Miniature Photo Studio

To photograph my painted models I have devised a little studio. Most hobbyists make use of a couple of desk lights, but I noticed that my window ledge has nice natural light. Twice a day (in the late morning and late afternoon) a diffused white light streams through this south-facing window. The drawback to this system is the limited time for use. Of course, night time is right out, and the direct sunlight is too harsh in the late morning up to the early afternoon.

The exterior walls on my home are extra thick, so the window ledge is quite wide (6 in). I cut a piece of hardboard to fit. Half is painted and flocked to look like grass. The other half is painted like a cobblestone street. The backdrop is a scrap of painted canvas from my diorama shelf (something deserving of its own post). I also have a foam brick wall from a model train store. That is used with the cobblestone floor for an urban setting (as seen in my Town Guard post).

I realize not everyone will have a good window for this type of miniature photo studio, but I think it's a clever little set up. Most of the close-ups of models on this blog have been photographed here.