My concept was The Flash running at speed with his characteristic lightning and a feeling of being the fastest man alive.

My set up was the flash running, held up with blue tac and a lego background building, which in this case was the Sanctum Sanctorum. Usually I’d have the character running into the scene but in this case I used the other side of the two thirds because of the lightning affect I was planning for behind him.

Step 1 – Motion Blur

Once in photoshop I duplicated the layer and added a motion blur filter. I played around with a few different levels but in the end I like a -7 degree angle at a distance of 250 pixels.

I used a layer mask to bring the lego flash back into focus. I left the edges blurred as I think it helps with the overall speed affect.

Step 2 Lightning

Next stage was to add the lightning. I used the “place” function in screen blending mode. To get rid of the background glow I used a levels adjustment. Once the lightning was in place I used the transform tool to distort it and position it as if he was running. The lightning I used was blue in colour so I added a hue/saturation layer to make the lightning yellow – like the real flash. Then it was a case of repeat this process until I was happy with it – as above.

Step 3 Glow

All good lightning, when you run that fast, has to glow. So that was my next task. I created a new layer in overlay blending mode. Using the colour picker I chose a yellow and painted in the glow. While I was painting I also decided to add a glow to his face and logo to help them stand out as he runs with the speed force. I reduced the opacity until it was just the right amount of glow.

Step 4 Finishing the Affects

I wanted to add some sparks – using the place function – below his feet as that’s what happens when you run that fast. Once that was done I felt I needed to move the lightning so it didn’t overlap. I made a few small adjustments to the position of the lightning. I also added a little more glow to the overlay layer I’d created in step 3.

Step 5 Final Adjustments

My final adjustments were made in Lightroom. I added some saturation and vibrance and adjusted the tone curve to make it a slightly darker shot. (Flash takes on most villains at night.) Finally I added a little vignette to darken the edges.

And there you have the final image. I hope you like it. I’d love to hear your thoughts and what you would have done differently.

The idea for my shot was born out of how rock stars are idolised beyond how they look. To create it I decided to use my new Lego Frankenstein Monster Rocker. I set up a platform (it’s actually from a fire boat set) and created an audience from a couple of ninjago and other torsos.

I used a black background and took some shots with different positions for my rock star.

Stage one was to crop to 4×5 and the reduce the exposure in Lightroom. I wants a fairly tight crop to create a feeling of a busy audience with the rocker taking in the acclaim. I left a fair amount of space at the top so that I would be able to create the spot and lighting affects.

As you can see the black isn’t completely black. I used a black brush to paint it black. I then added a dodge layer to brighten the rockers head and other places the spotlight would hit him.

To create the spotlight I used the polygonal lasso tool to make the shape of the light on a new layer. Next, I used the gradient tool (set on white to transparent) to fill it. I added gaussian blur to make it look more like light. I added a hue/saturation layer clipped to affect only the spotlight and set it to colorise. I reduced the brightness (so the white would colorise) and changed the hue to match the monsters skin colour.

I also wanted a light into the audience. I used the same process as above but used a lens flare brush and colorised it to make it more orange.

My final step was to create the smoke around our star – as if he was truly a famous rocker. I used a new layer to render some clouds. I increased the size so it didn’t look like clouds but smoke as the light hits it. I then used a mask to make it only appear to be on stage. Finally, because I felt it was a bit strong, I reduced the opacity.

I hope you like the final shot. Let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

I used a fairly simple set up. Thor was posed as if jumping, arms spread holding his hammer. The background was my iPad and I used the bluetac package to get a better angle of him jumping into action. After a few shots and different angles I decided to use this image to edit.

Stage one was to clean up. I tried to use content aware removal on the stand but it did a terrible job so I had to use the clone stamp tool. The blue tac on his arm was also removed with the clone stamp tool.

Stage 2 was to add in the affects. I started by placing lightning on his eyes, chest and hammer. I found I could get a better affect by placing multiple lightning images and using the transform tools to mould it to each area.

I also wanted to add a glow to his chest and eyes. To do it I used a colour dodge layer and painted white then added outer glow on the layer style. I liked the effect, especially supported by the lightning.

To finish the affects I added some lightning from his left hand to the edge of the image. This took quite a bit of playing with the distort transform tool to get it how I envisioned it. I find the distort tool in photoshop elements can be hard to use but I think I got there in the end.

My final touch in Photoshop was to add some sparks. I used the black foreground colour brush to remove unwanted and distracting sparks.

Lastly, back in Lightroom, I added some saturation and vibrance. Adjusted to tone curve and added some vignette.

Overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I hope you like it too.

Here is the original image.

As you can see, it is quite a bright image of Hagrid standing outside his hut with his lantern.

