Sunday, 22 December 2013

Testing out some different Lighting and Camera settings for LEGO Photography

After doing today's review I started playing around with my Olympus camera and it's setting and changed my lighting in my light-box. It took about 20 to 30 shots to get this image to start looking decent. I used a couple of LEGO Lights and a blue light from Chloe's Crayola Glow Tent. The set I took a photo of is 10216: Winter Village Bakery.

I am by no means a photographer but I thought I would have some fun... What do you guys think of my first try at low light photography?

You can click on it for a larger view.


EDIT: With some great Tips from reader Marto to improve my shot, I did some touching up in Photoshop... Now I must try to do this for real... Thank you Marto... It's Not perfect but I am getting the idea :-)


Thanks for looking.

Tan Tile.

7 comments:

  1. Fab job! The goodies in the window look quite clear for there being such low light.
    With the lights you used it looks like the baker has shut up shop after a long day and is on his way home with a tray of goods to share with the family. :)

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    1. He he... Excellent! That was my intention... I actually had the little scenario in my head when I was taking it. I'm so glad you got that from the Photo. :)

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  2. Hi,

    Nice try, but you are facing all the difficulties of night photography. Shooting toys, you have a big asset : everything in you scene stands still. So, first use a low ISO, and so a long exposure (you're using a tripod or similar, right ? ;) )

    Then, all the difficulty will come from the light sources. You missed one important thing here, the minifigure is in the shadows. An highlight on the face would have been great here. Always have a light on your main subject. Then a final opinion is to work on the contrast during the processing.

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    1. Yep I'm using a tripod, It's my first crack at trying something different instead of the normal white background shots that I'm still tying to get right too. lol
      Your so tight about the Minifigure! but my focus point were the goodies in the window... ahh well... I will keep at it. thanks for the tips. :)

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    2. Hi,
      Don't get me wrong, it's a nice start for "first" shots like those.
      Now, of course I focus on the minifgures, they are characters and usually the subjects of such a shot. Yes, the goodies are great on your picture, but as there is a white "intense" light spot on the left, it catch the eye and we loose the attention from the display.

      For such a picture, I would have set the focus on the display and used a very wide aperture with a high focal so I would have a low deep-of field. The lamp would be blurry so that would lead the focus of the viewer. If you can't get that king of setting on your camera, you can "cheat" with some post-processing.

      I think that there is another disturbing detail : it is supposed to be night and the lamp is off... But there is still a light glow on it... :)

      The problem of my opinion here is that you have asked for an opinion, unfortunately, I am looking for such details. LizzieJim have certainly written what most of your visitor would see ans that is the most important ;)

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    3. Hey Apologizes... It was meant to say so Right... not tight...oops! Fat finger syndrome. I truly appreciate the comments and criticisms. Your tips are very helpful and I wouldn't know what I was doing wrong If you didn't point out the obvious flaws now that I look at the picture more. This was the only one that I was happy with.

      I have to try and invest in some small lights to fit in the lamps for next time... Right now I'm going to say it's blown ;) lol...

      You are right about a focus point and making the lamp blurry is a great tip also. And next time I will try a lower angle for the light above the structure so its not so bright and drawing one's attention away from the true focal point.

      If you have any other Criticisms don't hesitate to call them out. I can only learn...

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    4. Hi, no offense, don't worry :)
      You got what I meant. Before investing in other lights, you can also try the "Day for night" technique. Toy photography can be really fun and creative ;)

      By the way, nice work on you blog.

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