#//I want to get better at photography and composition
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equinox-86 · 11 days ago
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My keychains arrived ♡
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This was my first time ever getting merch of my own OC, and it feels so surreal to own it irl 😭💖
I immediately put her together with Carla <3
therewasntashinonefromthesameserieswiththesamesize
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colors-of-my-heart · 6 months ago
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not a callout by any means, but I just wanted to leave a note so that everyone is aware- this is AI
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Sara Shakeel
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strangersatellites · 2 years ago
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It had all started in Photography 101. 
All he had needed was one more elective added to his schedule for the fall semester to be considered a full-time student. It was Robin who had suggested photography.
Steve had never had that great of a memory to begin with, the numerous blows to the head from juvenile high school fights certainly doing him no favors. Sometimes the amount of time it took to jog Steve’s memory surpassed the time it would’ve taken to simply tell him the story as if he hadn’t been there himself. 
He was always able to grasp the memory eventually, but sometimes they were slippery in his mind. 
He and Robin had found that his memory was ten times better if he had something to look at. Sometimes that was a souvenir from a trip, sometimes it was a takeout menu with his order circled in red pen, sometimes it was a physical scar on his skin from some silly injury. But most of the time it was pictures. 
Steve took to taking photos of everything. His friends, his food, the landscape, a book with a pretty cover, anything he wanted to be able to remember.
The walls of his room grew to be covered with polaroids and prints, some staged, most not. Many blurry and out of focus, but in the moment just the same. 
So when Robin suggested Photography 101, Steve saw an opportunity to take something he did for his own benefit and turn it into something he really enjoyed, something he was good at. 
The semester was a breeze and Steve flourished under the attention of his professor. He was constantly drowning in compliments about the movement in his photos and his eye for composition. 
(Robin would tell him on several occasions that she had never seen him enjoy something this much.)
By the time the semester was coming to a close, he was left with one final project. The professor had been intentionally very vague in her description of it throughout the semester, so Steve was a little on edge. 
Sitting in the front row of the small classroom, he twirled the strap of his camera around his fingers while he daydreamed. The room slowly filled and the professor settled in behind her desk. 
About five minutes after class was supposed to have begun Steve noticed they were all still sitting in silence. Glancing at the professor he saw her brows furrow and a frustrated lilt to her lips as she looked at her watch.
What are we waiting for? 
She stood and dusted off her pants before clapping her hands together.
“Well,” she began, “I guess we can go ahead and get start–”
The door at the back of the room swung open and knocked against the wall with a resounding slam.
“Shit! Fuck! So sorry I’m late. Traffic was a bitch.”
Steve is so caught off guard by the man who just burst into the room that he barely even registers the words he’s saying. 
He’is tall and all lanky muscle, dark curls and jewelry, tattoos and the smell of smoke, chains and leather and everything Steve’s not. Everything nobody in this class is.
He’s even more caught off guard when his professor laughs and pulls the man into a tight hug. There are only five other students in this class, surely he’s not the only person confused.
He keeps an arm around her shoulders as she introduces him to the group.
“Guys, this is Eddie. He’s a family friend and he’s going to be your subject for your final project.”
Steve’s own eyebrows furrow as he tries to understand how this was the project she has been keeping under wraps. They’ve had plenty of portrait sessions this semester, with models and subjects of their choice alike.
The guy, Eddie, claps a hand to his chest in a dramatic show of faux humility. 
“Thank you for having me, Joyce. It's such an honor to be here.”
She smacks at his arm and carries on.
“So, Eddie is your subject and you have no parameters. The only requirement is that he is the inspiration for your shoot. This can look like a standard portrait session, this can be contemporary urban street photography, whatever you like. Eddie does not even have to be in the photo! He just has to be the inspiration for it.”
Steve's brain is already running a mile a minute, conceptualizing shots faster than he can keep up. 
Dingy bars, backseats of cars, details of his eclectic style.
But one idea sticks out from the rest. As Steve lifts his eyes to Eddie once more and meets his own twinkling with mirth and smirking back at him he makes his decision.
He’s going to take his mugshot.
*****
“I want to take your mugshot.”
They’re at the campus coffee shop. Joyce had scheduled a few hours for Eddie to meet with the other students during their class time so they could talk through their projects.
Eddie barks out a laugh. “What, man?”
Steve twirls his straw around his drink and tries not to bristle at the reaction.
“Look,” he starts, running a nervous hand through his hair, “I don’t really know where the idea originated but once I had it, it stuck. I just saw this vision of the shot in my head and it was sick, dude.”
Eddie leans back in the booth, one of his boots knocking into Steve’s foot under the table. He crosses his arms and tilts his head. 
“Thought this shoot was supposed to be inspired by moi,” he says, gesturing a hand towards himself. “You saying I look like I should be in jail?”
Steve groans and puts his head in his hands. “No. I already told you I don't know where i got the idea–”
But that’s a lie isn’t it. He knows exactly where he got the idea. It was somewhere between the chains dangling from Eddie’s jeans and the handcuff belt he was wearing the day they met.
He put his hands together on the table between them. “Okay. No, I’m not saying you look like a criminal, Eddie. I’m saying I think you want to look like one.”
Eddie blinks at him for a moment before his face breaks into a slow smirk. He huffs a quiet laugh and leans closer. “Guilty as charged, Stevie. Besides, I was arrested once actually.”
Steve gawks while Eddie laughs. He is unfairly attractive when his dimples pop and Steve is going to have such a hard time holding it together behind the camera. 
*****
Steve takes his shoots very seriously. Every detail has to be perfect, even the ones not relating to the subject of the photo.
So it is wildly convenient that his professor happens to be married to the chief of police back in Hawkins. 
One quick phone call from Joyce and Steve and Eddie were granted access to the booking room at the police station. You know, for the sake of realism. 
Steve’s setting up his tripod while Eddie takes a chalk marker to the placard and writes up his own booking ID, a long series of random numbers with E.M at the end. 
Steve would be lying if he said Eddie’s choice of clothing wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind. 
He’s wearing a ratty, old band t-shirt for some group Steve’s never heard of. There’s his usual black leather jacket and the silver chain around his neck. His ripped black jeans and fingers covered in rings and black nail polish. 
It's perfect for the shoot. But Steve’s sanity is struggling.
He gets the camera and the lighting set up just as Eddie steps into place in front of the height measurement wall. 
Steve puts his hands on his hips and gives instructions.
“Okay, so I know you’ve done this before–”
“Hey! It was one time!”
“So you know how this goes. We’ll do one forward and then one to each side.”
Eddie shakes out his hair and rolls his shoulders back. He holds the placard up in front of him and levels the camera with a dead-eyed stare.
He looks good. 
Steve is less than shocked that he looks even better on camera.
He lines up his shot. Click.
Eddie turns to his left. Steve gets a little distracted by the line of his jaw.
Click.
He turns to the right and of course only now does Steve notice his ear piercings. 
Steve takes a deep breath and focuses.
Click.
Before he can even look through his shots Eddie is dropping the placard on the desk.
He’s halfway out the door before he grabs the frame and leans back in. “One second pretty boy, I have an idea.”
He’s back before Steve snaps out of his stupor at the nickname. This time, he has a pair of handcuffs swinging from his index finger.
Steve snatches them out of his hand. “Where did you get these?”
Eddie crosses his arms over his chest and shrugs. “I know a guy.”
He rolls his eyes. 
He’s already picking up the placard and setting up some detail shots when Eddie grabs his wrist and stops him. He freezes for more than one reason.
“Hey, uh. Not to step on your toes or anything, but I actually have another idea.”
Steve is about to start on his spiel about ‘not messing up his flow’ when Eddie rubs his thumb over the inside of his wrist. Gentle and reassuring. 
“Do you trust me?”
Honestly Steve has no reason to trust him, he’s basically a stranger.
A pretty one. His brain supplies.
But he does. Trusts him enough to let him take Steve’s creative liberties and throw them out the window apparently.
“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”
Eddie’s smile is blinding. He turns Steve’s hand over and drops the handcuff key into it.
“Don’t lose this big boy,” he says as he snaps the cuffs around each of his own wrists.
Steve laughs, loud and shocked. He waggles his eyebrows at Eddie. 
“Well, now didn’t this take a turn.”
Eddie rolls his eyes this time and lifts his hands as much as he can.
“Don’t try to sexualize my creative prowess, Steve. I am a professional.”
He nearly trips on his way back to his place in front of the wall and Steve has to hide his laugh into a cough.
Steve’s back behind the camera, hands back on his hips when he asks, “Alright, what’s the plan?”
Eddie smiles and says, “You just shoot, Harrington. I’ll do the rest.”
He leans down to finalize his camera settings and line up his shot. When he finally looks through the viewfinder his jaw drops. Because while Eddie was clearly joking about being a professional, if Steve didn’t know any better, this shot would have him believing it.
Eddie’s got both of his pinky fingers tucked in the corners of his smile, tongue bitten between his teeth. His thumbs are raised along with his middle fingers, while he’s got his nose scrunched and one eye squeezed shut. The cuffs hang right under his chin and accentuate his silver jewelry in a way Steve never would have anticipated.
