I am not a builder, or at least, I’m not very good at building MOCs (My Own Creations) so most of the time my LEGO photography is set in natural or found environments. Sure, I have a few brick-built elements and a couple of sets that I sometimes use as backgrounds in my photos, but…
Living Photos for Instagram with Vimage: App Review
Vimage is an app for Android and iOS that allows you to overlay pre-made looped animation effects on your still photos to create a “living photo” — a hybrid of photo and video. Living photos get some of the same benefit as short videos on social media such as higher engagement and longer viewing, but…
BrickWarriors: Custom accessories for LEGO minifigures
One of the reasons why I love shooting LEGO minifigs so much is that their modular design makes it very easy to create new characters and tell different stories with them. I don’t need to bust out the X-Acto knife and “kitbash” a minifig; I can simply swap out body parts as desired. But as…
Behind the Scenes: Yuri Badiner
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…
#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…
Beginner Tips: Learning Camera Controls with LEGO
Shooting minifigs with a phone is fun and easy but at some point, you may want more creative control than what a fixed lens and small sensor can offer you. If you’re ready to start shooting with a mirrorless or DSLR camera but have no idea where to start, then I’ve got just the thing…
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….
Pumpkin Spice Latte: Modified Bean There, Donut That 40358
When news first hit Reddit about a new LEGO set that was exclusive to US megastore Target, I scratched my head and wondered why anyone would drop $20 for “Bean There, Donut That”, a simple build with rather dull minifigures and unremarkable accessories. I also wondered why the set had a barista since clearly, it’s…