Any Last Words?

Optimus Prime and Megatron fighting in the Los Altos mountains overlooking the Silicon Valley. This is my fourth picture of Optimus Prime losing to Megatron. I wonder what that says about me.

I haven't figured out a decent way of replicating believable dirt terrain for indoor shooting so just cropped out where Megatron's feet would be touching the ground. 

I composited separate shots of Maketoys Striker Manus and Rioter Despotron against a sunrise shot taken at Black Mountain in Los Altos. Two hours of hiking to get that backdrop and a few more. I used a Flourescent color temperature to change the warm orange sunrise to purple and blue. Craquelure Filter Gallery give both a battle-worn and damaged look. The smoke is drawn in with my custom brush. Some of the debris from Optimus Prime are cut-outs while others are brushed in. Megatron's fusion blast is just a normal brush with Inner/Outer layer glow styles and multiple Field Blurs applied. I also drew in Megatron's smile.

I got the inspiration from a picture that Dane Dougherty had posted.

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Fallen Friend

The background is from a shot taken from a two hour hike at Black Mountain in Los Altos, starting at 5 am to beat the sunrise. It was amazing to watch the sun set the sky on fire as it crested over the mountains on the opposite side of the valley. I love the look of the orange glow reflecting off the clouds above and the fog layer below so just had to use it in a scene.

Planet X Jupiter is a great figure. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him into the same kneeling position as the inspiration picture for this scene. Fall of Cybertron Bumblebee isn't the greatest of figures, but he serves well enough here. I used a Craquelure Filter Gallery to give both figures their battleworn appearance and cranked up the clarity slider to reduce that plastic look. I also blended in wounds from the source picture onto both. The smoke is from my shots of candle smoke.

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Sunset by the Lake

I figured the Autobot most likely to join you to see a sunset would be Bumblebee. Fortunately, his backside is fairly clean compared to most other figures and he could scale well next to a person without blocking out the whole sky. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to bring him along when I took the family to Shoreline Lake to get this shot. Using an off-camera flash with orange gel, I tried to replicate that natural glow that you can see on my daughter. The reflection of the sky and sun in the lake was completely unexpected. If only there had been a waterbird on that raft.

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Suborbital Transit

Despite a somewhat wonky vehicle mode, Planet X Mors worked out better than the official figure for this scene. From this angle, I just had to add some glowie bits and the thrusters.

I found the background, uncredited, on a wallpaper site. I necessarily need to hunt down appealing wallpapers instead of using my own photos for these more fantastical ideas. I suppose it's incentive for me to learn how to create such backdrops by hand.

I put a path blur on the planet to make the background under Mors a little less busy and to try and convey a sense of motion. Although it doesn't make any sense, I added a cloud and fog layer to make the picture more moody.

Drats. I should have had the path blur follow the direction of his flight path. Oh, well. Live and learn. Fixed in the direct link.

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Sunrise Overwatch

Besides coming up with an idea, the next hardest part is getting a realistic looking base. I prefer that to trying to blend their feet/tires into the background photo. In this case, it was as simple as taking Badcube Speedbump to the park and placing him on various boulders. The setting sun provided the lighting and shadows.

I used various Photo Filters to color match Speedbump and the boulder to the background I had chosen. Although there are plenty of other ways to accomplish this, I found the Refine Edge settings of Feather and Shift Edge to be the most useful in cutting out objects.


The background is not mine; it's a photo I found on a wallpaper site that didn't credit the original artist.

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Starscream's Brigade

I wanted to try a technique I saw about blending feet into sand and dirt. It's such a small part of the picture, but it does help prevent the figures from looking like they are floating over the background.

I used Warbotron's set of Combaticons and iGear Star Burst. The background is a photo of one of those beaches along 17 Mile Drive in Monterey. All the fog is painted in with my custom cloud brush.

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Fire Bird

The evening sky hasn't been cooperating so I had to resort to cutting Unique Toys Allen out of a white background. I added the laser beam and tracer rounds to try and make him look more dynamic. As usual, I spent a little time covering up screw holes and paint blemishes.

The trickiest part was the rotor. I really wanted to capture that sense of motion instead of having a static blade. I tried spinning it and using a long shutter speed, but the effect wasn't convincing and I couldn't cut it out of the white background. Fortunately, I stumbled across a different technique. By cutting the propellor out of the static image, I was able to apply a Spin Blur. I repeated the process with another static shot of the propeller at a different angle.

