Quick and dirty technique for the lazy: with a flash!

The Macro function is self-explanatory. Maybe it can be traded for a very powerful zoom but frankly, I doubt any digital camera less than 5 years old exist without this ability. For the rest, we need to bring some theory!

Photography is an equation between three variables: aperture (A), shutter speed (S), and light (L). They are linked through the simple equation A x S = L. It's not too complicated and as you will see, combination of those factors is rather intuitive.
The aperture is the size of the "hole" allowing light to reach the film, or in the case of a digital camera, the CDD sensor. The aperture is usually displayed by a number on a camera; the higher the number, the smaller the aperture (the notation being in fact the denominator of a fraction: therefore Aperture 8 means 1/8th of the diaphragm surface is opened). The "higher" the aperture, the smaller the hole, and the sharper the picture will be. It's a rule in optics. Yet, this enhanced sharpness comes at a price: a smaller hole means too that less light reaches the CDD sensor of the digital camera. Since the required amount of light available is somehow constant, there is no solution but to decrease shutter speed - letting the camera "take the picture" for a lengthier amount of time.

So, if your camera allows aperture priority, select the highest possible aperture. If you prefer shutter priority, select the lengthiest amount of time - both modes are equivalent, differing only in their wording. You will quickly notice that you end up with a loooong processing time: the camera will require several seconds for a single shot... That's where the timer and tripod mount come handy.

It's impossible to take a two-second picture while holding a camera in hand. The only solution is to lay it somewhere. A tripod mount is good because it allows usage of mini-tripods (less than 8" tall) sold for cheap in photography stores. It will be better than putting your camera on top of a pile of books. The timer is useful too because it will delay your pressing of the button from the actual shooting from several seconds. Lacking this delay often causes blurred pictures - yes, just releasing the button is enough to blur the picture!

Finally, forget about the flash. This brings us to the next step: lighting.

The shooting set

Most of the time you will want pictures without any background nor shadow, since any detail will make computer editing harder. To create a seamless background, just put the subject on a page of paper and raise the other end of the page so it becomes a vertical background with a natural (and invisible) curve. A pile of books is just fine for that. This leaves us with the problem of shadows.

To shoot a small object much light is needed or the picture will be dark beyond any hope of repair. Bringing enought light is a challenge, since shadows must be avoided as well as reflections on the miniature. It even becomes crucial if, like me, your miniatures receive a coat of gloss varnish for protection. There must be a lot of ambient light. This is a common concern in photography for professionals, resulting in many expensing devices like synchronized flash arrays. By chance, miniatures are small enough to accommodate cheaper alternatives.

The simpliest solution is just to shoot outdoors on a bright but cloudy day! When clouds shield the sun shadows disappear: direct sunlight is turned into ambient light. Moreover, you won't find anything cheaper! Of course, there are drawbacks: you don't choose the weather, and cloudy external light is often not sufficient. Another issue is that this kind of light varies from day to day and from hour to hour in a single day. Unless you shoot all your miniatures the same grey afternoon, none of your pictures will share the same light intensity.

Another approach is to use multiple inexpensive and indirect lights, like three to six halogen spots creating indirect light by illumination of white surfaces - pieces of paper attached to them, for example. None of the spot should target the miniature as it will create shadows. The more light sources the better, but adding spots and screens quickly becomes a burden if you take pictures occasionally. You will have to label everything since you will certainly want to recreate the same set again and again, to have all your miniatures shot in the same conditions. Setting everything in place is annoying, and halogen lights, like most artificial lights, have a very different color than the natural sunlight; a lot of color adjustment will be needed when working on the computer.

A portable photo studio

I have played with cloudy days and a self-made set enough to be fed up of both and searched for alternatives on the net. A first one is the light tent or light box - a light-diffusing material wrapping a cube structure. Light sources are outside but rays are spread by the fabric, and the subject is in the box. This tool can be found for cheap on eBay (see here) and is definitely popular. Yet, it requires powerful white spots for operation. Instead, I decided to buy a Samigon Photo Studio which is, in my humble opinion, just about perfect for miniature photography albeit a bit pricey. This shooting set features two neon boxes, above and below the subject, ensuring a shadow-free environment. Neon is a bit weak but at least produces daylight-like illumination; not having to correct color balance is a must.

