LEGO The Lord of the Rings: Balrog Book Nook (10367) Review

When I had the option of what set I was going to review I was keen and excited to try something a bit different. And LEGO’s desire to squeeze out as many book nooks as possible at the moment, it seemed like a good thing to try ot mix things up. I will tell you upfront I went back and forth between this set and the Sherlock Holmes one for quite a while. The deciding factor when I finally got to my decision was simple, it was Durin’s Bane. The chance to get a Balrog and the lighting opportunities that would bring, I could not give that a go.

The scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror

As I thought about wanting to get a variety out of photos from the set to best review it, I did have the idea of trying something a little outside of my usual comfort zone. In this case it was to try and take photos of LEGO in situ. And I don’t mean on location, for anyone who follows my photography you’ll know I am more than happy to carry a toy through a desert or forest or up a mountain to get a photo. No, in this case and with this set I mean the fact it does something else other than act as a play set of a particular setup or scene. That it is also a display item that interacts with human scale objects. Time to get myself some books, and setup a real life diorama.

This was the photograph I had in my head when I was thinking about getting and then when I was building the set. And I am so happy with the outcome. While the LEGO was on order I was able to find these books online to help window dress the scene. I got six in the set I ordered so I have done a bit of compositing and combine multiple photos to make my “book” collection seem larger in volume.

They are false books, I didn’t end up buying six copies of War & Peace. Just well decorated cardboard boxes.

As for the setup the build is in exactly the situation it is designed to be in so nothing to sophisticated there. The complexities came with getting the various lighting setup. As everything is about flame and shadow in the scenes of Moria the lighting was going to be everything for these photos.

There are four key lights in this setup:

1. Backlights to give the Balrog’s silhouette and the feeling of flames behind it.
2. A spotlight from above with an orange gel, this gives direct light to the flames coming from the Balrog’s head and back.
3. I replaced the jewel that acts as the light in Gandalf’s staff with a cool tone LED, powered by USB to light up (just remember to brush out the wires in post).
4. Som front lighting with a LED torch, This provided a little bit of light painting to pick up the highlights in the face of the Balrog.

With all the lights set it was also important to turn off all the lights in the house (I did take all these pictures at night to best control the lighting). I then set a long exposure of 1.5 seconds and added some atmosphere aerosol to catch all that light.

The dark fire will not avail you

In the first photograph it was hard to see the wider details of the set such as the flames on the sides. When this set is not in book nook mode it can be opened to show a wider scene and an impressive wingspan for the Balrog.

This was the moment where I wanted to replicate the moment from the movie as closely as possible. That moment where the Balrog stands up as Gandalf turns and confront’s it on the bridge. Not when Gandalf does his magic, pronouncing his titles and casting his spell. But the moment before when the might of the Balrog is shown in it’s entirety. It grows in stature and all the fire and flame shows it’s might.

The setup and plan here was to expand the set and the scene to fill the frame. And this wider expansion of the pillars in the background can now fill the width of my anamorphic setup. It wasn’t quite wide enough though so I separated the bridge with Gandalf from the background which gave space to place the Balrog in the middle.

It’s also easier to see the replaced LED stud in Gandalf’s staff, to replicate his quote as the servant of the Secret Fire and wielder and the Flame of Anor. I also felt the dutch angle of the whole setup wasn’t enough and in the laziest of fashions I propped the backdrop up on the battery pack.

I’m not hugely keen on the way the LEGO pieces on the side to represent the wider flames are used. Without any lighting they can feel a bit flat and underwhelming. However with some backlight and a shallower depth of focus in the photograph, the blur and bokeh, along with the glowing colours I was really happy with the resulting image.

Lighting from both sides of the scene for this one. It was important to feel surrounded by flames this time as Gandalf and the Balrog stand off with one another.

1. I fitted a warm light behind the flames on the side of the set, this was as close as possible but just off camera.
2. A second warm light is shining on the front of the scene.
3. Out of shout, but still present was the spotlight from above to catch light on the flames on the Balrog’s head and back again.
4. Using the LED stud to light Gandalf’s staff.

The darkness dwells in Durin’s halls

I really love the pillars and the way they are built out of overlapping plates and shield type elements. The build on this part of the set represents the style of the Dwarven architecture of Moria beautifully in my opinion. As part of the build I really enjoyed the clever use of brown, tan and grey pieces to mimic the fiery glow of the Balrog of the various pillars from different angles.

For the photo though it provided a bit of a challenge. I thought about using photoshop to reduce the saturation and create a more neutral colour palette. But in the end I decided to change to a warm light on Gandalf’s staff to better match the colours of the build.

If you have watched The Fellowship of the Ring movie, you will know this book nook is a representation of a hall of stone which includes thousands upon thousands of pillars. I just had to find a way to achieve this with the four pillars I had. I did remove all of the flames from the sides of the set to open up the opportunity to capture the wider hall as Gandalf moves through it.

Lighting for this one was threefold:

1. A spotlight from the front hanging high in front of the set as the main light shining on Gandalf.
2. A second light panel resting on top of the set shining down with ambient light for the scene.
3. The LED stud in Gandalf’s staff, acting as the lighting of the scene story wise.

To “create” more pillars in this photograph I got the masking tape out and did some maths. Thinking of the set geometrically I marked where each of the pillars would end up. Then after taking the first image with Gandalf I removed him and his staff light then moved the set six times over and composited the various captures together to create the wider halls.