The background is a shot of an autumn evening sky with a FL+W Magenta filter on my lens. The explosions are painted on with my custom smoke brush. The foreground clouds are also painted on with a custom brush.

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Sunset Drive

This is a actually my second attempt at this picture after spending a whole day working with a different one that just wouldn't come together.

I placed Generation Toy J4ZZ on a Toyhax dark ground tile with an aquarium rock deco. The sunset is a shot I took during a vacation in Waikiki Hawaii. The smoke is from a picture of clouds. Unfortunately, I had to find a forest picture online; there's nowhere nearby for me to get a shot like that. The road strip and skid marks are drawn in. I also added headlights and a motion blur for the tires and rims.

I'm not quite satisfied with how the road and rock edges blend in with the background. Still a lot to learn about how to do blending in Photoshop.

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Snowy Drive

Some flour, a sifter, and my garage floor served as the backdrop for this shot. Maybe I should have sprinkled some flour on the car, but I really didn't want to get that stuff into the joints. I finished it off with some overlays of my cloud pictures and a couple of artificially created headlights.

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Blue Moon

The figure is Skyward Sword Link by Figma. This is inspired by a picture I saw online.

Although I would like the entire shot to happen within the camera, sometimes that's just not possible. I do find that a happy medium is to at least put the subject on a real base. In this case, I used a roll of artificial grass. Fortunately, Link easily stood without the display base. The fairies are shots of a Majora Mask Fairy pendant. The moon and sky are from a cloudy evening some time ago. The fog is an overlay of a shot of fluffy white clouds. The stars are artificially created in Photoshop.

I probably won't get the Twilight Princess Link figure, but am looking forward to the Princess Zelda figure.

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Batman vs Superman

These are from the SH Figuarts Injustice line. I prefer the armor plated look for super hero costumes.

I basically posed Batman and Superman in front of my laptop screen. The hardest part was fiddling with the figures until they were in a pose that I liked and would appear that way in the viewfinder.

I found the background picture on one of those wallpaper sites. There was no credit to the original artist. I would have liked to use my own picture, but I don't have access to a sky rise rooftop. The wall behind them is the lip of my laptop.

I had to forgo lights because of glare in the monitor so simply relied on ambient light in a dimly lit room. Superman, especially, is particularly reflective and shiny, which my polarizer helped with a little.

In Photoshop, I did the basic adjustments, cleaned up dust and smudges, closed up gaps in Batman's cape, added glowie bits to their eyes, and overlayed a cooling filter.

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Fallen Comrade

I didn't break Trash-Talk just for this shot. That's a feature of the figure. I posed him, Cogwheel, Striker Manus, and Badcube Sunsurge on some desert panels from ToyHax.

I created the fire wth my custom smoke brush. 

The background is a shot of Hollow Bean State Beach. I tried to blend the two together. Damn, California beaches are so dreary, even in the summer. I need to make my way back to Hawaii.

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Mastermind Creations Fembots

I wonder if Azalea holds the record for number of remolds and repaints. It's a great piece that kickstarted my interest in toy photography, and there are at least three more named characters to go.

Putting the figures against actual flooring and backdrop saves a lot of time in post.

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Mastermind Creations Feral Queen and Nero Queen

My introduction to toy photography came from finding Dre Merc's blog page. I was blown away by his photos, especially those with Mastermind Creations Azalea. The figure is capable of so many natural and dynamic stances compared to most other figures, especially official toys.

Feral Queen and Nero Queen are basically repaints of the Azalea figure. Except for the heads, every panel is identical to the previous figures. Their shoulder pauldrons and chest panels are the same as those on Salvia Prominon. The new head sculpt is done very well. The spikes make these two look especially aggressive.

The transformation is as aggravating as I remembered. I don't like the hovercraft mode enough to bother.

Their accessories include a pair of guns and swords for each, feet stands, and a staff for Feral Queen. All the weapons are simply repaints of what we've already seen. The staff requires some assembly. I wished Nero Queen's foot stand were black or purple instead.

I'll probably use these two figures as Deceptions. I've no idea who they are supposed to be. The mold is getting a bit old at this point, but I'd probably continuing getting these. After all, we are still missing Chromia, Firestar, and Moonracer.

