Toy Photography — Ideas And Inspiration
As someone who spends hours each week photographing toys and action figures, I have to admit — there are times when I struggle to find an idea. After all, each photograph starts as a completely blank canvas. It’s up to me and me alone to create something out of nothing. My goal is to engage a viewer, protect a memory or inspire someone else to perhaps pursue their own love of action figure collecting.
In order to do that, I need inspiration. I need it just as much as I need food and water and air.
One of the world’s best-selling authors is Stephen King. When teaching he often says, “If you want to be a better writer, spend more time reading.”
That advice translates to all art including photography. If you want to be a better photographer, look at lots of published photographs.
The idea here is not to copy or steal someone else’s work — but rather, to look at where the bar has been set. Students of any art form want to look at those who have gone before them and be inspired by their success.
When I look at images, if I see one that stops me — that grabs my attention — I immediately go into analysis mode. I study the composition, the use of color (or the lack thereof) I look at the light — where is it? Where’s it coming from? What sort of light did the photographer use? Is there gesture involved or action?
These things enter into my subconscious and then when I am reaching for ideas, I remember my brain-based, visual database and generally something pops into my mind that gives me at least the seed or beginning point.
My main inspiration comes from watching movies, TV shows, cartoons and most of all comic books. Comic book covers have taught me so much about this art form that any success I ever achieve will have to be somewhat attributed to my love of comic books.
Let’s take this cover of the Star Wars Empire comic. This is a cover shot. Let’s talk about everything that’s going on in the image.
First and foremost, the artist used a Dutch angle for this picture. A Dutch angle — also known as Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle, is a type of camera shot which involves setting the camera at an angle on its roll axis so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame, or so that the horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the camera frame. It is very common in comic books and I like it’s use in this image.
But what else is going on? Well we note that there is a strong backlight coming through the open door to the spacecraft. The key light is camera right because the shadow is on the left side of the hero’s face. We also see evidence of a fill light (probably about a three to one ratio) on the left side of the character’s face to make sure it is well lit.
The character is holding a weapon in both hands and his victims lay at his feet. The hero is positioned in the center of the frame which is usually not considered good photographic composition. But in this case, it serves a purpose — which is to draw our eyes to him.
By studying the works of other artists, I am inspired to use what I see to tell my own stories. I am not copying these artists. I merely use bits and pieces of their work as inspiration. I have my own voice. My spin on it will probably be different than their spin, but their interpretation is informative and instructive.
CONCLUSION
Anyone who pursues any type of art can and should spend lots of time looking at and digesting the work of successful artists in their field. It not only gives aspiring artists ideas, it feeds their souls.
I have a folder on my computer desktop that I call “VISION BOARD.” I make screen grabs of online art that I want to study. I then peruse that folder once a week or so to see if there’s anything (or things) there that will ignite a fresh idea in my head. Usually, that is exactly what happens and I go about trying to be a better photographer as a result. Maybe it will work for you too.
