Practical Effects in Professional Toy Photography!
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- We spend a day with toy photographer Johnny Wu (aka SgtBananas), whose beautiful photos bring toys to life and have gathered a big following on Instagram. Johnny shows us how he stages scenes in his miniature studio, lights his figures, and uses practical effects to add weather to his photos!
Find more of Johnny's work at / sgtbananas
Shot by Gunther Kirsch
Edited by Norman Chan
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Tested is:
Adam Savage / donttrythis
Norman Chan / nchan
Simone Giertz / simonegiertz
Joey Fameli www.joeyfameli.com
Gunther Kirsch guntherkirsch.com
Ryan Kiser / ryan.kiser
Kishore Hari / sciencequiche
Sean Charlesworth / cworthdynamics
Jeremy Williams / jerware
Kayte Sabicer / kaytesabicer
Bill Doran / chinbeard
Ariel Waldman / arielwaldman
Darrell Maloney / thebrokennerd83
Kristen Lomasney / krystynlo
Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
Set design by Danica Johnson / saysdanica
Set build by Asa Hillis www.asahillis.com
Thanks for watching!
Too much green for me, i actually liked the original photo more.
I feel the same way honestly, though removing the raindrop on the forehead and the unfocused thing to the right seems like a good choice to me.
Agreed, before looked much better, after felt very artificial.
Looks realistic to me. Some light produce a different hue.
@@55johnkid Gonna have to disagree there, i don't see any sort of lighting on that scene (rainy forest during evening/night) producing that green tint realistically.
Too me...she is on an alien f$cking planet so who knows what the hell it's supposed to look like! It's all subjective guys! Too me...I would've like to seen more of the gun barrel if we are being nitpicky about what "we" would like to see ;) This guy does great work and is inspiring to say the least.
Oh man, now I want to embark on another hobby after watching this. It seems like so much fun to create these really cool images.
Healthy Recipe Channel Same I build Gundam models now I really want to try this with them
@@TheGlassSword Do it! I want to do the same thing.
I snagged Hela, Thor & Loki on clearance, and had a blast doing photo shoots with them. I took about 30 pictures of Hela alone - with and without her cloak, headdress and "regular" head. Outside with a snow bank background. Right now I have Hela & Loki standing on my dresser, and Thor doing a "power jump" behind Hela (He's suspended from the wall on fishing line). I love coming up with different scenarios and angles.
@@TheGlassSword there's a great Gunpla blog called kusakusa, the guy does these fantastic long-exposure photos with laser pointers, lighting and clear plastic weapon effects to give naturalistic photos of gundam kits in action poses.
I started recently take photos of my Saint Seiya figures with natural light and the gold cloths with sun light look really amazing I falled in love taking photos of them
Also, Lume Cube PAY this man! That was God level promotion.
Nice to see toy photography getting some love ! Nice work johnny
You got love to bro, I thought of you when I seen this.
and what's exactly the problem with that?
😂😂😂 yes he is an ambassador for the company and he should be... He is basically selling their product to a community that otherwise may not know about the product and how well they would work for them.good for johnny
I don’t see a problem at all. It’s win, win.
Johnny Wu is everything. Love his works and his passion. Can I just sit in his workshop and watch the whole entire process? 😉
Great interview, I love this video.
I really like this action figure coverage you guys are doing. Please please do more. Do some diorama building vids, do more stuff like this please. I would love to see more action figure stuff. As a collector and diorama builder myself I am loving these toy vids
Miniature model cities would also be rad!
I think my favorite part was just watching him & Norm geek out about photography and lighting itself. LOL The photos & process are super interesting too but watching them geek out was the best part.
One thing I found funny is he has a great set up and all the specialized gear but no remote trigger for the camera? So he has to twist his hand around and risk bumping the tripod to get his shot.
he's not animating so bumping it isn't really an issue
@@convolution223 it can be a problem on more than 1/4s exposure
@@convolution223 - from a photographers's perspective, any time you use the button, you risk moving the camera & the security of stillness is the whole reason you have the tripod set up in the first place. I was taught to use the tripod & trigger (or timer) any time I have an opportunity to use them, as so many different types of shot in the studio are improved in accuracy by removing the Human Clumsiness Factor.
