Thanks! I do have a little lightbox, but honestly I've been a bit lazy lately. So I've just been throwing things on a piece of posterboard in either natural light or under the very bright LED lighting in my kitchen. And I use my phone (Galaxy S9) as the camera.
I was planning to, but decided to just buy one on amazon :P
This is the one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's honestly a little small for 1/100s, but for 1/144s it works great. I may get a bigger version of this later on!
Couple things: I recently bought a little light tent that works AMAZING for action figures. It's actually really cheap for the drastic improvement in your picture quality. Here it is on Amazon Just remember to shoot with as low an ISO as possible and compensate with a tripod and a slow shutter. Also, I want to casually mention that this figure is on the ol'bay. Not gonna link to it but you can search for it if you care. :D
They're nice. Just make sure to get one that's large enough.
The one I got from Amazon (this one) is much too small for anything besides HGs. I don't regret it as I got it for a good price from Amazon warehouse but knowing what I know now, I'd've spent a bit more and gotten a larger one.
If it helps though, I used this cheap lightbox and some extra flashlights to get the backdrop and lighting. However, I'd either wait for a price drop or look for that model elsewhere because it was only $22 when I bought it from amazon and it's almost double that now for whatever reason.
You could also pretty easily build a little diffused lightbox yourself. They work great for small items like beer cans.
Hey! So the light box I got came with two bright led lights. Do you think these are better? And may I ask why? I don’t know much about photography and just learning so it’s exciting to get info like this.
Here’s a link for the light box I bought so you can serve lights it cane with.
LimoStudio 16" x 16" Table Top Photo Photography Studio Lighting Light Tent Kit in a Box, AGG349 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CX9S8A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gmVRAbDQDMEQ0
Thank you!
It was one I bought, was 40 bucks on amazon (includes the tent, 2 lamps, phone tripod, and 4 different backdrop colors) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 you can get it here! Good deal, a lot cheaper than other lightboxes thats for sure.
Natural, diffused light (a cloudy day) is best.
Do you have a tripod (essential).
Are you using the default camera app or something like Camera Awesome?
Something like this is really good: LimoStudio 16" x 16" Table Top Photo Photography Studio Lighting Light Tent Kit in a Box, AGG349
Although the lights are probably too yellow. Instead just use your painting lamp(s).
MURDERINOS UNITE!!!!
This is the light box I got for Christmas. I have no complaints about it! It is very compact and easy to carry around if you need to bring it anywhere.
I would need to look up the bulbs that I have on top, because they're part of a super old lighting kit that I used like 5 or 6 years ago. The two little lights in front are from this tent kit I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Do you have any suggestions for my white balance setting on my camera? I think right now I just have it set on Auto White Balance
It's never too late! ...unless you glued parts together x_x
And Thank you! I use this: LimoStudio 16" x 16" Table Top Photo Photography Studio Lighting Light Tent Kit in a Box, AGG349 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CX9S8A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EvGkybSDHRF61
but I found that 16x16 is a bit small for a model of this size, so I bought a larger tent separately. I used an iPhone5c camera
Testing out my photobooth that I got from Amazon. It is woefully small and is very difficult to take photos without the sides showing up, hence the vignetting I added.
Luckily I got the booth via Warehouse Deals for over half off. It's ok for SDs and uncomplicated(no wings etc) HGs. Photo via iPhone 5s.
Edit: as for the kits. The Spallow was my Secret Santa gift from last year. It's a fantastic representation of the Spallow. My only complaint of the kit is the armor around the hip joints. Completely unstable. It can't fall off but it does not stay connected as it should. I wish the feet were a little more articulate so that I could more easily achieve some poses but it's not the end of the world.
The Mack knife on the other hand is really disappointing. The articulation is pretty bad and there just isn't much to the suit. However, I like the aesthetic of the design and the head sculpt is interesting. It's worth the $3 I paid for it, but I wouldn't pay much more than that for it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/
I'm quite happy with it. It's small, portable and I love that it uses LED lights. I wouldn't call it a "pro" rig by any stretch but it suits my needs and takes up hardly any space when it's folded up.
The light they put out is a bit cool so I needed to warm it up in Photoshop afterwards but other than that.
Plain background (doesn't need to be white, but that's super generic and easy), good lighting. Natural light is great, but it can also limit the amount of time daily that you can take good pictures during. And a couple of decent lights aren't really that expensive.
