Behind the Photo: Shooting inside a narrow LEGO street

This is a behind-the-scenes look at how I go about taking photos inside my LEGO medieval street called Galen's Row.
Shooting inside a model is always a lot trickier than shooting a minifig out in open space. You need light, and lots of it, to reach different areas of the scene and to add interest.
You'll see the set or scene that I've built, where I place lights, what kind of lights, how I start shooting, and other bits of my process.
ABOUT ME
I'm Four Bricks Tall, and I'm a toy photographer and LEGO Ambassador.
I love showing people how to take creative photos that bring toys to life. I share behind the scenes, toy photography tutorials, gear reviews, and LEGO set reviews.
I run BrickCentral, a community of LEGO photographers on Instagram where we feature photos of LEGO, share photography tips, and run contests with LEGO prizes.
I also write a newsletter about toy photography, workflows, mindsets and attitudes for people who want to play seriously with their cameras and toys:
fourbrickstall.substack.com
Find me on Instagram at / fourbrickstall​
#lego #toyphotography #behindthescenes

[@AmazingApplications]

Thanks for adding the BTS. Probably even more helpful than some of your tutorials.

[@Wormhole_Traveler]

Great tutorial, thank you! The backlighting of the windows made me think that I would like to see another lighting option for this scene - late evening / night.

[@FourBricksTall]

Thanks n A night-style video is on the list! It's been requested before so I'll definitely do one. I'll try to give different ways to achieve the look inside a build.

[@lego4virgo]

Thanks for this, I may try something similar with a few Orc minifigs I just purchased.

[@beule1808]

Hey, very cool videos. Keep it up. I'm looking for the rain cape from your intro (last photo). Can you tell me where I can get this?

[@brickbrouwer9011]

your videos and creations are amazing! What is that flash mount that is mounted on your wall?

[@JordanToa_YT]

That was Awesome to see. ☺️

[@FourBricksTall]

Thanks! What do you think of the simpler video recording (GoPro and phone, no mirrorless cameras)? I'm trying to streamline but I'm curious if the quality affected how I teach.

[@JordanToa_YT]

@@FourBricksTall I think what you have works perfectly. I can understand it really well, but that’s because I’ve done the same thing but with different materials. I can understand everything from a technical standpoint. But overall I think you’re doing Great! ☺️

[@FourBricksTall]

@@JordanToa_YT Thanks a lot!

[@chasemagnitude2578]

Great tutorial. Thanks for taking time to do this. Was that a Color Poloarizing filter on the camera? if so, does it help reduce reflections? Also to answer a previous question, the quality of the tutorial was fantastic. Thank you 🙏

[@FourBricksTall]

Thanks! Yes it's a CPL and I need to do a video on that. There are a couple of gotchas with using one but I do highly recommend having one for toy photography.

[@MB-gg6rr]

How happy are you with the 30mm lens? You think it is a good starter?

[@SmolStufff]

I love this video! Very informative. Do you ever use cross polarization to get rid of specular highlights?

[@FourBricksTall]

All my macro lenses have CPL filters on them. I'll have the video up next.

[@lavalephoto]

Wow this is really amazing! What are you using as bounce card? Is this standard paper?

[@FourBricksTall]

It's cardstock which is a bit thicker. But I've used phone bills and even my kid's report card before. Whatever you have.