by Davy Stone
(photos and customs by Davy Stone & Chip Kraus)

Overview

But unfortunately, if you buy as many frivolous toys and comics as Chip and I do, you probably don't have the money to really invest in supplies to build dioramas.  But you still want your figures to look as professional as possible when you photograph them and post them on the 'net.  What options do you have?

I visited a hobby shop a while ago.  I was thinking about building dioramas, and so I wanted to check out what sort of helpful supplies they might have.  Well, I found all sorts of interesting things, from sheet styrene made to look like siding, tiles, and sidewalks, to trees and mountains for model trains, to.... well, just about anything you'd need to build a diorama.  The biggest problem for me was that I couldn't afford much of anything after all the money I spent on toys that morning.  So I decided to challenge myself and see just what sort of diorama I could make without spending money, or at least spending as little money as possible.

Now, I hope I can share some of what I've found with you.  I'm going to try to explain some of the thinking behind my dioramas, and along the way I hope to include some helpful tips for folks who want to make better dioramas for their own photos.

First, let's go over a few things you should consider before you begin.

• Plan ahead.  Things will go much more smoothly if you've thought through your project.  Just like life.

• Consider what sorts of settings your heroes would actually appear in.  Look at your figures and see what sorts of common denominator locales you can come up with.  City streets, alleys, hi-tech headquarters are options for some figures, but perhaps not all.  Regardless of what kind of figure you're photographing, you will need to come up with a scene that makes sense with your figure(s).  

• Be Flexible.  Even though Chip and I customize two distinct styles of superheroes, I've been very comfortable placing either style in any of my dioramas.  The reason:  I'm photographing to focus on my figures, not my dioramas, and therefore the details of the dioramas just aren't that important.  I use this philosophy as my guide:  if I like the way something looks, I'll use it!  It's that simple.  If you like it, do it.

Also, sometimes the scale of an object may not be exactly perfect.  If it's not of primary importance in the diorama, don't stress out too much.  This is especially true if you're making a diorama for internet pictures instead of display purposes.  The Starfleet console in my Trek diorama at the right is in a 6" scale, while the Trek figures I customize are in 5".  But when I'm taking pictures, I try to work around any scale problems.  In this example, I put the console and the figure on different levels, making the scale problem much more difficult to detect.  This is especially true if you're setting up a diorama for taking pictures of action figures instead of as a permanent display for your abode, because in action figure photos you probably won't see much of the diorama anyway.

• Verify your Camera settings.  I've gone over this before in my digital photography for action figures article, but I can't stress it enough.  You don't know how many pictures I've taken using the normal rather than macro settings.  This is an area where I can't afford to be flexible; it made my pictures look horrible.  You'll see at least one photo here that got screwed up because I didn't check my settings.

There's nothing cheaper than something you already own.  Look around your house -- you'll find all sorts of things that can be used to make a diorama.  Look in the kitchen.  Look in your sister's closet.  If your house is like mine, you've got a lot of junk hidden away.  The trick is seeing what you might be able to turn into a new treasure.

Also, always keep your eyes open.  Sometimes that Tupperware lid can mimic a starship wall if it's turned the right way and viewed from the right angle.  When you look for stuff to use in your dioramas, look at it from various angles, from up close and from far away. You'd be surprised at how different some things look from a new perspective.

In the previous photo (above), the wall behind my Saurian is a Tupperware-type lid, the adjacent wall is the bottom of a small electric heater, the base he's standing on is from the Star Trek Captain/First Officers boxed set, the console is an accessory from the 6" Dax, and the floor is... well, I don't know, but it looks like some kind of metal grating/speaker cover.  I found it in the storage room at work, and the boss said I could have it, so I snatched it up for dioramas.

But you want to see more pictures, don't you.  so let's look at a different example.

Project:  Jungle/Swamp

MY Cost Sheet for Jungle/Swamp Project

PARTS USED	COST
Live Plants	FREE (already owned them)
Fake Plants	FREE (from defunct fish tank)
GI Joe Signs & Accessories	FREE (remains of Chip's childhood)
Mayan statue	FREE (found around my house)
Fishtank backdrop	FREE (from defunct fish tank)
Green Felt	FREE (bottom of a lapboard)
TOTAL	FREE

Let me describe what you're seeing in this blurry photo.  I started with the bottom of a lapboard because it's green felt would nicely mimic ground cover.  Next, I placed a few of my houseplants in the rear of the scene, and I filled in a few gaps in the greenery with some fake aquarium plants.   After taking a few photos I realized that I could still see too much background through the gaps in the greenery, so I propped up a fish tank backdrop to add to the background forest clutter.  Then I got my camera close enough to cut out any other offending background and took some pictures.  A lot of pictures.  Since I was using a digital camera I took as many pictures as I could, hoping that out of the 20 to 30 taken with any one diorama I'd get lucky with a few of them.   I think I did.