Click.
Click. 
Click.
The next is a close-up of the booking placard between his teeth.
His hands twisting to unlock his own cuffs.
He’s a natural, and Steve’s camera roll can attest to the fact.
It wouldn’t be until Steve was reviewing and editing the shots that he caught on. The booking ID on the placard looked long because it was. It was Eddie’s number.
*****
Steve got an A. 
He got an A, an endless stream of compliments from Joyce and a dorky hot boyfriend. 
The rest of the class went the route Steve expected them to.
Dingy bars, backseats of cars, details of his eclectic style.
But Steve’s mugshot series stood leagues above the rest.
Later in their lives, when one of their friends would see the photo in Steve’s wallet they would ask when Eddie got arrested and why.
It quickly became a game between the two.
He’s been arrested in high school for selling drugs (True.)
When he was twenty for public indecency.
At twenty-two for arson.
Thirty for contract killing. This one was followed up with the claim that he was in witsec and was now going to have to change his identity and flee the country.
But the real when and why Eddie got arrested is because when he was twenty-one Joyce told him there was a nice boy in her class that she thought he should meet.
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leslie057 · 9 months ago
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rating things owned by nancy elizabeth wheeler
because she’s got a lot of little things. mostly they are very cute and strange little things.
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starting off strong we have the prettiest tissue box in the world. 9/10, i think if i were sick it would make me feel better to have such a nice tissue box.
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i’m fairly certain this is her diary beside it because her diary looks pink in the upside down version of her bedroom. so this is probably it? 11/10, i want to read it so bad. and very sweet pic with mom—7.5/10.
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next up these pinstripe pants !! 10/10 i love them so much. oh and the index finger ring is there obviously, 8/10, such a consistent piece of her character.
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a ribbon for being the bestest girl ever in the world. 10/10. also the card of cardinals: 6/10, probably just a christmas card or something rather than a symbol of her love for birds. but i still like it.
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mr rabbit gets 11/10 for the name alone. and why does he look dead. i love him. he’s me.
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descent from xanadu: QUITE LITERALLY 0/10. at first i was SO excited to cheer her on for reading a sex and drugs book at school but as it turns out? bizarre and gross. seems to go heavy on nonconsensual stuff. i snagged a free pdf and command f’d for whore and bitch. lots of results obviously (one use of c*ck crazy bitch…lovely). it seems men in this book say a lot of sexist stuff that the women pretend to hate but love which i can’t imagine is great for a teenage girl to consume. also just not sexy at all.
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literally so bad, and this is not the worst of it.
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sooo bad. the author was what 70 (??) writing that his female character got clinically DIAGNOSED with being a slut for every guy she comes in contact with. i know options for sexy literature were probably limited at this time but…please go check out something else. i wanna bonk her on the head with this book (paperback) and hug her. you don’t need to read this to be cool and sexually aware. moving on.
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on the other side of that, the blondie calendar gives us a sense of the GOOD media she’s consuming!! a 10/10 no questions asked. we don't really get to see many of her hobbies or interests outside of investigation so this is a much appreciated detail.
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of course like all good things in life the blondie calendar does get replaced. its replacement is what i will call Weird Antinaturalist Art Piece #1 seen in her room in s4. i give it a 4/10 because idk what’s going on really.
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and here is a very crunchy screencap of Weird Antinaturalist Art Piece #2 from s4 which i will give a 5/10. note the boyfriend typical photography above it, for sure a 10/10.
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there is also Weird Antinaturalist Art Piece #3 which gets an 8/10 because i like the composition and the piano player. where did she get this and why. interior decoration is her passion.
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the sleeping bag and crochet pillow setup. 7/10. would take a cat nap here.
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pluto!! 15/10, the best mickey mouse character i would say. i hope her cousin is taking good care of him.
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bulletin board 10/10. i love how obvious it is that she has had this up for forever. probably a nice constant in her life.
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and my favorite pic up there is this precious one. look at herrr. 5000/10.
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her floral weekender bag. 6/10, i like it, but not as much as i like the speedwalk and the toss into the backseat. she was SO ready for her lab takedown road trip.
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trapper keeper is a 9/10 because they probably put anything and everything on trapper keepers back in the day and yet still she chose this lovely understated hot air balloon. elegant.
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tom cruise poster is 1000000/10 actually. she is so loyal to that man. actually though not a great pic of him all things considered so maybe i give it a 999999/10. (i love it so much because i know for a fact that jonathan byers works proactively to never acknowledge this poster, because he is more mature than that.) (he is not more mature than that, in fact he is a little pouty about mr cruise.)
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KITTY FIGURINE. 10/10. i thought it was just in s4 but i found it on her other nightstand in s1. very very adorable. i imagine it is now one of the first things she sees in the morning (well that and her blue telephone: 8/10) which is bizarre and cute. the mixtape drawer gets a 10/10 for reasons that i don’t think i need to get into.
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white fingerless gloves! 10/10. so chic for monster hunting.
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black fingerless gloves from s4. hmmm 3/10, they're cool i guess but they don’t feel very nancy and the white ones are so much better. especially because you may get the splatter effect of monster blood on them in a battle scenario, which would be badass.
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piggybank (with her name on the side). 2/10 unfortunately i don’t like him. he looks at me like i took out his whole pig village and i just need some quarters. also did she paint this herself? in that case, 3/10 for customization lol.
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pastel underwear drawer: 10/10. her committment to the hollistic aesthetic and color palette of her room is impressive here. it was a good idea to use this drawer as a deterrence against her little brother and a money hiding place but clearly he has no manners and is a THIEF.
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STRIPED SOCKS. 10/10. i realize it's hard to see because she's moving so fast (slow down he is not going anywhere) but they are indeed stripey even though i would have guessed solid white. and wow what good sleeping socks. stripes are just cozier. hope she got lots of sleep in those.
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thebramblewood · 4 months ago
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Apologies if you've answered this before, but I was looking through your asks and couldn't find anything.
Do you have any advice on how you take such good screenshots of your game? You have such a knack for lighting, having variety of shots, and making them immersive.
This is so sweet. Thank you! 🥰
If I'm being honest, it's 90% vibes and gut feelings for me. I don’t have any formal background in filmmaking or photography, and everything I know is by sheer osmosis. There’s a lot of fancy terminology to describe why certain image compositions look better than others. I admire and respect anyone who purposefully keeps that in mind. But I am definitely not that person. I think I’ve watched enough film and TV, though, to subconsciously be doing the "right thing" - or at least what looks right to me.
That being said, I think the best way to improve is practice. If you spend enough time doing something you'll obviously get better at it, even if you don't realize it at first. So the most important thing is to give yourself the patience to grow and the freedom to experiment! At any rate, here are some things I've learned that will maybe be helpful to others.
Camera Tricks: We all know the camera in TS4 can be a little wonky at times. I use Buckley's camera mod. It hasn't been updated in eons but still works as far as I can tell. It gives you more freedom with movement, and I've found it especially helpful for getting shots that are lower to the ground.
Now that I've realized how sneakily useful first person camera can be, I also take advantage of that all the time. There's the trick of making your Sim look in a specific direction. (This works with poses and gameplay actions, by the way! For example, I used it to turn Caleb's head toward Lilith while he was trimming the bonsai tree.) There's the Dutch angle trick explained in this video. This is great for moments of disorientation and unease. I also just straight-up used first person camera to convey Helena's confusion upon waking after being turned.
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Also, saved camera positions are your best friends. You can save up to five positions using CTRL+5-9. Then you just click the corresponding number to return to that position. I've used these for so many reasons. By taking two shots in the same position and Photoshopping them together, I've been able to edit Sims in (like Vlad below), fix accessory clashes (the book was in the hat category, so Lilith couldn't actually wear it at the same time as the towel on her head), and to pose Sims in open doorways (Helena had to walk through the door to open it for the Vatores, so I shot both halves separately).
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Zoom: I love smashing that zoom button, whether it's zooming way in or way out. Zoomed out shots are perfect for establishing setting or as interstitial shots during a long conversation when you don't want to always focus on Sims' faces. They're also great for the draaama. Extreme close-ups are great for emphasizing emotion or a tiny but significant detail. Playing around with the extremes of zoom is one of the best ways to achieve shot variety!
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Focus: I don't think Reshade is a necessity for good visual storytelling, but it does make certain things easier. I rely a lot on depth of field shaders to pull focus in shots. I like using cinematic depth of field especially in conversations to blur some characters while emphasizing others. I feel like this helps ground conversations because it reminds us there are multiple participants instead of always zeroing in on the speaker alone. Another way to play with focus is to allow the angle to mirror the emotions of the conversation. It's an older shot, but I always liked how Caleb seems to cower beneath Lilith's bat form here even though she's technically smaller. And in the recent conversation between Lilith and Helena, I kept the camera to Lilith's back to emphasize her vulnerability and discomfort and put the focus on Helena's reaction to it.
