It's under the Radicons tab at the top of the screen...

 

Table of Contents

Click "Photography".

 

Thank you guys!!

 

Found these in case you want a photo box for big figures...

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Photography-Dimmable-Continuous-Backdrops/dp/B078KC97H9

https://www.amazon.com/SAMTIAN-32x32x32-Shooting-Background-Photography/dp/B07MTYBWD3

https://www.amazon.com/SAMTIAN-100x100x100CM-Professional-Photography-Adjustable/dp/B0855FP9HH

 

Thanks for posting these! Everyone interested in photographing their TFs should check these out if they don’t already have this equipment or something comparable.

 

here are some additional tips for posing. So one thing that I see from people is that there are pics that make the toy look like toys: all stiff and unnatural. You can see this in this first pic.
At the basic, there is the museum pose, which is the toy doing an idle pose. There is more to doing an idle pose otherwise you end up with what is above. Essentially you have to remember what a natural pose is. When you see anything idle, be it humans or robots, they will never be stiff, and when they are, you know it is unnatural. Kinda why some people look awkward in pictures. You want to have some movement or flexibility. You can start by moving the limbs away from the body but not too exaggerated. You also don't want the knees locked. Even rotating the waste were possible is desired to invoke life.


What you also want to avoid is symmetry. In movement, symmetry is unnatural most of the time, there are exceptions. This is what this idle pose looks like from all sides.

For another pose, you've probably seen some pics from users with the figure shooting from the side, like pic related. You can see that the figure once again looks stiff, toylike, and unnatural.

When I will do any pose where the figure is shooting, the last thing I want is doing what is above. I incorporate the tips at the beginning where the last thing I want to do is provide symmetry. Think that when someone shoots a gun, they do various things like position their bodies to the side to anticipate recoil, torso turning, etc. With movies, you have more freedom to do dramatic poses...factor in robots that are more powerful to be able to shoot doing something action related, you are able to explore more.

As for camera, you can have a relatively cheaper camera and it will still do the job for the most part. I know some people can have expensive, state of the art cameras but have crappy shots. What matters is lighting. The lighting that you want to get is white LED as a start since it emphasizes the figure. Flash is a big no-no. Sometimes you see people share photos with the use of flash, and it makes the figure look terrible and exposed (and thus unnatural). You can also explore different angles to tell the story you want to tell. Another thing that helps is photo editing software or apps such as Lightroom and Snapseed. Those help you add more oomph to the photo or tone down certain colors (like make a yellow light from a lamp more white). One thing I like about the movie designs are the jagged edges that create great shadows.

 

Things to consider are also image resolution sizes which can change the feel of the picture. Also where you crop the picture can alter the image where in the following images the image can invoke a larger presence where the head is more cropped.

To return to my comments on the poses, when you do dynamic poses, they will tend to give you more cool views from different angles, sometimes you just need to do as little as turn the head and figure.

Even action scenes change slightly from a different angle.

Don't be afraid to also rotate the camera itself!

And you combine all those tips and you can experiment even further to find your style. Remember that you are not a slave to one style either, you can adopt from various talented photographers!
Also just practice, practice, practice! Take any feedback, both good and bad, to improve. Remember that there is no such thing as a perfect photograph, but you can strive to get as close as possible if you try! Hope these tips help!

 

Seems this thread is still getting views. So I'll give it a bump with more tips. Hope this helps somebody.

Moody/Low lighting.

*Vignette added​

*Vignette added​

A favorite of mine. I use reflective light as the main source of light. I might add a low watt diffused light as another source if needed.




I started taking more pics with my DSLR and wanted to try endless background pics. I don't have a legitimate light box but I still use diffused lighting.


A pic of the setup. The lights are 100 watt equivalent LED bulbs that I cover with heat resistant fabric for diffusing. I also made a point of showing two different temperature (Kelvin) bulbs. The yellow bulb has a lower temp than the bulb that burns white/blue. Depending on the pic, I use from one to three lamps.

One lamp above.


Two lamps. One above. One from the right side.


Three lamps. One above. One from each side.

 

Anybody have any good recommendations for a city diorama to use as a photo background?

 

Haven't seen it mentioned here yet, so here are a few photography tricks that works well for Transformers in specific, if you want them to feel "larger than life" in your photos

Pretty much always have the camera from a low angle, except for specific cases where the camera needs to be positioned otherwise. The lower the camera, the more you're "looking up" at the subject, giving the impression of great size. Next, if you want the effect of "really, really big," you can use a wide angle lense and move in close to the base of the figure. This gives it a fisheye lense effect that feels like you had to go get a bigger lense to catch the whole subject in frame. In a similar light, in certain cases you can frame or crop the shot so that the "large" subject goes past the edges of the photo a bit, giving the sense that the subject is too large to even fit on camera. In another similar light, you can frame these shots for the top of the image to be closer to the top of the subject, and leave more space underneath the feet or base in the photo

These pretty easy tricks can be used in varying degrees to either subtly make the subject feel larger, or to blatantly exaggerate it's size. You can see examples of each of these tricks throughout these photos

Spoiler tag for 19 pics

Spoiler

There are plenty of other options to play around with too, some you can see scattered throughout my photos, such as messing with focus, objects in the foreground or background, other characters for scale, etc. Really you just have to try everything and see what works. Especially when you're first learning, just try every angle, every lighting, every focus depth, just go crazy, and you might just hit gold. Part of the fun of photography for me is trying until I get something great, and that's such a satisfying feeling, when you just know you got a perfect shot after so many attempts. Some of my pictures only have one or two shots before the results come out great. Other shots, I'll have 10 or 15 or even 20 options, once photos are taken and edited, and then only going back through at the end to say "okay these are the good ones." And sometimes you'll sit there and try and try, but no matter what you can't seem to get a frame you're happy with. That's part of the adventure. I know it's cliche to say, but this hobby, just like most every other hobby, is just as much about the journey as it is the destination

Edit: one more pro tip. The editing is important too. Sometimes a picture will look great straight out of your camera. But just as often, they won't. Don't discount any photos until you've hit them with an editing run, for cropping, color and lighting shifts, etc. Sometimes little tweaks after the fact can bring a flat picture to life and create an attention pulling photograph

 

Awesome pics! And thanks for your tips as well. Really nicely written. I actually am gonna try the wide-angle lens at the base of the figure tip!

 

I love using your method for human perspective pics! It helps give a sense of scale.