This is a conceptual topic. Testshots are what they sound like. For us dio-ists, it's not enough just to run out and start shooting. Often times, one has to shoot a few shots to see if things mesh. Maybe you'll find something out of alignment on a set. Maybe a figure doesn't look right in the setting. It's no secret that the best photographers take MULTIPE shots of just 1 shot. Let's face it, you gotta be damn good to get a hummingbird. I'd say 90% of us couldn't get a hummingbird in action our 1st shot. But even National Geographic contributers gotta shoot multiple shots.

For us dio-ists, sometimes it's worth setting up a scene or set to see if things work. What if a figure is too far out of the frame of the camera. You gotta move him in. If you're like me, you gotta shoot to see what the problems are. I can't just look thru the viewfinder. When test shooting, you can see how different angles are and whether you have stuff showing up that you don't. Sure, you can crop the image but sometimes, you want MORE than what is cropped. (sorry, that prolly doesn't make sense)

Talking to both Rambo and Beast From The East, they admitted that they forget they don't need to show the WHOLE figure in a shot. Sometimes it's good to show the whole figure to give a dimension of scale on a set. At other times, you want close-ups or semi-close-ups. I never show a SET as the whole thing. I take parts of it. I shoot from angles that can represent the whole thing. AND i Let the viewer's imagination work so they can see the whole set. My latest venture in Roots Bloody Roots, you never saw the whole War Room. But once I revealed it, you didn't NEED the whole set.

Mind you, I build the set BIGGER than what is fotographed. ie; you don't see the window up high where Destro and Sonneilon can watch on! Is that a fault? To a degree yes cuz the viewer doesn't realize it's there. BUT if you can interpret past dios with the same sets, then the 'you' can realize they are looking thru a window down to the War Room.

So as it stands now, I'm building up an armory for Roots Bloody Roots. The two members I mentioned, they've seen the set in it's SHIT set-up. I won't change it much but I WILL add stuff to it to make it look 'fuller'. I'll have pics at a later date. It is a VERY simple set, as both Beast and Rambo know. It's a set that can be built for under$10. Add in the S6 weapon cases, well...

As a recap, TestShots are an exercise to see if things can work. IF the set's walls aren't high enough, you gotta go back to square 1 and make them taller (I hate that). But as you'll see eventually, well, you'll see what's in store for Archives!