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Framing/Angles: I do this by pure instinct, honestly, and have gotten better at getting it right on the first shot over time. I used to take half a dozen shots of the same pose from different angles and choose the best one. Nowadays, I'm quicker to commit and often take only one shot. I've learned that if something immediately tickles my brain, it's usually the way to go. I usually angle shots so that the characters aren't looking directly at camera, as it seems more natural that way. On the other hand, sometimes the direct to camera look can actually work in more confrontational or unsettling moments.
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Environment: If I can help it, I don't do my own builds. In some ways, this is a disadvantage because I have to set up the scene within a space that wasn't specifically catered to it. On the other hand, it makes for fun little surprises, like the ability to peek in through a skylight or frame two characters within perfectly placed archways. I like using objects and structures to create interest when I can. I often don't discover things like this until I'm pulling the camera around and randomly happen upon them. I definitely recommend navigating all around to see what you've got to work with before committing to any specific angle. You might find one you didn't even think of!
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Lighting: I do what I can with the game's lighting. I avoid placing ceiling lamps or at least turn the brightness down much lower, and I don't usually turn all the lights on in a room at once. I tend to change the color to one of the warmer golden hues to avoid a stark white that washes everything out. I always like when I can get some sources of light into frame because it adds a lot to the ambience. But I've also been using Relight on all of my posts lately. It's an addiction, and it truly makes all the difference. I'll use it to give light sources a stronger glow so they stand out more and also to create shadows on Sims' faces. It's also very good for flashlights and computer screen glow!
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After having self-indulgently written all this, I'm not sure how much is usable advice versus rambling musings. I find it hard to give storytelling "tips" because so much of it feels innate and personal and hard to put into generalized terms. I also don't want to imply that every one of my shots is perfect or that there aren't a million other ways to go about achieving good results. But thank you to anyone who's made it this far, and I hope you found it worthwhile. 💕
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thefrogman · 8 months ago
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Recently I took a panorama of the Pittsburgh skyline at night that got a positive response. That was done on the spur of the moment with an iPhone. I want to do that again and more, but this time with a dedicated camera setup. It's been years since I've had one, so I'm basically starting over again. I'm mostly interested in getting day and night cityscapes, and maybe the carryings-on at this year's Anthrocon. Would you have any particular knowledge to pass on as I set off on this journey?
Since you didn't specify a budget I'm going to assume it is in the $10K range.
And you're probably thinking I'm going to suggest a Leica. Every dentist and his brother (who is also a dentist) gets a Leica. But I just can't take a camera brand seriously when they charge you an extra $2200 for the privilege of not being able to shoot in color.
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Sure, you can hit a single button in Lightroom to get B&W and save some money, but then you won't be able to brag about how limiting yourself to only shades of gray has opened up new artistic pathways in your brain while a clueless person responds in mumbles during their root canal.
What you really want for your landscapes is a Hassie.
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They were the first camera on the moon! How could you *not* want a Hasselblad? That is some camera gorgeousness right there. And it's so reasonably priced*!
*compared to their previous $40,000 camera systems.
And if you are doing landscapes with the Hassie you'll need a nice wide angle lens to go with it. This one is actually quite affordable*!
*compared to their previous $8000 lenses.
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Can we all agree that is a work of art? They even use their H logo as the knurling.
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That is just so... extra. And I love it.
Out of the entire alphabet I've heard Hs give you the best grip.
Man, I almost wish I was a dentist just so I could buy a fancy camera.
Sorry... I was just having a little fun.
I never get to recommend the super cool expensive cameras. Because, ya know, the economy and the fact that only dentists have Hasselblad money.
You probably think I'm being silly but there actually is an entire community of dentist photographers keeping the high end camera market alive.
Okay, let's get started...
Landscape Buying Guide
Opening Thoughts
For landscapes I would highly suggest a full frame camera and a high quality wide angle lens.
Full frame has several advantages but it is not necessary. You can go with a smaller sensor like APS-C and get great images. Personally I would not go any smaller, but there have been some great landscapes taken on micro 4/3 and even smartphones. Technique, knowledge, experience, and composition will usually win the day over a camera, but having a nice camera makes things a lot easier.
At this point, with full frame options being very affordable now, the main reason to get a smaller sensor is if you want a smaller system that is easier to carry for extended periods and easier to pack when traveling. Or if you aren't sure you want to take on photography as a hobby, you can get an old APS-C DSLR for under $200 to learn with and test out.
So if you need a very cheap OR very compact system, APS-C and Micro 4/3 might be worth considering, but a bigger sensor will cause less frustration most of the time.
Froggie Note: The expensive Micro 4/3 and APS-C systems are the compact ones. The cheap systems are about as bulky as full frame.
The biggest advantages to full frame are low light shooting, lens selection, and field of view. Full frame cameras have many, many more lenses to choose from. And since the sensor is bigger, it is much easier to get a wider field of view that is often needed for landscapes. And the high ISO noise performance tends to be better on full frame.
However, you can use full frame lenses on APS-C camera bodies within the same ecosystem. They just get a little... zoomier. Roughly 1.5x zoomier. A 35mm acts like a 50mm, for example. So if you want to spend a little less now you can get an APS-C camera with a full frame lens and then upgrade to full frame later on without having to buy a new lens. Full frame lenses work on APS-C bodies but not the other way around.
Most landscapists have a really solid 16-35mm lens and that covers almost all of their needs. So I would suggest something comparable. Please don't get suckered into some crazy 18-300mm superzoom. Just get the focal range you need for the photos you want to achieve.
A purpose-built lens always outperforms one that was made to do everything.
As far as where to get used gear, I highly recommend using KEH or MPB when buying used camera bodies. They check every device and offer between 3 and 6 months warranty to make sure the device won't crap out on you. Lenses are typically a lot more robust and a safer thing to buy on eBay or Facebook Marketplace if you can find a better deal. But the security of having a warranty and a return apparatus if something goes wrong might be worth the extra price when using these two sites.
I am going to recommend Canon, Nikon, and Sony systems. I feel they have the most complete ecosystems with gear that spans all budget ranges. I'm not saying there aren't good cameras from other brands, but you have to remember every camera has an ecosystem surrounding it. There are accessories and upgrade paths and niche lenses that may not be available with other brands. I think Fuji has some tempting options and if you like the look of vintage film photography, their emulation options are quite stunning. Their cameras are also quite attractive and have very satisfying knobs. But I still can't recommend them unless you have a specific reason for wanting their gear.
Just remember that for every Canon DSLR I recommend there is a comparable Nikon option available as well. There are more lenses for a Canon full frame DSLR body than any other brand with Nikon coming in a close second.
So if you choose not to go mirrorless yet, the Canon and Nikon DSLR camera ecosystems are immense and have tons of gear and accessories available to go with them. And since used gear holds up really well, those ecosystems will survive for decades.
Should you buy a mirrorless camera or a DSLR?
Mirrorless cameras are the latest camera technology for interchangeable lens camera systems. At this point they are superior in every aspect and they continue to improve year by year. Because of that, used DSLRs have plummeted in price. This allows people greater access to a starter ILC (interchangeable lens camera) without a significant investment. You can get professional quality images on either format, but mirrorless has a shallower learning curve and much better automatic modes.
The in-body image stabilization (IBIS) stabilizes *every* lens and the eye tracking autofocus make "focus and re-compose" extinct. These are huge selling points for a lot of people. With IBIS you can take photos with up to 2-4 second shutter speeds without a tripod. And never missing focus on a human or animal or bird is pretty cool too.
DSLR camera bodies are no longer being designed by most of the major manufacturers. Thankfully Canon and Nikon developed plenty of bodies and lenses, so you will always have options and upgrade paths. But you will not be able to upgrade to systems with the latest advanced features.
The best DSLRs available are probably the Nikon D850 and the Canon 5D Mark IV. That is as good as it will ever get. The technology ends there. So if you want to enter an active camera ecosystem then you will have to get a mirrorless camera.
DSLR Camera Systems
Full Frame DSLR Camera Bodies
Canon
If you buy a used DSLR, there are some very affordable full frame options. In fact, the classic much-praised budget full frame Canon 6D can be had for under $300 right now.
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This is an old camera. It has no fancy features. It only has 20 megapixels. It just does what it says on the tin. But it has a big sensor and a *ton* of really cool lenses available for it.
If you are specifically looking to create really high resolution panos, you could also look at the 50 megapixel 5DS R for around $1000.
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There is a community of landscape pano-maniacs that love to create "gigapans" that have endless amounts of detail where you can zoom in and find new details in every photo. I was only able to create a 120 megapixel photo, but you can still find things like people starting a campfire and a dude fishing and a truck on a far off bridge. So even though this seems expensive for a DSLR, you are looking at another thousand bucks to find anything with more megapixels than this bad boy, so it is quite a good deal relatively speaking.
Nikon
Probably the best DSLRs ever made were the Nikon D800 series and you can get the Nikon D800 for $464.
