If you've ever wondered what The Empire Strikes Back or Raiders of the Lost Ark would look like with Lego minifigures standing in for the actors, Finnish photographer Vesa Lehtimäki has the answer.

With a perspective shift, some baking powder, the right lighting and a whole lot of ingenuity, Lehtimäki makes the one-and-a-half-inch figurines look almost like real-life stars.

It all started in 2009 as an effort to document his children's toys. From larger action figures and models, it grew to Lego sets with mini dioramas. When he posted his photos on Flickr, Lehtimäki says they got a "wonderful" response, and it quickly turned into a full-on artistic project. Lehtimäki has also used Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings as inspiration for his work, but it's Star Wars that remains by far his favorite.

With a love of winter and snow, Lehtimäki endeavored to create the perfect snow substitute to scale for his Lego mini-scenes on Hoth. After trying out various materials, including plaster, powdered sugar, flour and baking soda, he landed on baking powder, which he says "makes the perfect snow in Lego minifig scale." The result is a scene that looks like it's out of a movie, instead of a mini-diorama.

Lehtimäki said he has a "need to create something original from familiar elements," which is why he usually doesn't just recreate scenes from the famous movies. Instead, he creates a kind of fake deleted scene, something that very likely could have happened. He also likes to create a fan fiction background for his scenes, in order to make his art truly unique. "It's like directing diminutive bits and pieces of my own Star Wars movie in single frame plays," he says.

For more of Lehtimäki's toy photography, including his photos of Star Wars space ships that make them look real, visit his Flickr, Facebook or Twitter pages.