Building A Toy Photoshoot Set

TOYPHOTOGRAPHS
7 min readSep 14, 2022

I am working on a new series with 1:6 action figures. These are twice the size of the figures I usually use so I have to re-think scale and perspective and build out some newer, larger sets.

These days, I work out of my home studio. It’s a funny side note. During my entire professional photo career everyone always assumed I had a home studio, but in fact — prior to Covid, I always had a commercial lease on a warehouse or office building that I converted into a photo studio. Since Covid, I am now working out of my house for the first time in my life. I have to say I kind of like it. No commute!

Anyway, I’m lucky in that I have plenty of room to work. I have pretty much converted my entire house into workspace. It’s not that big — 2150 square feet total. I have two camera rooms, a recording studio/music room and an edit bay.

I use the kitchen, bathrooms and one bedroom like a normal person does. Everything else is media/content creation :)

My large camera room can accommodate a 4x8' table. I have a blue screen set up on a traditional background stand at the end of the table. (I also use a green screen but less often.) Sometimes, I simply shoot against that and composite in my background. But usually I employ the method described (and illustrated) here, where I build the set with a still photo as my backdrop.

For many of my backdrops, I simply use a computer generated background, or a stock photo. I have even been experimenting with AI generated backgrounds and might use one of my own nature photos. Whichever background I want, I have itprinted at Adorama’s Printique (https://www.printique.com) and then mounted to foam core. They are one of the only professional printing companies that does a great job with the print AND will mount the print to foam core. And they will do it quckly and in an affordable manner.

Once these backgrounds are printed, I can reuse them in different scenes and settings. (Note: I got this photo from them before I realized THEY will mount on foam core and clearly I suck at it!)

I typically place the photo background at the back of the scene. It’s suspended using a Platypod Ultra and a Platypod Elbow and Platypod Mini Super Clamp (https://www.platypod.com/products/mini-super-clamp).

I have a C-Stand next to the table which supports what I like to call my “world light.” I use the Genaray Full Moon 18" Bi-Color LED Light — https://bhpho.to/3PcAFQx to set the ambient light for each scene. I call it a world light because I almost always have it bouncing into the ceiling above the table which creates a very, very large, soft light. I sometimes angle the Full Moon Led so I can emulate the sun direction that I need and/or that matches the sun direction in the background.

In this scene, I had added several foreground elements. I like to mix practical and special visual effects. When combined they seem to provide opportunity to create a very believable and realistic setting.

For my current set, you may notice some stuff that looks like sand. That is called Kinetic Sand — https://amzn.to/3PkiBEi and I use it in lots of my photos. It films like sand at a beach but can be molded like Silly Putty and is easy to clean up — it doesn’t fly all over the place like real sand. I also added some 3D printed then painted rocks and some hand carved foam (and painted) rock outcroppings. Of course don’t forget the Jawas. There’s also a mushroom thrown in the foreground for good luck. By the way — These particular Jawas are hand carved statues made of wood, but they fit in nicely with the 1:6 figure scale Jet Trooper I plan to use as the main character.

You might also note that I have some trooper heads on pikes. These are simply wooden hibachi sticks that have a sharp end. I painted them black using shoe polish and then found some trooper heads on Ebay that were being sold as spare parts.

The setup is meant to be an outer-rim world with a typical Mars-scape. The Jawas are embedded in the rocks and the two trooper heads on pikes are meant to be a warning to the Empire that bad things happen here.

My final image will involve a Jet Trooper coming upon the Jawas and thinking twice about trying to pass.

When you see the final picture(s) you may or may not see all these elements in the frame. The reason for that is simple. I am building the world these characters live in and I may or may not use parts or all of it for my photos. It’s important that I personally see these elements because they put me in the right mindset to create the final image. It also gives me lots of options as I work the scene. I can get closer or pull back depending on how much of the setup I want to appear in the final photo.

With this set up (in addition to the 18" Genaray Full Moon light, I will also use a Lume Cube 2.0 Mini LED Light — https://bhpho.to/3L32iL7 with a snoot on the front to pump just a kiss of light into the foreground so we can see the Jawa’s eyes. I will then replace those eyes in post using Boris FX Optics 2022, but I need a reference point to know where to place the SFX glowing eyes we’ve come to expect from watching these creatures in the Star Wars saga on Tatooine.

I have decided that I enjoy conceiving and building the sets as much as I do making the photos. And that’s good because I almost always spend more time building the sets than I do making the pictures.

Here’s the final image based on this setup…

Here are a few important things to remember…

1. Pre-visualize the final image you want to make and this process goes smoother and the results get better. I often storyboard what I am looking for and that is made easier by the fact that I am using graphics from movies and comic books to help me find settings and poses that work.

2. If you are printing your backgrounds like I do, ask for matte paper. Anything else is too reflective and will interfere with your shot.

3. Be sure not to point your lights directly at the background since that will cause glare even with matte prints. Also make sure you cast no shadows on the background that cannot easily be removed in post. Shadows on the background break the illusion that the viewer is in that scene.

4. Think in terms of foreground and background. The picture that I use as a backdrop is the background and all the stuff I put in front of it is the foreground.

5. Decide what you want to be in focus. I typically use very shallow depth-of-field when making my toy photos. That lets me guide the viewer’s eye to the thing in the scene that matters.

In this setting, the Jet Trooper is out of focus but you can tell he’s a Jet Trooper. It’s decisions like this that lead to art in this process but like all art, it’s subjective so set it up how you like and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks.

6. Don’t be afraid to use post-processing tricks to achieve your goals. I use a variety of software (including Photoshop) but lately, I’ve fallen in love with Boris FX Optics — https://bhpho.to/3NOd47G — I am still learning the program but it’s a lot of fun and very powerful.

CONCLUSION

Some will read this and think what I have done is elaborate. Trust me when I tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. Some people go WAAAAAY past this. Still others are fine photographing against a plain white or black background and letting the pose tell the story.

The good news is — you cannot do this wrong. It’s fantasy. It’s just fun. It’s toy photography, not National Geographic.

Have at it, enjoy and remember, toys are joy.

P.S. For a complete list of gear and props I use in my toy photography visit: bit.ly/toyphotogear

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TOYPHOTOGRAPHS
TOYPHOTOGRAPHS

Written by TOYPHOTOGRAPHS

I'm a toy photographer. I'm also delving into AI Art. I also help people get the most out of their Fuji X100 series cameras. (C) 2023

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