The current coronavirus situation has suddenly left many people without work and consequently with too much time on their hands. Many photographers are using this extra time creatively, and Arjun Menon is one of them. This India-based photographer combines action figures, household objects and some Photoshop magic. What he ends up with are photos that look like they came straight from the big screen.
Here’s how to create an epic toy photography action scene at home
If there is the perfect time to shoot toy photography, it’s right now. It’s not like we’re leaving home much, right? Isaac Alvarez of UNPLUG Production has made a great tutorial that will inspire you for creating epic battle scenes with toys. You don’t need to leave your home and you can use whatever you find lying around. And by combining practical effects and lighting with some composite work, you can make create some awesome work.
Photographer recreates moon landing photos with LEGO and practical effects
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. On 20 July 1969 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong set their feet on the surface of the moon. And in 2019, many people have paid tribute to them in all sorts of ways. Hungarian photographer Lampert Benedek was one of these, and he did it in his recognizable fashion: with LEGO.
Lampert used the popular toy bricks to recreate the iconic photos of the Apollo 11 mission. He kindly shared his work with us, as well as some backstory. And since he used mainly practical effects, the BTS images are as fun as the finished ones.
Photographer Felix Hernandez creates fantastic worlds by building small scale models
Mexican photographer Felix Hernandez is known for his amazing photos of toys and miniatures that he builds himself. He relies mainly on practical effects and mixes them with some Photoshop, and we’ve shared lots of his photos here on DIYP. Felix combines his knowledge in photography, design and image manipulation with craftsmanship to create some mind-blowing work. Today, he has decided to tell us more about it: how he does it, where he finds inspiration, and what his work means to him. And of course, he kindly shared plenty of his beautiful images and BTS shots.
Here’s how to combine practical effects with CGI in videos
If you’re shooting videos, you can find both practical effects and CGI useful. But combining them can give you limitless creative possibilities. In this video, Liran Friedman of Artlist will show you how you can bring practical visual effects and CGI together and shoot an original and fun video.
How to use practical effects to create explosions for toy photography
When photographing toys, there are so many tricks that can make your scenes look lifelike and realistic. To add an extra kick to certain scenes, you might need to create mini-explosions, all of which can all be done with practical effects. In this video, Norm from Adam Savage’s Tested hosts toy photographer Johnny Wu. He guides you through his process for creating blast effects in his toy photography and shares some handy tips and tricks that you can use in your work.
That insane car chase in Fast Five was shot using a real 9,000lb vault
The Fast & Furious franchise is notorious for using CG in their movies. Even though they have very highly trained stunt drivers, and even gave the actors some rather intensive driving lessons, some things are just easier and safer when done with CG. But they also do a surprising amount of effects practically, when possible.
One sequence that seemed fairly obvious as CG in the imaginatively titled fifth instalment of the series, Fast Five, sees our heroes dragging a 9,000lb vault containing $100 million through the streets of Rio De Janeiro (although it was actually filmed in Puerto Rico). Except, it wasn’t CG, it was shot for real, with a real 9,000lb vault.
These fast cars photos are actually made with toy cars and practical effects
You may remember Hungarian photographer Lampert Benedek and his fun LEGO photo series. While heavy snow is covering my hometown, I noticed Lampert’s image of a car caught in a snow blizzard. But seeing a BTS image made me realize: it’s not really a car, and it’s not even real snow!
Lampert makes some awesome photos of fast cars, but he uses toys, practical effects, and some clever ideas to make them look real. I chatted with him a bit about how he does it, and he shares some tricks for making these images.
Quick Tip: Use sticky page markers to simulate light leaks on your digital camera
This quick tip comes courtesy of Ireland-based photographer Maciej Pietuszyński. It’s a simple and easy way to get a film light leak style effect in-camera with digital. All you need is your camera, a lens and a few sticky page markers.
An artist created this spooky pumpkin photo using practical effects and lighting
Halloween is a holiday that can spark our creativity in different areas: decorating the home, carving pumpkins, or creating costumes. And of course, it sparks imagination in photographers as well.
Inspired by Halloween, Felix Hernandez has created a spooky photo of pumpkin on fire that looks like it just got out of a horror movie. As always, he used practical effects, lighting, and patience to achieve all the effects he wanted, and he kindly shares with DIYP some details about this spooky shot.
