The Koensayr's BTL Y-Wing Fighters often got their cockpit opening mechanism jammed in sub-zero operating temperatures. On Hoth It was not good, not good at all.
This photo was taken on December 6, 2009.
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TOF2006, south of the metro, thengl, Evan MacPhail Photography, and 719 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Avanaut (42 months ago | reply)
There's been some questions about how I do the snowshots. I've given some verbal information about the technique, but I guess, a photograph about my setup is needed. So, I made the photos above and below just for the occasion.
The setup is simple really. All I use is an old transparent CD storage box, some water and my trusty old A4 lightbox for lighting. For the bottom of the box I have a piece of gray Lego baseplate cut in form and hotglued on a piece of acrylic sheet to give it some weight. Legos float because of all the air trapped inside individual pieces.
Anything I want to shoot is then easily mounted on the baseplate and inserted inside the CD box.
Photographing "snow" in this scale is difficult, and to amp up the challenge I wanted it to fly around. The answer was not to use faster shutterspeed but to slow the snow down.
I had a wacky idea to submerge everything in water, it slows down everything that moves. The water also causes light to reflect from solid surfaces in a way that sometimes helps hiding the miniature scale. This is an old concept I've been toying with for ages. For the snow I use ground plaster of Paris (reacted, not unused gypsum powder!), it is a passive material that doesn't stick to anything.
Lighting is done with the lightbox freehand as you can see from the photo below.
I shoot a lot of frames because the "snow" is impossible to control exactly. And then some photoshopping is in order, but not always, sometimes none is needed.
(edit:) A question prompted me to add this: The reason for sharing is simply because as a kid I loved "making of" -features. Ancient Making of Star Wars VHS tape was a treasure of mine back in the 80's. If I can contribute in that field I'm more than happy to do it. I do not make images like these for a living (not that I wouldn't like to), I can therefore afford to share this. Have fun, be fair. :-)
Ichthyophagous (42 months ago | reply)
WOW! Awesome way of photographing that!
south of the metro (42 months ago | reply)
great work man ! kinda looks like feeding in an aquarium, hehee.
love this!
Andrew Buck (42 months ago | reply)
Great production in this shot, well done :)
Lucy Davey75 (42 months ago | reply)
amazing idea,thanks for sharing
thengl (42 months ago | reply)
unbelievable setup!
Evan MacPhail Photography (42 months ago | reply)
This is so very creative. Thanks for the information on how you did this. Great shot, again.
im.mick (42 months ago | reply)
ooooh. mate a picture tells a thousand words as they say!
i will definately have to look into setting something up like that!! its awesome.
great concept!
just gotta find out what reacted ground plaster is now :D
Avanaut (42 months ago | reply)
Thanks for your comments!
I edited the setup text a bit, im.mick, it's plaster of Paris, stuff that plaster casts are made. It has to be reacted, used, before you put it in water, otherwise it'll petrify and ruin whatever it is you're shooting.
Andrew Cookston (42 months ago | reply)
So was this same process (Minus the Snow of course) for the Indiana Jones Temple, to illuminate those great light shafts? Really great Idea!
KWG73 (42 months ago | reply)
Another great shot and a fantastic idea for the setup. I would of never of thought that they were submerged in water.
pasukaru76 (42 months ago | reply)
This is way beyond awesome! Sometimes knowing the magic behind a shot ruins it for me, but in this case it just seems all the more brilliant.
BRIGHTSTAR500 (42 months ago | reply)
really cool!
Ѕolo (42 months ago | reply)
My mind has been blown, that is a fantastic method to simulate snow.
powerpig (42 months ago | reply)
That's a very clever technique!
Ewok in Disguise (42 months ago | reply)
All has been said above, but I like this so much that its in my favorites. Which actually means something, because I only have seven others!
懶散道人 (42 months ago | reply)
GOOD
im.mick (42 months ago | reply)
ive got my plaster, ive got my little plastic box, im ready to give it a go!!
no brilliant idea for a pic, im just going to try it out and see how it turns out!!
thanks heaps for the setup shot and info.. its brilliant.
Avanaut (42 months ago | reply)
The British Bafoon: Yes, it's the same box & method.
Thank you all for the supportive comments and faves.
Mick: Yeah! Looking forward to see some results.
Christophe Wolwowicz (42 months ago | reply)
Waw ! really nice work !!!
Artamir (42 months ago | reply)
Thanks a lot for the making off ! Will have to try it !
Luka Zou (42 months ago | reply)
Really a creative work!!
☼ Helder (42 months ago | reply)
great work. thanks for sharing this making of
Med PhotoBlog (42 months ago | reply)
really cool, i need some snow trooper, and try this ingenious idear !
love this one, bravo et felicitations !
Dunechaser (42 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Blogged by The Brothers Brick, and we'd love to have this added to the group! (This one too.)
