I was just wondering if I'm a freak. I do some crazy stuff for some of my shots and I'm working on my behind the scenes section of the site and I just got to thinking,

What kind of tools and such do you incorporate into your photography?

Do you create actual effects in the real world? Or maybe Photoshop is your forte?

Do you consider yourself an amateur (maybe semi-pro or pro) photographer or do you only pick up the camera to create your Dio-stories?

What's the strangest (or Hardest) thing you've ever done to capture a perfect shot?

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If you're crazy, we can share the same rubber room some day, 'cause I'm right there with ya!

"What kind of tools and such do you incorporate into your photography?"

I use a macro lense, so I can get up very close, a tripod for the camera sometimes, and a Bogen magic arm to hold the off-camera Flash, and an IR transmitter in the camera's hotshoe that fires the flash, so it can be clear across the room from the camera is I want. I recently got a cheap 2nd flash so I can have one for fill and one for rim lighting or background lighting if I like. I use textures from 3D FPS games and print out 11x17 backdrops like brick walls and concrete floors (I've uploaded these to the Files section, BTW).

"Do you create actual effects in the real world? Or maybe Photoshop is your forte?"

I do a lot of my effects in front of the camera, because I feel they're more believable that way, then I also try to do a lot of work in Fireworks (my "Photoshp") and some Flash. Sometimes I'll shoot against a "blue screen" so I can cut the figure out easily. I did that for the Frostbite snowboard shot. I put a piece of cyan poster board behind him so I could use the magic wand to delete the background. Saved a lot of time.

"Do you consider yourself an amateur (maybe semi-pro or pro) photographer or do you only pick up the camera to create your Dio-stories?"

I consider myself semi-pro. I went to college at RIT, majoring in Photojournalism, but I took a lot of Studio Photography classes along the way. I have a nice set of lenses from when I thought I'd be a newspaper photographer (I'm a Creative Director now, for a web design team in a PC game division of Sony) and last year I got a good digital body to go with the lenses, the Canon 10D.

What's the strangest (or Hardest) thing you've ever done to capture a perfect shot?

To get the look of distance and endless desert, I hauled 2 MCC's (one painted balck) in my back seat up to a hiltop park here in San Diego to get shots for an upcoming "MCC Duel" I have planned, for maybe... Chapter 15 or so of Disciple.

Here's a taste from a shot with my 300mm lense:


That was taken almost a year ago. they seeded the lot not long after and it's all grass now. Took me maybe a week to paiunt the Cobra one, and maybe 2 hours at the park to get the shots. I had a lot of curious onlookers. While I was packing up a guy in his 30's asked me if GI Joe won.

Plus, I keep the Toyfare exclusive Snake Eyes & Scarlett in my camera bag, so they go with me on all my trips. I have 3 good pics so far:

Maui:


Deep in a forest west of Melbourne in Australia:


Plus one from Disneyland I haven't uploaded yet. Got lots of stares taking that one.

Great thread! Let's keep it going! I marked this thread as news so it shows up on the front page, BTW.

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Nah, man, you're definitely not a freak!

Tools, I don't really use much. I have my Nikon Coolpix camera, and two different tripods (one table top for those static shots down low), but besides that it's just my Joes, my Mac/Photoshop station, and whatever I use to build my sets.

I'm a little bit of everything you just mentioned. If I can use the real world to make something look effective, that's my preference, just because it always looks more authentic than a digital representation. But, I'm definitely not above trying to use Photoshop to make an impossible thought a real true-to-life image (or series of images).

I am in no way a professional or semi-professional photographer, I have a LOT to learn with picture taking as far as lighting and shot set up goes. I constantly see pictures used in newer dio's that are far better laid out and organized than mine, but try to take each one in as a learning process.

As for crazy things to get a shot done? Well...for Liberation, pretty much the whole chase sequence was a crazy thing. We were housesitting for a couple, and I basically brought 1/5 of my entire Joe collection with me to setup and shoot scenes at their house...people I barely knew. I also have buried my camera in some snow for some scenes in Bitter Cold...and I've dug myself a miniature hole in the ground to get down lower for some tight shots in other dio's as well. That's some of the fun parts for me...trying to figure out exactly how close I can get and how dramatic I can make a shot.

I'll say, though, some of the hardest stuff about shooting my dio's is that I'm absolutely anal about realistic human poses. That can make it quite a balancing act to get figures to stay and stand a certain way without visible footpegs, especially in fight scenes. It might take me 20 minutes just to shoot a single frame if I can't get the figures balanced just right.

Justin

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That's great, I was wondering if you were using a macro lens. Some of those shots just look to clean and well focused. This is something that I just started saving my money for. I only recently upgraded my camera to an SLR digital camera, (You may notice the difference in the middle of my Epilogue this Friday). That's great that you've taking two different things that you love and making one very cool thing out of both.



What are the benefits of Fireworks over Photoshop?

I've heard from many people that these are some of the best digital cameras to use for marco photography.



That's awesome, well you gotta do what you gotta do , right. Did the people know?



