After creating a separate Instagram account for my Action Figure photos I decided it would be fun to occasionally shoot the same scene with LEGO and with 1:12 scale figs. This was my first Iron Fist themed one so it seemed like a good one to do a quick blog post on.
The first thing I needed is a similar background landscape for both shots. I only have so many Dioramas for Action Figures so I first choose one of those and then I need to build a LEGO diorama MOC to match.
I tried to build something as similar as possible but I did add a small air vent to the LEGO build to break up the lack of texture. The dioramas have way more detail on plain surfaces than LEGO of course.
When shooting I quickly realised that the scale of LEGO means its hard to get the diorama to match exactly and still allow the same framing and set up. LEGO figures are short and stumpy, compared to more accurately human scaled 1:12 Mezco action figure.
I found I had to left the camera up a little and aim down a bit to get a similar shot. Just due to the size of the walls at the edge. If I had made these higher on the LEGO set they would have looked really wrong. And I was not about to hack away at my dio! In retrospect I could have raised the walls on the LEGO set and shot slightly downwards on that one, but I liked the lower angle.
I also struggled to get a similar Depth Of Field on these shots. In the LEGO one you can see its much narrower than on the larger toys. I didn’t really realise this until after shooting though, so this will be something I look to work on next time.
Anyway, since I had this setup I decided to get at least 2 shots out of it. Action shots are not my strong point and also not my main interest. I prefer the just before and just after So that’s what you get here. You can fill in the gaps in your imagination!
FREETHEFIGURES 