My first task was to create a more “night” time feel to the image. To do it, I created a brightness adjustment layer to reduce the exposure. Then a saturation adjustment layer to de-saturate the image.

I used two layers to create the lantern affect. The first was an orange brush in screen blend mode. The second a colour dodge layer with a lens flare brush.

I still wanted it to feel a bit darker, particularly just behind the door where you can see how bright it originally was. To solve this I created a new layer and painted a black to transparent layer from the top right hand corner into the centre. This was set to screen blend mode.

I then made another layer and painted black at 70% opacity. I set the blend mode to overlay and was much happier with the darker feeling of the image.

My final task was to add a colour dodge layer so I could brighten Hagrid’s face – as if the lantern was shining onto him.

This was a fairly quick but enjoyable image to make and I hope you like it.

The set itself is going to provide a great back drop for some lego photography and I can’t wait to share some more over the next few weeks.

If you’re interested in the set you can find it here

This is an affiliate link. If you’ve enjoyed this article, are thinking of getting this set and use this link I will receive a small commission – at no extra cost to you – which will help with the running costs of this site. And I’ll really appreciate your support. So thank you.

My first job in photoshop was to select the eyes to really make them stand out. I used a colour fill layer to make them white, then added some gaussian blur (only set to 4). In the layer style options I added a glow to add drama to the image. My goal was to make Zane look more intense, as if he was riding into battle.

Next I placed a lens flare on the top third of the image. Initially it went across the front of his face, so I used a mask to remove that and make it a background effect. The original flare was a bit too blue for my taste so I used a hue/saturation layer to make it a bit lighter and closer to the ice feel I was going for. (He is the ice ninja after all.)

Lastly, I needed so atmosphere so I used a sparks image. Again I used to hue/saturation layer to change it from sparks to more blue and therefore ice. Using the black foreground colour I painted out the sparks on his face and – at a 50% opacity – reduced the sparks on his body.

I hope you like the final image. I like how some quick edits can give an old image new life. Now it’s time to play with Zane and take down Lord Garmadon.

The Set Up

As you can see above, I set my scene up in the garden. I used the sanctum sanctorum because I wanted a lego building in the background and I knew it wouldn’t stand out as the sanctum. I posed molten man first then put Spiderman into the scene. To get his web in the right position I used a fairground ticket building. If you look closely, you’ll notice Batman is hanging off the building. This was from a previous shot and fortunately, it didn’t affect this shot due to the camera angle I used. I didn’t notice him until after so I was pretty lucky with that one.

I took a few shots from a few different angles and eventually decided on this one to edit.

Photoshop

My first task was to add a colour dodge layer and highlight molten man’s fire effect and spiderman’s eyes. I knew I’d want to make them stand out and Moltenman would need to glow – as he does in the comics and the film’s trailer.

With the main characters done I added a brightness adjustment layer to reduce the exposure of the shot. The colour dodge still made the characters stand out as I’d intended but reduced everything else to make them stand out from the background.

I used a new layer and the colour picker to paint in the orange glow. I actually used a few different colours and set it to the overlay blend mode to create the effect I was looking for.

The last stage was to add in some effects. In particular, some sparks and some dust. In both cases I duplicated the layers to made them stand out a bit more and really finish off the image.

This was a pretty quick edit but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I hope you like it too. Please let me know what you think.

I finally reviewed the Sanctum Sanctorum which has some of my favourite superhero characters and is a really fun set. I also started getting a couple of Star Wars sets to build out my collection. In particular, the Republic Battle Tank and Darth Vaders Transformation. Hopefully you read the Darth Vader post as I recreated this iconic scene. I really enjoyed it.

Another notable new set was the Molten Man set from the new Spiderman Far From Home film. This is a great set, especially for photography and I hope you liked some of the shots I’ve done so far using it.

This months I’ve again learned a lot and praticed a lot in photoshop and I’m still enjoying the process. I’ve had a few behind the scenes posts which hopefully you’ve found useful.

So let’s begin the countdown of my favourite shots.

5. Kai, Master Of Fire

This one was fun to set up and the hardest part of the editing was cloning the door back in. I like the effect of the flaming swords.

4. Hercules

Take a look at the behind the scenes of my Lego Hercules scene. This was fun to create and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I suspect I’ll be using more of Hercules in the coming months.

3. Aayla Secura

This one was fun but a challenging set up because of the wider angle and therefore the background. Hopefully you read the behind the scenes and you’ll know how I did it.

2. Batman

This one was actually pretty straight forward but I really like the end result. Batman is doing what he does best, keeping everyone safe.

1. Ironman

I’ve used Ironman before but with Avengers End Game being released I couldn’t resist another one. He’s one of my favourite characters and I really wanted to create the feeling of him battling evil outside the sanctum. My favourite image this month.

Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed everything on the blog this month. Can’t wait to see what June brings…

As you’d expect, the first task was to remove the stand using content aware fill and then the clone stamp to tidy up.

I added a colour dodge layer to add brightness to the trident. On the same layer I very slightly increased the brightness of aqua man’s face and body.

I added a lens flare – using a brush – just behind the main character and then masked out the unwanted areas.

It’s now time to add the sharks. I used the same sharks as for Ocean Master.

This time I added more sharks and was much happier with how they came out after using the transform tool. I also added a brightness adjustment layer to make the sharks blend in better with the background.

My final steps in photoshop were to add some sparks at a low opacity and some bubbles underneath aqua man’s feet. It was then back into Lightroom. I decided to crop it to 4 by 5 and add a little vignette. And here you have the final image.

I hope you like the final image. Let me know what you think and if there is anything you would have done differently.

The set itself is quite good and comes with a handed stand for both the underwater characters. Now I realise lego probably didn’t do this to help my photography but it was very useful and helped a lot making it an easy set up. Ocean Master was put on his stand in front of an iPad. I used a light to light my character and took some shots. I finally settled on this one to edit.

The first task was to crop to remove the iPad in the background. I used the content aware removal tool to get ride of the stand.

I create a new layer by selecting the eyes and filled with a red colour. I applied gaussian blur to that layer and used the layer style option to add a purple glow. This really helped the eyes stand out.

I created a colour dodge layer to add some highlights to the trident. I also very slightly increased the brightness of Ocean Master’s face and body. Just enough to make him stand out.

I used a lens flare brush to create some light between the arches in the background. It needed a layer mask so the flare didn’t appear to be infant of Ocean Master.

I added some bubbles underneath the character and used the black brush to remove it from unwanted areas.

My original idea for this shot involved some sharks in the background. I used this shot for most of the sharks.

Clearly it needed the selection and a new layer via cut. Then I was able to use the transform tool to place them in the shot and adjust their perspective. I also used another shark with it’s mouth open to be the centre shark in the image. I also added an adjustment layer to reduce the brightness of all the sharks.

My final step was to add some sparks at a low opacity then crop it to 4 by 5.

Back in Lightroom I added a little vignette and here you have the final image.

I hope you like it. Please let me know in the comments or by contacting me directly. I love hearing from you.

My idea for todays shot was a battle scene between Spiderman, Mysterio and Molten Man.

The Setup

As you can see I had to use some stands to pose the heroes. If you really want to know Mysterio is on a mast from the Destiny’s Bounty and Spiderman is on the log from the Lego city Forest Tractor. The background is the Sanctum Sanctorum, my favourite Avengers Lego set.

My camera was setup on a tripod ready to take the shot. As always I took quite a few with various adjustments for the positions of the mini-figures to make them appear to be in battle with Molten Man. I decided on this image to edit.

Photoshop

As you’d expect, I first had to remove the stand and my hand. The clone stamp tool was all I needed, and a little time. This was more complicated than normal and needed a lot of zooming in and making sure I adjusted the selection to clone. The hardest part was the building so I could maintain the shadows but it was well worth the time.

Hopefully, you’ve read my previous post on Molten Man so you’ll know how I used the pattern fill. In any case I used it again to remove the table top and replace it wis rocks with an increased size. I used various shades of orange on a new layer in screen blend to create the lava effect.

The top of the image is white so I added a sky and used a layer mask to make sure it only appeared to be above the sanctum.

I used a colour dodge layer for Molten Man, Mysterio and Spiderman’s eyes and his web. Spiderman is in his Stealth suit but I really wanted his eyes to stand out. I also felt I needed to use a colour burn (darken layer) to darken Spiderman’s suit. I had a very low opacity for this layer. This also made the eyes stand out.

Mysterio

Mysterio was a prime target for effects in this image. I added a smoke layer to his mask on a low opacity. Next was to put smoke out of his hands. To create the glow I added a new layer of various colours of green. This was set to screen blend mode. Finally I added some fog behind him to finish off the affect.

Effects

My final adjustments were to add some sparks to the image. I used a layer mask to remove the sparks from Mysterio and Spiderman. I reduced the brightness of the image and added some flames to the building. It is a battle after all. I reduced the brightness of the sky using a new layer and a clipping mask so it only affected the sky.

However, looking at the image I decided to crop in closer and that ended up removing the sky. I still think it was worth adding the sky – even though I didn’t ultimately use it.

Before I exported the final image from Lightroom I added a little vibrance. That was enough to finish the image. I hope you like it.

I hope you like the final image. Let me know in the comments or please use the contact me form. I’d love to hear from you.