PHOTO CONTEST UPDATE!
Posted by Gentle Giant, Ltd. on 06/22/2020
We've seen some amazing entries to the Gentle Giant, Ltd. Photo Contest!
Here's some feedback on a few of the entries from Toyshooter.
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!
From Dominick F.:
TOYSHOOTER: I like what Dominick's going for here - using the plants to give a sense of the Iron Giant poking out of forest tree tops. Couple of suggestions - try and find an angle with your camera that removes the brick wall and ideally shows the sky - the wall spoils the illusion. You may find the sky drops the exposure on Giant so use any white surface you can find (whiteboard, chopping board, cardboard, mirror) to reflect light back onto the statue. Lastly, try and get your camera lower - looking up at this character will make him seem bigger.
From Paul P.:
TOYSHOOTER: Love that Paul's got his Scout Trooper out in the forest for an Endor inspired shot! The key aspect of this shot that needs work is a focal point. We're looking at a character's back, which is fine, but what's he looking at? Without something to focus this makes his back the focal point, which isn't ideal. See if you can come up with something interesting for him to look at, or rotate the piece and get his face (helmet) in shot. Another small problem here is mottling from the tree branches - that's what creates the shadow marks across his helmet. You could move him out of the shadows, but another thing to try is getting some tracing paper or an opaque office binder and using it to diffuse the sunlight and shadows - just hold it with your hand over the piece while you're taking the shot, play with the position and see what affect it makes on the light of your subject.
From Paul G.:
TOYSHOOTER: This shot by Paul is going in the right direction - I love that you've got you camera right in the piece, immersing us in the story without showing anything unrelated to this famous scene. My suggestion here is to play with the lighting angle a little - you've got it left of camera but something's clipping the light and putting Han's top half in shadow, and at the back you're losing illumination from presumably the same blocking. Try this again and get your lighting directly above the piece - this should create some dramatic shadows on the characters and bring a little more definition to the trash compactor walls.
To see all the entries under consideration for the Fans' Choice Award, 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!