Keep your eye open.  Bargains can be found at auctions, yard, tag or estate sales, flea markets, or even clearance sales at regular-priced stores.  Discount stores like the Dollar Tree and Big Lots also offer nice custom-diorama fodder.  We acquired most all of the buildings I use in my dioramas in these ways.

Chip's dad found a Ghostbusters Firehouse 3-story building playset at an auction and bought it for his grandkids.  Well, I found it first and made sure Chip claimed it for our action figures :-),  and it has served as an excellent backdrop for many of my urban crime fighters.  Also, right after Christmas that same year I found the Gotham City Bank playset on sale at WalMart marked down to $7, and I couldn't pass it up.  Soon after, Chip found Wayne Manor at a yard sale for $2!!!  So now, I can butt these buildings together, along side the BTAS Villains boxed set (which has the facade of the Gotham City Police Department on it), and I've got a very good sized city block for my figures to pose in front of.

• Get other people involved in your hunt.  If you have parents, friends or relatives who frequents auctions, flea markets or yard sales, let them know what sorts of things to be looking for.  Sending someone out with instructions to buy cheap action figure playsets can result in very interesting finds.  I didn't even know that the Ghostbusters Firehouse existed until Chip's dad brought it home.

Sometimes you want your figures in scenes that are just a bit beyond your ability to build.  I had such a dilemma when I finished my Green Lantern Corps.  While I could have posed them in my city, I knew that I wanted to put them in space.  I decided to put my computer skills to use and create the space scene the GLC needed.

While I'm not going to try to teach any computing skills here, I want to mention ways that you can use them to make your dioramas better.  With a scanner, a color printer, some time, skill and ingenuity, you can create very nice backgrounds for your figures.  And if you want to get into digital image manipulation, you can literally insert your figures into any background imaginable.  While that can produce some interesting effects, I'm going to stick to the method I've used more often -- photographing in front of paper scenery.

GLC in Space    

PARTS USED	COST
Hubble Space Telescope Photo from NASA website (printed out on color printer)	FREE
TOTAL	FREE

 

The above photos show one of my favorite methods for extending the possibilities of my dioramas.  I knew I wanted my GLC in space, but I didn't know how I'd do it until Chip's sister got married last year.  While watching the photographer work, I noticed the background he used was rolled out like a movie screen, but was long enough so that it covered the floor on which the happy couple stood.  I knew instantly that with some practice I could use the same technique with my figures.  

I surfed over to the NASA website and downloaded a few large scale images from the Hubble Space Telescope -- something cosmic but not too recognizable.  Then, I printed the image using my color printer.  Finally, I taped the top of the page to the wall (or canisters, as the case may be) and then stood my figures on the bottom half of the image.  After cropping out my kitchen, I was left with heroes in a starfield, with less computer work than would be required to digitally composite the two images.

One problem I had to overcome was shadows.  It wasn't a huge problem with my GLC because the background was rather dark anyway, but with my Aquaman/Lagoon Boy picture (Tatooine base, computer generated ocean and sky on paper behind), the light colors meant that any visible shadows would blow the illusion that the figures were really standing on the beach.  My solution -- an old standby from the days before I had a digital camera w/ flash -- take the pictures outside, away from direct sunlight.  Outdoors, as long as the sun isn't directly shining on you, shadows aren't nearly the problem that they can be using flash photography. 

IV.  Chapter 4:  Finally!  Taking Photos

Setting up your figures

Now that you've got someplace cool to display those figures, you can take pictures of them in their neat new locales for your webpage (you did intend on sharing your creations with the rest of us, didn't you?).  Before you just grab the camera and start clicking, though, there are some things you should consider.  

