Still Baffled

[Holy Smigs]

right


so currently, this
http://www.coolminiornot.com/108916

is the top ranked of my figs...

a skaven that took me manybe 4 hours to paint, used almost no washes... a halfassed basing... and only basic highlighting (3 color layers, no mixed colors...)

yet he outranks my full day paint job of this
http://www.coolminiornot.com/109081

with a all it\'s blending and layering (no, there\'s no glare on that, that\'s the way i painted it...)


the pic quality ain\'t that different...

but is it just the fact that the elf uses more subtle shading?

i get that highlighting to white is a common method, but i didn\'t highlight to white on either one.

so can someone tell me what makes the difference?

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Umm you have 13 and 10 votes.. wait till you get to 50 votes each to try and compair that.. as for why figures rate the way they do.. <shrug> pure chaos if you ask me.

Though I think the skaven is photographed better. Oh and find a neutral background like light blue or light gray to shoot you pictures on.. white is a harsh color to use.

 

[TAB Studio]

I agree with above
It is your picture it is dark and needs a white balance.
Maybe check the photography section in the threads here and grab a few hints to help you
Like GIMP a free program and lighting...
Minis are made or not with the photos here no matter what they may look like in real life.
Taking the extra time to learn (it took me a full year and piss me off to the max all the time) is well worth it in the long run.
Then you can achieve the score your mini may deserve.
Also Matt Varnish or testors dull coat will help you please the masses shiny is not the desire here it glazes over the detail.

Welcome to the forums and I love the name you choose.

 

[Spacemunkie]

Don\'t want to sound too harsh, but there aint much to choose between them. If there is, then we can\'t see it \'cos the pics are poo, especially for the elf.

 

[bayrodney]

I agree with the big SpaceMunkie Man lol
The pics are a little small, and....basically...crap, that the reason why i dont post mini\'s, my camera takes dodgy shots, my mini might get a 4 or 5 but i know its worth at least a 7.

 

[Ritual]

Yeah... can\'t see much difference in quality from those photos. The elf photos aren\'t very good at all.

 

[Holy Smigs]

sigh...

ok... looks like i\'ll be modding the lights to be more indirect...

thinkin i\'ll have to build a bit of terrain for photgraphing on... (prolly a simple fort wall or somethin...)
that should clean up the image quality notably...

i tend to shrink the shots down to about 6-800 to save bandwidth (and \'cause that\'s about the best you\'ll see the mini at about arm\'s length...) and that\'s proly my worst problem...


well,
thanks for the comments guys... once i get the wall build i\'ll post new pics...

 

[Stuntylover]

I agree with what most have told you; there is not much between them, they are tabletop quality. The mistakes you make - poor transition in your layering/blending, dirty colour registration (look at the skaven hands) - are compounded in the elf because there are more colours to show the faults. Also the photography doesn\'t help, the backgrounds are a bad choice. I hope by being constructive I help you to appreciate that photography is not the only problem. Keep practicing; you are moving in the right direction. It is not only the time you take over a painting, it\'s also technique that matters and you\'ll only improve with practice and study.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Originally posted by Holy Smigs
sigh...


thinkin i\'ll have to build a bit of terrain for photgraphing on... (prolly a simple fort wall or somethin...)
that should clean up the image quality notably...

no actually that will cause you even more problems.. it will give your camera an alternative to focus on.. trust me what you need a neutral background light blue or gray piece of paper.. go to a art store and look for a large sheet.

Keeep at it.. you will improve if that is your ultimate goal.. practice practice practice.

heres a good little article on taking pictures of miniatures
http://www.dragon-miniatures.com/tips.php?page=diffusion

 

[airhead]

On that same page that Dragon Forge linked, there is a blue/white fade that you can print on your inkjet and use. Very handy. That same link is in my sig.

 

[Holy Smigs]

http://www.coolminiornot.com/110628

there we go... not the wall i promised, just a loose piece of wood and on the kitchen table (all natural lighting)

better? (photograph wise)

if that kinda backing will work for balancing the light, i\'ll just keep that wood handy for future pics...

 

[NecroN]

Much better picture. Definately looks better then the Skaven now.

I still wouldn\'t expect very high scores with this one though. The over all figure looks very flat. Also it looks like there were some paint slips on the log he is standing on (by the left foot expecially) and that will cause the marks to drop critically.

 

[Holy Smigs]

aww... shoot... missed that...

well, i\'ll touch up that foot bit... but i\'m not gona take a fourth volley of shots of this fig...

 

[Ritual]

Yeah, much better photo this time!

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

It\'s better..but its very yellow.. remember light reflects off other items so your yellowish wood will cast yellow reflections on your mini..thats why the light gray or blue works so well. If you have access to a printer..print off that background in that article and give it a try.

But as you can see you are improveing your score just with photography.