Alpha Collective member Erin Sullivan (@erinoutdoors) is an outdoor, travel and nature photographer based in Los Angeles, California. Her work explores the feelings that a place or experience can evoke, and in the past few years she has delved into miniature work. “I began working in miniatures in 2020, creating and photographing imaginative scenes that express the sense of wonder that much of my outdoor photography does,” she explains. Using commonly recognized objects from office supplies to food, Sullivan has created a mini image series to reflect the same grandeur that we observe in the ‘real’ world. We saw this image on her Instagram and needed to hear the story behind the shot. Keep reading below as Sullivan shares how she builds out miniature worlds using her Sony Alpha 7R IV and Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G lens.

Photo by Erin Sullivan. Sony Alpha 7R IV. Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G. 2-sec., f/8, ISO 100

Finding Inspiration From Everyday Life

I am often inspired to create a miniature scene based on things that I see in my everyday life. In this case, I was washing kale and noticed how water beaded on the leaves. I thought it would be really interesting to photograph in macro, and created a scene based on that.

Have you ever thought about turning your lunch into a landscape? See how creative Erin Sullivan created this miniature scene with a little kale and a lot of creativity.

Using Gear & Settings To Create Expanse & Wonder

I used the Sony Alpha 7R IV and Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G lens for this photo and most of my miniature scenes. The macro lens is something I use regularly to help create a feeling of expansiveness and wonder when photographing a tiny scene. I really love the smooth bokeh that this lens creates, and how sharp it is. Working with the 60.2 megapixel images that come from the Alpha 7R IV gives me a lot of data to work with in post, which is a nice luxury to have.

This scene was created in my home studio, where I have a table for miniatures, and usually prefer to use natural light from a window as was the case here. I started by building the scene, and positioning my camera on a tripod in front of it. Here I set up the kale leaves and added water to them using a squeeze bottle. I then worked between looking to see what the scene looked like in camera, to making adjustments to the scene to create a composition that I liked.

For all of my miniatures including this one, I play with the position of the figures and elements in the scene to create several variations and angles. I shot these at f/8 in aperture priority mode, with my camera on a tripod, with exposures up to a couple of seconds, depending on how much light was coming through. When working on miniatures, I try to keep my ISO as low as possible, usually at 100, unless I need a faster shutter speed than the natural light allows.

Editing For A Color Palette

I edited this image using Adobe Lightroom, and a bit of Photoshop to remove anything distracting, like any big marks on the kale leaves. I do a bit of color adjustments to bring out jewel tones in my images, and usually gravitate toward a softer palette. Most of the edit here is just a global color and contrast adjustment.

See more of Erin Sullivan’s work on her Instagram @erinoutdoors.