The Glaciator Shoot

Go ahead and skip this if
you aren't into toy Photography!

I was determined to really work on getting a MOC [My Own Creation] set up with this challenging Lego Character I found. He is from a set created in 2009-2010. Some of the minifigs that came with this set are now 'worth' around $40 to $50 because they are not made any more. Interesting? Right? For a TOY??? 

Anyway, after all my morning chores were done and along with a walk in the woods with Charlie, I spent the hot afternoon on Saturday trying to finally work on getting the lighting for the set and shooting the minifigure to my satisfaction.

Okay, it may be a stupid and frivolous sort of thing to do for a person of my [ahem] age. But it really engages my mind and imagination.

The layout and lighting were pretty much the same as last time. I added an LED flashlight to position on Glaciator's face and gave him his red dynamite to hold.

I set the face mister on its side and turned it on. It took about 20 shots to find the right 'mist' effect.

I turned him slightly and moved him. I found a nice bright white balloon light and pushed it up to his bum. If I'd had a clear Lego Plate, I would have lit him up from underneath. I wanted the light to shine through his clear bits and yet see his face too.

The face mister was set behind him to mist into glow of the lights from behind the transparent wall.

I had to brighten his eyes in post otherwise they really don't show up at all.

Then I had the bright idea of doing a real close up of him and spray him with the mister and some water. He and the set were wet anyway from previous shots.

He looks rather menacing here with his mouth open. The first shot was taken with a very shallow depth of field and the light did not appear in his mouth.

This shot below was done with a more depth, and no flashlight on his face.

This allowed the glow in his mouth to show up. What a difference DOF and lighting makes!

I can't decide which looks better as I like them both for different reasons.

I would have liked to have 'shot' him with dynamite in both hands, but I only have one bundle of dynamite and I kept everything in the same tone of color except for his eyes.

His body is more a a grey color when seen in regular light and his red eyes are not so obvious.

This was done for my own entertainment. I'm keeping this MOC and am going to change it up slightly. It is an interesting way to play with light and I keep imagining different ways to use it.

How would a mirror reflect the light and mist? Would a different color produce a different atmospheric feeling?

And so forth.

With Saturday's temperatures so hot and humid, it was a pleasure to work inside with tiny lights and toys.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Princess Sara and the Frog's Quest

Ideas sort of start out randomly. I had this partial building that the grandkids had left me and wanted to try and do something with it.

I took out Princess Sara and her stick horse and set her in the building. I added another character and then just messed with ideas that bounced around in my head. [My husband says it is an echo chamber inside my brain!]

Some time ago, while bored, I watched a video about how you can extend a building for photography by using a mirror. I thought I'd try it. 

To create an optical illusion, I added flowers to the back where I took the wall down. If seen 'in' camera and slightly out of focus, the flowers and bricks seem to be part of the set.

The kids had left some holes in the walls of their build so I thought I'd try putting lights through them to make the scene a bit more interesting. These are some Ulanzi lights I purchased on the cheap for some other still life work.

What it looks like from above.

What it looks like from behind the camera.

I wanted to add a bit of atmosphere to the scene. There are all sorts of ways to add atmosphere. Photographer's Atmosphere [very pricey atmosphere in a spray can], fog machines [very pricey, but now they make hand held ones], and a simple battery operated face mister. The face mister has an arrow pointing to it....

To add the mist, I simply turned it on and lay it on its side next to the open space that the light was shining through.

The scene as it looked in camera.👆

I kept moving minifigs around and finally decided to have Princess Sara talking to a tiny frog. I mean all good stories have a Princess and a Frog right?

I swapped out the Acorn person for a Knight. Not just any Knight, I chose one female knight I call Joan. 
In this scene Joan holds Princess Sara's stick horse while she meets in the castle garden at night to speak to the Magical Frog.

I mean, why not? 

The mirror did its trick the castle garden seems to extend in the background forever. The lights and mist add mystery and Joan's eyes are watching over her Princess carefully.

The final shot:

For me, it was important to see Joan's eyes through her helmet. It seems silly that she is holding both an weapon and a stick horse, but that is the fun of toy photography. Anything you desire can happen.

After shooting this photo, I decided that perhaps Sara and Joan should go on the Quest that the Frog sent them on.

Do I know what their Quest is yet? Nope. I imagine if I follow them, I may figure it out eventually.