Lego Photography, Saran Wrap, and Cotton Balls

Yipee! I finally got around to these wonderful space 'cadets' from Aurora! Since the theme for the gifts were about spring, I had to use the gift packet of Zinnias along with another seed packet for a background.

Just behind Bugsy and Charlene are Lego flowers from the Botanical Collection.

Flowers
the universal language of
love....

When I saw these two I knew immediately that they would fall for each other. After all, it is my social statement for these times. We don't have to look alike to like each other!

The cold and rain has descended on us Sunday with icy conditions overnight and then 45 degrees and sunny on Monday.

While doing medications for hubby, I had to pull out some long cotton wads from a script bottle I opened.

I walked over to where Rich was having coffee and grabbed the Green Lego Dragon off the shelf and proclaimed that the Dragon Will Breath Fire!

I dropped the cotton wads next to the Dragon.

Rich shook his head and said, "Your cr..aa... your not right.. and ... they said I was crazy!" He patted my hand and gave me that look that said he was so sorry for me.

I went back to sorting and replied. "Just wait! I'll make him breath fireballs with that cotton!"

[No, I did not light the cotton on fire!]

 Rich gave me the roll of the eyes and then stated: "The guys with the white coats, um...they will get straight coats for you...and take you away." He chuckled. He is always amused by the way my mind works.

When I get into a 'creative' mood with an idea in mind, I can close off the world around me. He went to take a nap. The rain came down in sheets outside and I proceeded to get into the 'zone'. 

Creating a project requires that I have everything else in the area cleaned up and prepped. So I vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned the downstairs so I wouldn't have any further distractions.

My little table is in a spot that also has the oxygen concentrator so I have to step around that and deal with the oxygen tubing. However... it is how things are in our tiny house, so I deal with it.

Just so you know. I don't have a 'studio' for doing my photography. My creations are done at our table...

Dragon drinking water in the forest....amazing what a laptop can do...and what some saran wrap can create for an illusion!

result:

 

or done in the living room....

This is what the set up looked like. Cotton wadding from medicine bottles stuck with sticky tack to the dragon and castle.

 

I put a Ulanzi Light behind the drawbridge door and pointed it with a snout at the cotton wadding.

 

I turned off the overhead light and used another small Ulanzi light to light up the dragon's face.

 

Both photos were shot with a Lensbaby Sweet 50 with an f stop of 4.

 

 

The cotton 'fire' was enhanced slightly with dynamic contrast in DxO labs.

 

How many times did I do this before getting a successful shot?

 

About 20!

 

I learned about using cotton balls while pursuing Lego photos in both Flickr, Instagram, and FB Lego photos.

 

The end result:

And off I go to face another week.

And the animals come in....

I believe this herder was supposed to be taking care of his small flock of critters. However, it looks like he had a bit too much wine and didn't properly put his farm animals away...

In the early morning, it seems they pushed open the door and decided to help themselves to whatever the herdsman had in the house.

This is a building was from FunHole Wood-Cabin set. It is a Lego like build with the same sort of bricks. It was the very first 'build' I did over a year ago. It has two floors and came with lighting that integrates with the bricks. 

It was a difficult build and the bricks don't fit as tightly as Lego bricks do, but I enjoy using its detailed inside once in a while to have some fun. It has a kitchen, a wood stove, and a bathroom complete with a tub, sink, and mirror. The upstairs has a bedroom and a desk. There is a ladder that goes from the first floor to the loft.

I've used the outside of the building and porch for other photo scenes and I've taken this room apart and rearranged it several times. My favorite part is the wood stove that actually lights up. Most of the wiring and the contacts do work on this build but to my dismay or ineptitude, not all the ones do.

I took the roof and the upstairs off. Under the first floor, there is a circuit board with wires that runs through the bricks and lights things up. The porch lights, stove and bathroom lights work in this shot. There is a battery box in the lower right side of this photo.

I used a warm light [which actually looks green in this shot] to shine on the partially open front door.

I used another tiny Ulanzi light in a warm color to light up the interior.

And lastly, I stuck the face mister and turned it on so it would make the open door glow like morning sunlight. It also made the wood stove light glow. [I put it in the bathroom and opened the door!]

The herder kept falling off the couch so I had to use a tiny piece of sticky tack to hold him in place.

I had several tries before I was partially satisfied with a shot. Contrary to popular belief, this isn't so easy and it takes a lot of adjustments!

This was another idea I had just pop into my head Sunday morning while I was waiting for our company to show up. I couldn't go out in the heavy rain and winds to work on Princess Sara's story, so I had to fill my 'waiting' time with something else.

I ended up using a 30mm lens with a smaller aperture to try and get all of the animals in focus. 

It was not a one and done. I had to really experiment with settings and lights because I kept getting things too dark, too light, or too many harsh shadows. I had to be careful with the mister also especially when I let it run too long and everything in one photo had droplets on it!

And then! Yesterday the sunshine in the morning was brilliant and beautiful. So I could take Princess Sara out....

and begin another part of her wandering story...

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.