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So . . . by now some of you may have seen me lurking around here. I registered back in 2011, introduced myself and then didn't make an impact. Things have changed a little, especially with the acquisition of lots of late 1980's lego and very early 90's lego and my first new lego sets in an eternity. I got a pair of 60051 trains, I do already enjoy the RC trains . . .minus the batteries that they use. I'm a little unique as I grew up looking at those catalogues that came with the sets and wanting the 12V stuff, even though we didn't have it in Canada . . .where I'm from. So . . . starting around 1999, I just started piling up Ebay transactions from everyone world wide. I once got a feedback of: "Good to dial wet" originally I thought it was something really perverted, and refused feedback. 2 years later I realized that I was "good to deal with." I can't really complain, my German is rather non-existent and I have a good amount of German blood in me. I play a lot of ball hockey (not field hockey, it's basically ice hockey without the ice), that's me, I'm big, strong extremely agile goalie. That's what makes me unique in my eyes rare traits to put together . . . . that and my 5' tall box of Kraft Dinner. I do a lot of hockey photography (ice hockey), I'm no pro, I don't even own an SLR camera, but it's something that I enjoy. I love just about all things from the 1980's: Transformers, Lego, Hair, Music (specifically pop rock and hip hop). I also love my Grand Prix's, I have three in total. In 2013 for my birthday one of my closest friends treated me (at my request, you can request free crap) for a photo shoot of AJAM & AMY (below) later in the shoot we had a hot air balloon land in the background of a shot (I also requested this about 30 minutes prior to happening, but jokingly), I'm active on the car scene on the internet and attend 3 meets a year, all in the US. I'll blame my nephew for sparking my interest in Lego again lately. He loves the stuff, my home is like some kind of theme park to him!! It probably needs some work (lots of work??) but I made 90% of this car 20 years ago and then never put a front end on it. Not sure I'm happy with it the way it is, but much the passenger jet conversion of my 6544 plane, tonight it's a true sign that I'm back in the lego fold. There will be a Youtube channel . . . and it will be epic. This is me about 6 years ago. I had bought a wrench for the house since I didn't have a BFW, but was shocked to find it was no ordindary wrench (rated PG-13): Will have a new Youtube channel for lego related stuffs). Thanks for being so welcoming already, for me the best is yet to come . . .and "ALL OF YOUR IDEAS IS BELONG TO ME." Some sets that I have kicking around: Trains: 182 727 7715 7722 (partial) 7745 60051 X2 Town: 6354 6358 6375 6378 6380 6382 6386 X2 6389 6391 6392 6394 X2 6395 6396 6397 6398 (and wish I had a 6399 . . . . maybe some day)
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I created this topic so people can share pictures of Chima I recently bought the eagle legend beast DSCF3612 by camberry234, on Flickr DSCF3619 by camberry234, on Flickr DSCF3621 by camberry234, on Flickr This ones my personal favourite
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Low Light Photography and Practical Light Effects Advanced Photography Lesson Warning, this is not for the faint of heart, many of these results can be done by simple photoshopping, and it might be much faster. But do you get a better result? That's up to you, but I'm believe if you can do it for real, it looks that much more real (or even surreal). Much like how Lord of the Rings looks so fantastic is cause so many of the grand shots of castles and landscape were just that - actual shots of (large) miniatures and real locations, not computer generated effects. This also probably doesn't apply much to stop motion films, as the normalization process to get all your shots to be consistent may make even the most patient film maker go crazy. So to you, the comic creator (or simply photographer), I write this tutorial. How to create cool looking pictures and effects by taking a really good photo. Background/Streetcred Let me preface and admit that I am not a photographer, I have never studied photography, and while I'm somewhat familiar with the concepts and science - I am by no means an expert. What I am is lazy - I know the bare minimum to get cool pictures. I have been told I have a great 'eye' for shots, I might not know the science behind why, but I know what's cool when I see it. I also used to spend a lot of time doing night photography - I used to love wandering around with a tripod taking random pictures at night. Especially during fog: So what does that make me? I would say I have practical experience. I have a bag of tried and true tricks that have historically worked for me. The object of this tutorial is not to talk about the theory of low light LEGO photography, but to share my practical tips and a layman's how-to guide to shoot in the dark. Lighting Overview Before going in depth different ways to light (or lack