Toy Photography: Behind the Scenes
5:19 AM
Have you ever looked at someone's figure photo and ever wondered how they did that?
I've had the same thought too when I was still starting in toy photography. I've mentioned before that I have a background in portrait photography, even events, but though my familiarity with my gears is already given, I was still clueless back then how to apply it on toy photography. It's an entirely different field, I didn't even know where to place a figure when shooting outdoors or how to light a simple room!
Then years has gone by, I learned a few tips online, also from my good toy photog buddies, I've already adapted those tips into my style; but as we all know, the learning process never stops, you just need to keep on improving yourself. ;) Now, today's post is all about my behind the scenes setup with my figures. I'm learning how to build tiny little setups when I'm #feelingcrafty so these are indoor photography, well, mostly. I always like to achieve that what-you-see-is-what-you-get style, but to tell you honestly, toy photography is NOT easy (and I'm not gonna discuss it here why hahaha XD!) However, I still find taking photos outdoors easier than indoors but since I want to improve myself, I try to be good in both ways. :D
I like taking photos of my setup while doing a figure photoshoot to remind myself what I did behind the camera ;) I've gonna share a few photos here, I've arranged them by light setup and location so hopefully you'll pick something up when you shoot your own figures! ;)
~ INDOOR PHOTOS ~
ONE LIGHT SETUP
BEFORE
The #feelingcrafty bug bit me this week when I made this precious bedroom for my babies! I totally went all out in preparing this, because I wanted them to have their own bedroom. Everything is made from stuff you could find at the local bookstore: wall, shelf and mini table is made from cardboard, bed is made of styrofoam and while I just used scrap cloth for their pillows and blanket. :) Since this is a one light setup, I relied mostly on where to place the foam board reflectors. There's one on her left side to bounce the light and also one on top to make the room look cozy.
AFTER
I positioned the light beside the window cut out I made on the wall to recreate a cozy-roomy feel. The lamp is wrapped in parchment paper so the light is diffused, giving the room a soft glow. Probably the hardest light setup for me because you rely on just one light to illuminate the scene and make all elements look alive.
BEFORE
This setup is also similar to the first one, though it's not on the picture, but placed a board to top to limit the light coming from my window, so I just lit the warm lamp on their right side to make it look like a really cozy room. :)
AFTER
BEFORE
This is for the entire Mahou Shoujo Kira-Kira Miku set I made. I have this glass table and a really bright lamp (about 150w) placed underneath. The glass surface is kinda high from where the lamp is and if I used a regular lamp, the cast wouldn't be this bright for the reflectors to bounce it back into Miku.
AFTER
I used a styrofoam and an illustration board as reflectors. If I used another lamp to light her up, the presence of shadows would look too obvious so I relied on the bouncing light of the reflectors.
TWO LIGHT SETUP
BEFORE
For the Halloween Miku photoshoot, I used two lamps: one was wrapped in red cellophane paper which was in front and the other brighter lamp on her left side which was wrapped in yellow cellophane paper. I wanted to create a creepy, dark feel to her photos so I have to be resourceful with my lighting for this as I don't want just regular lighting. I have this white foamboard as a reflector to bounce the red cast on her face.
AFTER
That's just a monitor screen with a random halloween themed photo and some fake moss I found on my mom's potted plants. It's funny that I have to be careful not to press too much on the surface as it would turn the screen back to my desktop. XD
BEFORE
In Figma Kaga's photoshoot, I made a black cardboard spread wrapped in blue cellophane paper to make her look like she's at the ocean...at night at least. XD There's this lamp wrapped with blue cellophane, while the other was just in parchment paper as a diffuser. A foam board was placed in front of Kaga to reflect both casts on her. :)
AFTER
The blue light illuminates the cellophane spread I made, making it look like Kaga was floating on an open sea. I thought of using real water but I've had a different concept set for that. Maybe when I take her to a real ocean XD.
BEFORE
I had fun with this shoot. Ryuko and Satsuki are so chibi, they looked just like they're squabbling over something. XD I find it hard to create something intense for their photoshoot, because even though they're fighting, they're still so cute!
AFTER
I shot this in the afternoon so my window casts a natural light on Ryuko and Satsuki while there's just this two lamps placed on their sides to give them subtle highlights. That's also real rubble I took from our garden LOL.
BEFORE
AFTER
Here's a cute little room I made for Nendoroid Mako-chan's photoshoot :D I took cues from that episode where she introduced Ryuko to her family and went on a #feelingcrafty mode again to recreate the scene. I used cheap illustration board for the walls, flooring and also for that tiny dresser.
AFTER
If you would notice, I positioned my brightest light further from the setup and used my own wall to cast the light back on the tiny room to make it not look too washed up (if I placed it directly on the window). The other light was titled to the left, directly on the foam board reflector so it bounces a soft light back to Mako-chan. This trick also helps in reducing shadows.
