Worlds Collide

Home Phone?

My girlfriend and I went out to a vintage fair yesterday, scouting out any suitable objects/items of clothing for an upcoming film project. It was a bust for that, but I did pick up this homesick guy for only £1. 

E.T. is a film that gets me every time, and my appreciation for it grows greater as I get further into the world of film-making myself. Whilst Lucas clearly rules the roost in terms of my love of merchandise, it's nice to let another great film take the spotlight every now and again...

Vader Unleashed

Another drive-by posting, but whilst I'm still insanely busy with Uni work I haven't got as much time as I'd like for toy photography. However, I do want to show off this Darth Vader shot, taken on the same trip as my latest Boba Fett photos.

I was going for a Force Unleashed prologue vibe, but the picture's cropped so close it's open to interpretation anyway. I really enjoying editing Vader shots, because of the challenge of getting the lighting right while maintaining the detail, darkening the cloak (which is incredibly porous), and putting FX on the lightsaber and the armour. These tweaks really enhance the picture I think. These type of shots are inspired by (and certainly inferior to) the work of resistance827 on Flickr. Check it out!

The Hunt

I've been a bit stifled by a lack of variation in my locations recently, and so today I took a trip out to the park with some 'friends'. I have a few shots that require a bit of post production, but otherwise the most successful pics were these ones of Boba Fett. It was nice to get out for a while, and it's given me the extra impetus to get some shots I've wanted to get for a while now. Hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same!

Happy New Year all, and thanks for reading!

Un-Boxing Day

I hope you've all had a great Christmas! In particular I hope you've managed to spend time with family and loved ones, as that's what it's all about. And if not this time, then there's always next year...

This is just a quick post to say hello, offer my seasonal regards and to highlight how much toy blogging I need to catch up on following an insanely busy December. To provide a quick visual snapshot, here are all the toys I have to photograph and review. At the time of this photograph (roughly 40 minutes ago), they weren't even opened!

What? No Transformers?!

Okay, so the Landspeeder had been opened. But as I've had no time to use it for anything over than a handful of photos, and needed the space for normal people things, it's since been boxed back up and left untouched. The Stormtrooper is my latest 'Vintage 12' appropriation, and the Turtles, well... Entertaining cartoon, stylish toys, and a mighty ten on the nostalgia scale - these have been a must-buy since I first saw them earlier this year. Only a Donny and Raph required to complete the four!

Told you I'd be coming back to these guys...

And so (roughly 30 minutes ago), that's Leonardo out of the box. Immediate first impressions are decent articulation, great sculpt and a fun figure, but I'll be back with a full review in a few days. As I now have a (slight) break from Uni for the next few weeks, I'm pretty hopeful the others will follow suit in the new year.

Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!

ME GRIMLOCK KING!

ME GRIMLOCK NO BOZO!

After a couple of weeks of letting my QC standards slip I've been making a conscious effort to step back from the editing software a little, and to try and get a decent picture first time around. Nothing's exemplified this better than these recent Grimlock shots, and I'm really happy with how this set's turned out.

Nom.

Well, I say "step back from the editing software", but I've still made minor modifications to the image; however, I've kept the emphasis on minor and only slightly tweaked the brightness, shadows and contrast, and not used any photo-apps. I think my reliance on apps and preset treatments led me to believe every image requires loads of post-production, and after some bad photos I remembered that that's not that case.

Akin to my post on copying promo images, the above shot is a Transformers Animated take on the below G1 image; Grimlock getting chompy on Thrust. I always preferred the Seekers over the Coneheads, subsequently the jet getting chowed down on above is none over than Starscream.

G1 nom.

And a wide shot to round it off. I've been properly enjoying playing with this toy and the character, and it's showing in the final product. It seems like my interest in Transformers is really fuelling my creativity; and you gotta go where the river flows, I guess...

ME GRIMLOCK KING!

So there we have it; how to get your toy photography mojo back with Transformers Animated Grimlock. Thanks for reading!