How do i take miniature photos

My photo setup

Hi again! I have been told many times that i have nice pictures of my miniatuares and while i was asked about my photo setup yesterday again i was thinking about that maybe they are probably not as bad as i think they are. And thats why i decided i might help somebody with photographing miniatures to share my setup and cheap photoshop trick i ussualy apply to my pictures;-)
As you can see on first picture my setup is pretty simple, using box i sprayed in black and some gradient i printed out as a background. You can use any stand for your miniatures but here you can see home made spining wheel i use when making video showcase. If you are thinking is made from dvd case and two dvds then you are right and i think its pretty obvious how to build one for yourself so i dont think its neceseary to write about that.
As a light source i use standart desk lamp with daylight bulb covered by napking or four napkins(it depends)to disperse and soften the light. Be careful if you ll try this and dont leave your lamp turned on with napkins on it for too long if you dont want to set your home on fire;-)
Third importantant thing you ll need is some kind of stand for your camera as you dont want to take pictures with shaking hands so for this purpose that big can of vallejo water effects serve really well.

Aprox curves setting

Now about the camera, i use really cheap Sony Cyber-shot digital camera whitch you can buy really, really cheap and if you are sick of photographing with your phone take it as pictures from mobile of any kind(you dont really trust cheap iphone adverts?)ll never reach same quality as mega pixels does not really matter and is the least important thing you should be interested in while buying a camera. Optics lenses and colour chip is what you are interested in and thats why mobiles ll never replace regular cameras as they simply dont have the room for that big lens and optics like even cheap camera have. Before i confiscated my girlfriends Sony cyber shot i ve been trying to take pictures with many other cheap cameras, for example Nikon coolpix for most of the time, but ressults were not even close to what you can get with that low end sony. It cost about the same, but if you are looking for really cheap camera that should replace your cell phone for miniature photographing then take your time and found that Sony CyberShot DSC-S730 somewhere;-)

Best low end camera i found for miniature photography

Ok now you took the pictures, have them in your computer and now what? I usually open photoshop, load the pictures in and do few adjustments. First thing i ussualy do is to auto adjust levels and then i go to curves and adjust them to somethink like you see on second picture. This may depends and it ll be different with each picture and you have to tweak with it by yourself but i wanted to give you at least idea what to do with your picture to make your photo as close as posible to the reality when under naked eye.
Hope this gave you idea how i take pictures and possibly help some of you out with your own pictures. Thanks for reading and see you soon as im having unexpected holiday and ll problably paint few models!