Taking Pictures of Figures with Digital Cameras

[Captain Coder]

I know a couple tricks for taking pictures of action figues, especially when they are still in the package, to help make the pics clear. My best trick is laying the figure on the floor in front of a window to get good light. It works pretty good without much glare, but an obvious problem is you can only take pictures on sunny days.

I've tried using overhead lights and you get way too much glare reflecting off any plastic that's on the package.

Now, I saw some pics that CJKToybay took of some He-Man figures still in the package, and they were perfectly clear and better then any pics I ever took. How did he do that??

[CJK Toy Bay]

After you've had your camera for 4 years and take a few thousand pics with it you get to know it quite well. It's likes, dislikes and just the way it acts in different circumstances. :wink:

To tell ya the truth those pics could have been better but I rushed them because I had to get going to work. The sun light method works great but like you mentioned you can only take pics during the day and sometimes depending on the time of the day you'll catch some reflection. Flourecent overhead lights are the worst possible method, way too much glare and reflection with almost no way to avoid it.

Typically I use a regular table lamp, 100 watt bulb. Item around a foot or so away from the base of the lamp. Camera (no flash) held directly above the item but tipped down a bit on the side that the light is coming from to reduce any glare that may occure. Of all the methods I've tried this is by far the easiest and quickest method I've come across.