There are some LEGO photographers out there who, no matter what you’re doing with your own photography, just make you seem lazy by comparison. Yuri Badiner is one of those guys for me. His complicated staging with wires and adhesive putty brings minifigs to life as they stumble, tumble, float and fall in his wonderfully…
Category: Behind The Scenes
#inthestyleof Brick Sailboat: Almost There
Brick Sailboat’s style is more than just low angle composition techniques, but it is a dominant feature, so that’s where I am going to start for my first entry. Setup and Environment I had planned an outdoor shoot on the top of the brownstone building so I could get some blue sky in my scene…
Behind the Scenes: Brick Sailboat
When I started LEGO photography a few years ago, I thought I was pretty cool sacrificing my knees to get eye-level photos of my minifigs. I was so rugged putting my camera unprotected on the ground. I am working it! I am legit! Then Brick Sailboat showed up on my feed one day and quickly…
Behind the Scenes: Maiko in the Rain
There are many techniques minifig photographers can use to separate the subject from the background. The most common techniques are using a shallow depth of field, where just the minifig is in focus but the foreground and background are completely out of focus; and color, where the minifig stands out because of a dominant color….
Behind the Scenes: Stroboscopic Dancer
Ever since I saw Joe McNally capture the sequence of a dance in a single long exposure several months ago, I have been aching to try the technique myself. The advanced technique Joe used is called stroboscopic flash, or repeating flash in some other camera systems, and involves using an off-camera flash to light the…
#inthestyleof Konstantin: The Wizard
I love shooting in the dark. It’s probably my favorite time to take photos since I am undisturbed by kids, dogs, phones and life in general. Ok, it’s my favorite time for everything since I am quite the introvert and really prefer focusing my energy on just one thing. Konstantin’s challenge was all about light…
Behind the Scenes: Konstantin
One of the most playful and creative photography techniques I have ever experimented with is light painting. The idea is pretty simple: hold a light source in your hand and guide it through the frame while the camera’s shutter is left open for a long time to capture the trails of light. I taught this…
#inthestyleof Foolish Bricks: The Grave Robber
I have to admit that I really look forward to the editing part of my photography workflow. Because I shoot in RAW, it’s also a necessary part. In general, I like knowing how things work and tweaking them so being able to edit what the camera sensor really captures versus what the camera processes as…
Behind the Scenes: Foolish Bricks
Any photographer who has seriously contemplated their work knows that a photograph isn’t finished when you release the shutter and take the exposure. That’s just half the job. The other half is editing or post-processing to create a polished look that makes the photo stand out. Foolish Bricks is one such photographer who knows how…