Is this genuine or is it shopped?

supervike

Super Moderator
We need a resident \'Paintbuster\' professional with Photoshop.

I\'m not qualified one way or the other to comment.
 

laurence

Brushlover
Looks \'kosher\' to me. Although, if you\'ve ever had to walk past a kosher fish shop in the Jewish area of town every morning, you\'d know that they smell darn fishy!
 

Einion

New member
Originally posted by supervike
We need a resident \'Paintbuster\' professional with Photoshop.
Moi? I doubt there\'s anyone else here who has used it as long and as much as I have :cool:

One still can\'t be sure though... because there\'s no telling often (usually) what needed to be done or what was done by choice, and what level it was taken to. There\'s a whole spectrum...

With image noise for example any use of something to reduce it and/or remove JPEG artefacts will simultaneously smooth the paintwork somewhat.

Improving contrast can be to compensate for a photo that\'s a bit flat. But do it a bit more and you can make the paintwork look more contrasty than it is.

Then there\'s Colour Balance, Exposure, Selective Colour, all of which can be used or abused. Even just sharpening - a practically ubiquitous step for many cameras, especially with reduction for posting online - can make something look better than it does in the flesh, in terms of crispness of edges or what have you.

Einion
 

generulpoleaxe

New member
Originally posted by supervike
So, even an expert can\'t tell for sure?

What chance do us mere mortals have then?

forget working out if someone has shopped a mini or not, lets just have a good old fashion lynching.
we need rope, pitchforks and flaming torches (parafin wax torches are far more mob like than battery operated ones!)
 

BPI

New member
Could anyone link me to a mini that\'s been photoshop painted/touched up (beyond the Gallery acceptable limits) that you believe has improved the appearance of the figure? Rather than spoiling it as in this particular threads example (imo).

Einion, as an expert in this, which would you say takes more hours practice, learning to paint nice nmm or learning to use software to touch up an image?

Cheers, B.

EDIT: Please see DR\'s post below. Links to figures where painter mentions in notes that hey tweaked it! Cheers, B.
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Originally posted by BPI
Could anyone link me to a mini that\'s been photoshop painted/touched up (beyond the Gallery acceptable limits) that you believe has improved the appearance of the figure?
Not being nasty here but if anyone does post a link to any mini on Coolminiornot make sure that:-

A: You have positive proof that the mini has been retouched in Photoshop.
or
B: It is your own mini.

Remember that unfounded accusations can be classed as either Personal attacks and or Libelous Statements.
 

Sukigod

Member
With nearly 20 years experience with Photoshop/image manipulation, I\'d say it P\'shopped. Although poorly.

Compiled selection of one area pointed out earlier, the right breastplate. The angles of color change as if it were a life size figure and not merely painted to \"mimic\" real life reflection angles. The overall lighting of the images don\'t change dramatically enough to explain this kind of shift.

3321.jpg



As mentioned before as well, he\'s clipped the figure off the base and only made adjustments to the figure. This is what causes that \"copy/pasted\" look to the figure. Only adds to the \"what\'s wrong with this image\" feeling you get.

Not the first time there\'s been P\'shop on the persons posts.

Look here- the second image in the collage.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/189503

The Iron/Skull Cross really looks as though it\'s been clipped from somewhere else, the flag is wildly different in tonality, angle and contrast - especially when compared to the image on the front of the flag in the first image.

His comment of \":Better photo - not so \"grinded\" \" is a bit confusing. Grinded?

Who ever it is does have some good work but it seems as though they\'re just very experienced in using Photoshop to correct and adjust and as a result is overdoing things, common enough.
 

BPI

New member
I thought I\'d just add...

At a base level it doesn\'t bother me if a mini has been photoshopped, this is a gallery of digital images after all, as long as the poster MENTIONS it (how do I stress a word without using shouty capitals?). Perhaps a dropdown selection box on the submission page where you choose between

A - Image cropped, resized & posted.
B - Image colour balanced, etc. Looks as close to real life as poss.
C - See that cool lightning bolt, that\'s Photoshop that is.

If it makes the mini look cool, go for it, show off your computer skills as well as your brush painting ability. The thing that catchs me out with the handful of \'shopped minis I\'ve seen on various sites is that I don\'t realise at first because I think there\'s something wrong with the photo, makes me think worse of the paint job rather than better. So I suppose, so far, I think these painters are shooting themselves in the foot, although others votes on the example/s on this site suggest I\'m in the minority :)

Differing approaches to presentation also cropped up for me recently with a chap/ess who posted a really nice, brightly painted mini, mounted on a huge tidal wave base. I think it looks ace, but the posted Gallery image is a montage that I think does a great disservice to the model. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

xMANIGHTx
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=33278
http://www.coolminiornot.com/227613

Has anybody PMed the poster of the image that provoked this thread to let them know that it exists & give them a chance to post?

:beer: B.
 

uberdark

New member
just noticed on suki\'s post that the standard bearer particularly the white has been smudged, its obvious especially from the back. you can see the circular patterns you use with photoshop. shame really.... i would have voted for it if it was real.
 

laurence

Brushlover
lighting/camera angle?

Hi, couldn\'t the change in light/dark contrast be contributed to the positioning of the light and camera when taking the photo? Although I don\'t really have much experience with this, wouldn\'t different camera angles and lighting affect the look of the mini? Just like how the effect of the painted mini changes depending on how you look at it.
 

Einion

New member
Originally posted by BPI
Einion, as an expert in this, which would you say takes more hours practice, learning to paint nice nmm or learning to use software to touch up an image?
Man that\'s a tough one. I think fundamentally it does depend on the person - some people take to paint or software better than others - but it\'s so much easier to do stuff digitally at the end of the day, if for no other reason than there\'s no Undo in real life lol

Einion
 

BPI

New member
Cheers Einion, that makes sense. I guess I stem from the brush variety, gave up on adjusting images after an afternoon of computer kicking but will laboriously spend hours applying paint, often to mediocre effect#. I may get a little frustrated at times but I find it a far more pleasurable activity.

# not fishing for complements. Just remember a painter friend looking at a recent mini I\'d spent hours trying to shade & highlight & blend saying \"Nice drybrushing\". Drat!

:beer: B.
 
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