Do you need an external flash on a digital camera to take pictures for textures? I need a decent digital camera that will allow me to take closeup pictures to use as textures for my models. I’m fairly new to digital cameras though. I understand that you need a decent macro but an external flash? Wouldn’t that be more for distant objects rather than closeup objects?
you want even lighting across the whole picture. a flash is generally a bad idea. Take the picture in the shade or with a lot of indirect light.
I thought an external flash was supposed to even out the lighting though? Are you saying that I need one or that it isn’t necessary?
No flash. They create hot spots and rapidly diminishing light gradients. That why pros use those umbrella-looking diffusers for studio work, they even out the light source by making it indirect just like Papa was telling you. Natural lighting that is not in direct sun works extremely well. It is, after all, global illumination…diffused by the hand of God.
I use a camera with a 10x zoom. This allows me to back up from the subject and zomm in to limit the distortion caused by perspective.
You can use a flash, just aim the flash towards the ceiling or away from the subject’s general direction to get indirect lighting. Alternatively you can cover the flash with a soft transparent white cloth or tissue; it will disperse the light from the flash.
If you still end up with uneven illumination, you can use high pass filtering in a paint program to help smooth it out. Here is a recent threadon the subject.
The problem with using a flash is, as previously stated, uneven ilumination.
For best results take photos on a bright but overcast day.
This will result in even illumination and virtually no shadows 
Never use Digital zoom…this just cause pixelation.
And use the camera with the highest pixel/cost ratio that you can afford.
I use a 3.2mp Cannon and it works great