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This is a newer camera than the 6D with more megapixels (36) and a better sensor. It also has a more modern autofocus system and about 3 more stops of dynamic range which can come in handy for landscapes. This is an incredible camera for this price.
APS-C DSLR Camera Bodies
If you aren't sure you want to commit to this hobby, you can look into a Canon APS-C sensor body like the Canon Rebels and Canon 60D through 90D models and get good results.
And there are many Nikon DX APS-C bodies that would be great starter cameras as well. If you get a Nikon, you'd have an upgrade path to the D800 if you get hooked by the photography bug. I would miss a few very special Canon lenses like the 100mm f/2.8L macro and the 400mm f/5.6 telephoto but I'm sure I could figure out some reasonable Nikon alternatives that would do roughly the same thing.
Canon APS-C
There is a Canon 60D for $139 right now that would be perfectly adequate for landscape work on a tripod.
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That was my first camera and I took some very nice photos with it. Only 18 megapixels but it has a very convenient flippy screen which was really helpful for a disabled photographer trying to get low angles.
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This was in 2014 and I didn't know what I was doing but that is a pretty stellar-looking sunset for a (now) $140 camera.
Nikon APS-C
And the Nikon D3400 would be a great option as well at around $184.
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You get some extra megapixels (24) and it is a bit newer than the Canon. I get the sense that used Nikon DSLRs give you more value for your money right now but I don't have a large enough sample size to confirm that.
Full Frame DSLR Lenses
Froggie Note: I am recommending full frame lenses even if you choose an APS-C DSLR body so you have an upgrade path. But also very few purpose-built APS-C lenses had superior glass. Just remember, crop sensor APS-C cameras add ~1.5x to your focal length. So a 16-35mm will have the equivalent field of view of a 24-50mm lens. Still quite acceptable for landscapes, but you may benefit from doing panoramas more often. And if you upgrade to full frame down the road, you'll already have the ideal lens.
Canon DSLR Lenses
If you get the 6D or another Canon you could pair it with the beloved-by-landscapists Canon 16-35mm f/4L.
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Honestly, it is blowing my mind you can get that combo for under $600. Me from 12 years ago is super jealous right now.
If you are worried you might need something to work in lower light and still want a zoom, the f/2.8L starts at around $434.
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This might be the most famous landscape lens of all time. Kinda boggles the mind how many gorgeous vistas this thing has captured the light of.
If you can live without the zoom, you could get a much sharper prime lens that can also be used in even lower light. A used Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art lens is $439 would be a fantastic option.
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24mm is still a very good focal length for landscapes and the sharpness of this lens lends well to panoramic stitches. Seriously, these art lens are so freaking sharp. Although 35mm is typically preferred for most street photography, I think this would do great for that purpose as well. It couldn't do close up portraits, but 3/4 and full body portraits would look great. I also love this focal length for doggos. It enlarges their heads a bit which enhances adorable-ness.
Though I probably wouldn't recommend the 24mm on APS-C for landscapes as it would put you near a 40mm full frame equivalent field of view.
Nikon DSLR Lenses
And on the Nikon side of things you could get the Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 for $399.
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This is a great lens too. Very comparable to the Canon L glass. And paired with that D800 you would have a better shooting experience than with the 6D if it fits within your budget.
It's a little harder to find, but you can also get that same Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art lens for Nikon at around $528 used on Amazon and in the $400 range on KEH and MPB when it is available.
The older and softer Nikkor 28mm f/1.8 is a little more affordable and easier to find.
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What if you are not a dentist but are willing to save up for something a little nicer?
Enter the world of...
Mirrorless Camera Systems
Sony currently has my favorite ecosystem of mirrorless cameras and lenses and they are consistently ahead of the other brands as far as technology and features. In fact, many other manufacturers use Sony sensors. They literally supply their competition with their own tech. They are also pretty good about updating firmware—even with older models. So I feel like Sony has a lot of future-proofing advantages over other brands. Sony has a great selection of 3rd party lenses like Sigma, Tamron, Viltrox, Laowa, Samyang, etc. These lenses often have nearly the same optical quality as Sony's G Master lenses at a fraction of the price.
Full Frame Mirrorless
Currently, I think the best value full frame mirrorless camera for landscapes would be the Sony a7R III.
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This is very nearly a top-of-the-line landscape camera for a little over $1200.
That might sound like a lot, but I want to be clear...
This isn't just decent. This isn't "good enough." This is a spectacular professional grade full frame camera.
10 years ago you could spend $6500 for a *worse* camera. 5 years ago you could spend $3000 for a *worse* camera.
It can do every genre of photography except for maybe fast paced sports/action. It has an amazing 42 megapixels—which are not necessary but they do make editing and printing a lot less of a headache. The file sizes can get a little big, but storage is a lot cheaper than it used to be.
Oh, and it can be used for professional quality 4K video work too.
The a7R III comes with all of the modern bells and whistles including in-body stabilization (IBIS) so you can handhold at very slow shutter speeds. It has one of the best autofocus systems—complete with eye tracking. But not just human eyes! Dog eyes. Cat eyes. Bird eyes. If it has an eye, the Sony can probably lock focus on it. And it has an admirable 10 fps burst shooting mode.
APS-C Mirrorless
If you want to enter the Sony ecosystem but can't afford full frame quite yet, you could do the a6400 for about $600.
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You still get the eye-tracking and the in-body stabilization, but you will lose some image quality at higher ISOs due to the smaller sensor size. However, you can get the same full frame E-mount lenses for it and upgrade to a bigger sensor later on and not have to buy new lenses.
Mirrorless Landscape Lenses
I think a good value landscape lens would be the very impressive Tamron 20-40mm f/2.8.
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This is a newer lens so there aren't many deals on used options yet. But this is still a great price for the quality and versatility you get. You will never regret spending a little more on glass.
The 20mm range can fit an entire cityscape in the frame without needing to do a panorama. But if you zoom to 40mm and mount the camera vertically, you could stitch together several photos to get well over the 100 megapixel range.
Also, the 40mm focal range is long enough to do street photography and even head & shoulder portraits. The wide f/2.8 aperture combined with the high-ISO friendly full frame sensor and in-body stabilization means you can shoot in very low light without a tripod. You can also get some great pictures of stars if you travel to someplace with minimal light pollution.
The cheapest landscape zoom lens I could find was the Sony 16-35mm f/4 at $384.
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It's one of Sony's older lenses and may not take advantage of all of the a7R III's pixels, but it would be a good option to get you started in this system and upgrade the lens later on.
Mirrorless Prime Lenses
Zoom lenses are great but you have to spend more to get tolerable quality. Kit zooms can be softer than even the tiny plastic lenses on your phone. So a great way to stretch your budget is to get multiple fixed focal length "prime" lenses. Primes can be built inexpensively while still having good low light performance and decent sharpness.
For instance, you could start with something like the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 for $175. And if you want to do more than landscapes you could add the Sony 50mm f/1.8 for $170 later on. Cheap primes will outperform any of those mediocre kit zoom lenses in that same price range. You lose some versatility and have to deal with the pain of changing lenses or zooming with your feet, but sometimes a tight budget demands a little pain.
There is also a higher quality 3rd party wide angle prime lens that is very popular right now. The Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 is only $549 and the reviews say it has similar quality to lenses 3 times its price.
If you have to choose between a better camera body or a better lens, a good lens will help your photos more than a fancy camera body.
Froggie Note: These are examples. You should always do your own research before making a major technological purchase. This post could be a year old by the time you see it and there could be new stuff that is better. But all of the principles I tried to convey should hopefully guide you to a good decision. Also, feel free to message me if you want to ask about specific gear you are considering purchasing.
More Resources
This is my Encyclopedia of Lens Terms which is a helpful primer in understanding all of the wonderful and different lens options available on ILCs.
This is my buying guide for low budget used DSLRs. Similar to this post but less geared toward landscapes.
And this guide for getting decent landscape photos with any camera.
This is a free tutorial that teaches you everything you need to get started with an ILC system.
youtube
And this free tutorial by Karl Taylor is quite good as well.
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brickcentral · 5 months ago
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🤩 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: SKABRAM.builds Hello everyone! It's time to direct the spotlight toward our community members, and today we will get to know better SKABRAM.builds!
"Hi everyone, I’m Bram and I live in the Netherlands.
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I rediscovered LEGO when my oldest son got his first set about 2,5 years ago. Soon I found out about digital building LEGO and got hooked building MOC’s of one of my favorite things: birds. I created some of my favorite birds to display in our house and published the building instructions for others to build. That was all I did until LEGO announced the Icons Kingfisher set. It got me thinking about sharing my own bird builds too.
