Behind the Scenes Archives

October 28, 2018October 28, 2018

Nexus Shift

I have recently had the opportunity to purchase and use the LitraTorch by Litra Gear. I love this light for toy photography. It’s such a great portable size and the perfect amount of light for fill even during direct sunlight.

Doctor Phlox sees a strange light near the surface. SOOC photo.

I was rummaging through my closet the other day and I randomly found this Doctor Phlox figure that I purchased as an impulse buy from a thrift store a few years back – not sure why I hadn’t used it in a shot yet. I think it’s because a few years ago I was on a Lego minifigure binge. I still am, but I’m now venturing into bigger toy territory too.

The shot above of Phlox was taken on my car dash in direct sunlight with my Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 wide open. I use a ND filter to make this possible. I used the LitraTorch on high as a fill light in the front. Sunlight is behind Phlox.

I have always loved space and consider myself a Trekkie. I grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, almost every Saturday. I’m sorry, but William Shatner as Captain Kirk doesn’t hold a candle to Picard. That being said, I am an even bigger fan of the reboot with J.J. Abrams. I just love the lens flares and the light in his films.

The light in the distance… do you see it!?

After messing around with the LitraTorch as a fill light I have realized what I have been missing. I have never achieved shots like this in direct sunlight. I’ve always had way too much contrast with such a bright background that all the details are in the dark in front. I end up with a silhouette of sorts rather than what I was really going for and I guess I just accepted that as a fact of circumstance. I would just adjust the blacks in Lightroom or something; but that option has drawbacks producing some weird digital artifacts sometimes.

Well, I was wrong. There is a better way – a nice powerful mini light studio!

There are quite a few toy photographers that I always return to for inspiration and one of them is Janan Lee aka @spideygoeshygge on Instagram. He has these mesmerizing spaceman shoots that have such great lighting. When I found Phlox I threw him in my camera bag for a shot if the opportunity arose and I wanted to emulate the feels of Janans shots.

The op came while we were running some quick errands. I was staying with the kiddos in the car while my wife went into the store to find a Halloween costume. It was a bright sunny day today and surprisingly pleasant at 72 degrees. My dash became my studio. I kept the frame tight and angled up toward the sky so I would avoid all the reflections from cars and buildings and such and the dash was transformed into another world… a world that would eventually parallel the Star Trek: Generations film with entering into a version of the Nexus Ribbon.

A bit of Enlight app magic and I combined two shots into the main shot on this post.

After these shots I busted out some heavy artillery: The beauty of the orange plastic Halloween Pumpkin Pail. $1 @ Walmart. (Not sure why I included this link – I guess it’s a bit funny for me, and it’s late when I’m writing this…)

Turned out to be quite the epic light when paired with my dash sunlight, some fancy balancing acts, and the LitraTorch as a front fill.

Doctor Phlox was transported through the Nexus Ribbon into some sort of fiery orange dimension.

As you can see from these shots – a nice studio setup is really not needed for toy photography. I love the portability of it all. The LitraTorch fits easily in my small camera bag with a few toys and lenses. I love how I can incorporate so many plain ordinary everyday objects and generate a completely new world; that right there my friends is why I do toy photography.

~ Joecow

What kind of random things do you use in your shots? Have you ever considered portable lighting solutions? What has worked for you?

October 25, 2018October 25, 2018

Haunted Woods – BTS

When I was visiting Brighton for my cousins wedding there was a bit of downtime before and I went on a hike around Silver Lake. The forest on the east side is quite old with tall trees and roots reaching for the waters edge.

The other duck got spooked

There were pockets and holes throughout that were probably made by badgers or other animals. I knew when I saw this spot I had to shoot some toys here. I had brought my small camera bag (the LowePro Flipside 200). It fits both my cameras (Canon M & Olympus OMD EM5), and a few lenses as well as a small pouch of Lego and some bigger figures.

I balanced my stormtrooper; but a small gust of wind unseated him and he fell deep into this particular badger hole. It was beyond arms length and the entrance was full of cobwebs. I was peeved for a bit but then went to work looking for a long stick.

When this happened I had bumped my bag and four of my OMD batteries fell out. I didn’t think much of it because of the emergency.

I reached with a long branch and was able to scrape the figure up to a more easily accessible position. I cleaned out the cobwebs best I could and reached my full length of arm and could barely touch the figure. It was all rather frustrating as I was in a hurry to get to back to the wedding.

I finally grabbed him and luckily he had all his limbs and blaster. I packed up my things and raced back through the forest to the lodge where the wedding was being held. While shooting some shots of her wedding my camera died and I went to swap batteries… gone. No batteries!?

I waited till after the wedding and festivities and when the music got loud and decided to drop out and go on a battery hunt. I traced my steps back to this awesome but treacherous spot being careful not to plant my leg into one of these hole traps. I got back to this exact hole and the batteries were nowhere to be seen. I’m guessing either somebody thought they were garbage and cleaned them up or some mischievous creature walked away with $60 in batteries. Maybe it was an R.O.U.S?

Needless to say I was not too happy. I had one other battery in my suitcase that I used sparingly the rest of the trip. I learned a good lesson though – do not keep all your batteries in one basket. Keep some spares somewhere out of your current gear.

Anyhow – I am very pleased with the shots I acquired and more batteries are on the way from Amazon.

