How To Shoot Good Photos of Your Minis with a Smartphone 

What??? Yo I literally paused the video and went to play with that exposure thing. I never knew that! That’s so cool!

"You don't want that over bearing light source" Weeps in Australian.

Came for the pachow stayed for the good advice!

I'm turning off the camera flashes of random people I come accross at the office after watching this video now.

there is one(1) acceptable use of flash when taking pictures with your phone, and thats if you see a cool bug outside at night and want to show all your friends later

Photographer here :) use also a White Printing Paper to Reflect some light on shadows areas cast by the Light of the window to your model .... :)

Those are solid tips. I would add : 1) eliminate clutter - dont give a chance for people to see anything else besides your main subject(s) 2) experiment with costrasting backgrounds - light minis on dark bg, or yellow ones on a purple-ish bground. 3) if the sun is out and the lighting is bad, use torchlights or led light from another phone. if the light turns out too harsh, you can soften it by covering the light with white paper, for example. You can use colored plastic too if you want. 4) google images and put your models in front of your laptop. Instant cool backdrops!

You CAN ZOOM IN REALLY CLOSE with a cellphone camera; but you need an addon, a zoom lens you attach to your cellphone. Some are very expensive, but there are some that are not, so you can actually take macro images of details on your minis. But this....is something you might not want to do; it will not necessarily look good. Try looking at a mini under a microscope, you won't be happy with your paintwork then.

I didn't realized about the focus by touching the screen and the exposure slider. Thanks Uncle Atom, this is going to make the photos I take at the club so much better.

I 100% support this. Most importantly is to GET CLOSER to the mini. There's so many minis posted on Reddit and Imgur that really need to learn what you are saying.

I literally just tried this and it improved the photos by leaps and bounds, thanks a lot

"I use it as a flashlight so I don't step on cats in the middle of the night." This is so true! 🤤 Three of my cats are pitch black. Sometimes having the light doesn't help!

This was extremely helpful Adam. Thanks for sharing these tips. It is very much appreciated.

Another very helpful video Uncle Atom! Thank you!

Good stuff here Atom. Over the last 2 years my own skills with using my digital compact slr has improved. I've learnt alot about using the aperture setting, the iso, shutter speed, and why a macro lens is not what you want, and how to get everything in the shot to all be in focus (especially is the model has things jutting out).

I never knew about the exposure-slider, but there it is! Thank you Uncle Atom.

I use a sad lamp (a medical lamp used for seasonal depression) put it about 50cm from the model boom natural none direct day light 😁 Great video Atom keep them coming

Thanks, was struggling with taking mini photos, these tips will really help!

I love this!!! I just subscribed because it's so easy to listen to you. I just started painting and I'm struggling to get good photos of my miniatures so I can post them online for feedback.

Great tips, Uncle Atom!

Thank you so much for these tips, I had alot of issues that were solved with that exposure tip

This video is an absolute must i'd definitely recomend it

Some great advice! Thanks for sharing! 😁

I never knew about the exposure slider on the iPhone. Thank you!

Thanks so much for this. I'm used to using my DSLR and studio lights when shooting my subjects, especially during work, but I can't practically do that with every WIP in the tiny little room I call my workshop. Cheers!

Yeah, prepare to get a ton of views on this over time. Awesome video.

So, I followed the advice. It worked!

thankyou so much for this video. I have a decent camera but during my house move misplaced the charger and accessories for it, so have been stuck with my £50 lg phone and my photos have been awful. Your tips about cropping and using some copier paper were really helpful. love your videos!

Snapseed is soooo amazing! Thanks Uncle Atom!!

Nice video (as usual)! I would make a little addition to the window setup: if you put another sheet of white paper on the opposite side of the window it will help with the shadows and make the lighting more uniform. You can even use a piece of aluminum foil to make it even lighter.

Thank You for this video. It smuggles very important knowledge to viewers not just for miniature photography. Now we know how to better use gear we all have! To make important photo I use a bit better camera and use most of those advise: no flashlight, natural light is better than led (mostle), stable photo.

*cyclorama. A cyclotron is a particle accelerator. (I think that came up in your lightbox video). By the way, I've been using the Foldio that you recommended (I've got the Foldio 2 now) and it's fantastic! well worth the money.

This video helped me so much!

I use the flash for mid range shots of my terrain and it works great for that. Close up's is another matter and I agree, turn the flash off for those.

Thanks for the video! I knew about flash being bad, but I didn't know about the cyclotron thing. Good, free software on the PC/Unix (probably Mac, too) is GIMP. It's no Photoshop, but it does a decent job of balancing your lights and darks. I also use it to mock up color schemes before painting.

