A question of etiquette

[cybersquig]

Hey all,

A question regarding submissions if I may...

I don\'t want to tread on any toes here, so I thought I\'d ask your advice before I did anything...

I\'m looking through my gallery, and I can\'t help but feel that the scores that have been allocated to some of my entries aren\'t necessarily consistent. For instance, the Bloodletter is probably about right in the mid-eight range I reckon, but then the dkok are rating around 6 despite having won a bronze gd. I dont think it\'s me having unreasonable expectations of my miniatures so much as having abysmal photographical skills. Luckily I\'m at home with my lovely brother for christmas who just so happens to be a pro photographer. raah! so then...here\'s my question. If I take new pics and have him do photoshoppy goodness to them, and then show me so I can do it myself from now on, will people be averse to having me resubmit several of them at once to get more representative scores?

I\'d appreciate your input on this, thanks so much. I don\'t want to upset people, and I don\'t want them to think that the feedback I\'ve had so far is in some way unappreciated, so let me know.

Thanks all and happy christmas!

James

 

[Necroghast]

I wouldn\'t care. I know Spacemunkie photoshopped one of my photos. (Thanks again)

 

[cybersquig]

thanks matey, its appreciated. Anyone else?

 

[Brother Tom]

Go for it!
The problem with your low scoring minis is that you can\'t really see them as there far to small, so I can\'t really see why people would have a problem with you reposting them. As for me I would very much look forward to a closer look at those Death Korps of Krieg.

 

[cybersquig]

ok thanks so much, I\'ll see what I can do... Luurve the ravenguard btw!

 

[Crayfish]

hey dude, been browsing your gallery and the bronze winning Kriegsquad, well, It would probably be better if you resubmitted that one, and some closeups on the crew...

And, i think we all want good scores on our models, but getting that i think you need to advertise around in this section of the forum, perhaps make some wip thread about some mini that you are progressing on, this is so you get more critique and people get to see all the diffrent stages so they can soak every little bit of your painting, and Discuss Submissions section you can really go indepth and discuss more about your piece.... And dont get all caught up in the scores, its nice to get people that really likes your piece and votes high, still people will vote stuff down as they perhaps dont like the mini or have a grudge against you lol

Also, photoskills is needed for showing your pieces.

So, submit to different forums and give voting links and such (i have 2 forums i post minis on, but im browsing tons of them, all give great feedback and everyone is kind, check some out you\'ve got spanish-team canadianteam etc etc and you got CMON!) and i think if you good rep you will get more people that want to comment and vote since you have been either helpful or just plain nice!

So rules of thumb in voting are:
Photoskills
Submitting around diffrent forums
Having a good reputation
and a piece worthy of the higher ratings!

 

[Legacy Account]

Repost! It\'s good to see how a photo can alter the score as well.

I think the only thing that irks people (me!) is multiple submissions of the same figure. There are examples out there of people who\'s top 5 average is made up of only 1 or 2 miniatures which is a bit poo really!

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Repost! It\'s good to see how a photo can alter the score as well.

I think the only thing that irks people (me!) is multiple submissions of the same figure. There are examples out there of people who\'s top 5 average is made up of only 1 or 2 miniatures which is a bit poo really!

aye, what he said

 

[Shadzar]

Looking only at the first one in your list which probably doesn\'t help much...

The photo is just bad, and it will affect scores.

The morph in the shadow really doesn\'t do to much good for the picture.

The bloodletter as well has a pink glow from the photo.

Just a bit more light may make all the difference in scores and such except for those that probably spam attack the votes and have low score attacks on you, but I don\'t think many would do that.

Now off to look through all your hidden scores and give them some votes without taking the shadows of the photos into consideration too much.

I also don\'t think you need glowy effects on the image. For me that detracts from the actual mini. I want to see it as I would in a well lit room, not something looking like a magazine add. Too much photoshop can make something look severely altered.

 

[cybersquig]

spacemunkie & freakinacage: I agree its really annoying if that happens...so I promise this (providing it\'s possible) - If I resubmit something and it gets into my top 5 for a second time, I will delete the original submission even if my ranking is affected. sound good?

@ crayfish - my wips are on platoonbritannica.org.uk - at least the post-september ones are...and I now have plenty of new material, I\'m just holding off submitting it until the next gd, as I don\'t want that to affect my chances in the competition. Whenever I have had questions so far on this site, even if they\'re stupid ones (and some of them have been), I\'ve had almost nothing but constructive, useful helpful and friendly replies. I first found out about CMON when I was chatting to other GDUK08 winners waiting to go on stage, and it seemed they were all members of this website. Since then, and with loads of help from various members, most notably rocketandroll and Vincenti, my painting and modelling has reached another level altogether - I feel I\'ve got so much out of this I can\'t tell you... In that time I feel Ive given back somewhat too, trying to offer C&C, voting and leaving comments on hundreds of submissions. Now correct me if I\'m wrong, but despite being a relative noob, I don\'t think I\'ve done anything to upset or anger anyone in my time on here, so I would consider my rep relatively intact.

