Seamless Background

The Smurf.

I wanted to go farther in a toy photography. Give my subject (the Smurf) a mood or more realistic look!.
Making an image of a toy could be seen as something easy… but the reality is far from that.

I wanted my subject to be in focus, all of it, and for that I went using a Macro lens and applying the focus stacking technique.

This technique consist in doing several shots at different focus distances in order to have all your subject in focus… For the final image I took 35 individual photos… Then in post (PS) I merged all the 35 images in one.

The water droplets where done on production; Instead of using water I used corn syrup which is transparent and stays still for hours… (important when you are doing 35 images to conform one)... The droplets that are flying were insert in post (PS).

The background was also done in camera… a simple blue seamless paper background.
The Smurf is standing in a flat piece of glass to achieve the reflection.

This was taken on studio with one studio light (Bowens) with a beauty dish (modifier)

In post I added the texture of the skin and cloth of the Smurf. For that I used real skin (goosebumps) and white cloth texture… Then I applied FS technique (Frequency Separation)… Wrapping around my subject by zones.. so the skin texture follows the shape of the smurf's body.

Finally some levels, curves and color grading in Nik Software (Color Effects).