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This idea got kickstarted when I got tagged in a photo where someone used my instructions for a bird build. Apparently there was a little search for brick built birds in nature photos. I got in touch and was encouraged to participate. Since I already have some years experience with wildlife photography this seemed fun. I emptied my camera bag, filled it with my bird models and went to a local park. And here we are…
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I see my photography as the final touch of my MOC. I spend a good amount of time designing and building the model, getting it out in it’s natural habitat feels like a logic last step. I try to get as close to the real bird and it’s environment as possible and aim to create realistic photos. My approach is the same as in my wildlife photography: I want to show the bird and some of its surroundings. These surroundings are important since they tell a lot about a bird and it’s behavior and habitat. Since I’m shooting a LEGO model this is a lot easier than with real birds, so I got plenty of time to focus on composition. I often try to get on eye level with my subject and to find interesting colors or lines that complement the composition. Most of my images are composed using the rule of thirds.
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I prepare my photos not extensively. I think about the posing and what I might need for it (string, stand or extra LEGO parts) and throw everything in my bag when I go outside.
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I don’t take a model of a coastal bird to the forest, but besides that it’s just looking for the right opportunity. Working with natural light and shooting without a tripod makes everything very flexible.
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My 50-400mm lens is very versatile, so I can shoot real birds and LEGO ones during the same walk. The higher aperture (4.5-6.3) of this lens is no deal breaker since I often shoot with higher aperture to include more of the surroundings.
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The hardest part might be getting the model posed right. It’s not always easy to find the right branch to clip the feet on (not all branches are in system…) and wind should not be underestimated when shooting around water (yes, I had to fish). Sometimes someone is holding a loose branch with a bird model up so I can get the right image. To compensate for the inevitable movement here I increase my shutter speed (which is already high because I shoot handheld).
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Combining my love for wildlife photography and LEGO has been a bliss thus far. Working with static models and a lighter lens has it’s advantages! The gear i use is a Sony A6700 Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 Tamron 50-400mm 4.5-6.3 Tamron 150-500mm 5.0-6.7 (used for wildlife only) I do have a simple Rollei tripod, but only use it inside."
Thank you for accepting our invitation and let the community knows you better!
If you want some insights on the exclusive picture and for a better view of the others, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/.
- @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager
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pansylair · 2 years ago
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hi sorry if im being a bother but like. how do you be creative? or just have creative ideas in general? your art is always so unique and interesting and so different but I always feel like im never creative or have no ideas. idk if it has to do with me just not being able to focus easily but if you have any rescources or tips or anything really that helps with being creative, if it isnt too much of a bother, could u share them? ty sm
so this has been sitting in my inbox for months, i’ve been wanting to answer this when i had time!
here’s some stuff that helps me:
- an inspiration board by your workspace of other’s work and things you find out and about that interest you and doodles of your own
- writing down simple poetry or prose that you can later attach ideas to
- planning out concepts and compositions more akin to how one would assemble a collage ie. layering very visually different subjects and text
- exploring other mediums! sometimes ideas come better in 3d than 2d for me, this also applies to the work of others you view, i adore some good textiles or photography or films, and leading off that, follow lots of artists!
- let your interests motivate you! wildlife and paleobiology and queer love and my fav video games always make me want to create
- lastly be kind to yourself!
social media especially dictates creatives should always be pumping out perfect, innovative work but sometimes you just need a quiet week. sometimes you gotta make “meh” work and not post it or have a messy, illegible sketchbook. thats how art truly goes.
i can struggle with focus too, i can catch myself pacing for an hour straight or sitting down for two hours and getting 20 minutes of work done and other adhd brain shenanigans but i try my best to be kind to myself and try to create an environment to accommodate that.
treat yourself with respect too, art is a process and journey and we deserve to enjoy that act of creation and vulnerability and expression 💛
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jellys-toy-collection · 25 days ago
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i've just been starting to get into photography, specifically photographing plush! do you have any tips on getting a good photo? specifically how to get unique ideas for pictures with your plush! there's only so many times i can take pics at the local park XP i absolutely adore all your pics with henry and rainbowkitty, the composition and lighting are so stellar everytime!! thank you so much!!
long response oops ❤
awh thank you!!! that's so cool ur getting into plushie photography, it's def a super fun hobby! ^__^ i think the most important thing is just to take LOTS of pics even if you don't intend to post them. figuring out what angles capture your plushies expressions and silhouette best is the easiest way to get good composition i think!
as for coming up with ideas, i tend to do 3 things:
1. henry and rainbowkitty are always with me, so anything I want/have to do they're gunna do too. like if i want to bake, they're gunna help bake, if i'm gardening they help me garden etc. i like doing photoshoots so they feel involved.
2. i think about seasonal stuff that would be fun for them to do. like fall: playing in the leaves, pumpkin spice coffee, dressing up for halloween. spring: easter egg hunting, planting flowers. things like that c: pics for any holiday are always really fun too and easy to get inspiration for cause all the events, decorations or traditions!
3. i am always out looking for plushie sized things. i don't really go out of my way to find specifics, a lot of the time i just see an object that would be perfect for a photoshoot i never would have thought of, like the picture of henry and rainbowkitty mailing letters to santa i only thought of when i saw the little mailbox! and in general props add a lot to a picture or allow you to be more creative, and express the actions the plushies are doing better. like henry and rainbowkitty picking berries with a little basket, or gardening with a little watering can not only makes them feel more involved and happy but also gets the point of the pic across better i think. someone can look at it and immediately know what is happening. which can be important depending on the style/vibe ur going for.
sorry for the long explanations, i figured more info is better than less lol but i hope something in there is helpful to you!! good luck with your photography, i bet ur pics will be awesome! c: ❤❤
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attyrocious · 9 months ago
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huge admirer of your art style and your skill, seriously, you are insanely talented. do you have any tips or suggestions for someone who is a beginner/wants to improve?
dfhgkl thank you so much! honestly feel like im quite detached technical-wise so i don't know what tip would be useful to starting artists vs beginners vs intermediate. so here's something that everyone can find useful instead: its important to surround yourself with things that inspire you. so like, artists you wanna osmosis artstyle from, art masters who share their processes, photography accounts you'd like to study compositions of, and peers that uplift each other etc. i used to collect ragnarok online art cards and pokemon TCGs to stare at when i was a kid and copy them. now i have pinterest boards for drawing inspirations and follow some Riot artists who posts their splash art painting timelapses. i don't have tiktok nor subscribe to reels, but i find most who use them only use the format for algo purposes and aesthetic vs showing their creative processes for educational puposes. long formats are better. for a more tangible art tip, idk. whenever you buy a sketchbook, go open it in a random page and doodle whatever. dont be afraid to get messy
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riftdancing · 1 month ago
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99+ Notifications?!
99+ NOTIFICATIONS?! Tumblr what do you MEAN?? ALL I DID WAS SLEEP.
...And post my wrapped.
...And maybe a new screenshot of Siyoh.
We're not counting that last one.
Originally I had panned to try and respond individually to people, but the overwhelming amount of feedback and kind words on my wrapped has left me slack jawed and feeling many feels.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Thank you so much for your kind words and for appreciating my work.
There are a few key components to my work. Things I try very hard to keep in mind while composing a shot.
1.) Lighting: Especially in my after effects because it still has to match the original lighting of the screenshot. Which means things like rotating sun beams and making sure the reflection of light is bouncing off the right places. It probably helps that I did years of photography lessons with my Mother in real life before ever bringing this knowledge to the screenshot world.
2.) Pose anatomy & the illusion of motion in a still picture: Admittedly, its a hard thing to capture. I've been doing this sort of posing for years before FFXIV so I have lots of experience and first hand knowledge in knowing how bodies move and how muscles/joints connect. That being said, I still challenge myself every day to continue to progress in this area. Especially with occasionally pushing anatomy post where it goes realistically for the sake of exaggerated expression. Like how 2D animation will always show more expression than 3D, but I also feel like this is a difficult line to toe.
3.) Photo Angle and Scene Composition: Admittedly, I still struggle with this sometimes. In fact, if a screenshot doesn't get posted or chosen to be shown on tumblr or to other people, this is usually the culprit. I'm very picky about it. Sometimes I'll let a screenshot sit for hours and come back to it whilst trying to decide if I like the angle in which I captured the scene. I can think of at least five shots off the top of my head which didn't make it to the editing phase because of this. Loved the idea, hated the execution. Which is NOT to say I hate my work. I love my work. Even the stuff I don't post. But I believe its healthy to have your own sense of constructive criticism along side pride and love for your work. This is how we grow. I also might have deleted a few posts after growing frustrated with their final composition weeks after.
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Here are a few examples of things which didn't quite make it to the cutting room floor or had their scene composition/posing revised into better shots. I still love them! I think some of them are great in their own ways, they just weren't particularly capturing what I was fully after.
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So what does this bring me to?
Your comments. I am so overwhelmed.
All of your sweet comments touched on these three key points and I cannot express how warm and fuzzy that made me feel. It gave me such a HUGE sense of pride knowing I am able to accomplish what I set out to do. And I only ever want to continuously improve on that (and more)!
I'm going to set some new goals for myself in 2025. But all the kind tags was exactly the kind of motivational boost to keep me going in the new year and to continue to figure out new tools to enhance my skill set as I go.
Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.
