My interest in toy photography was recently ignited when I bought my new iPhone 11 Pro Max. The night mode on the iPhone 11 Pro max was very easy to use, even for an amateur like myself. The photos taken with the iPhone 11 Pro Max were significantly more vibrant than those taken with the iPhone 10.
Here are two pictures of the view from my balcony taken with the iPhone 10 and iPhone 11 Pro for comparison.
The iPhone 11 Pro Max Night Mode produces photos with more vibrant and brighter colours under the same lighting conditions.
This got me started on finding fun subjects that would allow me to play around with the iPhone 11 Pro’s camera. As a toy collector myself, the next step was obvious.
When I came home one night after work and saw this view from my balcony, ideas began springing into my mind on what I needed to do next.
Toy Photography Subject: Nendoroid Batman: Hero’s Edition
My wife has a pretty messy collection of Funko POP! as well as Nendoroids and Cosbaby figures.
Against a natural backdrop of a full moon, the Nendoroid Batman: Hero’s Edition from my wife’s toy collection was the perfect candidate.
I placed the Nendoroid Batman on the railing of my balcony as I did not want the railing to be part of the composition. However, there was a risk of the Nendoroid Batman falling off the railing and plunging 16 levels down as I have only used double-sided tape on its feet.
Almost immediately, I decided that it was too risky to pose the figure on the railing. Also, I was having a hard time posing the figure and trying to balance it at the same time.
At the same time, I realized that I had not removed the plastic cover on the Nendoroid Batman’s eyes in the first picture. I had to redo the shot.
While I am not a professional, I do realize the importance of using a tripod to take better pictures. It helped a lot that both my hands were free for adjusting the Nendoroid Batman figure since the iPhone 11 Pro Max was already mounted on the tripod.
Imagine holding your iPhone in one hand and then putting it down again to adjust the figure, then picking up the phone again. Doing this multiple times during the course of toy photography is sure to cause frustration.
The tripod came with a remote shutter control which could be linked to my iPhone via blue tooth. I had a good time snapping away.
In night mode on the iPhone, you have to hold the camera steady for the entire period of exposure. The tripod saw to that.
A lesson I learned from my first attempt at toy photography is to always clean up the figure before posing it. Some duct tape could have helped with sticking and removing the dust on the Batman Nendoroid figure.
These are the pictures I managed to take with very basic equipment – an iPhone 11 Pro Max and a Phone Tripod. I am pretty satisfied with the outcome and the entire process was really fun.
When we were kids, we literally played with toys – tossing them around, banging them into each other in fights, submerging them into water and so on.
I believe as adults, we no longer “play with toys” in that sense. However, toy photography has given me another avenue to enjoy these toys apart from simply displaying them in cabinets.
If you are a toy collector yourself, go ahead and explore toy photography. It only takes a little bit of creativity and very basic equipment to bring you lots of fun at home.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
The Lonely Collector is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com