Happy Friday! Donatello is probably my favorite turtle. Mikey is a close second.  So, you know that classic scene where the mousers attack? I could shoot mouser battles ad nauseum. They are one of my favorite baddies the turtles have to deal with. I set up this shot using the sewer diorama I made for the Turtle Roadster shoot a few posts back. Anyway, I got two shots that I really liked from this setup. I need to talk about the overhead angle first because I used a technique that I never tried before, with my dioramas.

The lighting is all from the little overhead sewer lights.

Camera/Lens: D700. Nikon 35mm f/2 @f/2.0, ISO200.

Shooting Process: The final image is the result of 40 frames. I set my camera on a tripod (portrait orientation), put my camera in aperture priority mode, then used the auto-bracketing feature (5 frames @ -2/+2 EV) so I could use HDR processing technique during editing. Then I panned my camera to capture a wider perspective and hope that they stitch together properly during editing. So basically the shot below is an HDR Panorama shot in a tiny diorama. I really love how the plane of focus is angled because I didn’t pan in a perfectly horizontal direction.  Below the image you will see a BTS screenshot at my Lightroom to show the auto-bracketed frames.

Below photo:

The lighting is all from the little overhead sewer lights.

Camera/Lens: D700. Nikon 35mm f/2 @f/2.0, ISO200. On a tripod because lots of long exposures.

Shooting Process: Used HDR technique. 5 frames @ -2/+2EV.

Hi again. I have decided to share another behind the scenes look at one of my shots. I am sharing this because tutorials and behind the scenes looks are part of how I learned to do shots like this.  I am also going to share some thoughts and tips to help any beginners looking to work on their photography skills.

About the shot: I mean, it’s a fight between Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson who are in the midst of unleashing their iconic signature moves. What else do you need to know?

Lighting: I used an identical setup as described in my previous post called ASURA VS LEONARDO …. BEHIND THE SCENES

Camera:  Nikon D700 set at ISO200. Using a tripod.  TIP: I always shoot in manual mode unless I’m shooting HDR. And I always shoot RAW files too. If you are looking to boost your DSLR/General Photography skills and confidence, I highly recommend forcing yourself to shoot in manual mode. I did this when I started shooting weddings and it was a difficult grind at first but over time it helped my understanding of the ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed setting on my DSLR. Forcing myself to shoot manual not only helped me understand how to read my light meter but I think it boosted my ability to read and understand the natural light around me and how it would translate into my final image.  I’m not saying that shooting in auto or aperture priority is bad, I did it for 4-5 years. And when I’m shooting outside in totally flat light, like on a cloudy day, auto or aperture priority is going to get you an evenly exposed, flat-light image no matter what. I mean to say that when you’re outside at sunset, the sun is often at an extreme angle which can fool your camera’s internal light meter to expose your image too dark or too bright. Under/Overexposed shots will need some post production editing which will inevitably lead to noisy and over-processed looking images. However, sometimes, over exposing a shot is exactly what you need. I do it all the time when I’m shooting a portrait or toy with my lens pointing directly at the sun or even shooting in snow. If you learn to shoot manual, I promise, in time, you will never need to worry about your shots being too dark or too bright because each shot will be exposed exactly how you intended and your images will need less editing.

Lens: Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 set at f/2.2. I love prime lenses.

The Shooting Process: The final image is a composite made of two frames. I could have done this shot in one frame and edited out the floral wires, like I did on Michael Jackson, but I prefer to use the flight stand for Bruce Lee, which is much more difficult to remove in Photoshop. There is a downside in using this method because you need to make sure you have everything posed absolutely perfectly. This is because you need to remove the figures from the scene, like you see in the third photo in this post. Now if you look below at the second photo you will see the unedited RAW image straight out of my camera. It took me three long attempts to get that image. The first attempt, I posed the figures, thought I had the perfect shot,  removed the figures from the scene, shot the empty scene, imported the files into Lightroom, and then I felt like MJ’s hand was just slightly out of focus. MJ’s face was sharp but his hand was starting to blur out because I’m shooting at f/2.2. The second time I re-composed the scene, got what I thought was a perfect shot, removed the figures, shot the empty scene, imported into Lightroom, and noticed that MJ’s hands were in focus but they were not posed far back enough.  Doh!… Anyway, I got something I was happy with on the third attempt but this all took over 2 hours to make a single frame. I think the results were worth it though.

If you think I should do more posts like this or have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to make a comment below or use the “Contact” link in the menu above.

Back in Dec 2015, I decided that I must build a dojo…diorama. I thought, so many of my favorite toys would go perfectly in a dojo setting. I wanted paper walls, weapon racks, wood floor, tatami mats,  and anything else the would pull the room together. I will star with a nice clean DSLR shot of the Dojo (still unfinished), but after that it’s mostly iPhone shots.