This really boils down to: 1. Learn how the equipment (camera and post processing software) at your disposal works. 2. Learn the general rules for taking good pictures of the type you want. 3. Combine 1. and 2. Yesterday, before watching these instructions, I used my brand new phone (which I'm not yet accustomed to) to take a few shots of a model where I as a test have used Green Stuff to try mimicking ghillie suit type covers to Space Marine armor. I used *poster* *putty* to fasten the unbased model to a nail which I stuck into the ground. Then held the phone upside down to get the camera lens closer to the ground, at about the model's eye level. For me the tricky part is to tell if the part I want to be in focus is *actually* in focus, not just that the camera tries to focus at it. (I have problems getting my eyes to focus on the screen.) Then post production is required to a) rotate the image 180 degrees to not have it upside down, b) crop it to get a good composition, and c) correct the white balance a bit. Result: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvOCgDPce28zqjHd1ouCFnWOzSEt_BMU?usp=sharing

Hi. What microphone do you use? The video has an amazing audio. And thanks for the tip, very useful.

Great tips! thank you!

Yes! Turn off the flash! YES! If you don't have a good window to shoot near you can tape parchment paper over a lamp pointed at your miniature. This gives you a similar diffused light source.

Great tip! I'm gonna give it a try.

One thing you also want for good pictures is diffused lighting from below. I use tin foil for this. Just raise your figure a bit so you can put the stuff underneath and also curve it a bit towards the camera for extra reflection. If you have a good desktop light, like the tri-tube daylight lamp that I have, you can use this for photos too. I do most of the editing work on my PC, I use Paint.net and/or GIMP for this, which are both free. Personally I only use my smartphone for work in progress pictures. Photos of finished models are done with my "real" camera.

I’ve wondered if that paper technique actually works. Good to know, thanks Atom!

Getting a tripod for your phone is essential too. More so if you extend the exposure because you'll get motion blur from even the tiniest hand shake. Keeping the camera (any camera) is essential. I got a light box/photo stand that folds into a carrying case for 25 bucks off of amazon. Comes with multiple colours for backgrounds and man, the tones on the models change so dramatically from white, blue and black. It's fun to experiment

Very helpful video. Thank you

NO FLASH!!! Ok, got that :) My issue right now is I have to get great photos of my 1/12 scale minuature room for a magazine article, it has lighting inside but photos taken with lights on are really bad for glare from the little bulbs, so I'll leave them off, but lighting the inside of the room box and avoiding shadows and having everything sharp will be a challenge!

Wow! Didnt know about slider thingy, thanks!

I use the Camera+ app on iPhone, adds a lot of controls that the stock camera lacks. Being able to adjust white balance is probably the biggest one, I can shoot under my workbench lights or in a light box or with sunlight and they all come out the same color.

A built-in flash _can_ have a function - as a fill-in light. For example for subjects lit from behind; when taking a portrait of a person with the sun in the background etc.. But - as stated in the video - for miniatures: Not so much. If you can't bounce the light from a flash into walls and/or the roof - don't use it. Good video! :)

Great video as usual, but it seems like there could be second part where you go over common uses of the photo software you mentioned. I'm pretty new at photographing in general, and have never really used photoshop or any other image editing app.

Awesome topic thanks

Great tips . I am android but my wife is I phone and learnt a lot from your video.

I found that on android (soz ios maybe you have it, maybe you don't) that if you put you flash on torch mode, it really helps a lot when trying to snap pictures at night when there is no fancy fancy sun. But definitely going to try the tips. Great video

For some reason I feel I need to turn off my flash! Great video, as usual.

Good advice!

The phone he had is SPV M3100 in case wondered. Had, loved it (Windows Mobile 5 FTW! :)), recently found pictures I made with it and boy do they suck :)

I will try those tipps later today! =)

Flash can be useful if you know how to reflect it and it can really improve your photos but if you just point straight at it it will look terrible

Oh and we ❤️ you Atom

my question: is it too late to get into "insert discontinued game"? and how to aquire older models (in my example im realy thinking of getting into warhammer fantasy but AOS is not my cup of tea,)

Clipping macro cam lenses about 2-4$ is just a steal to show some details collaged to main photo to assure everyone that “yep, thats moldline under the paint, do u even scratch bro?”

Owwwww that photo with the flash on! My heart can't take it.

great advice, but it's winter in Scotland, there isn't a sun.

You don't have to turn off the flash, I fact it can be quite handy as long as you do it right. You can use making tape or some paper to cover the light and you may need a few layers to get it just right. Some times colour paper can work quite nicely as well. The idea is to defuse the white light so that it become warm and fuzzy. Ty it out as it can be quite nice

I wonder if a lamp with a daylight bulb in it would be a good substitute if it's dark outside.

This is well timed for me. I was planning on finishing up an army today and taking some pictures of it, but between some stuff coming up and my sudden desire to practice piano I ran out of time, so I'll actually be able to apply this when I do it tomorrow.

It's not necessary, but an adapter that allows you to mount your camera to a tripod will help. Definitely helps with recording short videos.