@@hansdietrich83 If you notice he's shooting at 1/1250th of a sec. Plus the camera has IBIS. And he shoots ~150 shots to get 1 so it's probably no big deal and I'd say from his results he's got a handle on it.
Great interview about his process...too bad he didn't also show how he does practical effects with sparks and smoke.
Stay tuned!
If this guy says "like" more than any person in history......
Congrats Johnny! It's so cool seeing toy photography getting some exposure. Great job Norm and Tested!
I absolutely loved the lights, i work in theater stages and these lights are just like miniatures of the ones we use really cool.
Johnny Wu, u rock! Awesome artwork n crazy photography. This guy is talented.. 🤘
Salute!
ACBA in a 4,3 millions subscribers channel. It should be like a dream for you Boog!
My man boog is loving the plug lol awesome
Everything is about "like"
Norman is easily one of the best interviewers in the business.
I’m trying to learn as much as I can to improve at this, thank you so much for this post 😊
I'm a professional photographer and this was inspiring even to me!
Johnny Wu (aka SgtBananas) needs his own UA-cam Channel lol
Seriously great vid Tested. Love the artist work space/flow tour! Keep these coming XD
Japanese Photographers invented /Perfected this with Godzilla....
So nerdy. So awesome.
This was so awesome, thank you for this video.
I wonder if he ever has to modify the figures to get the pose he wants
I doubt he would ever do that. He's perfectly clear about being a collector first so the picture is there to make the toy look best. Modifying would be kinda messing up what it is about.
But I could be wrong.
@@HenkJanBakker for all we know he could buy multiple figures
Wow SgtBananas is on Tested!!
Awesome... Nothing less then AWESOME!
Been following him for years. He’s such an incredible artist. Thanks for highlighting him here.
Bro do a cool video
Haha I love how Norm just invites himself back at the end.
Didn't know about Johnny Wu before, definitely going to follow. Great video guys!
Toys, dioramas, miniatures, railroad models......Love them all!!!!
Same. I always wanted to see micromachines in a diorama.
Fantastic video. A great insight into what it takes to produce such high quality photography of miniatures. I think I might have a go and see what I can produce with some of my old Star Wars figures. Thanks for making the video.
its not miniatures, its action figure photography, miniatures is something else
It's so fascinating watching him explain something I had no interest in previously. His passion and enthusiasm is contagious.
Very very good job sir i love !!!
Very nice fotos 👍 Good job 👏🏼
Video starts at 6:09
It's reassuring to know that there are still people who can afford, temporally and financially, to have hobbies like this.
Where can I get those lights? Any chance we can get a link for them?
Google
lumecube.com/collections/dslr-photo-video/products/single-lume-cube
Why would anyone dislike this? they're both very nice and passionate, the photographer is talented and overall it's pretty fucking interesting to watch.
That was an awesome insight into your process. Thank you for sharing this with us!
The reason he has so much light is because of his fast shutter speed. He should of spoken about that. At F-stop 2.8 I am surprised his ISO is so high (1600) with that much light. I guess his shutter is 1/1250.
He did talk about it at 13:45. The reason for the fast shutter is freezing water drops in the air without motion blur.
@@jeremyude He should have spoken about the amount of light that is needed when dealing with super fast shutter speeds. That was my comment.
@@gusbisbal9803 , Man! The guy is just giving an interview about his artwork and production process in general (that's what the video is about). He doesn't have to give a full class about the science and theory behind every single aspect of photography (there are other videos for that). He never claimed to be a college professor, he just describes what he does the best way he can. If you want to contribute with your knowledge, you are welcome to do so, but there is no need to complain because people don't do things the way you would have done it.
@@JohnSmith-cj9cx wait... are you complaining that I am complaining? Yeah i think you are. He is an advanced photographer. He could of explained that perfectly. This is a photography video. If your not going to explain the photography then you leaving out your method.