thereof) your build, there are roughly 5 types of lighting strategies I will cover: Ambient light - This is the amount of light in the room anywhere from bright, to low to even none. Embedded light - lights that originate within your actual build. Directional or Spotlight - using an additional light source to provide light to a specific area of the build Special lighting - using coloured lights to change the mood of the picture. Black Lighting - special case of special lighting, with glowing results! More on these later! Your Build Wait, build? I thought we were talking about how to shoot and using fancy light? Well we are, but before you photograph your build, you have to build it! And before you build it you have to PLAN on how to build it. This is probably one of the more important keys to low-light LEGO Photography. You have to build your MOC to suit what method you may use. If you're going to use embedded lights, well you have to put them in ahead of time! Do you have small lights? or big lights? You obviously can't put a massive light into a micro, but you could put in small lights with wires hanging out (to Photoshop out later). Or if you're going to use black-lights, well you need to use one of the LEGO elements that glow! Other things to think about when you're building - which angle(s) will you be shooting from? Do you need to hide wiring? or even where the lights will be. Do you want to actually see the LED/Light bulb? or do you want it hidden/away from view? Don't forget that if you're shooting at really low light, even the weakest light will wash out all your other details - so light placement will be key. As you start off, remember: patience. This will take time for you to set up, to photograph correctly, and often rebuilding to get things 'just right'. Required items. Before you start there are few things you need to have, and know how use. Mandatory: Patience This is the most important thing to have. It takes time to set up, it takes many shoots, and it can be frustrating. So have patience and just know that it will look cool in the end. Camera! Most cameras, even the smaller pocket cameras have the ability to set the shutter speed - which is the amount of time your camera 'takes a picture'. This will become important, as the darker the room, the longer picture you need to take. Some cameras will have a "M" or Manual setting that lets you configure the shutter speed, as well as FStop (or aperture and other fun things). Alternatively you might have a "S" (Shutter priority) setting that controls just that, and the rest are automatically. Note that the FStop is also useful for certain effects (see DoF tutorial). If your camera doesn't have a "M" setting or "S" setting your best bet is "night time" or "stars" setting - that's the camera's setting for low light, not the best, but it can do in a pinch. Tripod! If you have ever tried to take a picture without a flash in a dark place, you'll know why you need a tripod. Simply put, our hands aren't steady enough to hold a camera to take shots in the dark. Even braced against something we vibrate the camera too much and it becomes blurry (unless you're into that). Any tripod will do, it doesn't have to be super fancy, or honestly you could use a stack of books, it just makes it harder to reposition and set up. But for me, I have cheap ball joint tripod that lets me quickly rotating the camera and change angles. Optional Light sources Depending on how you're going to light your build, you may need external light sources, you can use your standard lights, LED's, flashlight, laser pointers, black-lights IR from remote controls, whatever creates light that is visible to a camera. Try different things for different effects! Light Tent Ironic eh? But a light tent is still useful. The purpose of a light tent is to disburse light over your build, this rule still applies, you're just not applying AS much light. Lighting Explained I will now go through each of the different lighting techniques. Of course for maximum fun you could apply several of these techniques together to create a master piece! Ambient light This is the easiest and most important trick that you need to master. Simply put: turn down/off the light. This by itself isn't usually overly useful - if you set your camera right it is almost the same as taking a picture with the lights on. The key hear is to change the shutter speed of your camera to take a longer exposure picture. A regular picture is around 1/60 of a second. If you dim the lights, your picture might be 1 second or longer. Why this is so important is when you start using the other lighting tricks. You do this to make the OTHER lights seem brighter than they really are. So a very dimly lit fireplace, using normal room lights is barely noticeable turn off the room lights and set the shutter for 5 seconds and it becomes a roaring fire. Knowing how to set the shutter speed is also useful for every day MOC taking pictures. Many people prefer to take the MOC's outside to shoot, the sun provides extremely bright light. But if you know how to set your shutter speed accordingly you don't need to wait for a sunny day! I