The Quest continues...

I am pretty lucky to live in a very remote area with a large tract of wild woods that surround us. I thought I'd take advantage of the overcast skies to take a hike and try out some more things I learned from doing a bit more research about Lego photography.

Below is my backpack that is a Kurgo backpack made specifically to carry a small dog. My dog said no. I put a camera bag insert into the 'pet area' years ago and this became my go to backpack.

I can carry water bottles, snacks, and all sort of other goodies in the other section of the backpack.

Old plastic sandwich meat containers are perfect for carrying Lego minifigs or pieces.

 

When I got to the creek, I set my pack down. Did I mention that it is made to sit up straight and that it has a rubber bottom on it? Perfect for setting down in damp places.

I wanted to test out an idea I'd seen a Lego Photographer use when trying to photograph Lego's in a puddle or stream. If you have ever tried it, the boats sink or tip over, the kayaks and canoes don't really float. I've stacked rocks up against Legos in the stream to keep them in place only to back off and get the shot ready...

and the Lego minfig tips over and floats away.

One person suggested hot gluing a piece of metal to the bottom of a Lego minifig stand. I tried that method and it worked well for a while. After bumping around in my backpack and being repositioned several times, the metal washer came off. But it was a fantastic solution and an easy thing to do.

I also took a flat 6 X 6 plate and stood a horse on it. The stream still wanted to pull on the horse, so I put some rocks on the plate to hold it in place. It worked like a charm.

Anyone who has ever ridden horses [or mules] knows that sometimes horses don't like streams or even shy away from puddles.

I imagine that Princess Sara's faithful steed, Ice, wouldn't want to cross the stream. Princess Sara had a tough time convincing Ice that it was OK to go in the water. She even waded into the stream to show him.

Apparently he had none of it until Joan of Knight rode her workhorse into the stream to show Ice that it wouldn't hurt him.

At this point, I was not using a tripod, but was standing in about 8 inches of water in a little pool in the creek. I had to squat down and get the camera close to the water. I felt something cold on my rear end and realized I'd squatted right into the creek.

[Yeah for CrossFit squats!]

Phew!

Princess Sara and Joan got across safely and continued on their Quest. The frog had said that they just needed to go into the forest and the Quest would make itself known to them.

The camera settings were pretty basic. I use an f stop so I could get both figures in focus. But I also set them in the same focal plane.

Getting low was the key. Very low. My hands were resting on top of the water and since I was wearing knee high waterproof muck boots my feet didn't get wet. But my rear end did!

The sky was cloudy so I was able to shoot without worrying too much about highlights on the minifigs.

Processing the shots were fairly straightforward, I have presets that I've developed for certain kinds of looks.

Stay tuned. The Princess and the Knight continued their Quest.

I am just following along.