Great write-up.

Personally tho, I'd emphasize the point of focus (macro tends to go hand-in-hand since you can't focus most objects 24 inches and closer, right?) as THE thang. Read (or skim) any fotography book and it'll say that you can take an award winning picture but if it's fuzzy, it's junk. Sure, you can try to fiddle with it in fotoshop but it don't always work.

Believe it or not, i'd say nearly 60% of the shots I take for my dios end up fuzzy. I've given up the tripod and tend to use rolls of tape because they give me different elevations. It's when I try to freehand the shot, everything falls apart. Plus, I tend to shoot under manual settings and the shutter speed is usually between 1/4 - 1/20. What that means is that the shutter speed is pretty darn slow and ANY vibration will cause the fuzzies.

I admit tho, I have fuzzed up a few shots on purpose but that has to be looked at in context of the story.

Also, I can't stand seeing stands in a picture or dio. That's one of the things I told TG way back when when he was first starting up. Sure, I use 'em too but I either bury them (if possible) or spray paint them out. Most people see these 'things' as characters, not necessarily toys. We're looking past the plastic and metal bolts. Like TG's latest shots. I don't see Crosshair and Zartan the toys, I see the characters.