~Joecow

Have you ever lost photography equipment? What’s the most dangerous shot you’ve done with toys? Would you reach your arm into a black hole? If you like my posts take a moment and leave me some of your thoughts. Thanks!

April 2, 2017April 2, 2017

Using Old Glass in Toy Photography

Old Glass

Swirls of light bend and transpose
Stretched and tangled, bokeh galore
Changing perception
Warps the view
Deciding the factors of focus anew
Gathered inception
Sketched and revised, blur adore
Whirls of bright mend and expose

~ Joseph Cowlishaw

Using old glass in toy photography

I love the look of old glass. It has unique imperfections that really make the feeling of a photo. The newer glass is almost too perfect. They have successfully eliminated the character of uniqueness through perfected manufacturing processes.

I recently purchased a mint copy of the Jupiter 37a lens from a Russian auction. It shipped from Moscow and arrived to my home only a little over a week later. I purchased this lens for its uniqueness in creating creamy smooth bokeh. My brother Nathan Arizona recommended it and after seeing many example of excellent bokeh swirls I decided to get one.

I have also added an old macro lens to my collection – the Minolta Rokkor 50mm. It has added more dimension to my toy photography with its imperfections and it’s perfect focus at close range.

I recently found an old video lens at a local thrift store – it was only a video telephoto 2x lens and was made during the age of videotape. It was $10 so I decided to pick it up. Obviously, the poor quality of this cheap lens hampered my photos by destroying to look of some of my higher end old lenses. I tried attaching it to the end of my Russian Jupiter 37a lens and the results were horrible. So I decided to disassemble this video lens and use the inner elements. I liked how big the glass was and it looked relatively unscathed. The front element had a bit of coating on it which allowed for some interesting colors and reflections while photographing it.

Coated front lens — I disassembled this lens to use the glass elements!

Charlie saves an old friend

About the same time that I acquired this cheaply built old lens I also received a Charlie Chaplin figure in the mail from Minifigures.com.

I was trying to figure out how to use him in a shot, and these elements lent me some ideas!

Interdimensional portal — Charlie Chaplin finds and reaches for a blur in time and space…

I thought how cool it would be for Charlie to stumble into unknown territory. Unknown even to us in all our futuristic grandeur. The lens worked perfectly for this setting.

Panda Sucked into interdimensional vortex — Charlie’s old friend Panda was inadvertently sucked into the interdimensional vortex

Old Glass lens — It looks as if Charlie is trapped in the old Glass…

I love using my old glass to create new feeling mixed with a retro feel and look. Plus it has the added benefit of being super affordable. Old glass on a newer camera body means it has to be manually focused and controlled. Using manual focus has taught me so much about the technical side of photography. I love being able to change every little detail and setting to get that perfect feel that I am looking for.

Old glass does not mean poor quality. I have found that some of my old lenses rival my newer autofocus lenses. And they have the added benefit of character that is hard to reproduce.

I also find it interesting that there are now so many new applications that allow the user to “add” character to their shots. I guess we miss that feel that comes from character and glass. It is fun to add these details to the image while composing. Even more fun than in post processing!

March 5, 2017March 5, 2017

Don’t step on the crack or you’ll break your teddy’s back

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2mpWjX6

Don’t step on the crack or you’ll break your Teddy’s back! ?

Good morning folks! Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend the day with my brother Nathan Arizona at the Heard Native American Art Show in downtown Phoenix, AZ.

We got to meet several new native artists and visit with old friends. We have our mining company Earthtone Trading to thank for this opportunity. We hauled down from Utah two tons of our Mohave Brown Alabaster to sell to the talented sculptors.

We arrived to the show late and ended up taking a long time finding a parking spot. We finally found an open spot large enough for our truck in the basement of a parking garage. We walked the show and talked with folks and then I headed back to the truck to get some flyers and take a break.

I was trying to think of a good spot for Lego photography and I am always amazed at the simply mundane areas that make my shots come to life. The shot of Mr. Bean above with Teddy was not the shot I intended to take. It was a gradual process from the start of looking for the right spot with some rails in the parking garage basement. The rails made for some great bokeh and contrast.

I really liked where these shots were taking me so I continued to enjoy the creative process and setup different angles. It was a bit tricky to get the depth I wanted on the right and still show enough of Mr. Bean on the left. I also decided the shot looked much better in black and white.

After composing a few shots I decided to try it from the other side by sticking my camera through the bars. Luckily I have a tilt screen on my Olympus OMD EM5, so I was still able to compose the shot without having to hike around to the outside.

This is when I noticed the striking crack on the concrete and an idea popped into my head.

I was so excited to have stumbled upon this idea! I had to balance Mr. Bean just right – the umbrella and the teddy were the counterweights. It took some patience to get it just right and luckily there was no wind at all. Even a slight breeze would have toppled Bean and mad enough this shot impossible. So the heavens aligned and I was able to capture these images!

Mr. Bean has a somewhat childish outlook in certain ways and that why I find him so humorous. He takes the moment like a child would. I felt this image conveyed what I used to feel about cracks on the ground. The old adage “don’t step on the crack or you’ll break your mothers back” seemed like the perfect title with a bit of a change to put what Mr. Bean cares about most. Thanks to Minifigures.com for making a great custom figure Mr. Bean.

~ Joecow