Scale – in – focus

Scale in Focus

Thinking more about photographing small things

Scale in Focus is no longer posting new content and is an archive of material by Anthony Oliver and Aviagrafik.

A new blog about model railways will be along soon.

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  • You’ve maybe found this blog while looking for something that brings your hobby of model making together with a need to take better photographs; or you may have just stumbled across it by chance while browsing for newish scale modelling related content, so thank-you for stopping by regardless. So, what is/was Scale-in-Focus all about? Designed Read more

  • This is a potted tale of a doomed canal and the short-lived branch line that replaced it. It is the back story of a model railway project, itself a journey of discovery into EM gauge and the recreation of a unique branch line terminus. It’s also a beloved place from childhood and Sunday evening drives Read more

  • Image gallery

    this an unordered selection of my photography. A mix of full-frame digital, conventional medium format and 35mm along with smart phone imagery. for more contemporary art photography and art please have a look at my Hand Held Skies website. https://handheldskies.mystrikingly.com/ all images copyright Anthony Oliver / Aviagrafik 2025 Read more

  • As I mentioned in some of the edited archive posts and updates on my health and hobbies, I’ve moved away from the styrene kit hobby and revisiting my other love, British railways and model railways. The main focus will still be on photography tutorials with skills, hints, and tips for miniature hobbyists to make the Read more

  • Digging up an old 1/32 Hasegawa P-51D build Fresh from an excursion to the kitchen in search of that last (and probably stale) HobNob saw me passing the telly and being distracted by a documentary about ‘Friday Night Lights’ – perhaps better known as an NBC Netflix drama series, the factual documentary was about a Read more

  • A journey into decoding orthochromic imagery for model makers. ‘The one where a black and white image tells lies’ After six gruelling hours in the kitchen with Julia Child and a needlessly complex Boeuf Bourgignon recipe, I retreated to the chaise to recover from the worst effects of the shallot fumes and contemplate the instruction Read more

  • Optimising the workbench as an ad-hoc photo studio for smartphone images The following post is an expanded view on the use of a smart phone for scale model photography, and is based on a chapter from the forthcoming title: The Scale Modelling Photography Manual. The inside scoop In part 1 we investigated the hows and Read more

  • PART 1. A two-part journey through the basics of smartphone photography Long read 20 mins The following post is an expanded view on the use of a smart phone for scale model photography, and is based on an excerpt from the forthcoming title: The Scale Modelling Photography Manual. Achtung Spitfeur! So, you make models, you Read more

  • A Coastal Command Beaufighter – 1/48th Tamiya Beaufighter Fresh from an excursion to the laundry to gently tap the water cylinder in the vain hope that some physical abuse may elicit hot water for a shower, I happened to look out across the harbour and caught sight of what looked for all the world like Read more

  • BASICS: Pixel colour

    Long read 45 min This is the third in a series of ‘fundamentals’ posts which are based around selected excerpts from the forthcoming book The Scale Modelling Photography Manual. Additive (electronic pixel) colour This post follows up from what we learned about the basics of light and pigment based subtractive colour systems (RBY paint and Read more