THREE LIGHT SETUP
BEFORE
I made this really cute, simple two walled setup for the Halloween Party shoot last year, the walls are made of illustration board wrapped in metallic paper and art paper, and a made a huge window cut out for the light to go in. The flooring is just a cheap vinyl tile I bought at the hardware store. The party foods are made of polymer clay.
AFTER
In general, I only use three light setups at night when I wanted to brighten up a scene upfront. Since I use really bright lamps, I make sure I diffuse it enough so the light still looks soft on the figure. (I use parchment paper as diffusers XD)
BEFORE
This is Yui Takamura, I find scale figures easier to shoot when it comes to setup because they're just as static as they can be, and they don't require much movement except when you're turning them around for their different profiles and angles. I placed three lights around her, a red one as highlight for her hair, a blue one to highlight her suit and a cool lamp placed further from the figure as her catchlight. The foamboard reflects the light from the cool lamp, and it also acts like a block for all that bright red light to come in. If it didn't block that light, Yui will be swallowed by all the red light. XD
AFTER
I used real rubble for Yui Takamura's photoshoot and just placed it on a black cardboard sheet to copy her rock base.
OUTDOOR PHOTOS
BEFORE
Nendoroid Sakura Kinomoto's photoshoot is kinda special because it's my first time making sakura blossoms out of paper and I really like the outcome of it! :D I used a pink velum board, cut those petals by piece, glued all five of them together to make a really cute sakura blossom ^_^ I also had difficulty finding branches because we don't have too many trees in my place so I just took anything I could find. I used those are real dried pine tree branches, which has its own perks because it's kinda spiky and hair so it's easy to stick the paper blossoms.
AFTER
The location for this shoot is on our rooftop, I wanted to catch the sunset glow, which is evident in most of Sakura-chan's photos. I used a huge styrofoam board to bounce the light back to the figure which gives it a warm, natural glow.
BEFORE
This was shot on our garden, around 8am in the morning. I really woke up early so I could catch natural daylight for Figma Snow Miku's photoshoot. Since we don't have snow in our country, I used baby powder and just scattered it all over the ground and planted some artificial flowers to create that almost spring-like feel. As always, there's my foamboard as a reflector to bounce the sunlight back to Miku. :)
AFTER
This is probably the quickest photoshoot I made, because I don't want to stay out for too long. It's not that I'm afraid of the heat lol but the sunlight gets too bright already if I go beyond past 10am and it's not good for the shoot. I don't want too much brightness on her as I just wanted to just have a morning glow for this photoshoot. ;) It's all about timing!
BEFORE
For Nendoroid Snow Miku, this was again shot on our rooftop but my location is not the same where I used to shoot Nendoroid Sakura. I made sure her setup doesn't get too much sunlight as it will tend to look bright already, so I placed her just behind this wall of plants and used real flowers as backdrop. I bought those small stones at the hardware store, which I think it was meant for potted plants, but they look good for a mini garden. :)
AFTER
I didn't use reflectors for this photoshoot because the white powder already acts like a natural light reflector for her. She looks really cute though, :D
BEFORE
Last but not the least, was my photoshoot for Momohime, which was taken on location at Anawangin Cove in Zambales. I feel this is my element when taking figure photos, I like incorporating them on a natural background and being really close to nature, I wanted my figure photos to have that feel too. I didn't use any special lighting or equipment here, it's all natural and I really love that.
AFTER
I just knew that the location is very fitting for her, the natural background of trees and the lake itself seemed perfect for Momohime. When I saw this great vantage point, I placed her on this shallow part of the riverbed and took the shot right away. I just love nature themed figure photos. :D
I hope you enjoyed this set! I wanted to show how simple and complex toy photography can be (in most cases, for me at least ;), it's all about creativity and having the right knowledge when it comes to building your own setup.
Love,
Pinkcheeks
Hi, I'm Pinkcheeks - I'm passionate about toy photography and this blog is where I want to show how much I love this wonderful hobby!
7 comments
This is amazing, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks love! 😄😘
DeleteSuper like!
ReplyDeleteThanks love! 😄😘
DeleteAh thats cool, I thought about showing how I do things, but often it's just pure chaos and no good example for others XD
ReplyDeleteI like the story that you actually did work in a different line of photography before.
I don't think I have to repeat myself, but I'm a big fan ^^
It was interesting to see that you actually use reflectors in this way, I guess I can learn from your example.
I love the light especially in the first indoor setup with the top reflector.
You are awesome, this is amazing thanks for sharing
ReplyDeletejust passed here...to find out such awesomeness! You are simply so great artist!
ReplyDelete