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canmom · 1 year ago
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rn attempts to use AI in anime have mostly been generating backgrounds in a short film by Wit, and the results were pretty awful. garbage in garbage out though. the question is whether the tech can be made useful - keeping interesting artistic decisions in the hands of humans and automating the tedious parts, and giving enough artistic control to achieve a coherent direction and clean up the jank.
for example, if someone figured out how to make a really good AI inbetweener, with consistent volumes and artist control over spacing, that would be huge. inbetweening is the part of 2D animation that nobody especially wants to do if they can help it; it's relatively mindless application of principle, artistic decisions are limited (I recall Felix Colgrave saying something very witty to this effect but I don't have it to hand). but it's also really important to do well - a huge part of KyoAni's magic recipe is valuing inbetweeners and treating it as a respectable permanent position instead of a training position. good inbetweening means good movement. but everywhere outside KyoAni, it mostly gets outsourced to the bottom of the chain, mainly internationally to South Korea and the Philippines. in some anime studios it's been explicitly treated as a training position and they charge for the use of a desk if you take too long to graduate to a key animator.
some studios like Science Saru have been using vector animation in Flash to enable automated inbetweening. the results have a very distinct look - they got a lot better at it over time but it can feel quite uncanny. Blender Grease Pencil, which is also vector software, also gives you automated inbetweening, though it's rather fiddly to set up since it requires the two drawings to have the same stroke count and order, so it's best used if you've sculpted the lines rather than redrawn them.
however, most animators prefer to work in raster rather than vector, which is harder to inbetween automatically.
AI video interpolation tools also exist, though they draw a lot of ire from animators who see those '60fps anime' videos which completely shit all over the timing and spacing and ruin the feeling and weight of the animation, lack any understanding of animating on 2s/3s/4s in the source, and often create ugly incomprehensible mushy inbetweens which only work at all because they're on screen so briefly.
a better approach would be to create inbetweens earlier in the pipeline when the drawings are clean and the AI doesn't have to try to replicate compositing and photography. in theory this is a well posed problem for training a neural network, you could give it lots of examples of key drawing input and inbetween output. probably you'd need some way to inform the AI about matching features of the drawing, the way that key animators will often put a number on each lock of hair to help the inbetweener keep track of which way it's going. you'd also need a way to communicate arcs and spacing. but that all sounds pretty solvable.
this would not be good news for job security at outsourcing studios, obviously - these aren't particularly good jobs with poor pay and extreme hours, but they do keep a bunch of people housed and fed, people who are essential to anime yet already treated as disposable footnotes by the industry. it also would be another nail in the coffin of inbetweening's traditional role as a school of animation drawing skills for future key animators. on the other hand, it would be incredible news for bedroom animators, allowing much larger and more ambitious independent traditional animation - as long as the cheap compute still exists. hard to say how things would fall in the long run. ultimately the only solution is to break copies-of-art as a commodity and find another way to divert a proportion of the social surplus to artistic expression.
i feel like this kind of tool will exist sooner or later. not looking forward to the discourse bomb when the first real AI-assisted anime drops lmao
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seramilla · 9 months ago
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God I love the idea of velvette & Odette bonding, like Velvette starts to see Odette as a female figure that she could go to whenever she feels lost or confused or she just simply needs comfort that only an older sister can give.
Odette has interests in things that Velvette would have never considered interesting back then but now, they are simply fascinating to her. (Hc:) Odette likes to do photography sometimes in her free time. It’s not professional or commercial but it’s something, that she enjoys—and Velvette finds it so fascinating that something so simple could be so enjoyable, yet she finds it comforting and interesting to watch as Odette takes photo’s of the blinding lights of the other cities in the pride ring or the animals in the wrath ring.
It’s something that’s so simple yet— Velvette doesn’t want to give it up, and she doesn’t want to give this dynamic she’s built up with the carmine family.
Velvette has no shortage of women in the Carmine household to go to when she has trouble. If she's tired, or needs a snuggle, Clara or Kiki will fit that bill nicely. If she needs to talk fashion, or run over some ideas in her head, Verosika is only a few texts away, or down the hall in Odette's room. She's not quite comfortable going to Carmilla and Sera yet. The older couple will often seek her out if they sense she needs an ear, but she's not yet brave enough to set those types of interactions in motion on her own.
Odette, until recently, was simply the...other sister. Not that Velvette had disliked her, mind you; she just never knew how to approach the stoic woman without being awkward about it. Odette is the biggest introvert Velvette thinks she's ever met -- she's trying to get better at not saying the wrong thing, which unfortunately leads to her not saying much at all, and giving the wrong impression that Velvette doesn't care for her.
The one thing Velvette can appreciate about her, she thinks, is Odette's eye for little details. That includes the talent she recently discovered the older Carmine sister has, which is photography; a skill she herself can greatly appreciate, because she's always trying to learn how to get better at posing and lighting her subjects in her studio. Things like that take her a lot of time, effort, and hard work; for Odette, it's almost effortless. Velvette can choose the picture-perfect outfit and put it on the picture-perfect model, but posing and lighting a scene perfectly in a matter of seconds? That's all Odette. It isn't long until Velvette's curiosity gets the better of her, and she nonchalantly tries to start a conversation about it with her girlfriend's sister.
Odette doesn't go looking for the perfect subjects, but finds that candid moments of people and creatures just existing in their lives provide the best results for her. She tells Velvette to see more with her mind, than simply trying to create the best artificial setting for her portfolio. Velvette starts doing more outdoor shoots after this advice, and is less demanding that her models always strike specific poses. She starts letting them do what feels natural, to let art imitate life, instead of trying to force it on them.
Velvette values Odette's advice, even if her work will never have the perfect composition that Odette's has. That's fine with her, though; even the little things can vastly improve the canvas of her work, and for that, her outfits have never looked better on her models, and they've never appeared more natural and life-like in her clothes. She might not be able to admit it to anyone else, but perhaps Velvette has more she can learn from the elder Carmine sister than she once thought. It couldn't hurt to find out more, at any rate.
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centaurianthropology · 4 months ago
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Hammer Horror-a-thon: 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'
So, after an unexpectedly delightful turn with 'Dracula A.D. 1972', we conclude our brief detour through the Lee/Cushing Dracula flicks with 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula.'
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The opening credits are sort of a fun mix of the super funky opening credit song for 'Dracula A.D. 1972' with the more traditional sound a fury of the original 'Horror of Dracula' theme. Sort of like this is an attempt to bring the previous film together with the older films? We shall see. We also learn that the script is once again by Don Hougton, the same screenwriter who wrote 'Dracula A.D. 1972' (and I genuinely thought the script in that was pretty solid for being a B flick), but we've lost our beloved director of photography from that same movie, Dick Bush (still his real name). So we might not be be getting the rather ambitious shots and compositions we got in that film.
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Behold, Dick Bush, who didn't shoot this film, but apparently won BAFTAs for his cinematography, and after 'Dracula A.D. 1972, I believe it. Sad to see you won't be taking this trip with us, King.
And post-credits we really do jump straight into the Satanic Rites, which I appreciate. Truth in advertising and all that. We have a bunch of pudgy middle aged dudes in robes, and, showing me why we jumped in rating from 'A.D. 1972' (PG) to an R rating, we immediately get a topless lady sacrifice. I mean, these movies have been very horny, but these are the first more-than-suggested boobs I've seen in my admittedly short viewing experience.
Then again, they're catering to the drive-in crowd, so tits were probably a major selling point.
Our Satanic rites, meanwhile, are being recorded and listened to by a dude with killer muttonchops and a fluffy vest. The very picture of 70s dude. He brings of mug of tea to an equally mutton-chopped and fluffy-vested dude in another room, while a third guy lies in a cot tied up. Our prisoner starts groaning, drawing Mutton Chop #2's attention, who promptly gets his ass strangled by Mustache, who sneaks away past an oblivious Mutton Chop #1.
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Sometimes you gotta do your Satanic rites while bored dudes in fluffy vests record you for reasons.
But while he's sneaking out he triggers an alarm, alerting the cultists and getting Mutton Chop #1 to pursue him (along with yet another guy in a fluffy vest). Mutton Chop #1 is shot by a sniper, who picks him up in a car and they make their escape.
I had presumed the Mutton Chop army were surveilling the cult, but apparently the cult is aware of the recordings and is into it? Maybe they're making a documentary.
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Seriously, where can I get one of those fluffy vests? I want one.
Cut to Mustache lying on a cot in some sort of brightly-lit, sterile interrogation room or something. He's being questioned by dudes about a guy named Porter while a doctor monitors him and all his answers are being recorded. He describes 'obscene rites' and claims to have photos.
Then he dies, because of course he does.
The dudes talking to him seem to be police or investigators or something. There also seems to be a routine for disposing of the bodies involved in the supernatural, apparently, because they'll be forging a death certificate for him. We're twelve minutes in and we have a cult and a supernatural governmental investigatory agency. Which I suppose is the logical conclusion for the Hammer universe, given how many monsters populate it. At some point, someone is going to try to regulate and litigate them.
