Recently Shelly Corbett chatted with Sabrina Perry and Chris Whitlow about one of our photo challenges: #TP_Geometry. We had a lively discussion regarding Geometry - what's it good for? It turns, a lot! Geometry is an important compositional tool and can turn your photos from ok to fantastic with a little awareness of how and when to use it. A few of our take aways With any good discussion, our insights were many. Here is a partial list of what we cover in this conversation: Using any word associate with math is probably not the best selling point Formal composition is your friend. In fact, i ..read more

I was thinking the other day about how the Covid pandemic has changed my creativity. Soon I wondered "am I the only one?" There is success a definite marker between pre and post pandemic that I wonder if I'm the only one who has noticed a shift. I decided to reach out to members of the blog and see if anyone else has noticed any changes. Enter Sabrina, Joshua and Dave...all friends willing to come onto the podcast to discuss how the pandemic shifted their creativity and their process. During this roundtable we tackle topics like: How did you use creativity in your life pre-pandemic? In the tw ..read more

  For this episode of The Toy Photographers Podcast Shelly & Sabrina discuss minimalism in toy photography. If you're not familiar with the concept of minimalism the Adobe website defines minimalism as: “like other forms of minimalist art, minimalist photography is about stripping a subject down to its essence. Create photos that cut through the clutter with clean lines, empty spaces, and only the essential elements.” So we decided to challenge our community to create photos where 'less is more'.   Toy photography, like other photography communities, isn't immune to trends. In th ..read more

In this final installment of the special miniseries focused on toy photography from the beginner's perspective, Terri (@greenehenphotography) and Ariel (@those_wonderful_toys) had the opportunity to chat with Ben Piper of Project Piper Customs (@projectpipercustoms)--what a treat! Toy photography has opened up such world of opportunities and a world of creativity for us all; whether we came to toy photography through our love of toys or our love of photography (or somewhere in between), we've all found a home where we can create, share, inspire, be inspired, and collaborate. What better to wra ..read more

Welcome back to the Toy Photographers Podcast and our special series exploring toy photography from a beginner’s perspective! In this episode, your hosts Terri Greene Henning (@greenehenphotography) and Ariel Figueroa (@those_wonderful_toys) talk about editing and post-processing images. It's easy to look at a photograph and think only of the photograph itself--not all the work that went into planning and creating the photo or all the work that went into the image after we pressed the shutter. Some of us (Ariel!) love to edit images, while others (Terri!) much prefer creating and taking photos ..read more

Welcome back to the Toy Photographers Podcast and our special series exploring toy photography from a beginner’s perspective! In this episode, your hosts Terri Greene Henning (@greenehenphotography) and Ariel Figueroa (@those_wonderful_toys) pick up where they left off in Episode 4 and their discussion of photo backgrounds, and move into chatting about lighting. Listen as Terri and Ariel discuss: Foam and printed dioramas Digital backgrounds How to find/use digital backgrounds  Lighting options and what we use  The frustration of keeping lights charged! Paying attention to light Imp ..read more

For our January podcast challenge Sabrina (@theperrylegoadventures) and Shelly Corbett  challenged the community to show us their best hygge themed photos! We were so pleased by the response with over 50 entires this month! Clearly we all need to share a little hygge to combat the winter and Covid blahs! What is hygge? The urban dictionary defines it as A Danish word (pronounced HU-guh) meaning social coziness. I.e. the feeling of a good social atmosphere. Urban Dictionary While most people associate a feeling of hygge with winter, it can be enjoyed in any season. Hygg ..read more

Cinematic. That’s the word that comes to mind with even a quick glance at Tom Milton’s (@tomtommilton) images. Look further, and you’ll probably have a question: how does he do it? A few parts vision and inspiration, a boatload of talent, a fair share of intention—oh, and a really big and heavy camera setup!  In this episode of the Toy Photographers Podcast, Shelly Corbett (@shellycorbettphotography)interviews Tom, someone whose work she’s admired for years. We’ll learn how Tom creates his images using two lenses (yup, two!!)—a fairly standard prime and an anamorphic lens bolted to t ..read more

  On todays podcast Shelly Corbett talks with Alan Rappa, Sabrina Perry and Joshua Kittleson about Criticism: how to find it, how to take it. We all want to get better at our craft of toy photography. One way to get better is to practice, but without constructive feedback, it's hard to know what's working and what isn't. But as I’m sure you’re well aware, constructive criticism is hard to find on social media. So where do you go? In this roundtable discussion we will: Discuss the importance of constructive feedback to help take your work to the next level What to look for in constructive ..read more

On this episode of the podcast Sabrina Perry(@theperrylegoadventures)and Shelly Corbett(@shellycorbettphotography) discuss the latest toy photography monthly challenge #tp_nostalgia. Nostalgia comes from two Greek words Nostos meaning homecoming and Algos meaning pain or ache. For some people, nostalgia is about remembering the good old days fondly. For others, nostalgia is a bittersweet remembrance of the past. A lot of times it can be both. This challenged seemed to be the perfect way to end the year. It felt like a way to share a little bit of the good old days in our toy photography, and p ..read more