The figures were shot on floor panels from ToyHax, using Mechanical Chain Base panels for backdrops.

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Nothing defeats the Devastator!

One last project with TFC Hercules before I crack open the new sets. I discovered Transformers before Voltron and other Japanese giant robot cartoons, so when 6 robots formed into a giant brute that the Dinobots couldn't initially handle, my mind was blown. My childhood Devastator toy was an orange-colored knockoff my father had found at the local flea market, but I didn't care.

Would Generation Toy Gravity Builder or Toyworld Devastator look better? Probably, but Hercules still looks pretty damn good. Over the year, he's gotten a little wobbly at the hips, but he's able to maintain his stance. I had to do a little surgery to his left knee. The ratchet in Mad Blender's connector joint was really loose. I was able to fix it by opening up the housing and placing 4 pieces of post-it note paper underneath the ratchet plate. If Structor's ratchet loosens, the same fix should work as well.

This is from the episode, "Heavy Metal War." Because of the small size of my light tent, I shot Apollyon, Soundwave, Starscream, and Thundercracker individually. Yes, Thundercracker. I'm anxiously awaiting finally getting my hands on MP11 Skywarp. I used some Hue Saturation layers to recolor Thundercracker. It still doesn't look quite right, but it will do for now. I did the same to the green barrel on Mad Blender. The smoke is drawn with my custom smoke bush. The background is a composite of an evening sky, a large boulder formation at Alum Rock Park, the foothills at the same, and a dried out lake bed at Penitencia Creek Trails.

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TFC Toys Constructicons

Before gearing up to look at the Generation Toy and Toyworld Constructicons, I wanted to revisit an oldie but goodie.

The TFC Toys Constructicons are starting to show their age, but they are still a fun set. They were my first exposure to TFC Toys. Some of the figures don't really look like their source material, but I'm not really going to keep them in this mode anyways.

They lack feet and wrist articlation, severly limiting their posability. Some of them are super kibbly. With Mad Blender and Exgraver, it was simply easier to remove their cement mixer and shovel.

I spent a little time trying to blend their feet into the grass. Photoshop has this grass shapped brush that randomly changes property with each click. It seems to have the effect I wanted when applied to the layer mask at each foot. To save time, I cheated with Exgraver and Neckbreaker.

The background is a shot of the evening sunset from Communications Hill. I applied a red photo filter to the figures in an attempt to impart that rusty sunset glow. Being so strongly backlit by a sunset, they really should have been more in silhouette, but that's what Photoshop is for.

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Fall! Fall!

This was one of the first scenes I had attempted when I got interested in toy photography. I've learned a little since then, mostly by experimenting and watching what others do. Still have a long way to go in terms of proper lighting technique and believable Photoshop tricks.

This was shot with X-Transbots Apollyon who seems to not be long for this world considering how great DX9 Mightron and Maketoys Despotron look in previews, and Masterpiece Hot Rod who despite some flaws is still a nice figure. The background is composed of separate shots of the foothills at Alum Rock Park, a cloudy sky, and a large rock from my garden.

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Planet X Dinobots

It's been a while since I've had time to work on a project. Couldn't remember how I did some of the glowie bits and shadows so Triton might be a little different than the rest. All in all, a bunch of great figures with some flaws spread across the line. Still, I absolutely love the set. It's one of my favorite groups. It's so hard to choose just one.

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Dancing in Paradise

It's not from a cartoon or comic I'm aware of. I just wanted to make use of a vacation photo I had taken. I was also inspired by a scene from some late night Kung Fu movie I had seen.

I used Perfect Effect Aranea and Mastermind Creations Azalea. By underexposing the shot, I was able to simulate their silhouette against the sunset. Their swords and eyes are from Inner and Outer Glow Layer Styles.

The background is a photo I took from Waikiki beach as the sun was setting.

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Fans Toys Insecticons

The Fans Toys figures just barely edge out the Badcube Collector's Edition for a spot on my MP shelf. These figures are weighty and fun to pose.

Instead of my DIY light box, I used an actual light tent to take shots of the figures. That, plus learning how to use the histogram on my camera, made the photography process so much easier this time. Chrome is still a pain though. The majority of the time was spent trying to blend them into the foliage.

I've not been to a swamp so I used a shot from Manoa Falls in Oahu as the background.

