Zahir Batin
Zahir Batin is a photographer known for his work with toys, notably those from the Star Wars franchise. Batin uses a combination of Photoshop and practical effects to achieve a mixture of humourous and convincing images respectively. Batin lives in Tanjong Karang, Malaysia, and in 2009 was 'introduced to the world of photography' by a friend, who is also a full-time photographer. After seeing the work of another photographer, Yohannes Sanjaya, who works with Star Wars figurines, he decided to try a similar idea but with his own spin on it. Batin says of his work 'I use natural lighting or ‘outdoor’ and by doing this, a planning should be more careful especially to get natural toned lighting, such as sunset, it’s available only in a limited time.With the help of strings, wires, and twigs, which I uses to fixate the figurines. The pictures are then taken with my DSLR and a number of different lenses, including the “nifty fifty” 50mm f/1.8 and a 100mm f/2.8. During post-processing in Photoshop, I removes the strings, wires and twigs used to set up the figurines, and creates the final images.' *(Translation not perfect)
< In this image, Batin has photographed a toy, and then used Photoshop to place it in a real environment, adding lights in the process. Unlike if Batin had used a 3d model, the resolution and lighting of the toy have been accounted for to be the same as the background image, making the piece feel more authentic. Whilst Batin's work has a more fun and less serious tone than my own subject matter, his techniques are transferrable.
In the image below, simply titled 'Cody,' Batin has taken a Commander Cody action figure from Star Wars and created a truly striking composition. The colours appear to have been adjusted in post-production software, but the most striking element of the image is the use of real fire and smoke, which Batin has made appear to be emanating from the two destroyed battle droids in the background of the image, possibly using a match. Batin stated that he did this because he liked the way the smoke interacted naturally with the figures.
Taking things even further, Batin has even used a firework in this image to create a controlled explosion, using the same basic setup from 'Cody' and building upon it.
The minimalism of the image on the right, simply titled 'X-Wing Pilot' is very striking, and is worth considering in my own work given that I am aiming to produce powerful statement photographs. This minimalism is made even more striking still by the choice of monochrome for the image.
Overall, Batin's work is not politically or ethically focussed like my own ideas, but it uses several techniques worth considering for my own images, such as the incorporation of practical pyrotechnics and minimailism.
On a slightly lighter note than Nix’s image, Batin’s ‘Cody’ depicts a Star Wars action figure seemingly in the heat of battle. The character’s name has been used as the title of the piece, which is an interestingly simple choice; it suggests that the image defines the character, and given that Commander Cody is known to be one of the best soldiers in the Star Wars universe, this makes sense. The image is more serious than some of Batin’s works, but rather than delivering a message it seems to be mostly for novelty/entertainment purposes. In the foreground of the image, Cody is framed almost centrally, not quite obeying the rule of thirds. Smoke coming from a fire in the background whirls around the Cody figure, and Batin has stated this is the reason he decided to take this photograph; he was fascinated by how the smoke interacted with the figures in a natural way. It seems that the red and orange elements in the image have been made brighter in lightroom, which really brings out the flames and makes them prominent in the image; the pyrotechnics make this image almost not seem as though of action figures, but a real photograph. The depth-of-field of the image is quite shallow, with Cody in focus and the background out of focus, which puts the emphasis on the titular character. I would describe the mood of this piece as ‘exciting;’ the Cody figurine is posed as if running, and the fire helps to add a sense of dynamism and motion, which makes us feel like Cody is actually moving and not frozen on the spot. In the background, other figurines battle whilst barely in-focus, which gives the image a sense of much-needed context and makes the events seem potentially real. The tiny plant branch next to Cody seems to have been included by Batin as it resembles a larger plant, making it seem that Cody is human-sized and not an action figure. I highly doubt Batin intended to convey any sort of political message with the image, but I can learn from it in terms of its use of practical effects and context to make a scenario feel both fake and real at once. The use of fire inspired my 'Burners' image to a degree, found in my 'War Games' photo shoot.