This was so cool to watch, it really makes me want to do stop motion again. Or at least build stuff, so much fun.
Go for it! And share it on YT
Stop motion is way better than CGI
Congrats Johnny!!
It is funny how the conversation about toys brought two invisible boys from different countries enjoy talking about toys !!!!!!!🔴🤫🤫
I like his pictures thanks for sharing because I collect figures and started taking pictures recently.
My boy Johnny! Congrats dude this was so awesome to watch. Big inspiration to all of us toy photographers! God speed!
CONGRATS JOHNNY! Really proud of you, my friend!
I do the same thing.....I know I have ALOT to learn. Just the matter of having the right equipment and amazing figurine posing ideas. Sucks on the prices on figurines on amazon.
Same here on wanting the movie Ninja Turtles since I was a kid...and wouldn't you know it, walked into Wal-Mart the other day and there they were...all four, along with Shredder, Splinter and two Foot Soldiers.
I now have all of them.
Building a modular diorama must be difficult. You gotta have it to the scale you need it in.
I primarily collect 1/12 but I wanna dabble into 1/6 but I definitely wanna take pics outside etc
4 lights and one 6in from the model and got to use ISO 1600!! Those things don't put out much light at all!
I was thinking the same thing but hey it is definitely working for him! I use speedlites but you have to pre-visualize what it will look like. I am just getting into toy photography and watching this was awesome!
Looks like he's using original Lumecubes, which the manufacturer rates as 750 lux at 1 meter. Coming from the film world, the smallest Arri tungsten fresnel has a 150w halogen lamp, and Arri's online calculator puts it at 750 lux at 2.3 meters, or around 1500 lux at 1 meter. So, it's like using a 75w halogen fresnel in terms of brightness, if something like that existed. But then again, these are smaller than the ARRI 150w fresnels, don't heat up nearly as much, don't need to be plugged into a power source, AND the Lumecubes are daylight. So if you gelled a tungsten light to daylight color temperature, you'd lose half the light output anyway.
They're probably more controllable than full-sized lights. But yeah, I was expecting them to be brighter as well. It's currently hard to find anything better, in terms of small, bright, color-accurate LED fixtures though.
Check us out on facebook,toy comics inc, its a toy photography group as well
The guy is an artist...
That was soooo fucking dope!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing that wit us Johnny!!!!
I'd really love to get into this hobby; it's been my calling since I was a kid, but the price of entry is insane. I simply can't afford to collect 1/12th scale figures, and I can barely afford to get the 1/6th scale figures that I want.
Domestic 1/12 scale figures are only $20. The price of entry is very low
Tyler Berget I think he meant the other way around
def ask friends maybe start with shots of their figures until your collection builds
I'm tempted to get a Lumecube 2 pro kit does the snoot work while also using the filter. I want something to use as a passing red laser blast light of a figure.
📸
Do an Evel Knievel Jumping the Grand Canyon if u want to make some real money.
I’ve seen some of your work here on yt and it’s just amazing. I wanted to ask what would you recommend in the way of a “basic” dslr for photographing figures. I thought my iPhone would be good, but of course an actual camera 📷 would be better.
Inspiring! Thanks
I also follow Sgtbananas on IG. Fantastic work.
Thats not a toy, she's a staged actor.
I'm watching because i have a stop motion film coming up and i want to see how he finds his compositions, Everything teaches you how to make Cinema.
Honestly it's refreshing to see someone actually using Photoshop for photo editing, I feel like everyone uses Lightroom nowadays; I'm trying to get into it but I don't do a lot of photography so I'm not really used to it yet.
all ive ever used was photoshop.its just the first thing i was introduced to many years ago. No pro here but i can get around it..
Well Photoshop is meant for Photo manipulation while lightroom basicly is for color grading etc.
I mean you can do it all in Photoshop, I do, but Lightroom is ideal for color correcting and processing large batches of RAW files.
This man is an hero. Combines two things I really enjoy.
As well as batch editing, Lightroom is very good with cataloging and organizing your photos from a shoot. Making quick edits on multiple photos, etc.
