slidedog

People are always surprised at how far they can see in the Rocky Mtn region. Far less atmo than sea level and less moisture. From the little hill I live on up against the foothills I can easily see the airport's white tent roofs ( a distance of about 40 miles). Driving around Denver it's not uncommon to be able to see mountains (Like Pike's and Long's peaks) that are over 100 miles away. Line of sight around here is mostly limited by the horizon, but I know at lower altitudes, I've never been able to see nearly that far. Don't know how you'd calculate all of that though...

I was wondering why I got thirsty looking at it! Nice job! Your blue kick is working on this one.

Nice work Jabber! I love the dress and the way you managed to pull out details in the folds looks great. The tiny little fairies contrast well and really POP! WTG!

Thanks for all of the great comments folks! I'll have to post more stuff in here, it's good for my ego I do like a good critique as well, but I'm sure glad everybody liked it so much.

Love these! I was eyeing the paladin in the Something Blue and if I remember right voted for it. Nice Work! And I hope we get to compete again soon too!

Flynn, you know I will! I have an evil plan for the Con. Got to see if I can defend my Best in Show title for the third year in a row! (Though I don't expect to, the competition is getting fierce!)

Hey all! I managed to win the "Something Blue" on-line contest and since it's a Reaper mini I thought I'd share it over here. It's not nearly as good as Derek's but I tried some new things and like how it came out. I would welcome comments and criticisms as I am always trying to improve.

Finally got done and posted, up to 3 entries... Hope we get to see more. Pracrastinators ( which I count myself among) do your thing and get those entries in!

Well, I finally finished. Had to run to the office to take some photos. But here he is Frank from Men in Black. I was poking through the familiar packs, saw the little pug and couldn't resist. Hope you like him (the sunglasses were a pain!) Hope I posted this right- PLEASE click on him the color is better!

Ughhh Brussell Sprouts. Taste a bit like really nasty feet smell. Even think of them gives me a shudder.

The inability to let go of passe' tradition? The inability to realize we are far from an agrirarian soc iety any more? The fact Microsoft would have to update Windows? Who knows... It is a bit silly.

Great job Raven! I've been playing with some of the same things. Your blending control is getting out of hand! I take it you are starting to believe in the Master Series Paints? I've forced myself to learn new ways to work with them and am starting to love them. Thanks to Anne for that too!

Yes for sure enter that in a comp. Humor alone will get it a lot of attention. Funny stuff! Make sure you title it Draing the Lizard as well!

Very, very nicely done! These look like some guys I was just fighting with in Ratchet & Clank on my PS2! Love the blue skin.

Nice work! Anybody else notice this guys looks like a * ? That's what an army needs... Punctuation!

Kaiser, Sorry to hear you're having such a tough time. 15 is a hard time in life, and I know it's hard to do, but remember that all of this will pass. Pour yourself into a vision for your life. Dream about and find a passion you can truly believe in, then start taking baby steps in that direction. Sometimes we can feel there is no hel p in the world but this forum is proof there is. Many people would help you, but remember, just asking isn't enough, you have to ask people who are actually able to help. I have a 15 year old son who I think is doing quite well, we have a great relationship. By the same token when I was 15 my dad was a sourse of most of the stress and pain in my life, so I get where you are coming from there. Through a belief that I could have a better life and working my tail off, llife is pretty damn good and I'm very glad I hung on for the long term. You must as well. This is a time of confusion, physical changes, as well as emotional stress. I was there once and it does get way better. Find a friend, a minister, whoever, that will listen to you and not judge your every thought, and try to move some of you negative thoughts into positive actions to change your future. If that is getting free of your old man, get an eductaion, find a passion and leave him in your dust. Read biographies of people that interest you, you'll be amazed how many cam form tough circumstances, and some of their ideas may give you some. If you need somebody to correspond with, I'll hook you up with my son. Send me a PM with your email and I'll pass it along to him. Maybe seeing things from a different perspective would give you hope. I know all of that is easy to say and hard to do, but all you've got is you and you can do it! Remember "Never give up , Never surrender" The fact you are strong enough to open up to people tells me you have a lot going for you and you can kick some serious a** once you put your mind to it. Take care.

Spike, the foldy things come in several sizes. When I got mine I went for one that's about 30 inches on a side. I can shoot darn near anything mini related, although I am finding it's almost too big. I like your DIY rig as well. I thought about doing something like that, but time is a huge premium in my life right now so I took the easy, but more expensive, way out. Your rig accomplishes the same thing and looks like a great solution.

An inspiring story! Makes all of those "I Can'ts" that so many whine about look VERY trivial. The Para-Olympics athletes blow me away as well.

Nice work overall. Could probably do with a bit more contrast etween shadows and highlights. With minis it's usually good to push the contrast beyond what looks right, they are so ...mini.. and all. It helps them *pop* a bit more. Nicely done and your camera fu is lookin' good!

Looks a bit limited to me, may not be able to hit the mini from very many different angles. I think the little soft box I mentioned in another thread would be better. I have found it very easy to work with and I can set my lights at virtually any angle, as well as using multiple light sources. Can't review this one in particular, but by the looks of it, there may be challenges.

Yeah it would need to be really, really thin paint. I had the exact same problem last time I tried it.

Been string a my little pile of Familiars that I got at RAC. Have a couple of ideas. How can I make some really small sunglasses? Dang these things is tiny....

I picked up one of these devils and it works great! There are several sizes on ebay at various price points. Mine has little tabs of velcro in the top/back corners so you can drape a background inside. Whatever lights you are using get set up outside and this does a great job of softening the light and making it look more natural. Worth a look! http://cgi.ebay.com/PHOTO-SHOOTING-TENT-LI...1QQcmdZViewItem

A lot of the more automatic cameras adjust to their own white point based on what's in front of them, really a pain when shooting minis. If there is any way to turn off some of the auto features, you may have more success in a manual mode.

Maybe a flesh tone glaze would sink that tatoo into her skin a bit and reduce the saturation contrast? Just an idea, take it for what it's worth as I haven't done a whole lot of tats and I'm still trying to figure it out.