Making wee photos

I have a really lovely collection of old cabinet cards and Carte-de-Visites. I've been meaning to scan them for years, but I the process seems so overwhelming.

I got it in my head to reproduce some of the photos in miniature. I photographed the front and back (some of the reverse sides have beautiful graphics!) to achieve totally accurate reproductions. Yes, they looked great... but what a pain in the bum! Recreating the backsides was quickly abandoned.

BUT!!! I did forge ahead and make a few batches of 1:6 and 1:12 scale of some of my photos.

Just like the life sized versions there is variation in their finished sizes. I think this makes them rather more special. Wonkiness usually does.

Aside: what is your favourite scale to work in? I think that making thing as teeny as possible is challenging and impressive but larger playscale is a bit more enjoyable.

Someone mentioned that they'd like to convert their own photos into miniatures. If you're just looking to make minis of your snapshots and have basic photoshop knowledge, I've got a bit of a solution for you. 

Create a folder and add the photos that you'd like to miniaturize (I make copies so that I can just delete the whole folder when done.)

Open the folder and change the 'view' to 'large icons'

Adjust the window so that there are 5 or 6 columns of photos like so...

Now, either take a screen shot then crop the thumbnail area, or use your computers snipping tool to create an image file like so.

You could just print this screen-grab file but to be honest I think it looks a bit fuzzy and the thumbs are tad too big for my liking. Instead, I create a new document in Photoshop (or other photo editing software) at 8.5" x 11" 200dpi, then copy and paste the image into the new document. Then print that sucker out!

This makes the thumbnails just the right size to use with THIS mini scrapbook.

Cut out those thumbs and pop them inside!

If  all of that is a little too complicated for you, and you'd like some wee vintage photos, I have 1:6 playscale photos available HERE and smaller 1:12 dollhouse scale listed HERE.