Originally Posted by lardman

I wonder if it would be worth doing a tutorial or a "tips and tricks" sticky to aid those starting out by giving them ideas on what looks good (and bad), how to frame shots and choose a background, what do do if you only have a low res/non-auto-focus camera, etc.

So it might show problems with figures being out of focus, and ways of avoiding that problem (e.g. if you have autofocus and your shot doesn't have much for the camera to focus on in the foreground, try focusing on something at the same distance and then panning across before taking the shot; for a camera without autofocus work out the best focal distance and place your layout there; for autofocus but no control, make sure you have lots of items at the same distance to ensure you get everything in focus).

Same could go for framing shots, and perhaps give ideas of what makes interesting shots - i.e. not just a figure on a stand on the kitchen table (unless you are just showing a WIP), e.g. use a vehicle (or three), more figures, go outside (water is always cool, or snow, or foliage, or sand, etc., etc.)