Love, Pinkcheeks: tutorial

First Look: Cupoche Frame Arms Girl: Gourai

Hi! It’s been a while since my last post here at my blog and what made me come back?? NEW OPPORTUNITIES! I’ve been really blessed lately when it comes to my hobby! Just recently, I just organized the very first toy exhibit here in our country and also together with my buddy, Kixkillradio… we’re now the newest toy ambassador for Kotobukiya! I’m celebrating this achievement by showcasing their newest Cupoche figures for review! The good guys at Kotobukiya sent these out for review and here I’m pretty excited to show you all my photos!

First up, it’s Frame Arms Girl Gourai! ^_^ It’s actually my first Cupoche figure and I’m pretty excited about this review, I even watched the anime series to get to know more about her!

Oh a quick story: Frame Arms (FA) Girls are actually the latest model-kit line produced by Kotobukiya as an attempt to make girls (like me!) to venture into plamo building. It became so successful, a manga and an anime adaptation followed just a year after it was launched! According to the anime, FA girls are highly-intelligent, free moving, tiny robots. Gourai is the main protagonist in the series and she’s the first prototype in the world to be activated by Ao Gennai. Being the first ‘sample’ she has to learn a lot from Ao on a daily basis to develop her own personality, given that she’s equipped with her own “Artificial Self.” It’s quite fun to watch how Gourai develops her own self at each episode ^_^

Now here with me is Gourai is in her Cupoche form, just being cute with her poker face in all that FA Girls style! She’s fully equipped from her headgear, breastplate and to the tiny tracks on her legs!

Let’s not forget that fanservice part (that’s so evident in the anime) here lol, Gourai’s shimapan! XD

She also comes with her tiny smoothbore that you can attach on her shoulders, and with that’s she’s now ready to kick some ass!

Oh no, there’s something hostile up in the air!!! Who could that be?

It’s Stylet! Does she want a rematch?!We’ll catch up what’s going on with these two soon! ^_^

There you have it, FA Girl, Gourai in an intense battle mode phase!

I had so much fun with this shoot I made a little extra for you guys! You know how much I love to edit my photos using Photoshop so here’s a tutorial on how to add smoke effects to your figure photos! You’d notice the same effect on Gourai’s battle scene photos here so feel free to watch, learn and share!

That’s all! Hope you enjoy this set, next up for review is the tsun-tsun FA Girl, Stylet! Watch out for it!

12:47 PM
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Playing With Light in Toy Photography

#toyphotographyislove

I read about this interesting article from PetaPixel about how light plays a major role in photography and having high-end gears always comes secondary after skills. I find it really interesting and it applies as well in toy photography! I'll be posting a two part series on my own take that hopefully will somehow help my fellow toy photographers grasp the same idea for their figure photos. This first part should be the basics.

Taking what I read as an example, I applied the simple light principle that you should initially learn to how to 'play' with light in your photos. Play, in my case, would mean you need to be more imaginative in your shots. Visualize how the light would look on your shots before you press that shutter. Teach yourself how to control it as much as possible.

Here's an SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot of Nendoroid Elsa on my PC table. I'm using a Canon 600D with 50mm 1.8 lens and the settings are 1/100 f/3.2 IS0400.

Now here comes the part where you need to 'play' with light. The light is coming from the window at the back so I positioned the figure, facing back from the light so she wouldn't get too washed out. I wanted to create a subtle and soft feel for this photo; so I visualized it and used the light to create that feel.

Here's a non-conventional tool that helped me achieve this simple shot, a roll of tissue paper. It helped bounced the light back on Elsa so she would appear all lit up! XD You see, if you learn how to play with light, you'll already know how to work around it whenever you have a chance. You will know where the light will fall on the subject, how to bounce it and how you'll use it for your photos.

Lastly, I could never stress how important it is to master your skills first. You may have the best gears but without skill, it would mean nothing. I have been taking photos since 2010 and I admit there are still a LOT of stuff that I need to learn--it's a never ending process! Whether these skills mean how to use your camera properly or learning how to enhance your figure photos; mastering these skills takes time, but it doesn't hurt to take baby steps to make it all happen. :)

Use all the skills that you have to achieve what you want in your figure photos. Given that I'm working in the design industry, I use my editing skills to enhance my photos. Through editing, I like adding some visual appeal to my photos to make it look more vibrant and life-like!

For my SOOC shot of Elsa I think it already looks good on its own, but I still wanted more. I wanted to enhance it so I gave it some warmth and voila! She looks all too warm and summer-y LOL.

