More LEGO special effects photography by Avanaut

I had to add another photo from Avanaut to show how much the extra effort makes a LEGO scene come alive. Most of Avanaut's special effects are done with standard household materials. See the other blog entry below for links to more details on  how to do these sort of effects in your photos.

Good lighting of LEGO photos

It is interesting to compare a commercial photo with a "mood" effects shot of the same thing.
See what a difference lighting and display technique make to the outcome of these too shots of almost the sme thing - a section of set 7623 - Temple Escape. It looks like a clip from a movie, but it is just standard LEGO well photographed.

The details of how it was done (underwater & with a drop of milk!) and other Flickr images by Avanaut can be seen at this link here: Avanaut at flickr.com
Lots of great photos with special effects here, especially Star Wars (including Hoth snow scenes!)
Compare the photo above with a normal photo (below) of the scene from the standard set photos.

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LEGO Geisha by RongYIREN

Great clean but effective design & technique by RongYIREN. Go to the Flickr link here to see more detail: RongYIREN's Geisha

For more of RongYIREN's creations, (including lots of mechs) go to his photostream at this link: RongYIREN's photostream

Badass LEGO guns book

Book available at Amazon.

From the bookstore site:
“Badass LEGO Guns is packed with building instructions for five impressive looking “weapons” built entirely from LEGO Technic parts. In this heavily illustrated 4-color book, you learn how to use LEGO Technic pieces to build working model guns like the Warbeast, a sophisticated, fully-automatic submachine gun; Parabella, a semi-automatic pistol; Thriller, a slide action crossbow pistol with smooth cocking and chambering mechanisms; and the Magic Moth, a simple butterfly “knife” built with Technic pieces.”

“Martin Hudepohl, a.k.a. Xubor, built his first LEGO guns in the early 1990s and has been developing ever-more sophisticated models since. He is a freelance programmer, who also composes original music. He lives in Germany.”

Video trailer at this link: http://youbentmywookie.com/wtf/badass-lego-gun-demostration-trailer-11362

Pricewatch LEGO - Myer - TOYS up to 2/3 full price.

It's back. Myer's "Buy 2, get 3rd free" offer. Finishes Saturday apparently. See the flyer details larger (bottom right) at link: http://www.myer.com.au/whats-on_latest-news_detail.aspx?view=408

iPhone LEGO case

How cool is this!? It makes me wish I had an iPhone, just so I can get it a LEGO case! Options of clear, black or white for US $20 plus postage
only through Amazon at this stage, but I am not sure if they will ship this to Australia - not all Amazon can be shipped internationally.

For the techies: If you have ever had your own idea for a custom item that fits your LEGO (like this case) then you should go to this link (http://blog.smallworks.com/ especially then scroll down to their December 13 entry where they show the actual molding process. They also discuss the problems of uneven cooling of the hot ABS plastic within the mold and show an AutoDesk animation of this hot plastic flow!)

LEGO for breakfast?

What would you make for a LEGO dessert? (via: http://legoexpress.tumblr.com/)

BIG LEGO Star Wars models!!!

The new models arriving at LEGOLAND California, which will be  will be the first of three parks to launch the Star Wars Miniland, including six scenes from the movie series, and one from The Clone Wars, comprised of about 2,000 individual models and over 1.5 million bricks, including a giant Millennium Falcon, an AT-AT, an X-Wing Fighter, along with other smaller characters like an AT-ST and R2-D2. It is expected to open to the public in March.

More photos and video at this link: technabob.com/blog - legoland-star-wars-model-pics

LEGO Grafitti and Street Art

Interesting concept that I just found. LEGO and grafitti combined!

Cole Blaq combines LEGO with a radical approach to art (including grafitti style) to come up with some great designs. This is some shots of his piece called "The Burn". See his name spelled out. This LEGO sculpture is lit using one downlight to great effect.
See more shot of this at http://coleblaq.blogspot.com/search?q=LEGO+Graffiti

See some of his other works like these by clicking this link:  coleblaq.blogspot.com LEGO Graffiti

Series 3 - dot sheets to identify contents

"From Bricks To Bothans" is a great site to keep an eye on. They ran an article with pictures of the series 3 packs, with the dots on the bottom highlighted with a marker pen.
fbtb.net series-3-blind-pack-code-cracked

See the photos of the packs here:
Their cheat sheet can be printed from the same page.
 

If you like LEGO Star Wars....

 Paul Yperman's Star Wars Droid Control Ship = 30000 pieces & 2 years later. How does something like this begin? Paul says, "Some years ago I walked into a second hand book shop and I bought a Star Wars Cross sections book. In the center stood the Droid Control Ship. It blew my mind and I knew I had to build it."

Lots more pics at this link here: Paul Yperman's Droid Control Ship on mocpages.com

Poseidon/Zeus WIP, Ares, Aphrodite WIP | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Poseidon/Zeus WIP, Ares, Aphrodite WIP | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Great mash ups of LEGO minifigs by zeessi to make something even better!
Have a look at some of the older and newer photos of designs by others in the linked set of Flickr favourites too.

LEGO technique - stained glass and floor mosaic - The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea: The Queen and the Pea | Flickr - Photo Sharing!: "Katie Walker"

Lego mini castle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lego mini castle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Bigger is not always better. Very impressive!

Self-Loading LEGO Dice Tower

A bit of fun, exploring levers and ramps and angles. Check out this dice loader and thrower!
It is simple, but still worth watching the video at this link: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/01/self-loading-lego-dice-tower/

LEGO model of the day at blxbrx - Escherisms

If you are not following Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day then you should. This one is from a couple of days ago. The special feature in this set of 5 different creations and photos by Blixe63 on Flickr are the optical illusions of M.S. Escher. I am told that, "No, these are not photo-shopped."  Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35385165@N05/tags/mcescher/
(Via: http://lmotd.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-escher-esque-illusions.html)

Series 3 Collectible Minifigs (green bags) in Target $4.90 each

Barcodes are gone, & ID "bumps" are in for Series 3.
See the printable ID sheet available in the "Useful Links" below right. The "dots" are not so clear now.

Brickvention 2011 & Ryan in The Age again

Another article with the Love Boat in The Age - see link here: theage.com.au - The older kids on the block

Brickvention 2011 & Love Boat in The Age newspaper

Brickvention 2011 is in The Age newspaper, and Ryan McNaught - Australia's own - and only 1 of 12 worldwide certified LEGO professionals - is exhibiting his new creation - The Love Boat.

"Based on the vessel in the long-running American television show, The Love Boat is split in half to reveal the inner workings of life on board the good ship romance.

There's a little yellow Captain Merrill Stubing, the long-time leader of the cruise ship, and a host of B-grade actors who set sail over the years, including a plastic David Hasselhoff and Engelbert Humperdinck.

Tiny motors power the boat's propeller, lifts and lifeboats, which are all remote-controlled.

"It's got over 500 little LED lights in it, including flashing lights in the disco and the rudder at the back of the ship moves," said Mr McNaught, who built the model in the garage of his Pascoe Vale South home."

Go to the full article in The Age at this link: theage.com.au lego fans labour of love 2011 01 04

Collectible Minifigures Series 3 - available in AU at LEGO S@H

Collectible Minifigures Series 3 - now available at LEGO S@H (Shop at Home).
Price is higher than previous series (1 & 2). This series is AU $4.99 (a 25% increase).
Look for discounting in the larger stores when they get stock to get them moving.