First, it will help if you are fairly comfortable using your camera, especially with using most of the settings (while I'm not going to teach camera usage here, I have written an article on "Taking Digital Photos of Action Figures" where I discuss digital camera usage issues; for a much more detailed course on taking photos, I suggest http://www.agfaphoto.com/library/photocourse/index.html). 

OK, take a good look at your figure.  A GOOD look.  A CRITICAL look.   Is there a small ding in the leg where you didn't get it sanded all the way down?  Does the right eye look better than the left eye?  Is there paint wearing away where you accidentally rotated the left shoulder?  Make mental note of these things, and use this knowledge when you pose your figures.  There's no reason you can't turn your figure's bad side away from the camera.  Or if you're photographing several figures together, there's no reason that someone's flaw can't be hidden by another figure standing in front of him or her.

Setting up the layout for your pics can be one of the most critical areas for getting good photos, and that leads us directly to....

Composition

Composition refers to the overall layout and design of your scene.  Sure, you could simply stand the figure in a row in front of the diorama (I do that often myself, especially when I want to emphasize the simplicity of my animated figures' lines), but straight-standing figures can look awfully boring after a while.  Why not pep it up by altering the composition of the photo?  This is something that I really can't quickly teach you how to do in a short amount of space, but hopefully by showing some examples and making some suggestions, you start to have ideas of your own.

Set the figure down in the diorama where you think it would look nice.  Now take a look through the camera, but don't take that picture yet.  Use your viewfinder/LCD panel to imagine how the overall image will turn out.  Since your figures aren't going anywhere, take your time to make sure all the details look pleasing together.  Make note of shadows which might cover important details in your figure.  Make note of how the diorama looks behind the figure.  Make note of particular details in the diorama that you might want to spotlight, and then look at how well your figure's placement accentuates or distracts from this detail.  If you can't see all the details you want, make note of other angles from which you might get a better shot.  

If you want your pictures to seem like they were literally pulled from an action figure world, try to crop your photos so that the diorama's edges are never seen.  Even if you're showing off the diorama more so than the figures, how much would be lost if you got in a little closer so that every inch of the frame was filled by diorama?  Keeping the edges of reality out of your pictures can make them look cleaner and, oxymoronically, more realistic.

Depending on how large your diorama is, however, this can be a challenge.  In the picture of my Saurian officer on the Enterprise bridge, I really liked how the swoop of the console directed your eye through the picture, but upon closer inspection I realized that you could see my wallpaper at the top of the image.  After studying it a bit, I ultimately decided that it wasn't too intrusive and so I kept the picture. 

Angles 

I've read that the majority of all photos are still taken at eye-level.  Why not shake things up a bit?  

Sometimes you might want to take your pictures from strange angles.  Ever notice how when artists draw Spider-Man flying on his webbing from building to building, the backgrounds are often skewed at a strange angle to the center of focus of the picture?  This is because angles, particularly diagonals, can enhance a picture's sense of tension and motion.  Want to make a picture a bit more active than a simple centered vertical shot?  Skew the camera a few degrees to make things more interesting.

Take this picture of Gorilla Grodd (OK, he's really Kerchak, but we pretend he's Grodd) scaling a tall building.  I like the way that the woman seems to be cowering back in fear as Grodd scales the building's vertical face.  But let's look at this scene from several different angles and see why I finally settled on that one.

The above pictures are all different variations on the same exact scene -- nothing has been moved.  Notice how the first two, with their horizontal and vertical layouts, really don't seem like all that much action is happening.  The photos almost seem static, frozen like a diorama.  The next two pictures, taken at skewed angles, display much more action, but I didn't choose them as my final image either.  The third picture came out quite nicely and displayed the scene pretty much as I'd imagined it, but I was disappointed that I couldn't see more of the building.  The fourth picture shows off the building fine, but you're seeing Grodd from behind.  And since he's the center of the action, I wanted to see his face.  

Here's another example of how angles can affect the outcome of a photo.  This image of Rufuss, a friend's RPG character, was taken from a very high angle, almost over the shoulder of the old woman.  I like this image a lot, and I think the angle lends to the tension of the fight they're having.  Notice there are almost no horizontals or verticals in this image -- only diagonals.  Diagonal lines tend to cause tension in photos.  

One other think I especially like about this image is the way the plant spills over into the frame.  The plants, while close up, adds a sense of depth to this photo that none of my other images of this scene had.