This is something that you schooled me in very early on. I remember when my first Dio was done you sent me an e-mail that said something to the effect of "Great Dio, but it really bugs me when I see foot pegs in shots". It was funny because the thought of using them or not had not dawned on me at that time. Ever since I've done some crazy things to get poses. The Chapter "Killing Game" with the Night Vulture is a good example. That shot where he's doing a handstand, the figure is actually doing a handstand with no assistance.

All very cool stuff guys.

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Cobra: The Inner Sanctum

Gee, I guess I should have given my answers as well.



Well, I just got a new camera a couple of weeks ago so I'm going to just talk about what I've used for Rapier only and not the new stuff.

I've always like photography. My Mother was a Pro photographer in her youth and always maintained a certain amount of equipment. Equipment I was never allowed to touch. I did however pickup some things in theory and her constantly forbidding me to touch anything got me very interested. My Camera all throughout Rapier was a Olympus Stylus 400. This camera was bought specificly for Rapier. I was working ghetto style through most of the DIO, using anything I could for a tripod, books, cassettes, mic stands my forearm. I suffered a lot because of my ignorance and would usually take 5 to 6 shots of each scene to make sure I had the shot I wanted. It's funny because "An Eye for An Eye" taught me how to do Rapier and "Operation Rapier" will have been my teacher for the next Dio.


All of my sets are real world and sometimes modified with Photoshop but not by much. I use a combination of Stage Par Cans and lighting Gels to acheive many of the colors and textures seen in Rapier. This is most noticable in "Killing Game" and the "Epilogue" (Coming out this week). I'm trying to learn more about camera tricks and I hope to even take some classes in the near future.


I do a lot of Photography outside of Dios but I use a film camera. One shot in Rapier that this camera was used on is the header shot of the title page. I used a scanner to get it into the computer. I would consider my self an amateur but very willing to learn.

I love shooting nature, below is an example



The Air duct shot in "Silent Entry" of Operation Rapier. Filming Hit N Run rappelling down the air duct was accomplished by constructing a frame to hold the duct in place with me slid under that frame aiming up into the duct. A spot with a light tent positioned at the top and the rope he's holding out the top and into my other hand holding it tight.

http://www.violentfix.com/cobra/dio-stories/dio2k31.jpg

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What kind of tools and such do you incorporate into your photography?

I use to have a Nikon Coolpix 990 until it went kaput (too many beach and sand dune photo shoots), so now I stuck with my trusty Pentax SLR. I have an 8mm fish-eye for my dead Nikon, so I'd like to find another camera with the same filter threading.

I have various strobe lights but mostly use hot lamps for lighting since you can see where the light hits and you have better control over shadows.

I JUST finished building a 4 foot wide blue screen table in the basement and I bought actually blue screen background paper from the camera shop.

Do you create actual effects in the real world? Or maybe Photoshop is your forte?

Both. I'm totally for as natural of a shot as you can get. Even the best Photoshop work can still be spotted. I like to use digital effects only for a last resort or if it's totally insane situation in the dio.

Do you consider yourself an amateur (maybe semi-pro or pro) photographer or do you only pick up the camera to create your Dio-stories?

Well, I believe a "Pro" is anyone who makes 40% or more of their yearly income from a field, so yeah I guess I'm a "Pro" since I take pictures of jewelry for wholesalers (with the occassional wedding shoot, blech). I use to do the whole art gallery thing but I got fudged over a couple years ago with taxes, so I cut back on that. Check out HELL, MICHIGAN in comic stores this June for photo cover I took as well.

What's the strangest (or Hardest) thing you've ever done to capture a perfect shot?

For the shot of the Electric Eels in the water, I went to a local botanical garden and took off my shoes and stood in this little man-made stream so I could get real close to the figures. Lots of people stopped to watch and I got asked half a dozen times if I was working on a catalog or something.

For one of the Zartans in the swamp photos, I was in an actual swamp which was knee deep mud and slime... lets just say I "thought" the mud looked more solid than it was... hence how I found out it was knee-deep.

I agree. I don't feel there are any crazy aspects to get a shot. Take movies for example. They go all over the world to shoot. I've gotten dirty, climbed cliffs and (almost fell off too) to take a shot. I'm not a seasoned photograper and honestly don't know too much but I just wanted to support everyone that takes these projects seriously.


Next topic:

I read that Hammer uses a Nikon Coolpix. Man I wish I'd been on the up and up. I originally wanted the SLR but didn't and still don't have the bread to throw down for one yet. The Coolpix looks nice cuz you can interchange the lens. I've got a Canon Powershot (good for tourism) It's OK but man, I really could use the Micro lenses.

I've got some shots and am working on a diostory that I can't wait to finish and post. My photo probs include getting good clear closeups and Photoshopping them to retain the quality and vs downsizing to make them download quick (The typical editing task). I'd like to get 'em as nice as guys Hammer, Justin, etc.

....I meant Luke not "Justin."

You saying my pics aren't nice?

Justin

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Hey 'sup General! My bad, I don't know everybody's names and all. I know you were jokin' but in all honesty I didn't mean to count ya out. Mad love for your stuff too!

Actually, there's a lot of talent out there to mention.

Man...I'm kinda pissed. I spent about two days working on building these prop computer consoles for COBRA and after painting them white, I realised they probably would look better sprayed another color. Drats. I guess thems the breaks.

To be continued!