I added a circular purple to orange gradient layer as an overlay to give a warmer feel to the lighted area and a cooler feel to the shadowy area.

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Get off me, you junkyard reject!

This scene was from the episode "Changing Gears".

Mastermind Creations Jaguar is a really nice figure. I understand why Takara couldn't do him in this size. The fan rage would have caused aneurysms if tape mode wouldn't fit inside MP Soundwave. I spent a little time cleaning up the seam lines on his neck.

Masterpiece Bumblebee is orange, but the character is yellow in the cartoon so I used the Hue slider in ACR to do the shift.

The pylon in the back is Mastermind Creations Anarchus' shoulder. I added the lightning by creating a Difference Cloud off a gradient layer.

The background is from an area at Manoa Falls in Hawaii, run through a Cutout Filter Gallery.

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Let's see how he likes my new shock blast cannon!

This was a simple set of shots from a scene in Heavy Metal War where Wheeljack's weapon explodes in his face. Sad as it may have been, I would have preferred something like this for The Movie than his offscreen demise.

Unfortunately, Wheeljack's arm can't butterfly over to reach the handle of the weapon. His shadow is created from a Drop Shadow Layer Style. I used my custom smoke brush to draw the explosion for the second picture. Ironhide's lasers are created from Inner and Outer Glow Layer Styles.

The mountain background is a shot of some cliffs at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve that were run through a Cutout Filter Gallery. The ground in the third picture is just several panels of the desert tiles from ToxHax.

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Die, Autobots!

I have a morbid fascination with this scene, from when the Decepticons blasted their way onto the shuttle to when Megatron blew off Iron Hide's head. I couldn't believe how easily the Autobots went down. These weren't Red Shirts nor the weaker members of the team. I wonder what Brawn was thinking, charging in like that, without even a gun.

Bad Cube Brawny was shot from above. I'm still getting used to the depth of field on my new camera, which is why his feet aren't in focus. I ran his windshield through a Craquelure Filter Gallery and used Clone Stamps and Hue/Saturation Layers to draw in the debris. His mouth is brushed on. There is a Drop Shadow Layer to give him a sense of being elevated from the ground.

Masterpiece Starscream is holding the mini Megatron accessory that I've long forgotten came with which figure. The smoke coming from the barrel is a shot of an extinguished candle flame. It's a subtle effect, but I think worth the effort spent capturing some smoke pictures.

Generation Toy Navvy is serving double duty as Scavenger and Bonecrusher. I used a Hue Saturation Layer to recolor his legs for Bonecrusher and the smoke to hide his body.

Generation Toy Mixer may have provided for a more consistent look, but I'd already spent some time cleaning up Toy World Concrete.

Sadly, Long Haul didn't make it into the shot since I don't have one.

Since I couldn't think of a decent way of replicating the shuttle interior, I spent a little time transforming and clone stamping the screen capture. I had to hide where the drawn characters were still peaking through and extend the light running along the ceiling.

I may have gone a little overboard with the smoke effects, but I needed a way to hide not-even-not-Bonecrusher and the far end of the shuttle. Both sets of smoke were drawn with my custom Smoke brush.

I may redo Scavenger and Bonecrusher and add in Long Haul once I get a hold of the Toy World figures.

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Decepticons!

Hot Rod gets a lot of flack for getting in the way of Optimus Prime and Megatron's duel, but I've always liked the character. I always liked how this scene demonstrates his willingness to jump into the fray. Although you could argue, "What the hell hero", for starting a fire fight with a little kid right next to him.

Not without its flaws, Masterpiece Hot Rod is a great and fun figure. There wasn't much to be cleaned up in terms of paint blemishes and screw holes. Thanks to his ab crunch, I was able to get a pretty decent pose. Maybe I could have posed the arms a little straighter, but I have a bad habit of diving right into the Photoshop phase before realizing things could be a little better.

I drew in his mouth with a soft brush. His goggles and the laser beams were created with Overlay and Outerglow Layer Styles. I'm not sure what that yellow dot atop his head is so I just left it out. His shadow is a Drop Shadow Layer Style.

The platform is one of my Mechanical Chain Base panels with a Hue Saturation Layer for color and run thru a Fresco Filter Gallery for texture. There is a Drop Shadow Layer falling onto the cliffs too. The cliffs are a shot of rock formations at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, with a Cutout Filter Gallery applied.

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