I’ve taken a little time to prep my setup for the coming Game Boy World 1990 Vol. I weekend photo jam. I wanted to be sure everything is in place and there aren’t any nasty surprises like there were the last time I went to do a shoot and my lens had been damaged beyond repair.
Handily, my wife is a professional photographer. I don’t use her camera—it’s high-end and I’d be terrified of breaking it—but she lets me use other equipment. Here I have a game set up in a soft box, a translucent, collapsable canvas tent. It doesn’t just create a neutral background! It also diffuses light from inside and outside to make flash photography more even and crisp.
And as you can see, she’s also lent me a clear acrylic platform to create a hard, mostly invisible surface to place my subjects on. It would be easy enough to knock out the background and the slight reflection on the acrylic, but I rather like the crinkly look…
Of course, the challenge with a project like this is getting the heroic upright shots of the game boxes. They’re small, and their bottom panels tend to warp and bow with age. Getting them to stand up like this can be incredibly difficult! How do I pull off this difficult feat?
Ah, yes… with tequila. Of course.
Seriously, tequila? I can honestly say that is one trick your grandfather never used in all his days as a professional photographer. :D
Ha ha… it was on-hand, and the glass made it heavy enough to be a stable support. I don’t actually like tequila, so I wasn’t using it for anything else! I’ve had this tiny bottle for years.
That’s pretty awesome to see – I’ve always admired fancy photography of classic consoles and games and always wondered what stuff you use to make it possible as I’d love to do some myself. Thanks for sharing Jeremy!
What we need is game box taxidermy.
I practice catch-and-release, I’m afraid.