Ok, here's the deal; You're trying to take a shot, and for some reason, you can't get your figures to stand up! You wanna use a stand, but it will take away from the realism of your picture. Sometimes a Stand is the only way to go. A lot of guys use them for "show of force" pictures, because setting up rows and rows of vipers with no support can start to be a pain in the ass, especially at about the 5th hour when you knock one over and get "the domino effect" and end up starting over. Anyone who has the patience to set up 50 or more figures in rows by hand is a better man than I! But other than the "acceptable" times, what can you do to get figures to stand up?

A lot of things actually! First off, lets start with the following pic, which has interrogator using a stand and it's PRETTY blatent!





As you can see, I TRIED hiding it with the chair...to no avail! How about this.....bring the shot in closer, so you don't have to see his feet!







Here's another idea; how about hiding it with another figure! I have a viper trying to Bayonet Old Duke (Yeah, hoorah! I know a lot of you hate duke!), and the Viper won't stand, so instead of taking the pic from the side, where you can see the stand, I simply shifted the angle for a straight on shot and hid the stand behind Duke!








Oh! Darn, I can still see a little of it in the last picture! How about hiding it behind a rock? As a matter of fact, let me add a Viper that one of Dukes buddies is blowing away (I can add blood in with photoshop later) next to him and hide his stand, too!







OOH! Nifty! And see, if I had taken the shot from the back how lousy the stands would have made it look?




Sorry the pics are a little out of focus, but you get the idea about the positioning of the stands, right? Learning has occured young Padawans!


Outside pics there are other tricks. One I frequently use is simple using the sandy dirt around the figure (I live in the Mojave Desert) and lightly bury the stand. Or, Again I can use a diffrent angle, cutting out the stand and the feet from the pic altogether! But for a Wilder and more creative approach, let Outrider share one of his secrets!

I started the post because of what outrider suggested to me a while back. When I decided to redo this, I ask him to contribute and here is his advice to me;


How to: Posing figures without figure stands.

This is a trick I have been using for a little while now, and several people have asked about it, so I’m happy to share it. It’s a very simple way to pose figures in almost any position (as long as the ground is able to be penetrated) without using figure stands. All you need is an unwanted wire coat hanger and a pair of wire cutters. Simply cut the coat hanger into approximately 5cm (2”) lengths (pic 1).






Luckily, most ordinary coat hangers seem to be made of a wire that is similar in diameter to the pegs on the figure stands (pic 2).







If it is a little thinner, all you need to do is wrap a couple of thicknesses of adhesive tape around one end to increase the diameter so it fits snugly in the figure’s foot hole.
All you need to do then is push the wire into the ground, leaving just enough of it protruding for your figure to stand on (pic 3).






You will find by pushing the wire into the ground at different angles, you can achieve almost any pose, even almost horizontal dives, etc, all with no visible means of support.
So there it is, virtually cost free and only requiring a few minutes of your time to make (obviously devised by a lazy b#stard like me)! Hopefully you can use this tip to take your pictures to the next level.

I have a few more dirty little tricks, that I'll post later! If you have any you want to share....go for it! Show us what you can do! If you don't have any tricks, let us know if this tutorial helped you and gave you new ideas!

Updated 10 Dec 2006;

Ok, I promised them, here they are:



Like I said for outside shots, use loose dirt(or sand where I live to bury the stand, while leaving the feet visible!








Ok, and if that isn't your cup of tea, here is a varaition on Outriders Technique. He used heavy wire to mimmick the stand. How about this;

Take a piece of flexible wire,



and cut about a 2 inch length.



Wrap it around the figures foot, It can go over and point straight down (left) or wrap around and stick down from the side or rear of the foot (Right).




Then stick your figure in the dirt! Viola!






Hope this gave you something to put in your "Dio Toolbox". If this helped, let me know. I got more tricks I'm willing to share!

Great tips Frankie, way to go!

That coat hanger in the ground thing is genius! I need to try it next time I do some outdoor shooting...

...Which will be when the Decepticons raid an experimental munitions facility in a few months.

Sorry, I love randomly teasing my story.

OMG... THAT's what you mean by coat hanger!!! Very cool.

I just try and crop the pic or paint it out. If I'm outside, I'll bury 'em.