I’ve spent the last six weeks or so researching, practicing, and working towards being able to photograph toys and action figures in such a way that at least I don’t shame myself. I won’t go into all the reasons for this but will share another article over at my MEDIUM site on the WHY of it. (You can follow my MEDIUM blog at www.medium.com/@figphotos.)

I want to establish right out of the gate that I am not an expert at toy photography or creating comics. I am a total newbie in fact. But fortunately, I do know a thing or two about photography in general and that can translate to any genre of photography. I make no claim of expertise here. I am just a guy who loves taking pictures of toys.

If you haven’t figured it out yet – FIGPHOTOS (which stands for action figure photos) is my new moniker for such work. I want to completely separate it from my old job of photographing birds and wildlife. If you follow me because of that specific genre, i.e., birds and wildlife I apologize, but I have taken a new direction. Long story short – my health isn’t good enough for me to do regular field work anymore and the pandemic blew up most of that business anyway.

Back to this particular photo. . . I decided to assign myself a project. I used to teach new photographers that doing short projects would speed up the learning curve. So I am going to take my own advice. By the way if you need to know why photographic projects are a great thing to do – Here are 15 reasons why photographic projects have value (there are more than 15 but this is a start.)

• It’s a great way to get the photographer out of a rut…
• It helps train the photographer’s eye…
• It can lead to connections in communities of like-minded photographers on the same path…
• It motivates the photographer to use their camera more often and with purpose…
• It’s a great way to build a portfolio…
• It creates urgency because now the photographer has a firm goal (and hopefully a deadline)…
• It’s a coping tool… (it helps the photographer take their mind off their troubles and sets it on the project)
• It teaches the photographer how to practice, how to fail and how to give them grace when things don’t go well…
• It gives a sense of achievement when finished no matter how the project ends up turning out…
• It forces the photographer to overcome challenges and obstacles to complete the project and in turn teaches…
• It is a way for the photographer to communicate their point of view or what interests them…
• It has the chance to inspire others to do the same…
• It helps the photographer find out what they do and don’t like about the style of photography used on the project…
• It creates a visual record of a period of time where the photographer was engaged on a mission…
• It is a way to play – to be a kid again – to have fun…
  
  So my project started with Grogu. The character from The Mandalorian – sometimes called “This Kid.” I decided to try to create a one page comic book-style project. I decided to make four photos with an idea that each furthered the story.
  
  Why did I do it this way?
  
  That’s an additional rathole. I have a friend named Ed, who has a seven-year-old grandson named Nelson. Nelson loves Star Wars and anything connected to it. When Ed saw my first picture of a Star Wars character on Facebook, Ed asked me if he could buy a print for Nelson for his birthday. I decided to give it to him for free given the occasion and also given that I am a newbie at this and don’t feel I’m ready to take people’s money for it until I get a bit more time in the cockpit so to speak.

Nelson liked the gift and asked if I had one of Grogu – so that turned up the heat. I made one image of Grogu sitting in front of the TV since according to Ed, his grandson Nelson spends as much time as his parents will allow watching Star Wars related programming on Disney. Nelson loved that photo too but wanted more.

Sigh… (I don’t have children but I am told this is how it goes…)

Bear with me, this story does have an ending. I promise.

So I came up with this idea that Grogu would deal with some mean and nasty storm troopers.

I photographed this series in my home photo studio, on my iPhone 13 Pro, using Filmic Pro’s Firstlight. (Just under $8.00 and well worth it.)

My setup included a LumeCube Panel Pro (Less than $150), a Raya Bi-Color Round LED Panel from B&H (about $80 since I only used one from the two-light kit.)   some Platypods (Costing less than $100) to hold stuff in place, and part of a diorama I bought from ExtremeSets.com. ($69)

Total budget not including action figure and camera – right around $400.

In other words, there wasn’t much to this.

I will condense the several days of experimenting into a few sentences. In short, I made four final frames. I used ACR to convert the RAW files from Firstlight. I composited the four frames into one document in Photoshop. I did some very basic editing in Photoshop. Then I started using my new favorite Photoshop plug-in – BorisFX Optics 2022 – and I did some grading, and special effects.

The result is the comic book style plate. Let me be the first to say this is very simplistic. I am trying to entertain a seven-year-old boy. I kept it simple for both our sakes. I have no idea what I am doing. In fact, I screwed the whole thing up. I realize now that I made more work for myself than I needed to and I could have done a much better job. But the point of projects is to learn from your mistakes. I will and I have. I am used to making mistakes. Believe me.

I spent a career perfecting my bird photography. I won’t live long enough to perfect my toy photography. I know that. So it’s okay if I fail here and there. As long as I FAIL FORWARD!

I think the result is cute. It won’t come close to winning awards, but it was fun for me and more importantly, little Nelson loved it – which is all I really care about. I made a print for him and Ed says Nelson spends a lot of time showing it to his friends. He’s proud that this was created just for him. I have to say, hearing that was more valuable than money.

And now we’re coming round the final curve to the whole reason I am doing this type of work. Toys are joy. It doesn’t matter (at this level anyway) if I did it perfectly. It just matters that I did it and it was fun and my “client” loved it. It doesn’t matter than I am an old man playing with toys designed for young men. I still get a big kick out of it.

I say all this to try to encourage you to do something similar. Pick a subject or genre and try to tell a story in four photographs. Share it online – let everyone know how you did and more importantly why you did it.

And here’s how to know if you “did it right…” If you had fun, and if you brought a smile to even one other person – you did it right!

Toys are joy. Thanks for reading. And I promise the next time I share one of these it will come out better.

I’m rooting for you.