TOY PHOTOGRAPHY

5:06 PM

It's just about time that I'll continue doing the next episode of SRS Blog mini project named UP CLOSE, I once talked about this mini project HERE. And this time, Up Close Diary 2 will talk about the interest and the joy of taking Toy Photograph as we all know, Toy Photography has been grabbing young people's attentions.

And I was lucky enough to do a collaboration with this funny guy, Putra Fajar Arrachman who is currently studying Interior Design in ITENAS, Bandung. Through this blog, he allows me to show you guys his love for Toys and Photography, yup he decided to pick his camera and create a whole new world out of his toys.

These pieces of art will make you smile, laugh, think, or even feel a little nostalgia. I must say that Toy Photograph is freaking awesome. The moment I saw Fajar’s instagram feeds, I realized that this boy has new hobby; setting up the legos/figures in a creative way. He told me that he is having a blast taking photos of them! Toy photograph can be lots of fun. He learns a lot of things while practicing it. From toy photograph, you will not only learn about composition and lighting, but also you acquire some skills of staging and story telling. You don’t need sophisticated equipment or expensive toys/action figures to achieve great results. It all really lays on your imagination.

So now that you are inspired and want to take your own photography of toys right?

First of all, I am not a toy photographer but I have collected few tips I learned from Fajar to help you get started playing with your toys and making them the center of your photographs!

1. Some toys

Prepare all of your toys which you want to be your “models”. Before beginning your photo shoot, make sure to properly clean and wipe all the toys you are using.

2. Camera

For better results you can use DSLR camera, it could be Canon or Nikon or whatever brand you love, because a toy photo must has a high resolution in case you down size it to a smaller resolution, it will not lose its details.

3. Light sources

For beginner, you could table lamps or flash from your smartphone to make your own light sources, use tracing paper or a white cloth to help diffuse the intense light.

4. Tell a story with your photograph

It might be hard at the beginning, you need to start letting your imagination loose. You can create a scene you encounter in your everyday life, or make a recreation of a movie scene or maybe the representation of an idiom. When you get comfortable with staging and story telling, you will begin innovating and creating fresh and new ideas.

5. Tons of creativity

Some where born to take good pictures, while others need to learn through practice. I must say, I never good in photography but I learned through practice. I do not know how to take good pictures before. But because I was always fascinated with good photos, I ended up learning the stuff myself. As I have said before, the pictures you create defines the message you want to send, so you need extra creativity :) just let your brain works.

7. Good background and supporting properties

You need to use background for you toy photography to maximize the story brought bt your toy photograph. Some backgrounds & properties you can use are papers, coins, baking soda powder, Christmas lights, cardboards, white or colored cloth, some decorative background and the possibilities are endless.

*And please make your toys look big, since you are photographing tiny objects, it will be more interesting to give those toys a human dimension and to make them seem bigger than their actual size. Try to take the photo from a lower angle in order to make the look bigger, literally you can use the simple technique of getting close to your subject as much as possible or for instant effect, you can place them inside a miniature scale model of a building or a barbie house.*

Well, those are the key elements I could give to you to achieve a nice shot of your toys. I hope you learn something from this post.

"Winters Soldier"

"May the force be with you"

"The most precious thing is FAMILY"

I am taking a look at some truly amazing toy photography from some very talented photographers, you can check their websites below if you’re getting interested in Toy Photography.

- BRIAN McCARTY

- CHRIS McVEIGH

I have put together Fajar’s collection of toy photography taken in different angles in video, so let’s watch the video and get inspired to do something different and fun! Enjoy!