~Lazy Days, oh Lazy Days~

Ever had one of those days where you want to get something done, but is just simply too lazy and/or can’t be arsed to go around doing it? I thought I would just pop in a disc and re-watch some old anime and just sit back and take it easy, but on the way to the stash, I got bit by the lazy bug and decided to abort mission xD Playing games would prove to be a hassle as well since it requires me to hold up the controller, and I have a bloody uncomfortable chair I use when playing the PS2 anyways -_-” Maybe I could do a shoot but the camera battery seems to need some charging and I’m lazy to wait ^^; So I’m plopped in front of the PC, I don’t wanna move no more, but I thought I wanted to get something done, just to sort of prove at least I was alive and getting something done :p So I began to aimlessly surf the Net. wow…….

So in the end I ended up at photobucket, and took a peek at my first account which was forgotten about when it hit max capacity and I had to move on to a new account :p So while mousing around the various albums, I saw some I remembered rather fondly, and thought to myself: “Hell, lets do a maximum cop out here”. So here comes this post, which looks like something was done but technically nothing was xD I’m rather stunned by my brilliance (not!) sometimes.   v(^___^)/

Alicia Florence from Aria by Good Smile Company. Would have passed over this figure if it had not popped into the shop since I was pretty much sunk with the series produced by Solid Works. Don’t regret this purchase though. Not the best of focus here, but I like the mood the figure gives. A really calming effect from her.

Illya from Fate/stay night by Kotobukiya. Possibly my first time using Photoshop to add the bluish tinge to the photo. There was supposed to be some kind of smoky effect as well, but pretty much my execution of smokin’ things up wasn’t too great xD Think this marked my first shoot as well for using light under the figure. Was thinking that the blue crystals I used would throw off enough blue light once the light passed through them, but that didn’t work out too well which led to the Photoshopping in the end :p

Er… To Heart 2 Swimsuit Series by Kotobukiya. One of the more crowded photo’s I’ve ever taken. It really wouldn’t be a problem if the backgrounds I use were large enough to allow me to spread them all out more evenly. Add to that I need a larger tabletop to shoot on too I guess. Size of props becoming sadly limiting as well once things become larger, as it stands, that fence-like thing at the back just looks pathetic. I imagine it would even look worse if I were to spread it all apart. That said, the best props are probably custom made but I highly doubt I’d be able to pull that off. I have two bags of clay to play with now, but if I were that great with my hands, tell me why I’m typing this now when I could be pulling off a Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore somewhere?

Nanoha Takamichi from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha by Good Smile Company. Yet another set where if the bunch of twigs back there were larger, the composition would probably have looked a lot nicer. I do like the light and the dark areas though. One of the simpler sets I’ve used I suspect.

Lucy Maria Misora from To Heart 2 by Good Smile Company. One of the first few sets that eventually led me to use that back lighting that irks the hell out of radiant, lol. Can’t say I blame him though, I’m pretty sick myself of shoots themed that way. Back to the drawing board time I guess and try to think of more stupid stuff to try out ^^;

Takako Kinoshita from Pia Carrot by Alter. One of my more elaborate sets which was the first time I used water as well. Didn’t make sense that she’s taking a dip in such a small pool of water, but thankfully many people decided to nicely close one eye to that and choose not to mention it xD Also a shoot done during the day which normally doesn’t happen for me, therefore resulting in the two toned background, where the left comes from my lamps, and the right comes from the window. A photo that I really enjoy, though the cleaning up after that was pure hell, which explains why I seldom try any of this no more ^^;

Suiseiseki from Rozen Maiden by Wave. One of the nicer figures done by Wave I have to say, the set for this shoot went surprisingly well considering everything was just put together without much planning. Quite possibly the colors in the composition turned out really well all in all. Helps knowing the background of the figure as well, then you can try to create a scenario that at least suits the figure.

Feena Fam Earthlight from Brighter Than Dawning Blue by Kotobukiya. This set happened just as I decided to get more involved with props, and back then, the results were something I was rather pleased with, considering it was shot with my Nikon Coolpix 4300. Back then I really wasn’t able to prepare more elaborate (but not necessarily better) sets since I was using the top of a bookshelf as opposed to a table top now. So yeah I’m patting myself on the back for a pretty decent job xD

Halloween Girl by Enterbrain. No clue why I got her in the end though I was kind of on edge whether to get her or not as her release date loomed on the horizon. Finally caved when she came into the shop. After failing miserably at attempts on smoking the scene up, I decided polyester stuffing was probably the way to go though I can’t say that it totally replicates a smoke effect well.

Kaminagi Ryoko from Zegapain by Alter. I liked this picture for the mood it conveys but otherwise a rather simple figure in terms of design though it was a job well done by Alter.

Matsuri Shihou from Sola by Solid Works. Rather basic shot though the way the background lit up is something I enjoy even if it was mostly coincidental anyways :p Would have preferred that Matsuri’s hair color turned out deeper and that the light on her face wasn’t quite that harsh though.

Tsukimiya Ayu from Kanon by Max Factory. I like this figure a lot, I enjoyed the anime a lot, and I thought the set turned out pretty well. A lot of the time though, it nags me that it’s the figure that does it and has nothing to do with me whatsoever ^^;

Primula from Shuffle by Atelier Sai. One of my earlier shots as well regarding experimenting with lighting. Inspired by a photo I saw in Replicant whereby light was coming in from a window blind created by the photographer, I tried my hand out at going for that effect as well. Though it isn’t exactly great, I was having fun back then ^^

The best props are probably the ones built from scratch and there are severe limits sometimes I feel with using pre-made stuff that can be found around the house. And from the opening paragraph of this post, scratch building something is almost assuredly something I wouldn’t be doing unless I really get bored out of my skull. In the sense too that in the beginning, I try to avoid the re-using of props as much as possible but thats pretty much not possible now, therefore in effect, building something from scratch means it’s custom-made for that one figure and likely wouldn’t fit in with other characters. Which is going to be really hard to justify when you think of the hours you put into the prop. If I lived in a friggin mansion and can display my figures then with the props I make, it wouldn’t be that heartbreaking. But when space is a luxury, not gonna be happening for me unfortunately.

So yeah, while browsing through old photos, these pretty much caught my eye. So thought I’d do a commentary on the ones I enjoyed. While it was supposed to be the lazy way out, word count now exceeds 1.5k and I’m just thinking I’m stupid, lol.

*If you like any of the figures above and would like to see more of them, may I direct you to:

Mukyaa~

Alicia Florence from Aria by Good Smile Company
Nanoha Takamichi from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha by Good Smile Company
Tsukimiya Ayu from Kanon by Max Factory

Valiant’s Toys Workz

Kaminagi Ryoko from Zegapain by Alter

*note: most of the links on my blog roll have awesome figure photoshoots as well. If you can’t find what you’re looking for at those sites, most probably it doesn’t exist :p

~ by shino on January 20, 2008.