Anatomy Of A Toy Photo — AGAIN
Once again. I thought I would go behind the scenes to show how I came up with a toy photo. By doing this, I realize I open up myself to widespread ridicule because inevitably someone will tell me I’m doing it wrong. But I have several reasons for not caring.
1. I am an old man and used to being ridiculed for nearly everything I do so I am somewhat immune to it by nature.
2. I am doing this strictly for fun so there is no right way or wrong way.
3. I may actually help SOMEONE who is trying to do the same thing so it’s worth the risk.
I got this new Spider-man figure and wanted to do an image with him hovering above the surface of a distant planet with another galaxy in the background.
I am not good with pen and paper anymore so my storyboarding sucks but nevertheless, I do a very, very, very crude storyboard to force myself to think about what I want to accomplish. I always do a storyboard first. Even if it is this crude. It helps me be more deliberate in my approach. I want to MAKE photographs not TAKE them. I want the process to be deliberate. Storyboards, even crude ones, help. Once that is done…then I gather my tools and go to work.
For this image I used two Platypods — An Ultra and an Extreme (https://bhpho.to/3bIIAX3) I used a Platypod Elbow — (https://www.platypod.com/products/mini-super-clamp) I also used a Robus RCTT-200 Carbon Fiber Tabletop Tripod with Ball Head (https://bhpho.to/3PPOWDd).
The foreground is some 3D printed rocks that I commissioned from a friend who owns a 3D printer. Then I sprinkled Kinetic Sand to cover the rocks and the stand which is holding up Spider-man — https://amzn.to/3PkiBEi (which looks just like beach sand if you spread it around just right and it is 100% re-useable)
The background is a photo that I bought on EnvatoElements.com and had printed by Shutterfly. Then I mounted it on 16x20" foam core so it would easily stand upright.
Lighting comes from the following.
I am bouncing a LumeCube Panel Pro — https://bhpho.to/3ulpqgB into a pair of bounce cards — https://amzn.to/3uKLn8Q camera left to light the action figure. I am using the Profoto C1 Plus — https://bhpho.to/3yoxheH to light the background. I am using the Genaray Full Moon 18" Bi-Color LED Light — https://bhpho.to/3PcAFQx as what I call a “world light” aimed at the ceiling from an angle to produce a large, soft light for ambient light in the entire scene.
I did the basic color correction in Adobe Camera Raw and then cloned out the stand holding the character suspended in mid-air. Then I imported into Boris FX Optics — https://bhpho.to/3NOd47G for the final effects.
This is the result. This is the Spider-Man Action Figure by Square Enix. It is easily the best Spider-Man action figure I have or have ever seen. It is amazingly detailed and has incredible articulation.
I did a ton of post-processing in BorisFX Optics 2022. I understand it may be over the top for some people but hey, it’s a toy and a toy in a fake universe so who’s to say what’s over the top? I had a lot of fun building this set and making the images. I have more from this scene I might post later.
Remember, toys are joy.