So in general, it's all about how we look and play with light in our photographs to get the outcome that we wanted. With your gears and skills as tools, you will be able to capture light in its most beautiful form for all your figure photos. ;)

I will be posting a few samples, maybe something really simple on how I play with light on my figure photos. :)

6:03 AM
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First Look: SlickForce Softlight Review

anything else

I like playing with light. I like putting up different lighting setups for my indoor toy photography which I find fun and challenging at the same time! I'm super happy to receive a gift from SlickForce Studios and they sent me miniature softlights! (thank you so much!) I received a message from them a month ago that they have this new product and they're targeting the toy photography market. They've sent out a samples from a bunch of amazing toy photographers (including me!) to review and test it out. This is actually a good idea, the toy photography niche is already being recognized! ^_^

Now, the SlickForce Softlights is very similar to what you see on a professional studio, but this one's a mini version. :) If you're already using your bulky lamps and LED lights, getting this baby is such a breather because it's very compact, handy and offers the same lighting you get from your old lamps.

Here's the basic contents of the package here:

The box includes 1 Octagonal light, diffuser, stand, 3 extension tubes (on the website it says 2, but you can remove the inner tube on the stand too :) The material of the softlight is plastic and it's very lightweight, so you need to be careful not getting it knocked down while doing a shoot.

..and of course, it comes with a battery pack. Yes, it's powered by 4AA batteries. No A/C and USB ports to charge it in.

It looks neat with all those knobs and switches but you can't use them. That's just part of the design.

The softlight is powered by a LED light that boasts up to 10,000 hours of usage but I guess that depends on the battery that you use. Here's what the silver octagonal umbrella looks like inside, you could see the 1Watt LED light and it's reflective metallic interior. It doesn't come with a dimmer though, so if you feel that the light is too bright for your shot, try to change your camera settings instead ;)

So now on to the test shots! I'm aiming for a darkroom feel for these photos and I've only used minimal editing to emphasize the lighting on each figure. I've used these types of figures for reference: 1/7 scale figures, Nendoroids, Figmas, Funko Pops and others.

First up is Kotobukiya Bishoujo Batwoman, she's prolly the tallest figure I own. Here's the setup I used for this shot.

Take note that the softlights can be extended to match the figure's height. For Batwoman, I've used the max height (11 inches) using the extender tubes.If you have bigger figures, like, 1/6 to 1/4 scales, sorry this lighting is not enough for you. :)

Next is Kiryuin Satsuki and Trafalgar Law. Satsuki is slightly smaller that than Law and Batwoman but the height of the softlights are still just right.

I like that the lighting isn't too bright, thanks to the diffuser that's included. NO MORE TISSUES NOW! Yay! XD

Here's my two light setup for Satsuki-sama's photos, note the reflector is placed infront of her.

As for smaller figures, I removed one extender tube and it's now 8inches in height for this set. It's pefect for Funko Pops, QPosket figures and Figmas too! I don't have any Marvel or DC related figure, I should've asked my friend to lend me one of his figs prior to this review. XD

Here's how it sizes up to those popular Funko Pops.

I've also included Figma Miku too because she's of the same height for this setup!

Shirahoshi's almost like an official product photo! I'm so loving how the softlights can let you try different lighting angles.

Now, for the last set, I removed two extender tubes and the lowest height that you can use for the softlights is 5inches. That's almost the same height as everyone's favorite: NENDOROIDS!

The softlights is almost as the same size as Nendoroid Elsa!

I've also used my other small figures like Danboard and a tiny Sailor Moon figure.

With proper lighting and setup, you can easily create shots just like this!

Here's a bonus shot of a setup using the softlights and a simple bedroom diorama.

You have an option to remove the diffuser though. Once removed, the cast will naturally be brighter. Since I can adjust the height of the softlight, it's basically on the floor and placing it on this side, the cast lights up the diorama and the figure itself.

Overall, I LOVE this product! It's very light and compact, and I like that it's so handy I can bring it anywhere I want! The lighting from the softlights itself is perfect for toys, I've decided to replace my old bulky lamps with this. :) Also, I really like that you can adjust the height to match the figure, this product is only for 1/7 scale figures and below, but for bigger figures, you need to use bigger and better lighting. The only downside is that it uses batteries, but for something as compact as this, I wouldn't mind buying 2 sets of batteries!! ;)

Thanks again Slickforce Studio for this amazing product! As a figure photographer, I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to practice their photography skills, lighting techniques or if you would just like to play along with different lighting setups. :) Trust me, you'll love it as much as I do! ^_^

This product is on sale now! Check out http://slickforcestore.com to get your very own miniature softlight! They're based in the US so shipping/custom fees still apply.