Toy Photography and the History of
I’ve been working on a new series I’m tentatively calling Monochromous. And I’ve had the honor of having a portion of that series featured on the Exclu Collective.
Check it out, and read about my process here: https://exclucollective.com/2018/09/09/exclu-rewind-tourmalinenow/
See even more images on my facebook page here:
And stay tuned for a behind the scenes video coming soon!
Some of you may remember my first ever MMM post all about Pose Skeletons.
Well this is sort of a follow up to that post. Pose skeleton is a 1:18 scale ball jointed miniature skeleton. Currently you can get adult models, a child, a cat and a dog. In my initial post I discussed places to get dollhouse like accessories for your pose skeleton. However, there’s a whole huge world of 1:18 scale I didn’t discuss. And now, just over a year later I think it’s about time.
Welcome to the world of action figures in 1:18 scale. In this scale figures range from 3 to 4 inches tall (most figures are 3.75 in.). You may be most familiar with this scale from the small G.I. Joe Action figures (http://www.yojoe.com/action/). However, this is also a popular scale for Star Wars, Aliens, Lost Planet, The Walking Dead, etc. as well as many larger model cars (http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=1:18).
I can’t possibly cover all the brands and lines of this scale but a huge comprehensive list can be found here. http://118archive.com/archive.php. You can also learn more about these figures through the Fighting 1:18 forum & blog. http://www.fighting118th.com/.
Keep in mind, there are more figures than even on the above linked listing. Just look for items where the adult human figure would be about 3.75 inches tall. For example, Funko makes 4 inch tall Five Nights at Freddy figures, if an adult human put on an animal costume it might make them just a hint taller, so I’d say these figures are 1:18 scale. Also 1/144 scale gundam bots are just over the height of 1:18 scale figures, so even though they couldn’t carry a 1:18 human, they could still fight along side them.
Depending on how you imagine your scenes, every single one of these lines, their figures and their accessories can be mixed and matched to form a unique 1:18 scale world. The best place for individual accessories (with very reasonable prices), as well as some decent figures (including women) is Maurader’s. http://www.marauderinc.com/. If you’re looking for less military, more fantasy & historic, check out Boss Fight Studio – they have skeletons, fantasy, greek mythology, and fully customizable blank figures, with tons more coming soon. http://bossfightstudio.com/
When just getting into 1:18 scale collecting, there are 3 main things to consider – 1. obviously the look of the figures, 2. how posable they are – especially for play or toy photography, 3. your budget.
At our local Five Below – a discount store of sorts, you can get 1:18 military figures for $2.99 each. They honestly look pretty good as far as facial detail, their clothing is a bit lacking paint wise, but that’s fixable. However, they also aren’t very posable or customizable. Their knees and elbows bend and heads swivel, but that’s about it. Worth $2.99 though? Well yea, of course. (more $$ on amazon, but this is the only link I can find to share with you http://amzn.to/2icZThy). On the other end of the spectrum there are figures like those of the Acid Rain line by Kit Lau. At $30 each for the single figures, let alone vehicles and sets, they can make a very large hole in your wallet. That said, their paint job is incredible, being fully detailed and weathered and they have 30 points of articulation which is crazy, especially on this small of a scale. So worth $30? Well that depends on you, but I’d say, if you have the money, then a resounding yes. http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=3318
All this said, you can still use your military-esque figures in more home like settings with the tips from my Pose Skeleton post, and you can even re-purpose some of those cutesier accessories. Take for example my basement of a bombed out building set for my newest series in which I’ve used a barbie shovel, plates & cups from my 1:24 scale room box, 1:12 scale dollhouse cans, a lil bratz desk chair and locker, and lil bratz and fashion polly toys.
You can also use free online printables, like the cards you see in an image below. Find some great ones here. They are 1:24 scale, but you can scale them up slightly, or click over to the 1:12 scale items and scale them down before printing.
In conclusion…
Select your line by perusing 1:18 scale items here:
Once you select your 1:18 figure figures, round out your set with accessories from…
| For Dollhouse/ Interior Items Check Out: | For Exterior, Military, Super Hero/Sci-Fi Items Look For: |
| –Lil Bratz | –World Peacekeepers |
| –Early 2000s Fashion Pollys | –Mauraders, Inc. |
| –Modern Day Polly Pockets | –Elite Force |
| –Vintage Lundby | -Other 1:18 Military Sets from discount stores such as Ross, Big Lots, Ollie’s, Dollar Tree, Five Below and Walmart |
| –Modern Lundby | |
| –Vintage Tomy (closer to 1:16 scale) | |
| –Pose Skeleton –Various playsets |
*You can also use 1:12 and 1:24 accessories sparingly
*Note that furniture from the fashion polly and polly pocket lines might be a bit narrow for action figures.
And that’s all I have for you today. You may also want to check out:
Do you have any 1:18 scale sets or figures? Tell us all about it in a comment below.
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Do you create photographs of toys and miniatures? If so, this guide is for you.
*Note that outside of the Toy Photographers Google + community, none of these online spaces are set up for constructive criticism. If that is what you’re seeking you have to ask for it. And know that peer criticism and art critique are entirely separate things. All in all, you need to strive on your own to better your work. These spaces will not do that for you. They are simply ways to get your work seen.
Instagram is by far the best place to begin and hone your craft. Various accounts host hashtag competitions daily where you can get over 100 likes per image entered. The more likes, the more likely others are to see your work which means the higher possibility of people following.
Hashtag Competitions
General Hashtags
Always tag your posts. Always. You can put up to 30 total on each post whether directly in the caption or in a comment below, or split between the 2.
The hashtags I’m currently using:
The best thing to do with any hashtag on instagram is to find a handful you like, used by someone who posts similar images, then tap one of the tags and look through the others instagram suggests on the top of the screen. Select the best for your work until you have 30 total and save all those out to a phone note. Then, each time you post copy and paste those tags over.
The main thing on Facebook is to find a community specific for the type of toys you photograph.
Some options are:
There are many photo sharing groups you can join if you have a Flickr account.. Find a group that pertains to the subject you photograph. Below, while a long list is simply a fraction of those available. I personally have not had a lot of luck with forming communities through Flickr groups, but it’s great they exist. And if you are more active on Flickr than I am, you may have great luck with these communities.
Do you create photos of toys or miniatures? How do you get your work seen? Leave a comment below with your tips and I may add them to the above.
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2016 has come to an end, and as I’ve done for the past could of years, I’d like to share with you my personal favorite images I’ve created this past year.
Thank you to each of you for supporting me along the way.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2 more K-2SO images. Hope you enjoy. More are to come.
See my last post here.
K-2SO is trademarked by Lucas Films. This company and its affiliates do not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site.
In honor of the impending midnight release of Rogue One tonight, here are two K-2SO images for you. There are 4 in this series so far and there will be more. Let me know what you think of the movie, but I won’t have seen it yet, so no spoilers.
K-2SO is trademarked by Lucas Films. This company and its affiliates do not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site.
In continuing on with the spooky/Fall theme I’ll be sharing more Halloween-y images this month. Other than posting daily here, I also shared images using the Creepy TopicGenerator and posted on instagram in the#mabsdrawlloweenclub. So we continue, daily, never-before-shared on this platform spooky images. Hope you enjoy. If you play along, keep tagging #jhc and leave your link below.
Day 5 – November 7 – Ninja Turtle
Fairly simple here – an HO scale Raphael TMNT photographed standing on some paper.
