeah the phone camera does a pretty good job. But I agree, the real camera is definitely more consistent and easier to get what I want. I'm using a canon with the kit lens as well. Focus can be tricky, even more so on the 28mm figures than the 54's I usually do. I've got a couple thoughts on that... first off, are you holding it my hand or on a tripod? If you're holding it by hand the focus problems could be due to blur since we can't hold the camera perfectly still. I just do it by hand, but turn up the ISO to reduce shutter speed and the blur from shaking. I tend to use an ISO of 800. You should be fine up to 1600 on the canon but I think any further and you start to introduce noise into the image. If it really is just the focus, you can try aiming at different parts of the mini, push the button halfway to freeze the focus/exposure and the recenter the image before taking the photo. Sometimes if I want to focus on a certain part of the figure but can't, say the camera keeps picking the arm as the focus but I want to get the face, I will push the button halfway and then just slightly move closer or farther away before taking the shot. All you need is a tiny adjustment. You can also play with your aperture setting to change your depth of field to make the focus a bit more forgiving. But in the end I just take a lot of photos so I can just toss out the out of focus ones.
Alexandra, yeah I was thinking along the same lines. Once I finish more of the scene I'll decide what to add to the beam.
BFK, I remember hearing about that water drop trick. Although if it truly turns it into a macro lens (as opposed to a zoom) it may not be that helpful. In the MassiveVoodoo camera tutorial they actually talk about not using macromode
"Most compact cameras and bridge cams have a macromode. Do NOT use it. Taking pictures of your miniature is not macro photography. We do not want to have something small very large. No, we want it just as it is."
While the small base (well, reasonable sized base for the figure) can make creating the scene or telling the story challenging I think that it can also be a good thing. Aside from the obvious (big base means a lot more painting), it forces us to edit and be creative. I've got to put a lot more thought into what I put on that base and why I'm putting it there. It's definitely a struggle, but hopefully the end result will be stronger because of it.
