whambamclicktoyphotography - Tumblr blog

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"Heresy!"

This guy was the very definition of an impulse buy. Everything I know about Warhammer really comes from a Kal Jerico comic I read twenty years ago.

Apparently this guy is a Primaris Lieutenant Blood Angel or something, I dunno, it's pretty cool, and now that he's weathered he photographs really well.

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As well as toy photography, and comic books, and making my wife's life a misery with the amount of cardboard packages that come through the door on a weekly basis, my other big hobby is videogames. Especially video games with a photomode.

Right now, I'm seventy hours into GHOST RECON: BREAKPOINT and I'm really digging it. I won't lie, it's making me want to get a one sixth military figure, not a kitbash, something like one of the Operation Red Wing figures, or a Marine Raider or something. I might have to save up my monthly toy fund for a couple months and scratch that itch soon.

Anyway, for now I'm happy enough making good use of this game's photomode.

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"The G.I. Joe known as Scarlett clears a warehouse District in Khan City, Khanistan, where the battle to free the Middle Eastern nation from Cobra has entered it's third month."

I got home last night and really wanted to take a gritter black and white war photography style shot of Scarlett here. And so that's just what I did.

I actually set this one up, as you can see, using my kid's old Ben 10 RV that has been abandoned in the yard for about a year now.

S I'm still getting used to shooting on Manual, the fading sunlight and the wrong ISO level actually helped nail the exact look and feel I wanted from the shot. It gave it a grainy vibe that is a lot more natural looking than artificial grain adding in Lightroom.

Below are a few alternate shots that I liked enough to edit, but then decided I wasn't actually all too keen on.

Now I just need them to make Chuckles and Rock n Roll in the Classified Collection.

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I call this particular shot 'Sniper/Spotter'

A couple of months ago I created a group on Facebook called 'Plastic Fantastic - Toy Photography Tips, Tricks & Behind the Scenes' and it really took off. We've currently got almost 150 members posting some really great work and giving a peak into their creative process. Some people, like Weston (@850SithLord) create really excellent BtS videos using TikTok to showcase incredible setups. Myself, I'm more of a going-out-and-finding-a-cool-location type of photographer, which doesn't lend itself to exciting TikTok videos. Here's a quick BTS video and the resulting shot. As is my usual process, I shot this as a RAW file in Manual mode and edited it in Lightroom.

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If you already follow whambamclick on Facebook or Instagram, have me on Facebook, or know me personally, then you most likely already know that Joel Miller from The Last of Us (played and voiced by Troy Baker) is my absolute favourite videogame character and, alongside Princess Leia and Harry Bosch (book version), is one of the characters who live rent free in my head.

He's a fascinating character, and this kitbash (an ongoing project even some 12 months after I started it) is a celebration of him. The objective when making this figure was never to make a game accurate Joel. I didn't need him to be game accurate, nor did I want him to be because in the first game we spend maybe nine days with him over a ten month period, and in the second game, aside from two flashbacks, we see him briefly several times over a 24 hour period. In my head, this particular Joel is from somewhere between games. He's gotten Ellie to safety and they're both living in Jackson.

His shirt, flannel (actually a Ken doll shirt I had to cut up the back to fit the Burning Souls Logan figure I used as the base of this bash), is on brand and in-character for him. As are the jeans. He has his trusty Magnum (a snub nose version however) and currently, because the original rifle I bought for him broke, he's borrowing a DMR from my mercenary kitbash. He's also got a rucksack, a gasmask, an M4 and a second pistol, a .45. I'm very happy with him, however, as I said, he is still an ongoing project. I want to get him a replacement rifle, as well as a guitar and some manner of post apocalyptic melee weapon, and a coat. There's a piece of concept art in the Art of the Last of Us 2 book that shows him in a ratty old brown overcoat which I really want to find in one sixth scale.

And I just know that now Pedro Pascal is playing him in the show, at some point I'm going to want to put together a Pedro Joel figure, too. As well as a TLOU2 Ellie and Abby. O actually have everything I need for an Abby custom EXCEPT a head. Nobody it seems are making a one sixth scale Abby Anderson head :/.

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WHAT IS A WHAMBAMCLICK ANYWAY?

whambamclick (no spaces, all lowercase) is an ongoing photography project by Neil Burke, a keen amateur photographer from Greater Manchester, England.

whambamclick is a universe inhabited by Stormtroopers and Mandalorians, Iron Man and Wonder Woman, HALO Spartans, Geralt of Rivia, Rick Grimes, the Ranger Slayer, and John Wick amongst others. What started as an excuse to simply buy more toys and action figures has grown in scope to now feature masked killers, Fortnite combatants, rogue ex-Imperial mercenaries, bounty hunters, and more. Aiming to bring a sense of cinematography to his work, Neil, ever with delusions of grandeur would describe whambamclick as “Toy Story Meets David Ayer”.

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When not inhabiting the world of whambamclick, Neil works within the Medico-Legal sector and lives with his wife, two children, two cats, a dog, and a Hot Toys Princess Leia in Greater Manchester.

He also dislikes writing about himself in the third person.

[whambamclicktoyphotography]

"Republic special forces conduct a reconnaissance mission in Felucia's Northern Hemisphere as part of an offensive aimed at rupturing Separatist supply chains on the planet. 20BBY."

So, I figured (pun ever-so-slightly intended) that I would make my first post here on the new whambamclick website one of my most recent photos, which also happens to be one of my best, in my opinion.

The figures featured here are both Star Wars Black Series produced by Hasbro and are Crosshairs and Hunter from The Bad Batch. They're really great figures with some killer detail and a nice hit of factoring weathering. The both of them feature chipped and battle chipped and scratches that really sell the fact that they're two bad hombres.

I shot this particular one on Manual (1/80 sec, F/20.0, ISO 3200, 55mm), and with the monochromatic edit, was purposefully aiming for a Galactic_Warfighters vibe (http://www.callahanvisual.com/galacticwarfighters). I've got a couple more shots from this photoset to share over the next week or so, and can't wait to cook up some killer captions to go with them.

Until next time, remember to follow whambamclick on Facebook and Instagram using the below links:

www.facebook.com/whambamclick

www.instagram.com/whambamclick