In this first shot below is the first major stopping point I reached. Since making this photo I have added a weapon rack and made a new set of tatami mats. The floor dimensions are 24″x24″.

The shot below shows me airbrushing the pink foamular board I got from Home Depot. After spending a few hours using a pencil to draw the wood grain in the foam board, I airbrushed a base coat of black. This really helps create some nice shadows and texture. After the black base coat, I use a foam paint roller to add the brown paint. I find that a paint roller, while it wastes a lot of paint, helps to coat the top layer of foam nice and evenly. The paint roller also helps to not get any paint in the nice lines and cracks I just spent hours drawing by hand.

This next shot shows a good example of the floor after I finish adding the brown paint with the paint roller.

One of the most difficult parts of this build is working with balsa wood. It really doesn’t leave much room for error. You need to measure twice and have clean cuts. Instead of using paint, each piece of Balsa is stained with ebony wood stain. Staining wood increases production time and messiness for sure. The white paper, for the paper walls, was found in the scrapbook section of Michaels. I believe it’s called Vellum paper. I used wood glue to glue the wood pieces to the paper. Warping was an issue with my paper walls so I needed to glue some pieces of balsa to the back of the paper wall to prevent it from warping.

Below you can see the messy backside of the diorama. It doesn’t get photographed and it’s always displayed with the ugly side facing a wall, so I don’t care what it looks like… You can see the reinforcements I needed to add to the paper walls. And since the walls are not perfectly snug, I added some black tape to prevent light from spilling through the crack when I decide to use my off camera flash to light up the paper wall from behind.

Well, that’s all for now. I will post a Part 2 soon hopefully. Please feel free to ask any questions or leave a comment in the comment section below.

This is an older shot but it never got posted. I took this shot while I was living in Massachusetts. We had a ton of snow last winter and I can’t say I miss it, except for the skiing.

Anyone familiar with the IDW Comic series for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will know what I was going for here.  As for the rest of you, in the comic series, Rupert’s Pizzeria is the place where the TMNT boys go for their favorite food. Michelangelo, in particular, has developed a friendship with Rupert’s delivery boy, Woody, who would either meet up with Mikey or leave a pizza pie outside the back door of the pizzeria. Anyway, I really grew to love the friendship that was developed at Rupert’s, so here is my tribute.  Hope you enjoy!

I posted two shots because I couldn’t decide which one I liked more. :p

Hey toy photo lovers! I finally got around to posing and shooting my SH Figuarts Asura (A-shu-ra) figure. “Look out! Don’t let your guard down, Leo!” Ever since I discovered this figure I wanted to make some shots that have this “statue” coming to life. This Asura figure has a great wooden look to it and I knew right away it would look good in my dojo diorama. Below I have also posted some behind the scenes photos that show the lighting setup I used for this shot.  Hope you enjoy!

So, below you will see that I used two off camera speed-lights. First, on the left, I placed one light behind the figures, with a red gel. The other light is pointed through a small soft box coming from the right side. The red-gelled light is facing the floor because I didn’t want to bathe the entire scene in red light. I really just wanted to light up the back wall in red with minimal light spill. Finally, the soft box provided nice soft light for the faces of the subjects. 

So I recently received my S.H. Figuarts Bruce Lee figure. I bought him, as well as a Samurai Boba Fett,  from eBay seller, tortoiseturtlek who I highly recommend as a trusted seller for these import figures.  The Figure is amazing with so much atriculation and accessories. My only gripe with this figure is the lack of wrist articulation. Anyway, I recently relocated 2000 miles from my home in Massachusetts to Austin, Texas. My apartment was still littered with unpacked boxes and my shutter-finger was itching to try out this new figure in my Dojo Diorama (more about that in a later post).  For my shot I really wanted to have Bruce Lee fighting a great opponent so I decided to have him up against Lord Vader…except Bruce is a Jedi Master because well…why not! :p  I hope to re-visit this idea later but for now please enjoy these two shots!

These are the Glow-In-The-Dark figures by The Loyal Subjects. This is a composite of two images because of lighting challenges. One image is just whatever glows. The second image is lighted by black-light. Enjoy!

A few weeks back I decided to get started on a new sewer diorama. I wanted it to serve as a Garage/Workshop for Donatello as well as a generic sewer scene where I can make all sorts of battles take place. That said, I visit the thrift store sometimes to look for diorama props. One day I found a bag of miniature auto-shop props, sized close enough for The Loyal Subjects figures, and decided to build a new sewer dio around them. On a second trip to the store, I found a TLS sized roadster and decided to airbrush/paint it in homage to the original TMNT

Party Van. I’ll start with a finished photo but I will also include some progress shots of my diorama build.

Epic prop score from the thrift store.

The title says it all! I have been working on a dance party concept for a while. Here is my first attempt. The lighting is all black-light. I hand painted all the wall decor in flourescent paint, pretty cool huh?!