VIRIATO
Command Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2005
- Messages
- 2,393
There is one thing that really puzzles me. It's the fact that most TS manufacturers badly show off their products. Sometimes the photos look like some artsy enhanced unrealistic drawing, some other times they are so overblown that you can find defects (painting detail, eyes, buttons) that you will never find when you have the same 54mm or 60mm figure in your hand. Hence the old saying that you only really know a toy soldier when you meet it in person
.
This is especially relevant when you live away from toy soldier shows or shops, like me. In my country few shops sell toy soldiers, most of the hobby shops only sell kits, not the finished product. Fortunately we have this forum and our hosts pioneered, I believe, the art of 3d and even rotating real photos, many thanks a zillion times.
In my humble opinion (IMHO would have been faster to write you...), a good toy soldier photo must:
a) show the real figure scale as much as possible, so that it looks like you have it in your hand;
b) be as real and devoid of artsy special effects as possible, apart from placing the figure in a diorama for instance.
Do manufacturers intentionally try to give a fuzzy idea of their product? Are they afraid to show it off too well? Well, they surely know 1000 times better than me, but if it's a quality product, good photos will certainly have a positive impact.
Perfect example of great photos: the King and Country books being brought up by our forum friends.
A personal example: I find that some of the John Jenkins figures are changing for the better when it comes to faces. The new Sudan range and the new FIW set SWI-04 ("A Little Help?") to me seem to confirm this. But it's hard to be sure when you browse John's website (which is rather nice in all other respects). Forum members have been making a much better work of showing off his figures (and thank you very much for that).
Any thoughts?
Paulo
.This is especially relevant when you live away from toy soldier shows or shops, like me. In my country few shops sell toy soldiers, most of the hobby shops only sell kits, not the finished product. Fortunately we have this forum and our hosts pioneered, I believe, the art of 3d and even rotating real photos, many thanks a zillion times
.In my humble opinion (IMHO would have been faster to write you...
), a good toy soldier photo must:a) show the real figure scale as much as possible, so that it looks like you have it in your hand;
b) be as real and devoid of artsy special effects as possible, apart from placing the figure in a diorama for instance.
Do manufacturers intentionally try to give a fuzzy idea of their product? Are they afraid to show it off too well? Well, they surely know 1000 times better than me, but if it's a quality product, good photos will certainly have a positive impact.
Perfect example of great photos: the King and Country books being brought up by our forum friends.
A personal example: I find that some of the John Jenkins figures are changing for the better when it comes to faces. The new Sudan range and the new FIW set SWI-04 ("A Little Help?") to me seem to confirm this. But it's hard to be sure when you browse John's website (which is rather nice in all other respects). Forum members have been making a much better work of showing off his figures (and thank you very much for that).
Any thoughts?
Paulo
