The photo on the left shows the effect of the atmosphere on objects in the distance. To mimic the absence of those effects, add saturation and contrast.

The photo on the left shows the effect of the atmosphere on objects in the distance. To mimic the absence of those effects, add saturation and contrast.

In the real world, atmospheric effects desaturate the color and lower the contrast of more distant objects. If we want to mimic the world of miniature scenes and objects photographed from close up where there are no atmospheric effects, we need to apply extra saturation and contrast to the image.

The photo on the left shows the effect of atmospheric on objects in the distance. To mimic the absence of those effects, add saturation and contrast.

Changing focus and depth

Up-close photos made of models and miniature scenes tend to have much shallower depth of focus compared to photos of scenes and objects taken at real-world distances. You’ll notice in the example of the railway station, near and distant objects are out of focus, while the central area is sharp. To mimic close-up photographs, we therefore need to blur parts of the scene, to imitate a shallow depth of focus that isolates the main part of the scene.

Camera angle

Camera angle can enhance the feeling that you are looking at a model or miniature scene, as it mimics the way a person might look down at a scene on a table or on the floor. A scene that contains many objects spread out below tends to look better than the same scene taken at ground level.

That’s the basic stuff. Be creative. Feel free to break those rules! Enjoy!