Tim Oliver swung into action with a Spiderman Toy Photography shoot
Words by Tim W. Oliver
Edited by Eryka Bagwell
“It’s hot! Damn hot! With temperatures reaching 117 degrees here in Phoenix, Arizona, my normal outdoor wildlife shooting routine has effectively come to a halt. So, to keep my finely tuned photography skills at peak levels (insert sarcastic snort here), I decided to try my hand at toy photography. Jesse Feyereisen is a constant inspiration. He has amazing examples of how to create toy photography correctly. Between Jesse’s posts and a KelbyOne course on the subject, it felt worthy of my effort.”
"So, I went on a hunt and I found my son’s old Spiderman action figures in a closet. Now at 22, I figured he wasn’t going to miss them. I knew right away that they would become my subjects. A folding table and some makeshift risers in the living room gave way to a 'workspace,' a term I use very loosely. I finally had the opportunity to use all of my Platypod gear simultaneously for the camera (with a Platyball ballhead), two small RGB LED light panels with goosenecks and the larger goblin figure where I needed a gooseneck and the Platypod clamp to hold it in place."
"My completed images were imported into Adobe Lightroom Classic, adjusted (I love the masking tools, sweet nirvana) with some additional work in Photoshop, BorisFX Optics and ON1 Effects. The post-production was about as laborious as the actual shoot setup and then I realized by selecting Spiderman as a subject I would have to figure out a way to create webs. My OCD wouldn’t allow not including those, so after a little Google research I decided on the right look and created them by hand in Photoshop. I’m happy with how they turned out as this again took some trial and error. After a lot of cursing, and more than one Old Fashioned I am proud of the final result. I may just have to try this again..."
The Setup:
- OM System OM-1
- Olympus M.ZUIKO ED 45mm f1.2 PRO Lens
- 1/5 sec., f11, ISO 200
The best place to view more of Tim Oliver's work is by visiting his Instagram page.
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