26 replies to this topic

[Si-MOCs]

High in the in long lost mountain there stood a waterfall and pool.
Many years ago a great King built this temple to protect this mystic pool. The pool, it is said grants the power of renewed youth. But only those who are Worthy.

Those that are not worthy, suffer a monstrous fate.

Every 50 years the king returns to renew himself, accompanied by a small army.

The Army is not for protecting the King - he is just and well loved.

Instead, the Army is in case the King is found Unworthy...

[Corweena]

WOW! I love the stone work.....simply amazing! Great MOC overall.

[punkkid364]

Beautifully built and shot wonderfully!

[Niku]

It is beatiful not only in its conceptual design and background story but also the way you build it up has great realism and the scene is just full of epicness and suspense.

[Skipper]

Wow. Very intriguing backstory and even better MOC!

I love the way the temple is integrated into the rock work, and the lighted pool looks great in the dark shots.

I hate to compare something this awesome to TCW, but it reminds me of the scene where the Zillo Beast is being transferred to the lab.

Love it.

[CaptainBermuda]

That's very coo., I like the brickforge hoplite helms, probably the best brickforge piece ever

[Derfel Cadarn]

Like I said on Flickr, this just looks fantastic. The rock work is nicely done and the temples and steps look perfect. The lighting really brings the scene to life and is really used to great effect. Im a big fan of this era of buildings and keep meaning to make a temple. This is very inspiring, well done

[Viceroy]

Fantastic build and great use of light to really bring it alive. It does feel very ceremonial and your minifigs are great too. While you've stated that this shrine is located on a mountain, your MOC would work equally as well in a subterranean location!

[andhe]

What happens next?! I was sucked into the story. Great MOC and photography. A real feeling of ancient wonder and intrigue. Will have to take a closer look on flickr.

[Ecclesiastes]

Great moc, really like the temple! Also awesome photography!

[TheLegoDr]

Very interesting MOC. The overall build is nice. I very much liked the story with the little twist at the end. I was also asking myself what happened next.

[Big Cam]

This is an awesome design. The structural pieces are fantastic, but I'm drawn to the rock work as the most impressive part. It looks so natural and believable. The crooked staircase and of course the lit water make this just an outstanding MOC.

The attention to all these details really set this a step above the norm.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

What a masterpiece!
I love this fantastic MOC! Marble and stone everywhere!!!
Beautiful lights in the first pictures!

[Si-MOCs]

Thanks for all the comments everyone!

Niku, on 10 October 2011 - 01:40 AM, said:

It is beatiful not only in its conceptual design and background story but also the way you build it up has great realism and the scene is just full of epicness and suspense.

andhe, on 10 October 2011 - 02:00 PM, said:

What happens next?! I was sucked into the story.

TheLegoDr, on 10 October 2011 - 04:11 PM, said:

Very interesting MOC. The overall build is nice. I very much liked the story with the little twist at the end. I was also asking myself what happened next.

I actually planning a MUCH longer story about two brothers, how they found the pool, how they built the temple, how the unworthies came out etc etc - but I cut it short  cause I realized if I was going to tell a long story I should brickbuild some of the key scenes... and that'd mean I'd have to destroy the temple... or build a duplicate  

Skipper, on 10 October 2011 - 01:55 AM, said:

I hate to compare something this awesome to TCW, but it reminds me of the scene where the Zillo Beast is being transferred to the lab.

I actually got the idea from Batman - this is how Ra Al Ghul is 'immortal' - but I put in a little twist!

CaptainBermuda, on 10 October 2011 - 02:25 AM, said:

That's very coo., I like the brickforge hoplite helms, probably the best brickforge piece ever

It was one of their first items - but still my absolute favourite - as you can see I have a few  

Derfel Cardarn, on 10 October 2011 - 09:25 AM, said:

Like I said on Flickr, this just looks fantastic. The rock work is nicely done and the temples and steps look perfect. The lighting really brings the scene to life and is really used to great effect. Im a big fan of this era of buildings and keep meaning to make a temple. This is very inspiring, well done

I would LOVE to see you do a temple - I can't imagine what awesomeness you'd come up with  

Viceroy, on 10 October 2011 - 11:59 AM, said:

Fantastic build and great use of light to really bring it alive. It does feel very ceremonial and your minifigs are great too. While you've stated that this shrine is located on a mountain, your MOC would work equally as well in a subterranean location!

THAT IS BRILLIANT.

I could build an entire CAVE, and have the light bouncing from the roof...  
It would take a stupid amount of pieces...
I may rebuild it ... and use this idea if you don't mind.
oh CCC is coming up too isn't it?  

Big Cam, on 10 October 2011 - 04:20 PM, said:

This is an awesome design. The structural pieces are fantastic, but I'm drawn to the rock work as the most impressive part. It looks so natural and believable. The crooked staircase and of course the lit water make this just an outstanding MOC.

The attention to all these details really set this a step above the norm.

