Making a Splash
Sitting at the bar down by our lake, drowning my sorrows, lamenting not making it to Utah this year, it dawned on me that I’ve never really taken many toy photos in the lake’s water.
Category: How To…
Endor: Behind The Scenes of a Six Image Narrative
I created my recent Endor series as a challenge to push myself and see if I could create scenes that were based in a more real-world setting compared to my usual brick-built backdrops.
All the World’s a Stage – Part 3
”Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.” (George Eastman) In parts 1 and 2 of this series I covered the design and building of a lighting stage and its associated lighting …
The Toying with bright ideas series: Using the Sun as your main light source
So over the last little while, I have been watching a lot of Teletubbies, I find it rather relaxing… No, actually my youngest has become addicted. Now whether you have kids or not, you are all familiar with Teletubbies. So after watching a few episodes, I noticed something had changed …
All the world’s a stage – Part 2
“If all the world’s a stage then I want better lighting” – Rob Coles If you have not yet read part 1 then this post may not make a lot of sense. Feel free to pop on over to part 1 then return here. I’ll wait, I promise. If the …
All the World’s a Stage – Part 1
“All the World’s a Stage, and all the toys and figures merely players” (William Shakespeare if he was a toy photographer) Some time ago I was lucky enough to be able to visit an Aardman exhibition Wallace and Gromit and Friends, which introduced me to the behind the scenes world …
Model kits: the new adventure of a toy photographer
First of all let me tell you that I am not an expert on model kits, in fact it is exactly the opposite: I am a newbie. As you may know, my main subjects for photography are LEGO. However, I would like to experiment more with action figures. At the …
How to make a Hologram for the toy photos
The toys inspire us to the search of the special places for outdoor pictures and creation of our own micro worlds. Would you like to make a shot of lightning without looking through the window? Is it possible to shoot a jellyfish without water and light? That’s what we are …
The “Toying with Bright ideas” series: Barn doors, laptops and snoots
Ask anyone who has ever picked up a camera, whether they are a professional or just snapping on their smartphone, what is the most important thing in photography? I’m hoping that 99% of the responses say light… Without light, there is no photo… period… Now for those of you who …
Gelling Your Lens for Creative Colors
Gelling a lens is one of my favorite toy photography tricks. It’s easy to pull off, and adds a dramatic, glow-like, color effect to any scene scene. I’ve used this trick countless times in my photos whenever I wanted to push my colors a bit further. When I say ‘gels’, …
The JJ Abrams Effect
As a photographer I’ve always been seeking a kind of cinematic style that’s hard to describe. I just want my photos to have that “movie look” to them. Over the years I’ve come close but never felt like I really figured out the formula. Until now.
Playing With A Single Light Source
At the risk of starting a post with a silly pun, playing with light can be illuminating. How light plays off a figure can dramatically change the mood of an image. A good understanding of light is a powerful tool for a photographer, however it can be hard to understand, …
The “Toying with Bright ideas” series: Painting with light
Lighting, in photography, is one of those things that looks simple to do, right? Shine a light, pop a flash and WALA! You have a great picture. But being able to understand what the light is doing and being able to control it is a skill and can make or …
Behind the scenes: after the snap
Recently I created an image based off of Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet story (as featured in Avengers: Infinity War, and the Marvel comic books).
Getting Deep – Creating depth in your photos
As I alluded to in my introductory post, Starting Small, my first foray into toy photography didn’t register high on the ‘interesting scale’. My best efforts consisted of planting toys in front of a bright background, pressing the shutter and slathering the results all over Instagram. The photos were what …
A little experimentation with bokeh
A few weeks ago I shared a link in the email newsletter (have you signed up yet?) to an article called Bokeh Photography: Everything you ever wanted to know.
When the weather says “NO”
The winter is in the full play. It’s a good time for the snowy, bright and extreme shots!
Creative slump: a survival guide
As of the time I am writing this, I have not made any significant new art for well over a month.
Crowd control – Getting your Minifigures in order
In 2016 I bought my first Minifigure, an Indiana Jones. He was an excellent subject for a project that included the testing of macro lenses. This simple purchase was to put me on a path of toy photography and Minifigure collecting.
Toy photography compositing basics
Recently I have been getting a few questions and comments about my photos and my method… so I thought it would be a good time to show you want goes into one of my shots. So what is my workflow when it comes to creating a toy shot? A lot …