It can be as simple as a large sheet of white tagboard and a couple of lights. I personally just use my phone as a camera and a cheap/small lighting setup I found on Amazon. Here's a photo I've taken with my low-tech setup.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CX9S8A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_rmjxBb28BE254
Or
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072148WM9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4mjxBb1E158E4
I just linked Amazon because it is easy to find variety fast. You can find these on eBay too. The second one looks like a pretty good option. It has a built in light and there is the option to purchase additional lights in the same order.
From Penn State actually!
The light box I got from Amazon.
Get yourself a portable photo booth with lights. They are $40 on Amazon and will dramatically change the look of your photos https://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Photography-Studio-Lighting-AGG349/dp/B005CX9S8A?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3092063011
I'm not the OP, but I rather like this one. Here's an example of what I've been able to get out of it: https://imgur.com/a/AAJYh#yqSAQgF
There are great lightboxes on eBay/Amazon - the key I learned from studying photographing, especially small or objects with a lot of reflection - is lighting.
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This one on Amazon is great, tripod for the almost any smart-phone (no more fuzzy pics), 4 backdrops, good size 16" x 16", easy to put together, and put away, can fit busts, etc. (no affiliation or link) just great product.
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I have this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CX9S8A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_onRXBbYRA0N0E
It's good enough but the fabric backgrounds were wrinkled which was annoying. You can see that in the photos. I'll show you some photos I took with it.
I looked on YouTube for where to put the lights. I hadn't thought of putting them outside the box. It makes a way better effect outside the box being diffused through fabric than straight on. Good luck!
A cheap lightbox setup and my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7). Lighting and a blank background are key.
LimoStudio 16" x 16" Table Top Photo Photography Studio Lighting Light Tent Kit in a... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CX9S8A/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_OndeAbQWW4CRQ
Don't forget about lighting! Lighting is probably the most important thing with food/product photography. If your budget is really tight, I at least recommend picking up this inexpensive box and small but sturdy tripod to ensure sharp and detailed shots!
I just got around to using my lightbox NSFW. $40 from Amazon with 2 lights.
I have some other work safe shots of another figure, but the light was too close and ended up washing out the face.
What is a good photo studio/light box for a starter who does not have much space in his house? I bought this because it looked like a good deal. I don't hate it, I just hate the amount of editing I have to do on the photos because of poor quality. Like this one I need to do a TON of editing to fix some of the imperfections.
I've got the same item and am trying to recreate this shot with a similar quality.
http://i.imgur.com/MxQRWKS.jpg
My GF has a Nikon D3100 and I've been trying my best to replicate the shot, but am struggling mightily. I have no real idea as to what I'm doing and it seems as if the pictures my Google Pixel phone takes are much better. I've played around with the manual settings and have cycled through all of the preset options. I've tried with flash and without flash.
I also have this table top light box setup.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/
Here's a few examples of the pictures I'm getting.
I understand he's using photoshop as the shadows and edges are so clean, but how is he getting such a perfect edge? There isn't a single miscropped area within his picture.
I've got the same item and am trying to recreate this shot with a similar quality.
http://i.imgur.com/MxQRWKS.jpg
My GF has a Nikon D3100 and I've been trying my best to replicate the shot, but am struggling mightily. I have no real idea as to what I'm doing and it seems as if the pictures my Google Pixel phone takes are much better. I've played around with the manual settings and have cycled through all of the preset options. I've tried with flash and without flash.
I also have this table top light box setup.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/
Here's a few examples of the pictures I'm getting.
I understand he's using photoshop as the shadows and edges are so clean, but how is he getting such a perfect edge? There isn't a single miscropped area within his picture.
This light box has taken my photos to the next level!
Take a look at this lightbox. It's the one I have.
You'll see on that the "walls" of the lightbox are actually cloth, which provides the diffusing. The dropcloth inside the box is draped at a gentle curve, which gets rid of sharp lines.
The two lights sit on either side of the box and provide neutral light all over the model.
I wouldn't recommend that lightbox for larger models but it works pretty well for small ones. I've got some sample shots here and here.
Actually, looking at the photos a bit more, there is a dropcloth in there, it's just that the lightbox is a bit too small. If you used the lightbox with, say, an SD, it would probably work a lot better at hiding the corners and edges.
I heard this was a pretty good setup:
http://i.imgur.com/LIlpkhi.jpg
Nothing crazy. Just a cheap tent in a box setup.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CX9S8A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1