Thanks for the kind words! I find the details is what makes me proud of the my mocs - which is also why I don't tend to have really large ones as it's quite piece intensive.

[Sirens-of-Titan]

Beautiful creation SI-mocs! The lighting in blue gives a very elegant and mystic character to the temple!  

Extraordinary lighting and a masterful build make this a winner in my book! Well done!  

[Viceroy]

SI-mocs, on 10 October 2011 - 07:02 PM, said:

THAT IS BRILLIANT.

I could build an entire CAVE, and have the light bouncing from the roof...  
It would take a stupid amount of pieces...
I may rebuild it ... and use this idea if you don't mind.
oh CCC is coming up too isn't it?  

Go right ahead buddy, I'd love to see it done!

[Cee]

A very nice Moc i love the mountain landscape looks awsome

[kibosh]

Wow.  Can you talk a bit about the lighting in the pool?  How was it done?  And maybe some photography advice?

[Hartfan]

Amazing MOC. Love the shots. Looks great !!!

[Si-MOCs]

Sirens-Of-Titan, on 10 October 2011 - 09:52 PM, said:

Extraordinary lighting and a masterful build make this a winner in my book! Well done!  

I WIN!  

Cee, on 10 October 2011 - 11:03 PM, said:

A very nice Moc i love the mountain landscape looks awsome

Hartfan, on 10 October 2011 - 11:30 PM, said:

Amazing MOC. Love the shots. Looks great !!!

Thanks guys, glad you liked it.

kibosh, on 10 October 2011 - 11:20 PM, said:

Wow.  Can you talk a bit about the lighting in the pool?  How was it done?  And maybe some photography advice?

Sure no problem - there's actually three light sources - two of them are 4 LED light bars you can get at your local dollar store.
There's one inverted in the temple - but the batteries were running low so it's not AS noticeable.
The other is right under the pool.

The pool is literally a massive block of 1x2 trans dark blue, built with 1x2 transclear plate to hold it all together - nothing overly complicated  

The last is a little head light (not very powerful) that's behind the waterfall itself - it's not very bright but the lights in the pool make up for it.

--

With regards to photography advice - was there a specific question you wanted to ask? or something you want me to look over? or was along the lines of how to 'shoot in the dark'?

I used several tricks the main ones are:
The first and last shot I had regular spot lights on to add light.
The middle shot was pure darkness.
the 2nd and 4th shot was super cheating - using my TV to glow blue in the room ;)

The rest were my standard bag of tricks - I also did a little write up about my Photo tricks here that might also be useful:
http://www.eurobrick...dpost&p=1052484

Most of it applies to this build as well - though it's not nearly as large as the last layout.

"Where to start?
Tip 1) TRIPOD! very important, in low light conditions - even the 'brightly lit' shots were longish exposures.

Tip 2) Delayed shutter release - aka timer - I use it a lot for low light -as even releasing the shutter button causes SLIGHT vibrations. so if you have a 10s delay that vibration subsides by the time you take your shot - alternatively use a remote to trigger your camera.

Tip 3) Lighting is important. Even when there is lack of light  
Regardless if it's light or dark, try to make it evenly bright/dark over a large MOC. If you don't, since it's a long exposure one side will be unnaturally bright in one area.

Tip 4) In photography terms: Depth of Field or 'DOF' is what's in focus - in large mocs this is the hardest thing to work with.
The easiest trick is actually shoot your moc from as far back as you can and 'zoom' with your lens.
Alternatively you want the high 'Fstop' (that's F# like F9) that will give you a greater depth of field.
you can read more at: http://en.wikipedia....n_image_quality
Check out the image and seeing how just changing the Fstop can change how the picture looks (also good to know for when you want to do the reverse).

Tip 5) Take your time! and take lots of shots! - pretty obvious but take your time, I think I took over an hour taking pictures and 'trimmed' it down from 99 to the ones in the gallery.

To answer you specific questions:
I have a ball joint tripod that helps move around and take shots faster, but any tripod would work. I have a Nikon D90, but really any camera could have done if you follow some of the tips below - I used to have a pocket camera, and some of my favorite photos of all time were taken by that 'crappy' cam.
I used a lot of different lighting depending on the shot - anywhere from 2 bright spot lights (bounced off wall/ceiling) to a pocket LED flashlight to light up specific areas to using my TV to bounce some coloured light to absolute darkness - it depends on the shot (any in particular you were interested in?)"

--
If you have any other questions feel free to ask or pm me!

[Sid Sidious]

I like the broken stairs in it, that was a nice touch.  The rock work definitely looks very jagged and realistic.  Good job.

[fff]

Nice story, and great design.  

[Mudpuppy]

I really like the well-thought-out backstory that goes along with the MOC. A real winning touch!

[Leo-J]

Top-notched build and photography!

[The WarMocer]

Simply MAJESTIC!

that blue pool... it looked like it was just
blue tiles with some blue light on it
REALLY impressed by your tecnics!