If you are like me, you are regularly on the look out for new ways to up your game in the toy photography and shelf display realms. Adding new interactive pieces and backgrounds for your action figures is a great way to instantly make your collection more engaging. Diorama Prints is now offering a line of quality high-resolution environment prints to help bring your little plastic people to the next level.
I take a lot of pictures of action figures. When you contribute a couple of new feature articles to this site each week, it generally comes with a lot of time behind the camera, taking detailed pictures of the fun new toys you have recently acquired. It can be fun, but often laborious to do, especially when you fall into a systematic process of what you should be photographing for any given review.
Now, I don’t consider myself to be a great photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but it is important to try to walk the line of cool and action-oriented photos with those that serve the utilitarian needs for a compressive look at the subject. This means a lot of pictures are generally required, and I don’t get to spend a lot of time meticulously setting up that one perfect action shot with tediously constructed light set-ups for most of the pictures. I generally get to do one fun one and think about the (probably imaginary) days sometime in the future when I will have more time to devote to doing more of that kind of thing.
That doesn’t mean that I am not always looking for ways to get better and add new and interesting things to pictures supplies, but the more “out of the box” items I can quickly adapt for multiple uses, the more convenient they are for me. I would by lying if I said I did not have a lot of stuff build out some crazy picture settings, I just wish I had faster routine to get them done.
That is why I am pretty amped for these new photo environments by Diorama Prints. While you get really complicated with constructing a good shot, sometimes just adding some interesting lighting and a dynamic backdrop can do wonders for making things look more engaging. These Prints certainly do a great job of adding depth and interactive space to a photo or shelf set-up, and it takes almost no time get it all together.
I am featuring the “Bundle 3” set available at the Diorama Prints website, which includes the Abandoned Spaceship, Hippie Hangout, Mars Space Pod, Underground Bunker, and Under the Sea environments. Each of these sets features three separate prints, two walls and one floor, that can be joined together to make some pretty instant, but very interesting spaces for your figures. I have to admit that each group made quick work of a lot of the set-up time, and they work for a variety of different figures in my ever-growing collection.
Each of the panels included in the sets are printed on 216GSM 80lb uncounted matte cover that has been treated with an anti-smudge coating to make sure the prints stay crisp and fresh. The fact that these are printed on 11″x17″ paper means they are easy to store and can be constructed in any way that you like. When they arrived, I did do some prepping that was recommended in the included instructions, but that big of leg work up front makes it so that when you want to use these in your shoots or display, it takes very little time to get things up and running.
You will want to trim the small white border from each panel so they do not show up in your shots. I used a paper cutter for this simply because I happen to have one, but a pair of scissors will get you the same result. I also constructed a cardboard shell to attach the panels to so they can be quickly configured and swapped out/around by using some small binder clips that I had on-hand. I was actually able to use the cardboard pieces included in the shipping package for the prints, so they work perfectly for size. A bit of tape and about 10 minutes and I now have a nice three-panel shell that I can use over and over again.
I like these panels because they are detailed, but also generic enough that you don’t have to be confined to a certainly action figure line or genre to make them work. For instance, with the right lighting, the Under the Sea set can easily become a supervillain base, so you you can tell that a tiny bit of creativity can add even more functionality. So, these hold up well for when he background needs to be in-focus, but also add the background environment for shots with a more shallow depth of field. If you intend to use these in your everyday display, you can go nuts with the configuration.
I have included some pictures of each of the panels included in the five sets, as well as photo example of what I would use for a regular feature article. Like I said, I am already planning on using these a lot in the future because the convenience and fast set-up. With the backgrounds being so out-of-the-box ready for use, I can spend a bit more time on setting up other parts of a given shot, and spend money on smaller props and pieces to take it even further.
ABANDONED SPACESHIP
HIPPIE HANGOUT
MARS SPACE POD
UNDERGROUND BUNKER
UNDER THE SEA
You can order this set, and variety of other environments directly through the Diorama Prints website, so head over there and check them out. If you want to get some of these, use the coupon code is FWOOSH15 for 15% off your total order, it is good until 12/30/2020. We will be back a closer look are more of their offerings soon, but you will definitely be seeing these show up in future action figure feature installments, too.
*Thanks to Rachel and the team at Diorama Prints for sending these along for a feature.