The key lighting solution was to keep the highly positioned spotlights in the same place. While the set moved from spot to spot the main light still lit the “spot” where Gandalf would have been stood originally.

One thing I did find hard with this more complex setup and using multiple exposures to capture the geometry was to get the right angles to show more and more pillars. I can promise you that the early tests I did were very unsuccessful as I repeatedly hid the deeper pillars I wanted to appear deeper in the image with the ones closer to the front.

Also really important to note when doing something like this is you have to use manual focus to keep the situation identical photo to photo. Just like the lighting, it had to stay the same all the way through.

May you ever appear where you are most needed and least expected!

Similar, yet so much simpler than the previous photograph but I really loved the outcome of this setup.

I span Gandalf around from where he should be standing looking in to the set, to looking out of the set. This gave him the feeling of passing through the pillars. Also leaving the Balrog out was the best for the simplicity of the photo. But I did add the flames back into position on the set to provide the backdrop to the scene.

Lighting setup for this one was a lot of repetition of other elements already used:

1. I had a warm light shining through the flames on the closest side of the set, but shining through to make the far side glow as well.
2. A second warm light shining from above and behind Gandalf to make everything behind him feel aflame.
3. Using the LED stud to light Gandalf’s staff again, but this one was back to being a cool light to help contrast the warmth of the background.

While it was important to light from behind to create a feeling to be chased by flames. But it also created shadows and silhouettes on Gandalf and the pillars. It’s a small element on the photograph but I really do like the various tones on the different angles on the pillars. I know I said it before, but I really like the geometry of rhe build of the pillars.

What an evil fortune! And I am already weary

In this final photograph I got the fake books out again to create that Toy Story/Indian in the Cupboard quality of the toys interacting in the “real” world. But this time I wanted the feeling of the figures coming out of the book nook and into the wider “real” world.

It’s worth noting I had to fake the number “books” I had again by compositing a few photos together for a second time, using the same books, again and again in different spots from photo to photo.

I was very specific with the posing of the Balrog, I wanted the stepping out moment, and I specifically wanted the clawed hand coming around the corner of the set. I suppose it mimics the bridge of khazad-dûm scene, with Gandalf in the open space and the Balrog on the precipice as they stand off with one another.

Lighting wise it’s a lot of similar elements to many of the other photographs:

1. A warm backlight hidden behind the books and within the frame of the set.
2. A spotlight to shine on and highlight the flames on the Balrog’s head.
3. Some light painting on the face of the Balrog with and LED torch.
4. An LED stud in Gandalf’s staff.

It was important to give the feeling of the elements coming out of the set. This was easy with the Balrog simply stepping through the gap. But I think it’s the shape of the light on the ground and the atmosphere billowing out of the gap that really sells it for me. I also liked how the light catches the Balrog’s whip in this shot and gives it a glowing quality but makes a connecting line over to Gandalf on the other side of the image.

Conclusions

If you read any non-photography reviews of this set from around the internet (I know , what could go wrong by asking the internet, right?) you’ll likely find mixed feelings that many people have about it. The specific issue I’d like to reference is the lighting, and unsurprisingly how that impacts as a photographer. Many of the reviews point out how dark the set is when displayed as a book nook, and I can completely understand. I’m looking at it now on my desk and the Balrog is hardly visible due to being surrounded by my many copies of War & Peace.

The key, and I truly hope this comes across in my efforts to show what can be achieved with the set, is it needs lighting to get the best out of it. I said at the beginning I debated over whether to get this set or the Baker Street set. But for me I know I made the right choice. I picked this set to review due to the opportunities to light the various elements for photography.

The flames alongside the contrasting darkness and silhouettes are such specific elements of that section of the Fellowship of the Ring movie and the opportunity to play in that world was too much to pass up for me. For someone who loves practical and dramatic lighting this was the perfect choice. I think you have to work to get the most out of this set but when the different elements click together it is very rewarding.

Next steps

I find there comes a point when writing a set review for photography purposes when I have to force myself to stop actually taking photos. Due to being both an ideas person and a starter and not a finisher, I am my own worst enemy in this regard. I typically find myself wanting to squeeze in a just one more photo in before I begin to write. In this case I made myself one particular rule to close down the dreaming and never ending ideas and that was it had to be a photograph of the, or including the full set.

Moving forward I definitely want to try and capture some on location photographs, especially with Mr. Balrog, Maybe some temple style locations or rocky environments that can double for the caves of Moria. I think these would be great for lighting the figures and ways for them to “continue” their duel. There is also (unsurprisingly) part of me that wants to take them to a mountain top so Gandalf can smite his foe upon a mountainside. I do think it’ll be both difficult to transport the book nook itself but also hard to integrate it into wider locations out in the world.

A wider location choice would probably be more focused on the figures rather than the set as a whole. But I do want to experiment with the figures, especially with the Balrog who is pretty well articulated. It should be noted it’s not always the most stable when posing though. Sometimes the joints are firm and hold, but other times I found it was too heavy in some places for it’s own good and arms and legs would not stay in place. Definitely going to need some wires for more dynamic poses, and I definitely need to show off his wings much more than I currently have.

I’m also keen to try and photograph it with some actual fire elements which would be a new one for me. And another way of adding another complex and almost uncontrollable element. Because why not create more challenges for yourself, right?

I know there will be many more photos to come from the set as a whole and as a collection of elements. So I guess in that case, probably disappointing Gandalf as I go… I will pass and carry on.