Post-processing

It's nearly impossible to have the perfect picture from the digital camera. All pictures always require post-processing on a computer. The software used is of little importance as long as it has features beyond Microsoft Paint. I have an outated version of Paint Shop Pro and it's good enough.

The main image alteration is related to light and colors. I use mainly Gamma correction over Brightness and Constrast settings until satisfied with the result. With the smallest aperture on my camera (1/11th) the image is often underexposed, so a little dark. It's also a problem related to digital cameras: they average luminosity based on surroundings, and a subject appears a lot darker when on a white background. For white balance, spot metering is not better (but just try by yourself!)
Once luminosity is correct, you may want to saturate image a little bit since colors are sometimes drab. A slight sharpening may also help. If you used artificial lights, you will certainly need to tweak red, green and blue weight to restore real colors. The actual correction depends on the bulb or halogen employed, but usually results in reddish pictures. This difficult balance change can be avoided if you have a shooting set allowing true colors like the Samigon Photo Studio I use.

Raw picture.

After light and color correction.

If you are happy with the result you may stop at that point, but I prefer to have my miniature pictures with a gradient background. I've played a bit with different effect and concluded that a simple white to blue gradient is the best effect to add, giving a natural balance of color with the usually green stand the miniature relies on. Official miniature pictures often have those backgrounds but they are created directly in the photo studio using a colored paper. You might try to add yourself a blue background while shooting, but I prefer creating it on computer since it's the only way to have the same gradient color from picture to picture; if you shoot with a background, its color may be altered a lot while you play with gamma correction and color balance settings.

To add a background, you need to clean the existing one first and then to add what you have in mind. Despite shooting with all possible light, the "white" part of the image won't be white but in different shades of grey. You can wipe those areas with a fill tool and a proper tolerance. Beware however not to remove details from your miniatures while doing so! It can happen if parts of the miniature are already close to white (beware of light reflections on metallic colors.) To be sure not to clean too much, use a random color (purple, whatever) so you are sure to notice what is erased. If fringes of the miniature are vulnerable, outline them manually so they won't be caught by the fill tool, as shown on the left. If you are not sure of the areas that will be affected, make a few tries with various tolerance settings to see how clear parts of your paint job are affected by the modification!

Once finished, adding a gradient background is a breeze. Make the gradient start at 50% of the height of the picture, or where should be the horizon, and you are done. Usually, I resample the image to a smaller size too since the basic resolution of a digital camera is usually too much.

Important note: If you plan to save your image on your hard drive in the middle of your work to continue later, use a non-destructive file format like Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) or TrueVision Targa (TGA). The common JPEG format decreases picture quality thought compression and should be avoided until you have finished working on the picture.

Cleaned background.

Final image.

Going further

Once you have a clear picture of your miniature, you can play with your image processing editor. Adding background effects like smoke or flames or laser beams can greatly enhance the result of your pictures, but we leave the world of miniature photography for computer imagery - a world beyond the scope of this article, where the actual miniature picture is no more than a component for another artwork.
Although I admit some altered pictures can be very impressive, I avoid them because I think they are not truthful. It all depends on what one expects to achieve. Some Photoshop editing can do wonders. But what kind of wonders are there? If one uses Photoshop to "correct" the appearance of his painted miniatures - cleaning scratches, correcting the eyes - he's just cheating if the result is presented as an accurate depiction of this painting.

It boils down to what you want to show. If you are focusing on your painted miniatures, you shouldn't go too far as more computer imagery will less and less relate the output with the real painted model you first shoot. If you want to create a neat picture, on the contrary, you can go as far as you want. The only limit is not to claim painting feats based on Photoshop processing.

This article is getting into details but just to help you avoid common pitfalls. Taking great pictures of painted miniatures is not difficult and even not too long - yet a mandatory step to have a good feedback on your work!
published on 19 Dec 2005