Apocalust (42 months ago | reply)
Excellent. Brilliant. I grew up in a University art department, and one of my favorite pastimes was the plaster dump can. It was this huge trashcan full of used plaster from students' castings. There would be this pristine milky powder surface under about six inches of water. I would drop larger chunks of plaster onto said surface and watch the "explosions" and marvel at the craters left by the chunks. Thank you for making me relive this memory, and thank you for making such a wonderful inventive piece!
legojeff (42 months ago | reply)
Great Technic Sir. really amazing.
Heather LEGOgirl [deleted] (42 months ago | reply)
Thanks for sharing this great "making of". I've always been fascinated by the way people achieve their shots and this one just blows me away. Genius!
mechanischwunder [deleted] (42 months ago | reply)
Simply brilliant, all done under water!
Avanaut (42 months ago | reply)
Le prince noir, Artamir , Josky_TW, ☼ Helder and Mehdi Drouillon: Thank you very much!
Dunechaser: Thanks for blogging this!
Apocalust: Thanks! Experiences close to what you describe also loom somewhere behind my experiments with water and whatnot. :)
legojeff, Heather LEGOgirl and mechanischwunder: Thank you very much!
legot465 (42 months ago | reply)
How did you do the snowball
Avanaut (42 months ago | reply)
legot465: Do you mean this snowball? That one is carved from a piece of plaster and the glued to a stick with hotglue.
_lichtblau_ (42 months ago | reply)
I'm simply speechless...thanks so much for sharing this!
The chilling cold Hoth part is my favorite scene of all Star Wars movies and I'm somewhat addicted to the atmoshere of these scenes.
I bow before your brilliant creative mastership and your ability to catch this "Hoth" spirit in such an impressive way!
Furthermore thank you for sharing your "making of"..I still love to watch those features and I'm still surprised how simple but effective some "old school" non digital techniques are.
Guss De Blöd (42 months ago | reply)
just excellent, the result is very very cool, great job !
Jorel_ (42 months ago | reply)
Now that is perfection! :D Instant fave! Nice work!!
Bamboose (42 months ago | reply)
This is amazing! great work! :)
ta||tim (42 months ago | reply)
but the figs will drown!
Jerac (42 months ago | reply)
Okay, now that is definitely the best lego photo I've ever seen. I am truly speechless, it captures the atmosfere so greatly that... that I am out of all these "congrats" words.
Do more, just bigger!
SavaTheAggie (42 months ago | reply)
If only I was willing to submerge one of my trains to do this... such an awesome technique! Well done, fantastic shot.
Freeman555 (42 months ago | reply)
Awesome !!!
ErnestoCarrillo70 (42 months ago | reply)
Fantastic!
Daz Hoo (42 months ago | reply)
Trully awesome! And the fact that you explain how you achieve this only adds to your credit. Bravo!
Eleven-Thirty-Eight (42 months ago | reply)
This is so great! I'd never guess how you did this. It was quite interesting to read about how you set up this shot.
Just.Sie (42 months ago | reply)
Beautiful
Fiddybobiddy (42 months ago | reply)
Thanks so much for the look behind the curtain!
MyNameIsDelme (42 months ago | reply)
ingenious...and a great shot.
Avanaut (42 months ago | reply)
_lichtblau_: Thanks! The Hoth sequence is legendary indeed. During the making of the ESB there were rumors that some bits would be filmed in Finnish Lapland. As a kid and a native Finn I was obsessed with this. Unfortunately, according to these rumours, the Finnish military refused to lend Lucasfilm crew transportation vehicles and they went to Norway instead. I still don't know the truth, I hope Rinzler's upcoming book sheds some light on this.
Guss De Blöd, Jorel_, Bamboose: Thank you very much!
tajjtim: Fast shutterspeed, quick submersion. No minifigs were harmed during shooting of these images. :)
Jerac, SavaTheAggie, Freeman555, ErnestoCarrillo70, Daz Hoo, Eleven-Thirty-Eight, legoman31, FiddybodiddyFiddy and MyNameIsDelme: Thanky you very much!
_lichtblau_ (42 months ago | reply)
^If I remember rightly and according to the Making Of on the Special Edition DVD, some of the Hoth scenes were filmed out of the front door of an Norwegian hotel, while the actors were stumping through the snow drift on the parking lot...
So, it was a little similar to your work...your "actors" are literally in the tank while you were (hopefully) sitting in a more or less comfy ambient...the result is convincing and stunning but the ways and means are surprisingly simple...
nicolamarini79 (42 months ago | reply)
fantastic :)
leg0fenris (42 months ago | reply)
master of hoth, epic! best shot and funny too!
thx for sharing how you did it - i'm not sure if others will even get close. anyway, you are the first.
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