If you have really trash lighting, use printer paper to make a little curved backdrop to help reflect light (I tend to do a curve sideways, but that vertical method is just like what big studios do haha). And if that's not enough, get a little dollar store phone tripod, use the exposure settings to turn up the sensitivity, and use the timer to set your phone to take a photo (so you're not holding it and getting the camera shake). And if you want to get really fancy, test each "white balance" preset to see what looks best. You can fix most things in post like snapseed, but a good rule is to try to get the best photo you can first to work with, and then fix issues in post processing.

Cyclorama uncle Atom ;) A cyclotron is a particle generator. It's also good to put several sheets of paper to eliminate dark background or whatever we use to make that paper stand. I also saw some people using white Ikea's laundry bag to build shade-less tent. About that no flash policy... My friend super-glued his flash in DSLR. I don't recommend that. Just never use it ppl.

I find Foodie to be the best app for taking photos of anything, really. It's an app designed for (you guessed it) taking photos of food. It has the right focus, exposure and zoom. Highly recommend.

I'm curious how some painters on RU-vid are able to film those great turntable videos. Seems like everyone talks about stillshots or painting videos, but no one has shared how to film the completed miniatures.

I've had an iPhone for years and had no idea the exposure thing. I'll hand in my technerd card, now.

So are you saying we should turn off our flash? ;) Also how the heck has this video got thumbs down... what is wrong with people. Thanks for the tips and yes, I agree about the flash.

If you want to get a better close up with a phone camera for cheap you can take the focusing lens out of an old laser pointer and place it in front of your phone camera. Just take a bobby pin and some tape and you can get some really good images plus its not expensive.

cyclotron or cyclorama?! mind that synchrotron radiation, uncle atom! :D

Another tip. Get a cheap small tripod and a cheap selfie stick. The phone holder on the selfie stick will attach to the tripod. You can also buy a remote control camera button for really cheap too so you don't have to touch your phone to take a shot. If you have a good phone like a Samsung Galaxy series you also have the option of a voice activated camera. All you say is shoot or cheese or capture and the camera will take the photo. No jiggling the camera or blurred motion effects etc..

Taped paper to cat. Mission failed. Model inside cat

thanks man for the help too bad my windowsill is to small to take pics of my larger models

My problem is once the pic is cropped and adjusted for forums etc;(since they prefer specific image sizing) it loses for lack of a better word crispness or some detail loses definition etc;

Flashes do have their use, but you're better of using LED or white light, natural light works best though.

So, what about my flash? Could I use that, or should I use the flash instead? :D

Is I phone 11 pro good for taking pics or better get a camera?

I've been doing the hobby for around 10 years now but I've never really thought about the community around miniature photography and I'm intrigued. Where is the best place to go online to post and look at/talk about photos? Instagram? Thanks.

I will give you some real advice for amazing shots which will require some Post-Processing but produce professional pics. The trick is to use focus stacking. - get yourself some type of tripod - get Open Camera for Android (sorry iOS people, you need to find your own solution) - click the gear icon on the right side and activate Focus Bracketing - set it to 10 (up to you) - set the minimum focus and maximum focus according to the distance to the mini/minis (super simple with the slider) - the app will then take 10 images at the different focus levels in intervals. Then either use Snapseed on Android, or photoshop on the PC. Process the image for focus stacking. That will create a single image with amazing depth of field and amazing levels of detail. Google for guides on "focus stacking". RU-vid has some videos on "miniature focus stacking" too

You want basically free photoshop? pixlr.com. I use it all the time. Huge range of commands very similar to PS.

And if your using an "expensive" camera ( DSLR, etc ) stick to the native ISO - compensate for lack of light with a longer exposure instead or you loose color detail.

I have to admit, I have a fancy camera and my smartphone that I use for my photos. But when I am in the middle of paintwork and checking on the fly, the smartphone wins every time. ;)

I like happier. Now can you give me a tip on how to find and buy brushes that are not wimpy? I'm trying to paint a line between to features, and the brush just wimps out and I end up with paint in the wrong place.

“You know your own house better than I do [ as far as you know ].” HA! HA! 🤣

Hey tabletop minions can you make a beginners guide to 40k because im kinda new to the hobby

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="785">13:05</a>. Holy shit! Why has nobody told me this for the years I've had an iPhone. It's been a huge gripe of mine when trying to capture things that the autoexposure darkens everything to the point that I don't want to take a picture of it.

My background is particle physics so I just can't bring myself to call a piece of paper a cyclotron

Erm... Cyclorama, is the photography term. A Cyclotron accelerates particles. :P

Check out amazon's light box

who else fist bumped at the focus tapping?

its time to remake this video, my good sir.

Tape it to your cat!? 🐈 LOL!

Is the mini in the thumbnail from a game? If so, which one?

its all about the angle ;)

I know this is a pretty old video, but if you are using an iPhone (new or within the last 5 years probably), go buy the little app Camera+ (camera.plus/). It has an incredibly useful MACRO mode that allows you to take ultra close up pics, and it works great for miniatures. I use it all the time, and have for years. Perhaps someone will find the app useful!

heads up for those not in the northern hemisphere, go to the south side not the north