LEGO Phone Photography Challenge Feedback and Tips

Finally, the long-awaited photo feedback on the entries to the LEGO World Builder x Four Bricks Tall Phone Photography Challenge is ready!
I brought back the judges, Foolish Bricks and Freethegeekman, to give helpful feedback on several entries and revisit our own work and mistakes as beginner LEGO photographers.
While these are beginner photos, there are lots of good insights and advice about composition and workflow in this one for anyone who shoots LEGO toys.
The LEGO World Builder x Four Bricks Tall Phone Photography Challenge was to take photos of LEGO subjects using one or more of the tips I wrote up in my blog post, How to Take Better Photos of Toys with a Phone (fourbrickstall.com/phonephoto..., and post them to Instagram.
We had over 150 entries but selected just 7 to talk about, including our winner and runner-up. You can see all the other entries here: / lwbxfbt
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.
Find me on Instagram at / fourbrickstall

[@freethefigures]

This was lots of fun! Thanks for the invite to talk about these great photos

[@foolishbricks8794]

Thanks for setting this up and asking me to join in. It was certainly fun to discus these wonderful photos, get new insights, and have some great fun too!

[@em623]

Hello! I’m collin_bricks! Thank you so much for featuring my photo! I’ve been so over the moon about it! I’ll continue to do my best in my photos. Thank you. 🙏

[@FourBricksTall]

Wonderful photo! Thanks for joining and letting us do this!

[@em623]

Thank you guys for liking it so much! 😊

[@Wormhole_Traveler]

That was really interesting. I remembered my own phone photography. Thank you!

[@FourBricksTall]

Thanks for watching! It was good to relate again with that stage in our photography, and getting to enjoy seeing the much better efforts these beginners had with a reference to work from.

[@neoclassicalbuilder]

Foolish bricks! I'm a huge fan of all of you! ( Been keeping updated on all of the foolish bricks comics (my favorite character is one eyed Willy)

[@FourBricksTall]

One-eyed Willy is a great character! My fave too

[@foolishbricks8794]

Thank you Basket Builds! That is very kind of you. Always good to hear back from readers 😃 Oh! And Willy is actually one of my favorites too. I gave him my sense of humor 😋.

[@neoclassicalbuilder]

@@foolishbricks8794 and what a sense of humor it is! I've been working on my own series of comics too, inspired a bit by yours, (sort of a sitcom, focused around horror characters living with an ordinary guy) still working on a way of sharing it to more than just the Lego life community though, been thinking possibly Instagram? I've been loving the way you've taken foolish bricks season 3 by the way! It's great to see most of the cast together at one time!

[@foolishbricks8794]

@@neoclassicalbuilderSounds great! Be sure to let me know when you have the comic up and running so I can check it out and add you to the most complete list of Lego Comics to be found on the Internet.

[@neoclassicalbuilder]

Is it still possible for me to enter? I've been doing phone photography for as long as I can remember and I think I'm improving!

[@FourBricksTall]

We'll hold a new challenge early 2023! Stay tuned!

[@lego4virgo]

Will you be doing this again? I missed this, somehow!

[@FourBricksTall]

A phone photography challenge or a feedback session? Definitely the second: it'll be a regular feature. For a challenge, I'll see if I can find another prize sponsor. If not, I'll consider hosting a just-for-fun challenge next year.

[@lego4virgo]

@@FourBricksTall A "just-for-fun" would be great! And yes, a feedback session would be great as well! I've started re-watching your videos again, and I plan to see how I can improve my phone photography (I also plan to invest in those macro lenses that you mentioned).

[@FourBricksTall]

@@lego4virgo These macro lens clip ons are fun but you have to make peace with the unbalanced feel in your hand and the limited focus distance. Anyway, hold off on buying the Kase. I've seen something else I want to review in January.

[@lego4virgo]

@@FourBricksTall Ok! I also know that since I have a Motorola G Stylus phone, my lens quality won't be as good as an iPhone or a Galaxy, but I think using natural surroundings, natural light, can help in outdoor photos. It's my indoor ones I'll need help with--needing to understand what type of lighting I need to use to convey the story.