Tips on photographing models

What kind of camera are you using? Does your lense have a macro feature?Film should be low ASA/DIN like about 100. Lots of light or shoot outside on a sunny day. Steady hand or a tripod or surveyors pod can help. Watch your F-stop as that will influence depth of field.

Jeez, Swanny... give the guy a break! Some how i doubt that he got the f-stop comment!
Jonasaberg, what do you mean by "crappy"? Too dark, too much light? was it not focused properly? was it grainy in appearance?

are you using (what i like to call) a PHD ("Press Here Dummy" a.k.a. instamatic) camera? If it has a zoom, avoid zooming in, try and get as much light in there as possible. If you're shooting inside, try turning on all the lights in the room... You want to get as much light as possible on the subject from as many angles (so long as you don't backllight it). maybe you can move one or two lamps to either side of you to cast some diffused light on it... these instamatics should be able to figure out the best shutterspeed, apature, etc... so there's no need to worry about that. tripods are a good idea too.

Over at Scale Hobby, I've posted some information which you may find useful. "An Introduction" covers camera functions, uses, & terminology. Other topics include examples of the different effects of different settings. Although I'm using a digital camera for these, all of the functions, excluding white balance, are applicable to film cameras as well. Feel free to ask questions. As a photography enthusiast, I like seeing more people taking an interest in improving the quality of their photos.
Here's the link to the info :
http://www.scalehobby.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=57

I use an old Canon AE-1 that has a depth of field preview button. This helps you see what your going to get before you shoot. A tripod is a must. Actually a good book on phtotgraphy would be your best bet, keep it close by as a referrence. And take a few practice rolls, don't be in a hurry.

Make sure you have very good lighting indoors and do not use the camera flash.

I use 3 150W halogen spots to illuminate the model, I also use baking paper over the bulbs to diffuse the light a bit, nad never , never, never use the flash. A solid coloured backdrop is also a good idea if you want, I use blue cardboard.

Thanks for the tips.
I borrowed my mother´s new camera with zoom(didn´t use that however). The pictures became somewhat grainy, little detail stood out and the flash pretty much ruined them all.
I am going to try to set it up with a dark background and light it better.
I´ll read up on photography in general too I think

The grain in film is caused by the silver halide crystals (the part that changes when exposed to light) in the film's emulsion. You probably used a high-speed film. High-speed film is more sensitive to light, due to the large crystals, resulting in grain. Film with an ASA/ISO rating of 50-125 will have very small crystals, resulting in negligible grain. They are, however, less sensitive to light. Use a film that is optimized for your lighting source (natural light, incandescent, etc.), so that the colors are rendered faithfully. Light your subject so that it looks good to your eyes, then shoot without a flash, preferably with a tripod. If you have no tripod, place the camera on a solid object so it doesn't move when you depress he shutter.
When using the zoom, I would suggest zooming all the way in, then moving the camera to frame your subject. Most zoom cameras, when zoomed all the way out, are very wide angle, which makes near objects large, and far objects small. This can be seen as "bending" around the frame of the picture.
For film use, a "gray card" (Ansel Adam's Zone 5), in an indespensible tool for getting an accurate light meter reading. They are available at better camera outlets. I NEVER shoot 35mm film without one.
I've had 3 semesters of Photo in college (A, B+, A), and I still learn every time I take a photo.
Good luck with the pictures !

well, I take my photos with a digital camera, use 3 white books for backround, and use the flash. I've had no problems whatsoever

I won't offer advice. I've yet to see how mine turned out.
steve Q lololol I guess rudolph would be assimalated as a beacon drone??

If you haven't noticed already, all of the pictures here are in three quarter view. In other words they are viewed from a corner.

Try to keep anything out of the picture that might show its scale. That is why you see a lot of pictures that are very close or shot with a sheet as a background.

And as has been said, hopefully your camera comes with a "macro mode" ie, it allows you to zoom in real close.

If your camera does not have this feature, then at least make sure to hide the models true scale.

If you are familiar with computers, and have photo editting software, you could take a high resolution picture and edit it to look like a closeup.