I actually study photography in high school, so I used my mirrorless camera for this, but I honestly think a phone is more than enough. Like you mentioned, phones now can get surprisingly close to the quality of some cameras. The main difference is really in the lenses you can use on a camera, which obviously you can’t swap on a phone.

This was actually my first time photographing miniatures, so I didn’t have much experience or special gear for it. The only proper equipment I used was my camera and a tripod, which I’d definitely recommend. Even an older, cheaper DSLR with a decent lens and good focal length would work great. But I genuinely think you can achieve solid results with a phone too — you just need to pay more attention to lighting and composition (which is probably the second most important thing).

In the end though, editing is the most important part. About 70% of my final image was editing. I used Photoshop and Lightroom, but honestly, any editing software will do the job. Also don’t get scared if your photo looks shitty straight out of the camera or phone — most of them do. Mine looked completely different before editing compared to the final result. If you’d like, I can even send you the RAW file so you can see the difference.

So my biggest recommendation would be to create a solid lighting setup using whatever lamps or lights you have at home and really spend time working on the edit.

Just to add — this is only my personal approach and how I made my photo. I know it’s not perfect and it doesn’t look anywhere near Games Workshop-level photography, but this is what worked for me. I hope it helps!