Attempt at toy photography

[AJ_Prime]

Here is my first attempt at tabletop photography (even though I did it on the ground). Not completely happy with it, but I did learn a few things from it. If anyone has any suggestions regarding lighting etc I'd very much appreciate it. No doubt the first suggestion would be to buy a decent camera. I was just using a 10 year old canon 4 megapixel camera. No DSLR or anything like that. Just a basic camera with basic settings and a poor man's light tent (chair, sheets, cardboard, glass shelf from detolf and two table lamps).

It started as a way of trying to better show the results of some minor repaints I've done recently. Then I thought I'd take it step further.

Anyway here's my shots:

AoE BUMBLEBEE - Concept
My aim was to paint him up to look more like the Autobots Platinum Edition version, but then I added some other minor detail like painting his exhaust pipes, tail lights and badges. I've included some stock images of the original version because I forgot to take before pics.





AoE CROSSHAIRS
Just added some minor detail like painting his arms, thighs, some torso detail and the exhaust pipes. The rest of the improvements were courtesy of Reprolabels. Added robot mode comparison pic from stock photos.





AoE DRIFT
No paint jobs on this guy, just Reprolabels. This is about the point I had decided to have a play with the photography. It was done on a different day, in a brighter room so I'm not completely happy with the shots.





AoE HOUND
No enhancements, just playing now... Definitely should've taken these in a darker area.





AoE AUTOBOTS

Tried using a printed background, it really needed to be on a large canvas though. Those page lines ruin it.





And finally....

AoE OPTIMUS with DoTM Megatron





Hints and tips for improvement are most welcome.

[UltraMarginal]

I think there's some nice work there.
Not being much of a photographer myself take what I say with a spoon of salt.

The biggest improvement I could suggest I think is using a whiter light source, and perhaps reducing the light intensity behind the figures.

The glass is an interesting concept, it kind of makes them all look like they are floating slightly. I initially thought your Bumblebee was miss-transformed making one of the wheels not sit flush.

The diorama shots are great, I personally much prefer a location background to an infinite white or something similar. While it does take some of the focus away from the toy it also gives much more feeling of presence to it.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

YOu don't need a DLSR super duper camera to take good pics. Learn how to use the options your camera has and it will help with the taking of pictures.

A good way to use basic lights for your light tent is to put a couple of pieces of white paper over them. this diffuses the light, without losing a lot and should improve the contrast. For example, Drift and hound pictures have too much white on them. The paper should soften the source of light and reduce that whiteness.

[AJ_Prime]

Cool, thanks for the tips. I'll try it out next time I get a chance to play around with it some more. Hopefully in the next few weeks.

[Bidoofdude]

Nice shots. You're on your way (not that I'm on any way myself ).