I've noticed that a stunningly beautifully painted figure can turn into a mess when photographed. What are the techniques to photograph figures to represent them as pics as beautifully as they appear in person?

A white or light blue sheet. two desktop lamps and the white balance of the cam set to artificial light.

I shot this with my cell Phone today and the colors are pretty much spot on as they are in real life


Mind you no white sheet in that pic. But this is a pic I made a while back of another project I finished and used the same setting with 2 desktop lights and a white sheet behind it. Again the colors are pretty much spot on.


Hope that is of some help to you.

With friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Well, I was wondering more about figures in particular. I'm not as worried about basic photography as I am making figures, with their (up close) more "delineated" paint schemes.

Make sense?

Other than the "basic stuff", it is probably a lot about equipment. Specially for figures where fine details are key.

If budget is not an issue, grab a DSLR and a macro lens (I used to have a Sigma 105mm whch was excellent). This would allow you to get in close and go beyond F22 while still staying sharp, have precise control of the depth of field to emphisize (or hide) the details you want. A tripod or some other kind of rock-solid support is a must as even with good lighting your exposure time can be up to 30-40 seconds (with F22 or higher).

I used a Canon 10D (can be had for around 100 Euro nowadays) and the aforementioned Sigma 105mm macro lens with excellent results. Unfortunately, I don't have any images at hand right now.

DSLR, tripod (can be a relatively cheap one - you work indoors only) and a remote trigger will be very useful.

As for the macro lens - check if you can get what you need with the kit lens and maybe a set of close up lenses (around 20€). The Sigma is nice but at around 400€ it costs more than the smalles Canon DSLR (EOS1100D/Rebel T1) or similar entry level DSLR from other companies(1)

Good light is essential. You never can have enough. Make sure all lamps are the same type since that helps the white balance of the camera.

(1) I am a long term Canon user in compact digitals so my first DSRL quite naturally became a Canon. Co-Workers make damned fine pictures with Sony and IIRC Nikon. Choose by "feels right" and price

Thanks, all.

I'm still not being clear. I have plenty of good camera equipment....and that's almost the problem. The technically better the photo, the more horrible the presentation. I'm getting TOO much detail....which is to say I'm getting minor "flaws" zoomed up to become the over riding focus of the frame. Is this an issue of simply NOT letting the subject (the figure) fill the frame so I'm not actually zooming ALL the way in?

Jake, have you tried treating your figure photography the same as you would a portrait? People look much better with less clarity, sharpness, etc, so figures may look more natural treating them the same way. Lighting may be just as important with figures too, harsh light may give harsh shadows for example, and not show off the true look.

This is just a guess as I have not put this into practice, there isn't enough of creative photography to ever make my figures look good

Sounds like an idea. So do the opposite of what is normally suggested. Use

Soft / indirect light and only one source

Short depth of field to blur the background

Maybe even have the figure slightly "out of focus"

The answer to your question is to make sure your camera or cell phone is "macro focus" capable. Macro focus allows for very close to the lens focusing...so you can get nice & close to capture all the figures detail. The second is shutter speed on your camera,fast shutter speeds freeze movement, ensuring pin-sharp pictures no matter how unsteady your grip on the camera .Lightening is another important factor but the main one is stated above.
When taking pictures use at least 3 light sources.4 if you have the lights. 2 above , left & right, 2 on either side. Avoid shinning the light directly on your subject but turn the lamp away from the subject & use the edge of the light to illuminate your subject..this will give you soft light & avoid bright reflective spots on your subject.

You can get an inexpensive portable studio with lights for about $50. Adjust the light angel as needed. I've been using manual settings on my Canon SX40 HS and bracketing as needed until I get the exposure I need. As far as flaws exploding on the computer screen, well, that not a bad thing since it gives me the chance to fix something before other people see it and pint out my mistakes. I'd shy away from too much "glamour" soft focus photography, however, unless you're photographing a scene that's supposed to be in a foggy setting.