New Hobby : The Art of Toy Photography

Most people still think that the only thing toy collectors do to their toys is simply as an ornament. A piece that only acts merely for display purposes, but the current stigma is actually wrong! Truth is there are tons of stuff you can do with your toys, the one I'm putting on the menu now is an art called Toy Photography.

Toy photography is just another form of photography, but it specifies in using toys as the subject. It can be done both indoor and outdoor, even underwater as long as you have the right equipment. It also uses the same equipment as the usual photography with an exception of the toy's support utilities (Figure stands, dioramas, extra lighting, etc). To me, it's a perfect activity for toy collectors including me as a way to put your toys in action!


From many professional toy photographers I know, there are 3 main points of toy photography, they are:

1. Bringing the toys to life

Most of the toy shots I've seen are so good they manage to change how I perceive them. As they manage to bring the toys to life (Not Literally tho) one of my favorite toy Grapher is Jerry Business, you can see how much effort and passion he put into his shots! This is my favorite shot from him!

There's no title to it but I named it "The Scream", as it is based on the infamous painting.

2. Bring out their story

No matter how blatant your shot is, a good story is a spice to make the shot better! Especially if it goes hand in hand in terms of interpretation. In terms of the story, you don't have to summarize a whole complicated story. Sometimes all it takes is a simple story with a fine amount of imagination. Even a shot as simple as a figure walking can be the start of a whole new journey. You don't need to figure out what shot you should take. You just have to grab your camera/phone and some toys and go outside! Tons of ideas will pop up there, so just do it!

3. Have fun!

As I stated before, this activity is considered a hobby hence doing it without any passion is pointless. You have to have some fun doing it, after all, what's the point of doing something you don't like? You shouldn't be bashful while doing it, especially if you're taking the shot outside. There will be times where you have the perfect mental image of the shot, but then you realized you have to take an awkward position to take it. What I'm saying here is just do it! You might get everyone's attention while taking it, but sometimes interacting with people who know so little about the hobby is fun! As you can explain to them about the hobby and how fun it is!

How I do it

I've been doing toy photography for quite some time now. It all started as an experiment I conducted out of curiosity, I never thought I would dive deeper into the hobby, or at least back then. Most of the shots I took with my phone, which is a Samsung J4. I haven't thought to start using a camera because I think my phone is good enough also a matter of budget actually: v and I just love how I can blend inside the society with it. The toys I used is the one that I actually own, and as for the background, I always prefer to do it outside. I usually post my shots on my Instagram account, you can check it out on link down below!


My Instagram account is called Humphrey_7_7 and here are some of my best shots, I hope you like 'em!

"Hold! The Jedi is no longer ahead of us!"

"Don't worry trooper, I've got you!"

Alien Baltan as he stands towering the city













I guessed That's all for now, thanks for the visit and I'm hoping to see you again in my next post! Adios!