toys

LEGO IMAX camera

Live Out Your Imaginary Directorial Dreams With a LEGO IMAX Camera

There's a strong crossover between photography and camera enthusiasts and LEGO fans, as demonstrated by the LEGO Polaroid, the LEGO Retro Camera Creator Kit, and a popular LEGO Ideas project dedicated to landscape photography and Ansel Adams. Like the Polaroid and landscape kit, a new LEGO IMAX project is being born within the LEGO Ideas community.

How to Shoot an Epic Action Scene at Home Using Action Figures

Isaac Alvarez and the UNPLUG Production crew are back with another low-budget, high-quality photography tutorial. This time, they're showing you how easy it is to capture some epic "action scenes" from the comfort of self-isolation by using some action figures, sugar, and creative lighting.

5 Tips for Shooting ‘Explosive’ Toy Photos on a Budget

Kirk Schwarz over at Practical Photography recently put together a short tips video for anybody who wants to get into toy photography. If you've never taken these kinds of photos but have always wanted to try, you'll find Schwarz' tips for shooting an "explosive" toy photo on a budget in the video above.

Making a Splash in Toy Photography

As a toy photographer I am constantly experimenting with new techniques and effects -- primarily practical effects, but I won't hesitate to dive into some digital effects if it helps me tell a story and create the strongest image possible. Some of my more popular images include real liquid splashes, so I thought I'd share some of those images here.

Photographer Peeks Inside Cheap Plastic Toys with X-Ray Photo Series

Australian photographer Brendan Fitzpatrick uses images to document the hidden side of things. More specifically, he documents the inside of things.

Having turned his sights on flora and fauna, Fitzpatrick decided to peek inside the world of cheap plastic children's toys for his series Invisible Light.

Parents Keep Their Kids’ Imaginations Alive with Creative ‘Dinovember’ Project

Parents Refe and Susan Tuma aren't big on Movember, at their house November is reserved for a different tradition: Dinovember. Documented in photos on the project's Facebook page, the Tumas spend November keeping their kids' imaginations alive by convincing them that every night, their dinosaur toys come to life and get into all sorts of trouble.

Portraits of Kids Around the World Posing with Their Favorite Toys

This portrait is of a little boy named Lucas who lives in Sydney, Australia. Like many children around the world, Lucas enjoys playing with toys, particularly his set of miniature trains and wooden railroad tracks.

Like many photographers around the world, Gabriele Galimberti enjoys traveling. During an 18 month span of travels, Galimberti visited and photographed children in a long list of countries around the world with each child posing with his or her favorite toys. Lucas was one of the kids Galimberti visited for his project, which is titled "Toy Stories."

Photographs of Children’s Games Turned Into Single-Color Sculptures

For his project titled "Game Over," Brooklyn-based photographer Henry Hargreaves took a number of popular and instantly-recognizable children's games (and toys) and painted over all the colorful designs and branding with single pastel colors. He then photographed the games on backgrounds of the same color.

Creepy Portraits of Teddy Bears Marred by Decades of Children’s Love

Ireland-based portrait photographer Mark Nixon has an interesting project titled "MuchLoved" that features 30 portraits of teddy bears that have been disfigured from years and years of love. The well-worn toys show battle scars of being the prized possessions of children -- cherished companions that have seen many a repair as different parts start wearing down. They may look hideous to our eyes, but each one is beloved by its owner.

Did You Know: Kodak Used Collectible Stuffed Animals to Sell Cameras

We've heard of camera manufacturers dipping into unrelated fields before, and we've also seen some pretty interesting marketing stunts, but in the early 90's Kodak had already done both... in a colorful, cuddly sort of way. Back then, as an either desperate or creative ploy to get kids into photography, Kodak came out with the Kolorkins: a set of colorful, collectible stuffed animals.

Childhood Toys in a Grown-Up World

After finding toys from his childhood in his grandparents' attic, photographer Julien Mauve decided to create a series of photographs that imagines what those toys would look like in our serious adult world. The series is titled "Back to Childhood".

Bizarre Photos of Stuffed Animals Turned Inside-Out

Zurich-based designers Atelier Volvox have a project titled "Outsiders" that consists of various stuffed animals turned inside-out. The toys were purchased from second-hand shops, cut open, turned inside out, re-stuffed, and sewed back up.

Hook Your Child on Photography with this Vintage Fisher Price Shooter

Made in the early 1960s, Fisher Price's Picture Story Camera was the first "camera" owned by many photo-enthusiasts. They're built out of paper-covered wood and plastic, and contained a tiny disc with eight different "photographs" that could be seen by looking through the viewfinder -- similar to the View-Master, except not in 3D. To change the photo, you simply hold down the shutter and turn the "flash", a yellow block with pictures representing the four seasons.

Home Photo Studio Recreated with Lego

Using Lego pieces, Flickr user and Lego fan Larry Lars created an uber-accurate miniature version of his home photo studio. Maybe this could be a new method of creating lighting diagrams?

Pint-Sized Toy DSLR Complete with Swappable Lenses

Ordinary DSLR cameras too big and bulky for you? Check out the CHOBi CAM ONE, a DSLR-style toy camera the size of an eraser that actually has lenses you can swap in and out. It shoots 1600×1200 still photos and VGA video at 30 frames per second.