Photo shoot: The Matrix Morpheus action figure

I was packaging this figure up to send it off to a friend of the site, but thought it might be fun to snap a few photos first.

This is the Matrix Morpheus figure from N2 Toys. The detail is pretty good but there is almost no articulation, so I wasn’t going to get much of an action shot out of this guy.  I like the top lighting on this image, which gives it a sci-fi noir kind of feel.

I didn’t really do much photo-editing in Photoshop but on this shot I adjusted the color balance to a cooler tone, which gives the image a different feel than what you see in the first photo above. I also really like to use side lighting, which casts long shadows. This technique is an easy trick to make your action figures look less like toys and more “real.”

This photo was a mistake and almost went straight to the trash can because it was so out of focus, but after looking at it, I thought the blurriness actually made it look more life-like — almost like a scene from a movie. One of my favorite aspects of photography is seeing the final results, and sometimes, little “mistakes” can work in your favor and yield some surprising results.

 Background Story

I have an ever-increasing assortment of plastic cookie trays and cracker containers. I spray paint these with a grey primer and they make some pretty nice background props. That large tray at the back once held Fuji apples and one side is flat grey but the other side is glossy, which gives some neat reflections like the ones you see in the first and third photo above.

I also used my DIY backdrop for the photos, even though you don’t see much of it other than a few pebbles on the ground. But those pebbles sure do add a lot to the photo!