Also their boss might be in the cult. So we've also got government corruption. This plot so far is a lot more complex than 'Dracula gets a groupie to resurrect him in the 1970s so he can slasher-flick his way through a group of hippie teens', and I'm not altogether certain yet that it's going to be for the better.
So they decide they'll bring in someone to help them, because of corruption and 'I'm only on your side in this room' and 'outside this secret we're keeping you're on your own.' Cheap spy thriller stuff, but it all seems to be a convoluted way to bring the same police inspector from the last film back into the picture to investigate the cult.
Because he honestly didn't leave much of an impression in the last film, I had to look it up. And yes, it's the same actor (Michael Coles) come back to play the character again, this time looking gloriously 1970s. While I don't mind his return, I'm a little disappointed, because with that outfit he looks a lot like David Warner, one of my favorite actors, and I was really excited for a second before realizing it wasn't him.
He gets briefed by the Government Dudes (mostly an excuse to get the most mileage out of the Satanic Rites set and the fact they still have a naked lady on screen). You get the feeling that half of the 'cultists' are just there to ogle and Touch Boob. And it turns out they're all powerful and well-known middle-aged dudes hoping to Touch Boob. Then the naked lady, who seemed very into everything right up until this point, gets stabbed by the High Priestess (the only one at the rite who seems like a real professional, and not just interested in Boob).
Meanwhile, while they're briefing Murray, the woman who ran the recording equipment for the Government Dudes is getting in a high-speed chase with the Mutton Chop Army. They catch her.
Back to the ritual, and the naked lady is brought back to life and healed. Sacrificial recycling! Cool!
Having got caught up, Murray immediately brings van Helsing in on the investigation, bringing one of the Government Dudes back. Because Murray is nothing if not practical.
And we're reunited with Lorrimer (hopefully I'm spelling that name right now) van Helsing, still mostly a researcher, with no strong indication if he spends much of his time monster hunting, or if that's more of an occasional treat. We also get reunited with Jessica van Helsing. And right off, grand tragedy: we no longer have Stephanie Beacham as Jessica. However, to make me far less sad about the loss, her replacement is none other than Joanna Lumley!! I have loved her since 'Sapphire and Steel' (legitimately one of my favorite shows ever), and she brings a very different quality to the role.
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The (slightly revised) van Helsings and Inspector Murray
Joanna Lumley is a much cooler, quieter presence than the effervescent Stephanie Beacham. While Beacham was a contrast to Cushing's more quiet energy, Lumley seems to be an older and more mature Jessica, matching his energy rather than contrasting it. She's soft spoken, and has apparently become a very talented supernatural researcher in her own right. I'm still hopeful she's at least gotten some training as well as research chops, given her line of work. I'm not expecting Buffy, but I'm at least hoping for concealed crucifixes and holy water. After all, Lorrimer isn't much for physical violence either, and every time Dracula gets defeated it tends to be with improvised weaponry.
At least make sure the lady can whittle herself a pit trap like her grandfather!
We also learn that one of the wealthy men who wanted to Touch Boob was an old school friend of van Helsing's: Professor Keeley, a biochemist who won a nobel prize (feels like the satanic rites would have come up in a Nobel background check, but maybe they were just handing those things out like cereal box toys in the 1970s).
Van Helsing is hoping that Keeley is innocent, and proposes he go talk to the man first. The investigators figure he might get more out of Keeley than they would, and agree to the plan.
Keeley isn't doing well. He seems like he's in the middle of some sort of breakdown, being worked into exhaustion. The actor playing him (Freddie Jones) was a fairly well-known character actor, and ends up doing a lot with a little screentime. His chemistry with Cushing is solid, and his performance very much conveys the feel of a man doing work he's not even sure why he's doing.
And what is that work?
Growing mold, apparently.
We come back to the lady recording the session, and find her in the same cot that Mustache was in at the beginning of the film, having been captured bt the Mutton Chop Army. The door gets knocked open by the fog machine, and we are re-introduced to an already re-resurrected Dracula. It's sort of impressive how little Christopher Lee seems to age in this role, looking about the same as he did in 1958. She gets bit, of course, and I suppose we've got our first new vampire of the film.
Keeley, a little more with it, is meanwhile monologuing about evil while van Helsing sorts through is papers. He's honestly really up front about the whole 'I am a satanist!' schtick, which is considerate of him. Lorrimer slaps him a few times to try to snap him out of the monologue, and demands to know what he's been researching because it looks a lot like he's been engineering a new strain of Yersinia pestis (the Bubonic plague) which, one assumes, would be resistant to penicillin now (fun fact: the plague is basically entirely cured thanks to the invention of antibiotics, which it's very responsive to). And how did he do that? Radiation. He has radioactive plague which is apparently lethal in seconds and spready by touch somehow.
So we have spies, a mad scientist, biological warfare ... this is feeling rather sci-fi horror, and I still have no idea why anyone is doing what they're doing. I definitely have no idea how Dracula is involved. Is he directing all this, or is he mostly along for the ride?
I really hope the answer is deeply stupid, because so far this movie is trying to be clever and is mostly boring. I want some real goofy shit kicking off soon.
Unfortunately for van Helsing, the Mutton Chop army has been monitoring Keeley's work, and arrives, shooting van Helsing (in the head??) but somehow only giving him a little scrape. Because that's how guns work. He patches himself up with a cute little white bandaid and he's good to go.
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Congrats to Lorrimer van Helsing for being able to slap a bandaid on a gunshot wound to the head and apparently be fine.
Keeley is a lot less lucky, because he's apparently completed his work, so the cult just has him murndered and hanged in his lab, snatching all the moldy petri dishes plague.
Meanwhile, Murray and Government Dude are ragingly misogynistic to Jessica, who they brought with them to the cult headquarters but insist she not come in with them or act as an expert on the supernatural for them, despite her being trained to do exact that. Instead they leave her at the car. Why did you even bring her if you were going to be such dicks? I hope you both get murdered by Dracula, you pair of bumble fucks.
They question the high priestess, insisting they're investigating a bunch of 'motorcycle hooligans' and want to search the mansion for them. Meanwhile, Jessica sneaks into the house, deftly avoiding the security system that Mustache tripped. She finds that Dracula still likes to put his crypt in a really publicly accessible place (some things never change). She discovers the recording lady from the Government and tries to rescue her, only to be beset but a whole heap of vampiric bisexuality. She doesn't seem happy about being mugged by a ton of vampiric ladies, but the first one? I think Jessica was at least a little happy she found the sexy lesbians dungeon.
Luckily for Jessica, all the lady vampires seem much less interested in biting her than feeling her up. Unluckily for her, we get confirmation that Jessica did not, in fact get training on vampiric ass-kicking (boo! Both the van Helsings falling down on the job; it's apparently been two years and you two did NOT have a training montage, did you??). Murray and Government Dude rescue her, and Government Dude recognizes the new vampire recording lady, and Inspector Murray stakes her. They leave the other vampiric ladies and run, pursued by the Mutton Chop Army.
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Jessica, hoping she's found the lesbian dungeon, and only finding the vampire dungeon.
Van Helsing at least is already suspecting Dracula's involvement somehow, and he thinks that something is being organized. He wants to investigate Keeley's bakroller, a guy named D.D. Denham who owns a combination of various corporations with the other guys who were spotted in the cult.
And wait, according to van Helsing, they're whipping up this plague to wipe out all of humanity. Is the entire plot of this movie actually about Dracula getting so sick of being resurrected that he wants to wipe out humanity so he can get some damned sleep? Because if that's actually the plot of this movie, I might take back every bad thing I've said about it so far.
The Government Dudes, Murray, and Jessica do some surveillance of the cult headquarters, but oh no! Government Dudes are both assassinated by one of the Mutton Chops with a sniper rifle. Rest in Piss you misogynistic bastards. I hope Jessica stakes some vampires just to spite you.
While they're being taken down with regular bullets, van Helsing has been smelting silver bullets for a tiny holdout pistol. Because it's the 1970s and van Helsing is strapped now, even if it's with the world's most adorable derringer.
Murray and Jessica barely outrun the sniper and find the Government Dudes' car, but oh no! It's an ambush! Murray is knocked out, and Jessica is taken prisoner to once again play the damsel (boo once more).
Meanwhile, van Helsing goes to confront 'Denham', and it's deeply unshocking that it's actually Dracula. Who's now a corporate criminal as well as a vampire (is that some sort of commentary on corporate greed? Or is that too smart for this movie?).
And for the first time in what feels like WAAAAY too many movies, we get an actual conversation between Dracula and van Helsing. Dracula puts on a cad Bela Lugosi accent (cute touch). And yeah, the plot of this movie really does seem like Dracula wants to get some fucking sleep. They have a quick chat before van Helsing confirms it's Dracula and draws his adorable derringer.
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Look at this adorable tiny gun
Only to have his aim knocked off-course by the other cult members. They want to execute him right away, but Dracula isn't going to let that happen. They only just got their first proper conversation! Van Helsing is too sexy! Dracula absolutely has to keep him around for a way more convoluted seduction death.
