For me, this photo-taking hobby started like only 5 months ago, still learning also when got free time. anyway I just list down my steps that come to my mind right now, so you can just take whatever suits your purpose

- mine's a point and shoot TZ-10
- ISO value to be set as low as possible to reduce noise in your images (ISO-80)
- I use a tripod. In Daiso, Plaza Singapura, they sell $2 mini tripods, about the height of your fingers.
- with the tripod, use the 2s delay timer, because my hands not steady enough
- turn on FLOWER / macro mode
- use the exposure compensation mode +1/-1 etc. Photos need not be 0 exposure for best effect
- I had to increase my Sharpness and reduce my noise reduction
- because i use a white background, I use SPOT metering so that the toy does not seem so dark.
- This is just on the camera side; if i got free time, i would do some post-processing in GIMP to play-cheat as well...
- take your time to have fun with the photo-taking, and u can use it with your other photos whilst travelling, going out etc