Lighting LEGO with What You Have on Hand
/Lighting for photography is essentially made of lights and shadows, so why not use all you have available around you to achieve some cool effects? Scenes with the LEGO minifigures can be so playful that you can have some fun experimenting with all sorts of lighting equipment and sources. Here are multiple techniques that can be used for different photo genres to inspire your own creativity.
I’ve noticed that lighting often divides LEGO photos into two categories: dark scenes and well-lit scenes. Darker, more cinematic scenes can have more shadows which are strong instruments of storytelling. In these photos, light is concentrated on the objects that influence the atmosphere. Take a look at the darkly lit train. Doesn’t it look more realistic to you? And all it took was some lit cotton balls.
The well-lit pictures look less dramatic—and less haunted. The train on the right is in exactly the same position with different lighting. You can see more detail, but the photo is less impressive. If the photo didn’t have any intense source of light (for example anything imitating sunlight), you wouldn’t be able to see the LEGO build in detail. So when it comes to photography, you have to find a balance between the story you want to tell and the LEGO creation you want to show off.
Another trick that adds dynamic lighting to a LEGO scene is to use points of colored light in your photos. These can come from many interesting and unexpected sources and bring life to our tiny friends’ adventures.
For example, these small devices are finger lights that are typically used for long-exposure light painting during dancing parties or light shows. You can use these as mini directional lamps, strapping them on your fingers to illuminate a point of interest in your LEGO build or placing them within the build itself to get the necessary angles of light.
They are small enough to imitate many different light sources. And they are really good for backlighting when it’s necessary to match some details with additional color without using big filters or having to alter your smartphone or camera settings.
One last example of fun backlighting using what you have on hand is shown in this scene with Lord Garmadon from Ninjago, starting his morning by practicing his fighting skills and balancing on a plate—all before breakfast! While impressive, the lighting setup is simple. The rising sun is actually just a lamp placed behind the multi-layered setup.
Here’s the quick DIY sunrise so you can achieve the same photographic effect for your LEGO minifigures. First of all, our character needs the right setup and atmosphere so that he can show off the environment. So our background will have three components: glass, paper, and light. Preparing the first layer, I used a clear piece of glass and drew black lines on it to represent the windows. I then used red strips of colored cardboard in front of the glass for contrast.
Finally, I diffused the lamp’s intensity with some light orange paper behind the glass. So the ultimate effect when an ordinary house lamp is placed behind this setup is to make it look like a grand sunrise beyond the intricate windows of a palace. (As you can see, Lord Garmadon is standing on a trans-clear LEGO element that can easily be edited out later.)
So thank you for being a guest in my photo studio today! Hopefully, you have seen how light and shadow can be created by whatever you have on hand. You don’t need a fancy setup to add interesting and stunning light effects to your LEGO photography. Use whatever you want, because all you really need is a lamp, some paper and a little creativity.
What favorite lighting tricks and techniques? We’d love to hear from you. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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