It's so dumb. I'm thrilled we've finally gotten to the stupid part of this movie, and hopes it gets dumber. And since van Helsing is now captured, I am also really hoping we get some genuine scenes between Cushing and Lee. Don't get me wrong; I love it when they throw one another around a room for a bit, but to actually exchange meaningful dialogue? In my Dracula movie??
Hopefully it's more likely than I fear.
Meanwhile, Murry nearly gets murdered by the high priestess vampire, only to realize that the entire crypt of vampiric bisexuality is filled with conveniently placed stakes and has a full fucking sprinkler system. Which feels like a serious oversight on the cult's part. I am deeply disappointed he wasn't ripped to shreds, and all thanks to the worst home planning in the world.
He finds Jessica once again in a magical sleep (this happens to her every few years), but has to leave her and hide from the cult members dragging van Helsing in. Dracula once again means to bite Jessica, this time complete with pyrotechnics and monologuing.
But he is once again gets properly derailed as soon as van Helsing starts talking. Because poor Jessica seems to mostly end up being a setpiece in their weird little back-and-forth. She's there mostly to get a rise out of van Helsing, to really kick the fight off properly.
But what actually happens is, in the middle of some not-so-great dialogue about plagues and shit, we actually get some real acting out of Cushing and Lee. Dracula seems almost desperate. behind the bluster, he seems miserable. He seems tired and sad and just wanting an end. And van Helsing confronts him about it: is all this convoluted bullshit just a cover for his death wish? Does he want to annihilate an entire planet just so he'll finally be left alone?
The looks they give one another in this moment is a reminder that, despite some dogshit movies and some dogshit scripts, both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were world-class actors. They could take this really poor script and make a moment in it that transcended the material.
Even just for an instant, this movie was really genuinely good.
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it's hard to convey how good this very brief moment was in an otherwise sort of shit movie.
But it turns out that staritng an apocalyptic plague wasn't what the cultists signed up for. They signed up for power and to Touch Boob. They try to protest, but Dracula hypnotizes one of them into breaking the vial of super plague, which is about the happiest we've seen him all movie. I think he figures he'll finally get a proper quiet time.
Unfortunately for him, the addition of pyrotechnics was just as bad as the idea of the Basement of Conveniently Placed Stakes and Sprinkler System, and everything quickly catches on fire with only one of the cultists infected. Murray rescues a still-asleep Jessica, and we get our confrontation. Dracula totally forgets the plague plot, van Helsing apparently is spry enough to jump out a second story window without any repercussions (but a cut guarantees we don't see it).
And Dracula is defeated by a shrub. No, seriously, he gets killed by a bush trying to get to van Helsing just because van Helsing keeps shouting his name. Because apparently hawthorn is really damaging to vampires, and he doesn't think to go around it? It's easily the most anticlimatic and least exciting of their confrontations. I know on paper it sounds really hilarious, but honestly? The pit trap in the last movie was a lot more fun.
So, yeah, have to say that this movie was a disappointment. After the audacious silliness and energy of 'Dracula A.D. 1972' I was really hoping for something equally fun. But this movie was front loaded with a boring spy 'thriller', and back-ended by a sci-fi plot about the radioactive super plague which somehow wasn't even stupid enough to be fun. There was one really solid scene, one moment between the two leads I'd been hoping for over multiple movies, but that was followed by the least fun confrontation, and an end that felt like, in more skilled directorial and writing hands, could have played out like a subversive tragedy.
Because that was how Cushing and Lee were clearly trying to play it. They were both tired of the chase, tired of repeating the same pattern again and again hoping for different results.
With a better, more self-aware script focused on that heart of the movie, I genuinely think this movie could have been incredible. This could have been a genuinely tragic swan-song to the series. This would be the final Dracula movie for both the leads, and it just sort of feels like a disappointment, all the more so for the inkling of what this could have been.
I hate that this one ends as a bit of a downer, especially after 'Dracula A.D. 1972' was such an unexpected delight. It was a breath of fresh air, and this movie just felt as tired as Dracula seemed in it. I feel like the treatment of Jessica really exemplifies that. In 'A.D. 1972' she was inexperienced but clever, young and fun and zesty. This movie makes her just someone there to deliver a few lines and scream. We don't get the character growth hinted at by making her a full researcher or letting her seem more mature, and Joanna Lumley's considerable talents were completely wasted. Why cast such a talented actress and then do nothing with her? Why finally allow van Helsing and Dracula to talk and do nothing with it beyond what the actors could conjure from thin air? Why actually touch on the tragedy of Dracula being dragged back from the dead again and again and AGAIN and not pay it off in a better, more satisfying way? You could have turned that confrontation into what would have been suicide-by-van-Helsing, make it a real tragedy for both of them, a moment of genuine understanding.
But no. This is a movie of poor writing, dull pacing, and wasted opportunity.
I'm hoping for something much stupider and much more fun next time. I had been meaning to save it for myself later in the run, but after this disappointment, screw it. Next time, we watch 'Horror Express', and hopefully that's as gloriously stupid and fun as 'Dracula A.D. 1972' was.
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thebramblewood · 1 year ago
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What advice would you give to a simmer just starting out writing stories with their sims? How do you build engagement with your posts? How do you write such addictive stories?
Wow! Okay. Buckle in because this will be a long one. I think the most important thing is writing for yourself first and foremost. Don't let your passion be driven solely by engagement (though it's impossible not to be motivated by it a little bit!) but by your own desire to see your project through. I've been a creative writer forever, and 75% of that writing has been written for an audience of one. But sometimes a character or concept will grab me by the throat and refuse to let go, and that's what keeps me invested. I unfortunately can't tell you how that happens. It usually feels like a happy accident. But when it does, it comes through, and readers will want in on it too. That being said, here are some tips for actual presentation:
Engaging visuals. I don't think Reshade or fancy editing is a requirement, but I can't pretend I didn't see a huge uptick in engagement when I started using it. Now, that may also be because I started thinking more about the composition of a shot. Diversify your angles and perspectives, and don't be afraid to zoom way in or out! Move that camera around as much as possible! I know very little about the technicalities of film and photography, but I think the more you practice, the better your eye becomes for what looks dynamic.
Legible captions. I'll be brutally honest: when I'm scrolling the dash, I'm less likely to stop for story posts if the text on the images is not immediately readable. I've by no means perfected this, but I've tweaked my own text over time to make it larger, and I find that very light colors with a black border is almost always the best option. I also try to visualize leaving space for the text to fit as I'm taking shots (though I sometimes forget).
Text-only transcript. My controversial opinion is that I don't like reading transcripts because it's easier for me to engage and follow along if I can see the images and words interacting. BUT I still think it's important to include them, so I always have one under the cut. If you'd rather not do captions on images at all, I personally find it more engaging for the text to be broken up throughout rather than in a big chunk at the end. This is especially helpful if you're writing more descriptive prose, as most people (including me) unfortunately have very short attention spans.
Adaptability! It's helpful to have an outline (whether it's in your head or written) of where you want to end up and how you're going to get there, but the most fulfilling part of writing for me is in giving myself license to follow new ideas or let old ones evolve, even if that means going a bit off-track. Also, it's tempting to establish a formula and lock yourself into an aesthetic from the start, but if you feel like something isn't working, don't be afraid to change it up! You'll be unhappy if you stick with it just for consistency's sake, and you'll rob yourself of opportunities to experiment and have fun. I think readers also appreciate a shake-up so that things never start to feel stale.
That's a lot, I know, but hopefully some of it helps. I've only been doing this here for a few months, and I'm also still figuring things out!
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brickcentral · 1 year ago
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🤩 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: @lady-brick Hello everyone! It's time to direct the spotlight toward our community members, and today we will get to know better @lady-brick!
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"Hi everyone! My name is Julia, known as Lady Brick on Instagram and I’m from Spain.
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My adventure with toy photography started in 2011 when a small Wall·E arrived at home. The toys are good for practicing photography techniques, and help me to relax my mind and are a way to escape from my daily routine.
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The minifigures, sets, and accessories are a source of inspiration and also an addiction. So, for this reason, now I only shoot LEGO photos.
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I like making people believe that a small toy made of plastic is alive. In fact I enjoy recreating comic situations to make people smile.
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I find inspiration in everyday life, watching movies and from LEGO communities on Instagram and Flickr. My favorite subjects are the minifigures, but my works includes various themes like medieval, pirates, astronauts, movies...for example, I enjoy put the stormtroopers in unusual situations.
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I currently use Olympus OMD E-M10 Mark III with 30mm macro lens with a LED panel for lighting. In my workflow, I’ll draw a sketch or write some lines just to remember the idea.
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I think that details are important and for this reason, I try to collect all the things that will I need to prepare the scene.
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I think about the composition and the lighting. I like to move the camera lens to the eye level of the minifigures – it helps to dive into the scene and makes it more credible."
Thank you for accepting our invitation and let the community knows you better!
If you want some insights on the exclusive picture and for a better view of the others, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/.
- @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager
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