Lighting Setups For Better Pictures Of Your Lego Sets, Minifigures, And Other Collectibles

*This post was originally from an alternate website, DitoBlocks. The site's URL was recently blocked on Facebook as well so we'll partially shut it down and just make content solely on DownTheBlocks again. If you're wondering why there are links to DownTheBlocks and all that, it's because we're not changing anything from the original posting.*

With most of us staying at home these days with not many things to do, it may be time to start looking into taking pictures of your beloved collectibles!

Before anything, we're not professional or even intermediate photographers. We're more into collecting the minifigures, than into taking pictures. However, since we do reviews, we always look into improving our photography setup for our favorite collectibles.

The thing we think you should prioritize is lighting. Don't worry about your camera at first, most modern smartphones are capable of taking decent pictures under good lighting.

What you can use:

Sunlight

Taking pictures indoors vs. outdoors makes a huge difference. Outdoors, the sun naturally lights up our shots. If you want to take good-looking pictures, make sure that your shots are in the light. Use sunlight to your advantage!

Lamps and Backdrops

My current setup is simple: two lamps and a black backdrop. I would love to expand it with better lights and bigger backdrops, but we have a small house and there's just no room for that yet.

Not my perfect setup yet, but we love this compared to our older lightbox

We use two simple and identical lamps (identical bulbs too just to make sure we're not getting uneven lights) and an A3-sized black paper (You can use any color of paper you prefer). Some are glossier than others though, so check which works best for you and your lighting setup. 

Again, it's a smaller setup than preferred, but it's the best I can do for now. We also take them away to make room for the table again, so we just roll up the paper and store the lamps elsewhere. A very portable setup.

Browse lamps at AliExpress with our affiliate link:
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dWYjqqP

Lightboxes

Foldable lightbox, similar to what we used to have

Lightbox with removable top cover

Before using the lamp + paper setups, we used lightboxes which are small boxes you can build with LED strips on top ,so that your toys are lit up well. The LED strips come with a USB wire that can connect to a power bank or a USB charger. They're often used for product shots and do a decent job, for the most part.

The biggest issue I had with these, though, is the size. That's a relatively small set of Spider-Man and Vulture, but they barely fit in the lightbox I had. Plus, the back drop doesn't work anymore for "bigger" items, such as those builds.

For taking shots of minifigures, the backdrop works.

For around $10 to $20, these are pretty good. For me, the biggest selling point for these lightboxes are the portability and foldability. Again, we have space problems at home so having a foldable and portable lightbox is great.

Browse lightboxes at AliExpress with our affiliate link:
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dZlSGbZ

Foldio 3.0

Not sponsored, but we do have an affiliate link below

If you want something more legit and original (probably where these lightboxes got the idea from), then check out Foldio. I was thinking of buying it, but there's no Amazon in the Philippines. Plus, that price tag is a bit outside our budget at the moment.

It's great because there are numerous options, like more lights and other backdrops. It's also much bigger than the usual lightbox, while still having that foldable factor. I think they even have rotating bases for rotating videos!

If that price is too high, then they also have older Foldio products. These are smaller and in terms of price, it might be worth getting the ones from AliExpress instead. However with Foldio, you can be more sure with the quality and support.

Shop for the Foldio 3.0 with our Amazon affiliate link:
https://amzn.to/303BPqY

Camera is important, but your smartphone should be a decent start! Throughout the lifespan of downtheblocks, we've only used the phones: LG Nexus 5, LG G3, Xiaomi Mi 6, and currently the Redmi K20 Pro/Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro. From the G3 (that's an old phone) onward, the quality of our photos improved significantly with these better lighting setups. Still not perfect, but a good starting point. Plus, you can use it for other stuff too!

But, if you want a real camera, we recommend checking out some mirrorless cameras, a mix of the typical point-and-shoot cameras and DSLR cameras. Smaller than DSLR cameras, but better quality than your regular point-and-shoot and smartphone.

Browse for mirrorless cameras with our affiliate links:
https://amzn.to/3gML98I
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dZ6ppZv

We can't recommend a specific model yet, but when we do get our own mirrorless camera, we'll do a short review (short cause we're not photo experts) on how well they can take pictures of our Lego!

These are just some of the ways to take pictures of your Lego minifigures and sets! I would recommend using sunlight as much as possible since it's free and outdoor backgrounds are often interesting. If not, look around your house for unused desk lamps that you can use before shelling out more money on lighting.

If you have other opinions or facts about photography and lighting, let us know! Again, we're not experts and we'd love to hear your photo tips and tricks.

We'd also love to see old and new pictures of your minifigures and other collections! Share them with us as through our media channels.

You can communicate with us below or through our other media channels:

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If you want to support the site, feel free to use the affiliate links we listed above. No pressure! We just want you to get the best deals for your money. Try free options first such as sunlight and unused lamps at home before you invest your money on better lighting solutions.

Ready to have fun taking pictures of your collections?