Hello everyone, question about having some details on the votes

[Lord Kharsis]

Hello to all, it's my first post here, a few hours after I've submitted my first picture!

I have some questions about the votes, not that I'm unhappy with the rating I had, but I'd like to know how it got there. I mean, is it possible to know who voted and how? For example did I got all 8, or did I got all 10, and two 1 witch gave me 8? I don't think it's the second option of course, but you get the idea. I want more details!

And when I posted my picture, I had to answer how would I rate my own picture, does that really count in the votes total? Because I don't want to vote on my own stuff, this is cheating lol.

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

Looks good mate nice and smooth paint job. As to your question, no further information other than the score and the score of the registered users is available and rightly so. Its a rough guide and you have been lucky to get a pretty accurate reflection of your model. 7 and over is a good rating on this site. Your model is a space marine, not really that cool of course compared to the other models out there but your paintjob was excellent. Everyone judges differently so its hard to go into detail on the matter of voting. Some people will go "space marine - hooray!" and give it a plus, others will think the opposite! I like the smooth brushwork and the colour choice on yours and the fact its a marine does not bother me personally. If its for gaming the base is fine, but if not the base could have been more elaborate to add extra interest. Post this in the submissions sections if you want more analysis and comments or start a WIP thread. That is the only way you will get into more detail about it.

dfb

 

[AndyG]

Voted and commented. Not that he needs my endorsement as he has been on this site far longer than I have but that said I agree with everything dogfacedboy uk1 says. Post on the forums it realy is the way to get constructive feed back it has helped me loads.

 

[Lord Kharsis]

Thanks guys, I'll keep in mind to post on the forum to have constructive feedback. So as I understand it, you both gave me a 7?
I see no comments though AndyG...?

I woke up this morning with 8.1, now it's 7.8. Life is tough, I guess miniatures looks better in the morning, or at least before the first coffee lol

 

[Tommie Soule]

You have a great mini there sir, however you do not have a great pic.

Simple guide to photography solution -

a curved A4 piece of paper as a base and background for your mini.
desk lamp pointing at the mini from the front (not above!)
camera on macro (not necessarily super macro) looks like you have a compact.
zoom in a little and pull away a little to reduce depth of field.
Take photo! however our photography is not like that of a traditional photographer. We are not trying to take a nicely composed and framed image in one shot.
We are simply trying to get as clear and accurate image of our mini as we can.
Crop Image's wasted space in photoshop and hit auto levels.
Save as jpg.

Done

Here is a finished example


T

 

[Tommie Soule]

(p.s. TO HELL WITH THE VOTES!!!)

 

[Lord Kharsis]

thanks for the advice, I knew my picture wasn't that good but I thought people were judging the mini without being influenced by the background and so... I'll try to do better next time!
I'm not sure I understand that: "zoom in one click and pull away a little to reduce depth of field."

And as for the auto level in photoshop, can I do the same with gimp?

 

[Lord Kharsis]

ok I've found the auto levels in gimp, thanks

a curved A4 piece of paper as a base and background for your mini.

It's true I really need a background, and since I'll have to take new pictures, I hope I won't forget to paint the holy scroll on his leg twice lol

 

[kathrynloch]

thanks for the advice, I knew my picture wasn't that good but I thought people were judging the mini without being influenced by the background and so... I'll try to do better next time!
I'm not sure I understand that: "zoom in one click and pull away a little to reduce depth of field."

And as for the auto level in photoshop, can I do the same with gimp?

I think Tommie is referring to the locking ability most digitals have. If you slightly depress the shutter button - but not far enough to take the picture - the focus usually locks. Then you can back up a little without having to refocus.

This isn't a great pic but it demonstrates the technique:

I locked the focus on the mini in the foreground then moved the camera just enough to get the minis behind it into the frame. If I had not locked the focus, the camera would have tried to focus in the middle, the mini in the foreground would have been out of focus - most likely all of them would have been out of focus.