Amazing stuff! Johnny is the epitome of the toy photography scene. Cool, laid back, humble, loves toys, and loves to share his secrets. Awesome stuff! I started up toy photography last year (IG thrawns_black_series_art).
I hadn't collected in over a decade and sold most of my stuff. I saw a custom Thrawn figure on UA-cam and then quickly realized toy photography was a thing. I've been hooked ever since! I'm such an amateur, but it's videos like this that help me grow! Thanks!
Awesome video. Inspiring. Check out a couple of Aputure MC lights as well, could be a nice addition to the lume cubes.
Ah shit here we go again. New hobby incoming
Always wanted to do this with my Gundams.
Im a Toy Photographer!!!
Whr buy the lighting like this?
Great video and you have an amazing talent. Where did you get the trees?
I wish I could talk to one of you and tell you about our type of photography . Similar idea with 1:3 scale dioramas
May I know what brand and model are the lights dat he is using in this video, did he mentioned “xxx cube??” Fr xxx brand??” Thx guys
Lume Cubes
What an amazing guy and an awesome job/hobby
How do you do the gravel in mid air?
Imagine if the people who made The LEGO movie made a toy movie. Like action figures. Imagine if his photos were full on movies. Be super cool. Spider-Man running around with Star Wars characters, dragon ball z, ninja turtles. Be the real life toy story. I already want to see it
I haven't done NEARLY as much figure photography as I've wanted, over the years. I'm intrigued by the simple setup!
After watching this video i have since found the lego technic landrover and a display case and am working on making a scene from the included back ground :)
Johnny likes using the word 'like'..
where can you get those lights?
Man, I'm definitely following Wu now, but seriously, nobody said anything about him sprinkling water with so many electronics around!?
Those lights are water-proof :)
Well, this was very interesting. He got hooked by taking his first photo of a toy. I'm am wondering if he does only toy photography? Hopefully, toy manufactures start using his photography's for a new release of the toy models on their boxes or packages ( Product Photography ). His practical effects and using light to get it as perfect in the camera was awesome. I figured he did some digital effects like rain and overlays but he did not.
I just stumbled upon these videos and I love them! I plan on doing some photography of some of my miniatures to tell a narrative story, and this is very inspirational and educational. Thanks for sharing.
People doing cool stuff well. This sounds like such a trivial, silly thing if you were tindescribe it. But it’s awesome. Never knew this was a thing until I saw this video.
AWESOME video, I'm not into these toys, can someone tell me how you get toys with such realistic faces? Do these toys come that realistic right out of the box or does Johnny Wu have someone paint them? Thanks
Sgt Bananas is the Shiz-nits! Have y'all seen @jrododst on Instagram? I swear @jrododst is Sgt Bananas padawan!
I want to do this. Where do I start? This is so inspiring. AWESOMENESS!!!!
Working with a physical object to recreate a mental image has the potential to be so frustrating, it seems. Like what if you want an epic shot, you get so excited, but then the toy itself isn’t physically capable of adjusting to that position? Definite props to Sgtbananas.
So awesome! I'm absolutely thrilled that we are living in such a time where not only is the fig hunting and collecting appreciated, but the other aspects that can come along with it. I fell in love with toy photography myself about seven years ago and at the very least it gives me something to do during the cold winter months here in New York. I just started posting to IG @ _therealjustin_
I really enjoy listening to an artist describe their process of creating. Sgtbananas... great work.
That is a cool form of art, thank you for sharing.
Less blah blah blah more photos! Thnx
24-70? 70-200?
Johnny definitely has his chops together when producing these great shots . My personnel favorite though is Deanknight 333 , his photography is poster worthy just like this guy ..
What is the name of the lighting material
One thing I always remember being taught by a pro photographer was, if you have time, take three steps left and three steps right, just to see if there’s another angle. Not all shots are gone just like that.
You should check Felix Hernandez work, he es great👌🏻
Long and barely informative vid
lol you liked your own comment didn't you?
is dis photography or discussion
Thanks SgtB! Great Tested episode as well.