The Energon Pub

Hi guys, I have been working on photographing my TF's for a while and now have a sizeable chunk of them on flickr. Feel free to have a look at my sets.

'Classicsverse': http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexshepherd/collections/72157628244820221/

G1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexshepherd/collections/72157627593381808/

Everything else: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexshepherd/collections/72157628244911881/

I also have made a blog which features only my 'classicsverse' stuff on it. I have recently expanded the blog to have the tech specs plus reviews of the figures (which I am still writing). You can search by tech spec scores too to see who is the toughest

My blog: http://teletraan2.blogspot.com/

I have put some of my fave photos below for your perusal

You take absolutely beautiful pictures. Honestly, some of the best toy pics I've ever seen. Do you have any tips or secrets to share? Camera type, lighting setup, etc?

Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed them.

WOW!

Cougartracks wrote:You take absolutely beautiful pictures. Honestly, some of the best toy pics I've ever seen. Do you have any tips or secrets to share? Camera type, lighting setup, etc?

Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed them.

Thanks for the compliment! There are loads of great TF photographers on flickr that make me look a bit crap but I'm trying to improve all the time. In terms of setup etc, I use an old Nikon D40 with a speedlight on a tripod, connected with a control cable.

I literally just bounce the flash off the ceiling as I like to have shadow and contrast, wheras typically most product photos are evenly lit because they have to show the toy as clearly as possible. I wanted a uniform setup so I noted the settings I used so I could reuse them consistently which were:

F-Stop F/8, Exposure time 1/400 sec with ISO-400 film speed.

I used my 15-year-old Nikon 28-105mm lens which is a very solid lens for the price. But, to be honest you can get good results with almost any camera (even an autofocus one) if you get the lighting right. Strong lighting that does not wash out the colours is the key, and it will throw enough light on the subject for the autofocus to 'grab' your subject.

I can't talk about photography without recommending you look at the following 2 guys work on flickr



KumaStylePhotography - this guy has an amazing collection (including the 4 FP Brutici? above) http://www.flickr.com/photos/kumastylegfx/



DreMerc - his dioramas are absolutely amazing, as is his post production work, the picture above is EPIC http://www.flickr.com/photos/dremerc/

Sorry for the rambling response! My next idea for my collection is to do large group shots and experiment with differnt setups - I can start on this once I have photographed the rest of my old G1 stuff

Cool, I'll definitely check those other guys out too.

I still haven't done a big group pic yet, but I made a triptych based on the animated movie today, hope you guys like it.

Looks cool!

Cougartracks wrote:Looks cool!

Hey Thanks! I posed all my movie autobots together as well.
[img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6843138969_c46fa115cf_z.jpg/img]

Well I still don't have a dedicated space for my TF collection but I am moving soon and hope to wangle some shelving space at least temporarily.

Athought I have finally completed one part of my collection - the entire G1 Season 1 Decepticon cast now has representation

Yeah, you make me jealous in skill, resources and collection.

Keep it up!