We work hard to make the dollhouse miniature items we love. But sometimes, not so much care is taken to present them on the Internet, where good photos are essential to sell our products. That’s too bad, because about $60.00 worth of lights and a folding table “studio” is all you need to take better pictures, no matter what kind of digital camera you have.
Turning on
To photograph dollhouse miniatures, from small 1/12 scale objects to grand Victorian palaces, lighting setup should be your first concern. A Table Top Photo Studio sells for around $40.00 online. I use a card table near a sunny window, being careful not to let direct sunlight hit the item. This minimizes unwanted shadows. An old gooseneck reading lamp with a daylight-balanced compact fluorescent bulb looms over the “study,” if additional light is needed. Cost? $8.00 per lamp at Goodwill; $12.00 for the fluorescent bulb you could find.
alternative configuration
I guess my mini movie set works really well, because I get questions about whether the pictures I take are from a real room or a doll’s house. It’s actually two pieces of foam glued together at right angles. I cut a 1/12 scale casement window, painted the walls and cut the necessary colors, then “dressed” the set with 1/12 scale furniture and accessories. On the open side of the set, the camera is free to take wide shots of the entire room or zoom in on individual pieces.
The camera
Any low-end digital camera, like the Nikon CoolPix or Canon Powershot, will work just fine. They really are glorified instant cameras, in the best sense of the word. You can point and shoot, and if there is enough light, you can be sure of getting a clear image.
Most of these cameras have a macro setting, including macro zoom. This is an advantage because when shooting small objects, you want to have the effect of getting closer so you can see the details. Without a macro setting, getting too close to the subject will cause image distortion. In that case, stay further back, turn up the light level as much as possible, then crop the photo in whatever program you’re using to download images from your camera to your computer.
shooting through glass
Try to avoid it. But if you must, watch out for glare, lights reflecting back at you, or your own reflection from the camera in front of your face. Although, that could be an interesting self-portrait.
The ending turned out
There are three main types of small object photography: catalog, fashion, and fine art. To sell dollhouse miniature products online, the catalog style is best. The catalog images give you a fact; art and fashion go for emotion. Our client wants to clearly see what is being offered for sale and is probably not interested in sexy lighting or selective focus.
More information
This article gives a quick overview of small object photography for dollhouse miniatures. If you want to go deeper into the subject, there is a lot of information available on the web. Use the “small object photography tutorial” in the search field of your browser and you will find all the information you need, without becoming a professional photographer.