#i used the snapseed app on my tablet to edit the first and last shots

[vlasenyamoors]

| pose @helgatisha | dress @smellslikepixeldolls | tattoo @valhallansim | hair @catplnt | shoes @kedluu | necklace | bodysuit sleeves | broom | nails | skin | earrings | eyes | lips | eyebrows |

[neilmichaelburke]

Happy Hump Day, folks! It's Wednesday and that means toy photography up in here.

I'm working nights at the day job this week (I think there might be an oxymoron in those nine opening words) which means enough coffee to kill a rhino and precious little of anything else.

Today I wanted to share three toy shots that I absolutely love for one reason or another and maybe reveal a little about the behind the scenes stuff that makes shooting toys in a fun and engaging way possible.

First up: Superman. Kal-El. The Man of Steel himself. He isn't my favourite superhero (Luke Cage is) but Superman is the Best superhero. He was the first and all other superheroes merely follow along in his wake.

I actually own two different Superman figures, the other being one based on the appearance of Superman in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. This one—from the DC Collectibles Designer Series line— is based on the artwork of Korean-American comic book artist Jae Lee who drew the character in Batman/Superman #1–4, 8–9, 13–15 and Annual #1 (2013–2014) during the New 52 era. This figure, much like that particular book has marginalised a lot of people. On one hand, you get people like myself who absolutely love the thing and on the other, you get those who hate it with a fiery passion. As for the photograph itself, I actually took it on my Motorola M3 smartphone as opposed to my Nikon L340. To get the desired effect of an empty sky I simply walked out onto the balcony at work and held him up in one hand while I worked my phone's camera with the other. I then edited it on my phone's built-in editor before adding the lens flare using an app on my tablet called Optical Flares. I'm not going to lie, it could be a little better, but I do like this photograph. Let's just pretend Jimmy Olsen was rushing to get a shot of Superman hovering outside his apartment window or something.

Next up is a photograph I am exceptionally proud of as it was the first photograph I ever posted to Instagram that got over 100 likes (currently it has 198 likes so if anybody wants to push it over into the 200s go for it, haha). This figure is the DC Multiverse Katana based on how she looks in the Suicide Squad movie as played by Karen Fukuhara. Again, this one was taken on my smartphone and was cropped and edited using the built-in photo editor as opposed to Snapseed.

Lastly, let's visit Jurassic World. I had a lot of fun taking this one and did so originally purely to make my four-year-old smile. He's a big dinosaur fan and I knew he would get a kick out of this. He did. He also chastised me for pinching his dinosaurs. Then again, however, it isn't like he doesn't get his grubby hands on mine without asking me first. Only last week he pulled the head off my Walter White and I had to superglue it back on.

Enjoy, and if you do, please feel free to drop a comment and check out my (toy) photography at www.instagram.com/whambamclick