Tripod Monster

RX100 III

800

16mm

1/60

f/11

Mini tripod

Fluorescent light

Increase shadows

Increase clarity and sharpness

Radial filters to enhance specific areas (e.g. tripod legs, toy man)

Graduated filters on sides to direct viewers attention to subject.

Colour grading: teal and orange

My mini tripod looks like a monster with long legs, especially with a toy man for scale. This is inspired by many action films that depict scale using a between-the-legs shot.

The most challenging part was figuring out the perfect angle that would convincingly depict the size difference between the two. It took a couple of poses and positions but I finally settled on this. The legs frame the toy man, therefore directing viewer attention.

Car on Painted Logs

RX100 III

800

8mm

1/50

f/9

Smartphone light

Increase shadows

Increase clarity and sharpness

Radial filters to enhance specific areas (e.g. car, pencil tips)

Colour grading: teal and red

Crop image so bollard is not visible

Graduated filters on sides to direct viewers attention to subject.

I wanted to depict the car in an environment that provides a strong sense of direction and flow. These coloured pencils proved perfect for the job. They served  to direct the attention of the viewer towards the main subject—the car. And despite its small size, it still is the centre of attention in this photo.

This was a difficult shot. I worked in a less-than-ideal environment with fragile objects. The pencils could move any second, because they are facing downwards. Therefore, it took many shots before I achieved one that was up to standard.

Car on the Bannister Motorway

RX100 III

800

8mm

1/125

Increase shadows

Increase clarity and sharpness

Radial filters to enhance specific areas (e.g. car, railing)

Colour grading: teal and red

Crop image so bollard is not visible

Graduated filters on edges of image to direct viewers attention to subject.

A sunlit, flat railing looked like a good spot for a miniature elevated motorway. Like the coloured pencils, the railing provided strong lines to lead the viewer to the subject. The sun served as the spotlight, which further emphasised the subject.

This was a bit easier than the coloured pencils. The bannister was stable as a rock, so I didn’t need to be too light-footed in composing the shot. However, the challenge was capturing the scene without including life-sized details such as cars and people. As this was a busy thoroughfare, that was the most challenging part of this shot.

Toy Man goes to Nando's

RX100 III

800

25mm

1/60

f/11

Increase shadows

Increase clarity and sharpness

Radial filters to enhance specific areas (e.g. background)

Colour grading: teal and orange

Crop image so bollard is not visible

Initially, I was going to photograph a miniature car to make it seem part of the surrounding, non-miniature area. However, the car was too small, which meant I had to get my camera closer. This resulted in bokeh, despite the small aperture.

I replaced the car with a bigger toy, which fit in well with the Kelvin Grove Village background.

The biggest challenge was finding the right angle and distance for the toy to match the height of the people.

This was taken on a bollard, which was on a particularly bushy area. Getting the right angle and avoiding the plants was challenging.

The city of my shelf

RX100 III

80

8mm

0.5sec

f/11

Mini-tripod

Increase clarity and sharpness

Split toning: orange (to increase warmth of highlights and shadows)

Colour grading: blue to teal

Graduated filters: increase exposure on right edge, decrease exposure on left edge.

I have this collection of souvenir buildings from my trip to Europe. It’s been a city on my shelf for a good year now. I took it from a low angle to depict the objects as bigger than they really are.

The biggest challenge was arranging it so it resembles a city. These figurines all have different sizes and don’t proportionally represent their real-life counterparts.