Sony Cybershot DSC-T70

[majestic0110]

Hi all, I hope you are well. I am trying to take a photo of some WIP zombies I am currently working on. I have the sony cybershot dsc-t70 camera and cannot seem to find a good setting to use for the photo. I have enabled "super macro" but I am unsure as to what else I can do to improve the quality of the photos. If anyone here has any experience using this camera and knows a good setting for it can you please let me know. Thanks very much. P.S. please see this thread for some current shots of the zombies:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?46719-WIP-Vampire-Counts-ZOMBIES-!!!

 

[Willdorling]

Heya Majestic.

It looks like you have the aperture set too low. This is indicated by an number preceded by an 'f' A low aperture is great for close up shots but it narrows the depth of focus ie it focuses on your item and them blurs behind everything further back. If you want a picture where more mini's are in focus then increase the aperture to as high a possible f number such as f18-f22.

This will reduce the amount of light you capture and make the images seem darker. There are some simple things you can do to improve this.
Take piccies in a really naturally lit area.
Use desk lamps from different angles to light up the mini without casting too many shadows
Use a tripod and slow down the shutter time. This allows more light to be captured.
If doing the last one try to use a tripod or rest your camera on the table and use the timer to reduce blur.

I have a different camera but try to check your instructions for manual setup to see how you can manually change the 'f' number and shutter times.

I use f22 and a 2-4 second exposure depending on whether I am shooting at night or during the day.

Other great, simple advice is to manually edit the pics using software. I use a free program called GIMP and there is a great guide here
http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1724-the-gimp-photo-manipulation
on how to best use this software.

Hope this helps, I'm still learning but this is what I've started to do recently to improve my pics.

Cheers
Will

 

[majestic0110]

Brilliant, thanks very much for that great information ill give it a try tomorrow

 

[Avelorn]

I recon you're not able to set the aperture manually on that camera so move the camera a bit backwards instead. The most important thing is to find a lighting setup that works. Doesn't have to be very complicated. I use this most of the time (took these images back in 2008):

Setup:

What I got out of the camera:

some leveling/colour correction done (I didn't do a great job some magenta left):

Cropped:

These images were all shot with an old compact.

And as a sidenote to willdorling the smallest aperture setting is not always a good idea because of the quality deterioration from diffraction, better sometimes to experiment and move the mini(s) or camera backwards. Depending on which camera and sensor size it takes some experimenting to get to the right settings. For example on a dslr beyond f/22 might work on a squad as the individual miniatures are so small but at the same time be ill suited to capture all the detail in a character miniature.

These samples are shot with a full frame (which holds up to diffraction better the smaller sensors) 5d mark II with a 50mm macro lens, and then resized and cropped to "ususal" magnification:

Even at f/22 and these smaller image sizes there is a noticeable quality drop while f/45 is unusable.

 

[majestic0110]

Excellent information, and you are right I am unable to adjust the aperture on my camera (unless I just cannot find the option). The quality difference in your picture above and the ones I have taken thus far of my Undead is VAST. I guess I don't really have a proper set up like yourself, I was relying mostly on natural light as opposed to a lamp like you have. I guess it must make a huge difference. I see what you mean RE the aperture setting in the pictures of the marine there, that's a very useful comparison. Great job on the minis by the way!

 

[Avelorn]

Cheers! It's important to get an even light, daylight can work great the only down side is that it changes a lot both in terms of intensity and colour temperature. I use the small white cards to bounce light evenly around the miniature I also have white paper under the minis as you can see. The background should be neutral, a greyish blue or similar often works well.

 

[Willdorling]

Cool advice on the f number being too high. I don't know where I had picked that up from so will have a play on my camera for single mini's and see if it improves the image quality

Thanks Averlorn, nice example piccs!

 

[SpearMint]

The camera is the most important piece of equipment for taking pictures, like most things you get what you pay for. Lighting is the next feature to pay close attention to and can make a huge difference in quality. Also if you have picture editing software like Photoshop you can improve your pictures this way.