routinely use long shutter speeds even when I have my large photography lights and light tent... Embedded light I hope you were paying attention to the build section. Cause if you've gotten here without adding lights inside, it maybe too late Generally there are two types of lights that can add within a build: Small LED's such as the Power Function lights or third party Lifelites. Larger less specialized lights can also be used - these are far cheaper than the above and work far better lighting up large areas - downside is you need a lot of space to hide these. An example of a build that uses a standard LEGO light brick (in the hallway): An example of a build using cheap LEDs: Of course you can start combining tricks - such as lowering the ambient light level so that we maximize the lighting effect, the same temple, with lowered ambient light: Note how changing the ambient light changes the entire image feel. In a large enough layout you could even use a combination of smaller specialize LED's and cheaper ones, like here: The inner ring of the station is lit up by LED light bars that from dollar store. The rest are light bricks, and Lifelites. The key to photographing embedded lights is to do a proper light balance - between the ambient light and the embedded light. Here is an example where the embedded light is actually TOO bright relative to the ambient condition: I turned down the embedded light (switched from wall mount to battery power): Better! Now you can see that if I retook the second picture with a longer exposure, it'd be just about right. But the first shot, if I decreased the shutter speed (faster picture) it would be too dark, and the light would still be too bright, so I would have to turn up the ambient light to compensate. Black-Light My favorite trick is probably the Black-Light, it gives such a fantastic glow to an otherwise flat picture. Though not all pieces glow - mainly the trans-neon colours. Some pieces that you wouldn't think glow, actually do, take a black-light and go over some of your pieces, you'd be surprised When you build a black-light MOC - you should think about where and how the black light will be situated and where the camera will be. Another fun trick is to build chunk of the build in a clear brick - so that the black light goes THROUGH your build (see title images), or alternatively situate the light UNDER your build: The black light is actually sitting under a glass table, and there are 8x8 grill plates under each vat and a pile of neon orange dots and pieces to create the glow. Pro Tip: Get a good black-light. Stay away from the ones that fit in the light bulbs, they're rubbish (usually), get a good old fashioned tube one, they're by far the best. Directional or Spotlight Another trick is to shine a light on specific parts of a build. This obviously should be done in conjunction with low ambient light. You can use this to flush out or highlight the subject of your build, while not not ruining the lighting effect behind it. Here, because I had the gate glowing from black light I didn't want to wreak the feel by lighting it up too much. But I wanted to make sure the ship is the subject. So I took a little LED flashlight and lit up the ship. Pro Tip: When you shine a spotlight, make sure the light doesn't hit anything else! light up and away from your build whenever possible. The other method is using harsh light in one direction to forcibly create shadows. Not overly useful, but it can create some stark pictures. This entire build is light-bley but you can clearly make out the details. Special lighting Last but not least you can use some special coloured lights - like black light, or simply coloured filtered in front of lights. In the past I have used trans coloured LEGO pieces in front of a flash light to add a glow to a build. Or you could even prop up a laser pointer to create some pew pew pew action! One of my most ambitious shoots include all of these: This shot included every trick here, except black-light. It took me several nights to get this particular picture, by the end there was a entire procedure that took 60 seconds per attempt to align all the tricks: Laser pointer (not too long otherwise it over-saturates), No ambient light - pure darkness. Spotlight - to shine the ship and highlight the space marines Special light- the background (white backdrop) was actually lit with a light trans red plates to create a sunset type feel. Pro Tip - another way to change up the feel of your picture without changing the actual light, is changing the "AWB" or Auto White Balance of your camera settings (what your camera 'thinks' is white. An incorrectly set AWB can be useful, but most of the time annoying Conclusion So there you have it. Every single one of my tricks. It's not the easiest thing to do, but it's not really that hard either. The key is patience. Take the time to experiment and try new things. Assignment Use the skills you have learned here to produce a low-light photograph of your scene. Size doesn't matter, but ambiance does. Create a new thread in the Academy titled Student Enrollment: Low Light Photography to post your work.
