5 tips for taking 'explosive' toy photos on a limited budget

Thursday 14 November 2019, 17:17 by Michelle Peeters | 3,754 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Kirk Schwarz from Practical Photography has recently put together a short video with tips for anyone wanting to get started with toy photography.

If you have never taken this kind of photo before, but have always wanted to try it, you will find Schwarz's tips for creating an "explosive" toy photo on a budget in the video below.

The five tips in the video are quite simple, which makes sense given the audience they are aimed at. From collecting props for your background to camera settings and safety, they cover all the basics:

1. Use stones, rocks, pebbles and moss from your garden or a local park to create your scene;


2. Use a fast aperture to create atmosphere and depth in the image;


3. When you are starting out, continuous light (LED panels) is easier to use and control compared with flashguns;


4. Use your camera's self-timer function to eliminate any shaking or vibrations that may be caused by pressing the shutter;


5. Be extremely careful when working with any kind of fire.

During the video, you can follow along as Schwarz creates the shot, captures all the frames he needs and combines the different practical effect photos into a final image.

Of course, the end product is not equal to the masterpieces we have seen from Mitchel Wu or Matthew Callahan or Felix Hernandez, but it also took considerably less time and effort to create.

Here is the final photo, in case you want to take a closer look at it:

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