Cheap and Easy Photo Stage

[Fitz]

For most people's needs, an expensive lighting stage setup is not necessary for model photography.

Here I'm using a cheap $20 rechargeable batwing LED light as a diffuse overhead light source, balanced on a pair of wooden bookends. The background is a texture I printed on my desktop printer — it's held in place by a pair of 3d-printed clamps, but it could be easily arranged and held in place against a book or something with a couple of binder clips.

Note: I haven't digitally edited any of these photographs; they're raw, straight out of the camera (a Canon EOS 50D)

In this first photo, the light is directly above the subjects, so there are some very dark shadows below. These could be mitigated with the use of a strategically placed reflector, but a simpler method is just to move the light a bit.

In this second photo I've just moved the light forward a bit, so it fills more of the lower areas of the models. They could still benefit from the use of a reflector, but the results are a lot better.

You could tinker with the exact light position and height, and add reflectors and what-not. You could swap in a textured or plain background sheet of your choice. Once you have the setup exactly to your liking, it's the work of a couple of minutes to get set up again, and you can photograph to your heart's content.

Total cost of this setup was the twenty bucks or so I paid for the batwing LED torch, which has a multitude of uses aside from miniature photography. Everything else I had lying around, or could produce by my own efforts. The LEDs produce a very white light, close to daylight in wavelength, so there's little need for colour correction in the photo editing app of your choice (I use Affinity Photo).

The models are a pair of giants by Duncan Louca, printed in FDM on my elderly Creality Ender 3.

I made this little guy a while ago out of scraps of leftover Green Stuff, plus a 16mm ball bearing for the eye. Photographed using the setup shown above; no editing apart from cropping and resizing, and the addition of a border.

[Pattus Magnus]

Thanks for the info, that certainly works!

[pixelgeek]

How much is the DSLR?

[Fitz]

How much is the DSLR?

It was free

[pixelgeek]

It was free

It is a pretty nice camera. The body, without a lens, goes for about $200-250 Cnd.

Do you have a phone with a decent camera? I'd be curious to see how much difference the camera makes. 

[HerbertTarkel]

It is a pretty nice camera. The body, without a lens, goes for about $200-250 Cnd.

Do you have a phone with a decent camera? I'd be curious to see how much difference the camera makes.

A DSLR vs a camera phone is HUGELY different. But … a camera phone is still vastly better than what a digital standalone camera was five years ago. Modern iPhone Pro is almost as good as an older DSLR.

[pixelgeek]

A DSLR vs a camera phone is HUGELY different.

This is what I was wondering about. The phones I have had have always had issues dealing with light from a lightbox that my old DSLR never had.

[modelwarrior]

Still using my Canon 450D, which I bought back in 2008. Works a treat. £50 will buy you one which comes with a lens.

Thanks for the guide Fitz.

[Ming]

Notwithstanding that this is a good idea,..... your painting is outstanding.