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New Pirate Forum Skin – Photos for Editors without Photos
Mister Phes posted a topic in LEGO Pirates
For the first time ever YOU have the opportunity to contribute to a Eurobricks Forum Skin! We’re looking for a wide range of LEGO Pirate minifigures in an assortment of entertaining poses. So, if you have an interesting minifigure or three, post photos of them in this thread. What we're currently looking for is minifigures in poses grouped according to their Pirate sub-theme, I.e. Pirates (1989-1991, 1992-1995 & 1996-1997), Soldiers, Imperial Guards, Islanders, Imperial Armada , Pirates II and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. What we’re looking for… Minifigures from LEGO setsPirates, Soldiers (blue coats), Imperial Guards (red coats), Islanders (natives), Imperial Armada (conquistadors), Pirates II (released in 2009-2010) and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Custom MinifiguresThe Dutch, Portuguese, East India Trading Company, Colonisation of Central America, undead pirates, etc. Mesoamerican CivilisationsAztec, Maya, Inca, Olmec, Toltec, etc. What we’re NOT looking for… Sigfigs or avatarsit wouldn’t be fair to permanently feature somebody’s forum identity. 4+/Jackstone Pirates setsthose oversized pirates which were released in 2004. Although their accessories may work with standard SYSTEM Pirate minfigures. Pirates from outside the CaribbeanVikings, Space Pirates, Steampunk, Medieval Pirates, Barbary Corsairs, etc. Minfigs & Elements from Imitation/Counterfeit or Competing BrandsThe minifigures and pieces you use MUST be authentic LEGO, with the exception of elements from custom LEGO manufacturers such Brickarms, Brickforge, Citizen Brick, etc. These are acceptable. The blasted Rules The photography must be decent!We will NOT accept low resolution images nor include images which contain artefacts (graininess), aliasing (jagged edges), chromatic aberration (colour fringing), focal defects (blurriness), mismatched impedance (ghosting), oversaturation or any noticeable visual distortion. The minifigure/LEGO elements MUST be shown entirely within the photoPlease do not submit photos with minifigures/elements which cannot be fully seen. E.g. peaking in from the side or from the waist up. If they were to be added to the banner, whatever part(s) aren't visible would simply look cut off in the banner. No lighting techniques or harsh shadowsPlease photograph your minfigure(s) in consistent lighting. The minfigure(s) must isolated against a neutral coloured backgroundThe background will need to be manually removed and this is much easier if it contrasts with the minifgure and is a constant colour. You may however, remove the background yourself, but be sure to save the image as a 32bit PNG file to ensure it retains its transparency. No watermarks, logos, signatures or other brandingPlease ensure your photos are free from visual distractions. No Background Spill“Spill” is the term used in film and photography when a background colour reflects onto a foreground element. For example: a minifigure photographed against a blue background has traces of blue along its boundary. No flash highlights These are when the flash reflects off the minifigure causing white highlights or shines. Nothing too crude or offensive!Keep your minifigure’s anitcs clever and tactful. Our decision is finalWe decide which minifigures will appear in the skin and how they will be arranged. Acknowledgement Everybody who contributes minifigure photography will receive an acknowledgement in Announcement Thread when the skin is complete. Upon request additional information can be included such your website, Deviant Art account, Facebook Page or other contact details. Agreement By submitting photos you grant us permission to use them in anyway we see fit (relating to the Forum Skin), for an indefinite period of time without expectation or requirement of compensation, remuneration or reward. -
Hi there everyone, Whenever I travel, I usually bring a handful of minifigs along and take pictures of them in their "natural habitats." In January I had the chance to travel to Las Vegas, and each day I went hiking in the surrounding desert. Here are some of the better pictures that I took, including Indiana Jones, Prince of Persia, Collectible Minifigs and more. Check out the entire Flickr gallery for even more photos as well as larger versions of the pictures you see here. Also, if you haven't seen my other Minifig Adventures, check out the following Flickr sets: Minifigures at Point Lobos, California Minifigures in Hawaii Indiana Jones in Costa Rica Please let me know what you think of these photos! Thanks for your time. Inky
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Disclaimer: I have no experience with professional photography, and use an awful camera. Hello, Eurobricks! Today I have come across an issue setting up a proper photography area, relating to the bulbs I use in my two lamps: Standard filament or fluorescent bulbs give my photographs horrible yellow tinge; this happens regardless of how the two lamps are positioned, or what other light sources there are in the room. Would daylight bulbs work better? LEDs? Halogen? Is it even possible to take decent photographs in such a setting, even if I were to get better bulbs? -