@Shadzar - The morph was a bit of a tongue in cheek thing anyway, so I\'m not too fussed about that one. The bloodletter you say? well...I thought that one was ok lol! Regardless I dont think it deserves any more than it scored so again I\'m not too fussed on that one either. The others though should need some work, and I\'ve got several more which I have no pics of at all which\'ll be going on as soon as I can get my lovely bro on task..watch this space! I tell you what, don\'t vote yet, when I resubmit let me know what you think then...It\'ll be a nicer experience for you too...finally, I agree that the photoshopping thing is really annoying, I don\'t want to know about your ability with photoshop, I want to know your ability with the paintbrush and scalpel!

Thanks guys for all your useful input...watch this space!...

 

[cybersquig]

ooh I just got a camera for xmas....it must be fate! expect better pics soon!

 

[Shadzar]

Originally posted by cybersquig
ooh I just got a camera for xmas....it must be fate! expect better pics soon!

I already voted on them.

But Like I said I looked at the pics and adjusted the light levels with my own eyes so I could tell where the paint was and the natural shadows were to give proper scores.

I don\'t recall anything given lower than a 7 except morph.

Even the tiny guys in the wooden case fot a 7 because I could tell what was done even if not that close a shot.

Oh well I will vote on them again if/when you resubmit them. Congrats on your new camera.

You may want to take pics of singles since you have room for 100 images in your gallery. That way each mini will have a better fit in an image and you don\'t have to reduce the image or zoom out to get a whole squad/group in one pic.

 

[cybersquig]

Originally posted by Shadzar

You may want to take pics of singles since you have room for 100 images in your gallery. That way each mini will have a better fit in an image and you don\'t have to reduce the image or zoom out to get a whole squad/group in one pic.

so sorry!

err...do you mean resubmit each model in the squad as a separate submission?

 

[Crayfish]

Cybersquig: I was not suggesting that you did anything wrong, sometimes people vote crazy and sometimes people vote because they see the score before they see the picture and vote because of the score... I was just taking in all the factors of voting (which i think is).

You have to reach out to people, almost by all means to get the most votes and therefore determine your \"level\" (this is all about wether people like the mini or like the person behind it, !MAYBE! dont liking that person and so votes low, mostly kids i suppose but i think CMON has some of them!). Not saying anything bad about you, i fancy some of your work, you have a very \'eavy metal style!

And shadzar i think is pointing out a very good thing, altough maybe not in separate submissions more then singleshots in with the whole thing, you can as far as i know have as much lenght in your photo as you need, the width is set i think (or else it would mess with the layout of the page), thus making it possible to take separate shots of your minis and publish it in the same submission. You could probably take out the one you like the most and test what he would get alone... but not to over do it, as people would get tired voting a entire squad!

Hope I\'ve been helpful (i doubt it but hey!)

 

[cybersquig]

\'course you\'ve been helpful! That clarified it nicely, thanks matey

I may have an \'eavy metal style because I\'ve spent the last x years looking at their models and almost noone elses lol

 

[Shadzar]

Yes. You may have a single pic for each mini. You don\'t just have to post squads.

This will allow for your minis to get individual scores and more room for each mini in the allowed size of the images.

But that depends on how close you want to get with the pictures.

Just do like many people do, keave the group pic, and then give indie pic their own little names like \"group 1 part 1\" ...part 2...part 3...until you have the whole squad in pics to show them individually.

Squads are nice, but each guy deserves a little time in the spotlight to himself.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Just a little suggestion....maybe look at using less white in your mixing for highlights. It looks as if a few areas of your pieces are suffering from flatness. It\'s evident that you\'re a good painter though.

 

[freakinacage]

yeah that one is a great tip. use an off white colour to highlight. like ivory

also a little blue in shading adds depth

 

[cybersquig]

@reverend - you\'re absolutely right, and that is just what I\'ve been trying to do over the last few months - many of my models lack contrast, and that\'s what I\'m trying to fix...actually I have a wip pic to demonstrate if you don\'t mind - bear in mind that it is wip and that there are some blends that I still need to do a fair bit of smoothing to...

these also, by happenchance demonstrate my first attempt with my new camera (o: When I get access to a comp with photoshop I\'ll play with the levels (the background is supposed to be white)

@freakinacage - doesn\'t that depend on what colour I\'m painting?

 

[airhead]

This any better?

Couple of things:
Are you using a white card behind you? is it in a sweep or have a corner?

Are your lamps diffused - like using a lighting tent? I\'m still seeing some strong shadows. Diffused light shouldn\'t make the shadows that strong.

Are your lamps the same? I\'m noticing that one shadow is much stronger than the other - like you have different wattages or the lamps are different distances from the mini.

Go to the mall, check out the portrait studio. Notice the lamps are the same distance from the subject at about opposite and equal angles.

The third lamp is to wash the back ground to kill those shadows. Diffuse lights can elminiate the need for that third lamp.