Miniature Photography

By Titus Villanueva

Photos by Sophia Martinez

It’s not easy. It really isn’t. At first, I thought it was the fact that I was using my low-end cellphone to photograph my miniatures, but it turns out that miniature photography is a lot more complicated than it seems. When I started writing these articles I realized my work needed a more professional feel to them.

I’ve decided to enlist the help of Sophia Martinez, a very talented local photographer, whose job I have made it to make me look like a painter with actual skill. She is also my girlfriend. For this article, I sat her down and asked her to talk about it as I know close to nothing about this topic.

The trouble with miniature painting is getting the focus right. Cameras on normal settings aren’t used to subjects that are so tiny which can lead to a lot of really frustrating pictures. It takes the kind of dexterity and gentleness our photographer has to get it just right. She says that photos tell stories, same as the miniatures themselves so when photographing miniatures she often asks ‘What is happening here?’ ‘What is the story?’ before actually blocking the models and snapping the shot. For her, it’s about putting one’s self into the experience with the miniatures. That’s how she decides which angles to use, how much light she needs or which characters should be in the shot.

It brings us back to the basic idea that in art, everything has a story, whether it’s photography or miniature painting, we need to ask ourselves those same questions.

Credit for all these photos belongs to her.

Sophie’s work can be found on:

https://www.behance.net/darthnek0

https://vsco.co/darthnek0/images/1