First - if people are discussing issues with blurry photos, please post what phone you're using - this definitely seems to be a factor, and in particular, the original droid seems to have issues.
I have an original droid myself, and could not take a clear picture, until I tried the suggestion of sticking your figure onto the check... and lo and behold, it worked! I also tried it with another object - a pen - and this seemed to work, though not quite as well.
I'm not sure if this has something to with breaking the frame of the check, or supplying an object with different depth, but my guess is the latter - perhaps having only a flat surface, all at the exact same depth confuses the auto-focus on the original droid? In any case, I've found a solution, so I'm happy.
Oh - and having it vertical / horizontal didn't seem to make a difference - I was able to take pictures of it laying flat on top of my bed (which has dark sheets) just fine.