This image looks quite different when compared to one which was taken at a more centered eye-level angle, yet the figures haven't moved an inch.  The only difference is the angle from which they were taken.  Which photo do you think shows more tension?   

Here are some more examples of pictures which use diagonals and strange angles to increase motion or tension in the picture.

Balance

Another thing to consider when laying out the composition of your diorama is balance.  Simply put, your images will be more pleasing if there is balance throughout the picture.  Are the elements in your photo weighted similarly throughout?  Check out the two photos below.  The first one features a decent shot of my Star Trek Pakled, but the picture is too heavily balanced to the right.  There's a heavy piece of machinery on the right, the figure is in the center, but the left side is fairly empty.  This makes the image almost seem like it's going to topple over towards the right.

The second image, however, has shifted the center of attention slightly so that the Pakled takes up the left hand side of the image while the machinery fills the right.  This helps better balance the photo, making it feel more like it's not going to fall over.  This off-centered balance works quite well when there's an element in your diorama that you want to show off, perhaps an element which ties in nicely with the figure (such as the machine above, which sharp-eyed readers will recognize as the accessory that comes with X:Men: Evolution's Nightcrawler).

Color

If you're going to be taking pictures of Blue Beetle, you should note that he won't show up as well in photos if it's taken in front of a blue diorama.  The blue of the figure can blend in with the background, making him almost disappear.  He's stand out much better against something a bit more contrasting.  But be careful, because if a figure stands against a background that is of completely contrasting colors or pattern, it can come out looking garish.  It's important when choosing where to photograph your pictures to consider how the figure looks against the background color or pattern.  

Mood

Mood can be tricky to alter in photos of action figures, especially if you're primary intent is to show off your figures to the world.  The diorama in which you plan to take the photo probably have the greatest impact on the mood, but there are other elements, such as the previously mentioned camera angles, as well as lighting and special effects, that can enhance the mood.  Looking at my example on the left, Dr. Fate looks much mysterious working his magic with the lights turned down a notch, with a magical mist in the air, and with a eerie spotlight coming through his skylight.

Also, try using accessories to strengthen the mood of your figures.   If you've purchased as many figures as we have, you probably have a box-load of accessories somewhere.  Go through it and pick out anything that might be useful in your dioramas.  Dr. Fate's lair was accessorized using a variety of action figure accessories.  Sure, most of them didn't show up in the final photo, but that's not the point -- they add to the atmosphere, the mood.  Besides, if you're like me, when you're trying to take moody shots you're never quite sure what's going to come out and what's not.

We've already talked about one way to change the mood of your photos -- vary the angles, which can add tension or simulate action.  So lets move on to...

Lighting & Effects

You can't very well show off your figures if they're so dark as to be virtually hidden in the shadows.  But sometimes you want your figures to be displayed in a bit darker setting.  While it can be hard to balance the amount of light to get the right mood and still get a visible photo, the effort is worth it.  

This picture of Green Lantern was taken using a black light because the figure is painted with glow in the dark spray paint. But even though the glow doesn't really show up in the photo, the black light helped cast an eerie nighttime pallor across the  image, creating an interesting effect.

Special effects can also be achieved using smoke or dry ice.  I've used both, and they handle fairly differently.  Smoke has a tendency to rise upwards, while dry ice fog tends to flow downward.  But used separately or in conjunction, you an create moody, atmospheric images by simulating fog.  The picture of Silver Banshee on the left was taken using dry ice for the fog, and the image was shot at a slight angle.  Looking back, the angle should have been a touch sharper.  That's something I'll try to fix the next time I play with dry ice.

Another photo I've done using dry ice is Dr. Fate's mystic lair, above.  That image was more challenging because in addition to the fog issues -- the setting featured flooring grates into which all the dry ice fog fell -- I also had lighting issues as well.  I knew I wanted the major light in the scene to come from the skylight above Dr. Fate.  But reaching a balance of light through the skylight with ambient light making the scene actually visible was difficult indeed.  In order to balance all the issues involved, I had to have several helpers holding lights, pouring fog and blowing smoke.

For me, setting up and photographing my customs are almost as much fun as making them -- perhaps more so, since this part is sorta like play.  And if you're into toys as much as I am, you've got to be a big kid at heart.  I hope I've been able to give you some pointers on how to make your action figure photos better through the usage of dioramas.  If you'd like to see more of my figures and pictures, check out Chip'd n' Stone Customs.