2022 PHOTO CONTEST UPDATE 2!

Check out Toy Shooter's feedback on some of the latest submissions to the Photo Contest.

Please note: the feedback does not indicate any judgement on placement in the contest, but is meant for fans to learn from and use to their benefit.

And remember - if you want to learn more about toy photography, check out Toyshooter's GGLTD Photo Contest advice article and his photography course!

The contest ends March 28th at 11:59 PM EST, so there's still time to get your photos in!

TOY SHOOTER: I like that you've made the effort to integrate this piece with the snow - shooting with any kind of unpredictable material (snow, water) can get really challenging.

Couple of things to work on here -

The background twigs here are distracting (similar to mottled light), and are taking attention away from the piece as the focal point.

Two approaches to fix this - reposition your camera or the piece and play with lots of different angles, find an arrangement with the background that supports the piece and ensures she's the focus. Experimentation is key here.

Another option is to shoot with a wider aperture which will blur the twigs out in camera and make the piece pop more in the shot.

Next thing to think about is lighting and paradoxically, removing some.

Interesting thing about shooting outside with both daylight and snow is you have light coming from EVERY angle. That creates great light quality, but the result can be a little flat visually (very little shadow definition). This is the opposite advice I'd give to a lot of photographers shooting inside without enough light - they need to add more light to the dark, here I think you will benefit from adding "dark to the light". Try getting a piece of card and holding it just out of frame in various positions so that it creates shadows on the face to add a little definition - again, lots of experimentation is key.

TOY SHOOTER: Lucienne's taken the Mandolorian mini bust out to capture him in action ready to cook some stormtroopers.

First, I think your depth of field is good, you've widened the aperture just enough to blur details in the background to keep the focus on Mando, but not too much so we can still get an idea of the environment - great job.

Looks like you're shooting around dawn/dusk which is great to recreate the Mando vibe. I think a little fill light on the front of Mando would help here - his torso is too dark in places. This can be easily achieved with a sheet of white card you can hold to the left while you're shooting to bounce some light on him. This is similar to a "pro" photographer shooting someone outside, using a huge reflector to ensure their subject is adequately lit.

Lastly just a nitpick - looks like a bird is in shot to the left, this may be intentional but with the shallow depth of field blurring it out, it looks like a smudge. This is of course the kind of thing that's hard to see when you're shooting outside until you get your shots back home. A simple fix which most free photo editing software packages can erase.

To see even more awesome entries make sure to take a look at Gentle Giant Ltd.'s Instagram feed.

To see how you can enter the Photo Contest, check out the rules and prizes here!

And have fun!