Photo Editing Tips & Tricks

By RocketBoy (Sam)

Hey there. I'm no expert or professional, but I've learned a lot over the last few months about how to shoot MOCs, and I figured someone, somewhere might benefit from some tricks I've picked up.

I think it's important to take care of how your photos look: they're the only thing most people are going to see of what you built. You want them to represent your builds well and not get in the way of your work. But even beyond that, the way you shoot your photos can help tell stories all on their own. 

Building

It all starts during building. Make sure you know what angle (or angles) you're planning to shoot from, and build with that angle in mind. Treat it like a movie set: don't obstruct the camera, make sure the colors and shapes read well, and utilize composition techniques to make sure the audience's focus is where you want it to be. 

Background

Backgrounds are up to you, but I recommend picking up a few big cardstock poster boards in white and black from your local Walmart or equivalent. The ideal is something non-reflective and non-textured so it stays out of the way and doesn't detract from the smooth surface of the LEGO bricks. Background too small for your shot? I use Pixlr (a free editing site) to doctor things and clone white space where the poster board ends. Still getting the hang of doing it in a seamless way, but it works.

What about immersive backgrounds? A good background can add a lot of atmosphere and scale to your build. Personally, I have two big computer monitors for work that I use to project backgrounds, sort of like a tiny version of how they filmed the Mandalorian. You could also use a laptop hooked up to a TV or an iPad/Tablet. I try to give my builds at least one immersive shot, because I think it looks really cool. Maybe you prefer brick built sky? I don't, but we've all got our preferences. 

Hardware

Obviously, it would be nice if you could use a fairly good camera. Some cellphones do a great job (I use a Pixel 3), other times it's best to see if anyone has an old digital camera lying around the house or something else you can borrow that won't make your builds look like mud. 

If your phone camera stinks (like mine used to) and it's all you have, you can still make do: make sure you have really even light and a clean background. Bad cameras have a hard time balancing that stuff, so do whatever you can to make the image cleaner. 

Lighting

Like I just said, it usually helps to have really even, soft lighting, especially if your camera is lower quality. Natural lighting reflecting off your walls is good, as are soft lamps from across the room. You could make a light box by cutting holes in a cardboard box and taping wax paper or tissue paper over the holes, which diffuses the light coming through and makes it softer. Different lighting can give things a different feel, so you can replicate afternoon, morning, or artificial lights in different ways (especially for any immersive shots you do). I've recently discovered that a phone flashlight is a pretty amazing stand-in for sunlight, if you want it pouring in through windows or coming down dappled through leaves. 

Editing

This is more important that some people think. No matter how good your camera is, it's usually focused on capturing as much information as it can, not capturing the image in the way you want it to eventually look. 

"Auto-Fixes": running your shots through an auto-fix filter to adjust the white balance is quick, easy, and has a huge effect on photo quality. This is good to do even if you don't trust yourself to go messing with contrast/exposure/saturation/other variables. 

Google Photos has an auto-fix, as does free online editor Pixlr. 

If you do feel comfortable editing the various balances, get in there and mess around. Upping contrast and exposure/brightness in tandem can help you bring out colors and edges and wash out your background so you get a clean image. Certain filters can make things pop, but can also look like too much. A lot of TV shows and movies have vignette (darkened edges/corners of the frame) that you never notice, but bringing a bit into your image can enhance the "cinematic" feel. And again, this is all down to preference. Make your stuff look the way you want.

SOME TIPS FROM OTHER MEMBERS

Pombe: "My photo advice:

1) Lighting.  Period. This is the most important thing and the thing that if you must spend money on, it's this. Buy some cheap $5 lamps if you have to.

2) Tripod.  Build one out of lego if you have to. Stop using your shaky hands.

3) Timer.  No point to using a tripod if you are still going to touch your camera when you shoot. Stop using your shaky hands. Use your shaky hands for other things."

Denal31: "Using a tripod and a timer has done wonders for my photos."

Darth_Bjorn: "I always have a layer, where I adjust Brightness and Contrast to make the MOC pop more...Lego colors are very vibrant, and it rarely comes through unless you have excellent lighting or full daylight, so increased Brightness and Contrast makes up for that…

Sometimes I add another layer to adjust the color curve... By having it curve slightly above average you eliminate dirty whites and blacks... That also makes the bricks stand out more clearly…

I could write a ton about the golden ratio and composition/layout, but the importance is balance in the photo…"

The best way to learn is to mess around with your options and see what looks best for what you have available. We build with LEGO, we know all about working inside our limitations, right?