For the first time ever YOU have the opportunity to contribute to a Eurobricks Forum Skin! We need dozens of Minifig photos for the exciting and innovative banner! We’re looking for: Photographers with a good camera and a wide range of LEGO Pirate minifigures Image Editors with the skill to remove backgrounds from photos You can DO BOTH but you'll need to audition for both! Your rewards for helping: Access to an exclusive hidden forum in which you will be amongst the first to witness this revolutionary new forum skin! An acknowledgement - everybody's whose work is selected will be fully credited. If you're a professional you can even include your website URL and contact details. A commemorative tag - the more you quality images you contribute, the more valuable tag you receive. BUT BEWARE! We'll place a voodoo curse on anybody who contributes a substandard effort, and trust us when we say you don't want to be wearing that tag!Learn more about the tag benefits. How to audition Read the information below so you understand exactly what is required. Ask any questions you have in this thread. When you are ready to submit, please do so in the Special Project Auditions - Submissions thread. What we’re looking for… Minifigures from LEGO setsPirates, Soldiers (blue coats), Imperial Guards (red coats), Islanders (natives), Imperial Armada (conquistadors), Pirates II (released in 2009-2010) and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Custom MinifiguresThe Dutch, Portuguese, East India Trading Company, Colonisation of Central America, undead pirates, etc. Mesoamerican CivilisationsAztec, Maya, Inca, Olmec, Toltec, etc. What we’re NOT looking for… Sigfigs or avatarsit wouldn’t be fair to permanently feature somebody’s forum identity over others. 4+/Jackstone Pirates setsthose oversized pirates which were released in 2004. Although their accessories may work with standard SYSTEM Pirate minfigures. Pirates from outside the CaribbeanVikings, Space Pirates, Steampunk, Medieval Pirates, Barbary Corsairs, etc. Minfigs & Elements from Imitation/Counterfeit or Competing BrandsThe minifigures and pieces you use MUST be authentic LEGO, with the exception of elements from custom LEGO manufacturers such Brickarms, Brickforge, Citizen Brick, etc. These are acceptable. The blasted Rules The photography must be decent!We will NOT accept low resolution images nor include images which contain artefacts (graininess), aliasing (jagged edges), chromatic aberration (colour fringing), focal defects (blurriness), mismatched impedance (ghosting), oversaturation or any noticeable visual distortion. The image editing must be decent!We will not accept images if the background hasn't been cleanly removed. Each minifigure and any accessories must have a smooth edge with no obvious trace of the background remaining. DO NOT use Microsoft Paint! Edited Images MUST HAVE alpha transparencyThe background must be transparent in PNG format with an 8 bit alpha channel. NO transparent GIFs will be accepted! The minifigure/LEGO elements MUST be shown entirely within the photoPlease do not submit photos with minifigures/elements which cannot be fully seen. E.g. peaking in from the side or from the waist up. If they were to be added to the banner, whatever part(s) aren't visible would simply look cut off in the banner. The minfigure(s) must isolated against a neutral coloured backgroundBackgrounds with multiple colours can be a lot more challenging to edit. The background will need to be manually removed and this is much easier if it contrasts with the minifgure and is a constant colour. You may however, remove the background yourself, but be sure to save the image as a 32bit PNG file to ensure it retains its transparency. No lighting techniques or harsh shadowsPlease photograph your minfigure(s) in consistent lighting. No watermarks, logos, signatures or other brandingPlease ensure your photos are free from visual distractions. No Background Spill“Spill” is the term used in film and photography when a background colour reflects onto a foreground element. For example: a minifigure photographed against a blue background has traces of blue along its boundary. No flash highlights These are when the flash reflects off the minifigure causing white highlights or shines. Nothing too crude or offensive!Keep your minifigure’s anitcs clever and tactful. Our decision is finalWe decide which minifigures and edited images will appear in the skin and how they will be arranged. Acknowledgement Everybody who contributes minifigure photography will receive an acknowledgement in Announcement Thread when the skin is complete. Upon request additional information can be included such your website, Deviant Art account, Facebook Page or other contact details. Agreement By submitting photos you've taken or images you've edited you grant us permission to use them in anyway we see fit (relating to the Forum Skin), for an indefinite period of time without compensation, remuneration or reward.