As for the voting, your presentation is very important. Think about it - people aren't going to vote for a political candidate who doesn't shower or shave no matter how good their politics or policies are. You need good lighting, a nice but not overpowering background, and a photo that allows people to see the details you worked so hard on.

From what I've seen, your mini looks very nice, and like the others have said, it's the photo that's reducing your points. It's also pretty dark, so that makes it more difficult to see details. The only point on your painting that jumped out on me - on the back on the top of the "tank thingy" (how's that for a technical term? lol!) Your highlights are absolutely correct, but where they stop and the shading begins, actually accents that mold line on the top. In cases like that, you need to make sure that the seam is absolutely invisible or try to use the highlights and shadows to lessen it. Otherwise, you're painting is really nice and you obviously have some really great skills!

 

[AndyG]

Thanks guys, I'll keep in mind to post on the forum to have constructive feedback. So as I understand it, you both gave me a 7?
I see no comments though AndyG...?

I woke up this morning with 8.1, now it's 7.8. Life is tough, I guess miniatures looks better in the morning, or at least before the first coffee lol

Err i gave you an 8 and the comment is there just checked here is a copy and paste


AndyG #366289 Rating: 8 29 Mar 2012
Good blending and nice highliting a good bit of nmm on the sword for a first post this is very impressive! More please, yep your right about the background an easy thing to fix that should improve future scores!

sometimes it takes a while for the site to update dont know why just the way it is.

p.s. listen to tommie he knows his stuff!!

 

[Tommie Soule]

thanks for the advice, I knew my picture wasn't that good but I thought people were judging the mini without being influenced by the background and so... I'll try to do better next time!
I'm not sure I understand that: "zoom in one click and pull away a little to reduce depth of field."

And as for the auto level in photoshop, can I do the same with gimp?

just zoom in a little. keep it simple sir.

 

[me_in_japan]

I'll just chip in my tuppence worth here and say that the mini is really pretty well done. I'm a sucker for smooth blending no matter what the mini is, so that kind of thing tends to push my vote up. The base is a tad simple for a display piece (which the mini seems to be heading towards) so to up your score you could maybe work on your basing techniques. That, and has already been mentioned, your photography. It's definitely true that a bad photo of an ace mini will not score as well as an ok photo of an ok mini. You can do a bit of photography practice, scout out the net (there's no shortage of photography tuts, on CMoN and elsewhere) and then you can twiddle a wee bit in photoshop or gimp to fix levels and whatnot. Having done that, yon space marine will be scoring over 8 (and staying there) no problem.

 

[Lord Kharsis]

Thanks everyone, I'll try to post my new picture soon!

 

[Lord Kharsis]

Err i gave you an 8 and the comment is there just checked here is a copy and paste


AndyG #366289 Rating: 8 29 Mar 2012
Good blending and nice highliting a good bit of nmm on the sword for a first post this is very impressive! More please, yep your right about the background an easy thing to fix that should improve future scores!

sometimes it takes a while for the site to update dont know why just the way it is.

p.s. listen to tommie he knows his stuff!!

Ok I see your comment now, thanks

 

[Lord Kharsis]

The only point on your painting that jumped out on me - on the back on the top of the "tank thingy" (how's that for a technical term? lol!) Your highlights are absolutely correct, but where they stop and the shading begins, actually accents that mold line on the top. In cases like that, you need to make sure that the seam is absolutely invisible or try to use the highlights and shadows to lessen it. Otherwise, you're painting is really nice and you obviously have some really great skills!

I think I see, you mean the line on the top of his his backpack, on the pic on the top-right corner? I think that would be the studs... I've killed the mold lines with my own force weapon before I painted that mini. How does that little space marine humor make you feel this morning? lol

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

Thanks guys, I'll keep in mind to post on the forum to have constructive feedback. So as I understand it, you both gave me a 7?
I see no comments though AndyG...?

I woke up this morning with 8.1, now it's 7.8. Life is tough, I guess miniatures looks better in the morning, or at least before the first coffee lol

I dont think I voted when I took a look actually as I was in a hurry. I would vote it an 8 if you wanted to know.

dfb