Saber Forum

Hi forum trolls and saber enthusiasts!

This topic is to present an idea.
'Saberforum.com' gives you the option of having both an avatar picture as well as a forum signature.  Some people like to use a picture of themselves for their avatar, like I do at the moment.  Some people already have a cool image for their avatar, but want to be able to include a picture of themselves somewhere.  I'd like to present a way of doing that, without making your forum signature take up half a page.

(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/Banner2_zps1e1fwlev.jpg)


It is worth nothing that this is predomentantly for people with limited to no photography experience or photo editing software skills.  All of the pictures here were taken on a smart phone, and edited using MSPaint :D
...it's probably obvious  :P
It's all about how you stage your photo, making it possible to crop down into an interesting yet spatially economic signature image.  Add your lightside/darkside alignment, quote, and whatever else you want above and below the picture, and you've got an interesting signature with you and your saber.  Without taking up a heap of room either.
When staging your photo, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

The first is that you need to keep all the important elements you want in the signature banner in line horizontally.  On this forum, that probably means your face and a lightsaber.
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/1_zps7xcupdks.jpg)


You need to keep everything tightly in line so that you can crop the crap out of the photo, and still have it look good!
I was able to crop the above photo to this...
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/Banner1_zps5bfalqsu.jpg)


Second, your picture needs to have purpose!
Your picture should be interesting, and a straight-on picture of yourself is rarely interesting.
You can create purpose or energy in your photo by doing some sort of pose of course.
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/Banner4_zpsz66a8m5i.jpg)


If you're not that brave, it's fine.  As an alternative, try taking the photo standing slightly side-on.  If you're facing slightly side-on then you give the impression of action to an otherwise static picture.
Not comfortable showing your face, but you still want to use a picture of yourself with your saber?  There are always ways around that.  Costume masks are an obvious option, or having your back to the camera can work.  Of course even something as simple as a bandana can play.
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/Banner6_zpsbfcswjyq.jpg)


Don't be afraid to have fun with it.  If you have a costume or cosplay character you want to use, find a costume element you can include in the picture  :D
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/Banner5_zpsy0ja4rcw.jpg)


Lastly, think outside the box when it comes to the location you pick to take your photo.  A picture in front of your garden hedge can work just as well as driving 2 hours into a forest.
If you want to have your lightsaber on in the picture, you may need to take the photo in the dark, otherwise natural or staged lighting can wash out your saber's colour.  Of course, if you're taking the picture in the dark, that may mean using some imagination when it comes to getting the lighting right ;-)
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/2_zpsr7ptzfv8.jpg)
Yep, that's a Nerf pinpoint sight I'm shining at my face to give it a red glow over the orange lighting from my Aeon LE V4.


I hope this has helped give people some ideas.  Feel free to comment with other suggestions you might have for this kind of thing.  If you have a picture of yourself you'd like to use, but are having problems cropping it in a way that works, feel free to link it here or PM it to me and I'll give it my 2cents :-)


May the force be with you.
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x27/Soulsmith_1/SaberForumSig/Banner7_zpstbqy98p9.jpg)

This is a really creative idea - I like it.
Might do this myself eventually!

Well done Soul. :)

A great tutorial for folks new to all of this...

Looks good too.  The Twi'lek one...lol

-1

Thanks Drahcir and Lord Rapine  :)


I know, it's fabulous isn't it  ;)

Is the dude in the leather jacket (nice jacket BTW) you?

If so, where did you get the green blade?  It's in your av pic too... hmmm

I'm in all those pictures.  The jacket was from an old work friend, the green saber is from a local supplier here in Oz  :-X

OH right on.

Cool, cool, and cool. ;)

I like this personalization idea and really appreciate your instructions.  Gotcha on those signatures that can be way too large and long.  Totally not necessary to make one's statement and the wordy repetitiveness gets stale.  This includes listing each and all sabers down instead of across the page.  I have 25 sabers and the huge signature was ridiculous.  Trying to find the often brief message between all those billboard signs is a challenge.  I am aware that that sigs can be turned off for one's personal Forum setup.  However... the majority of the members don't seem to mind the current look of the forum.

Just a pet peeve of mine and I have tried to address this before.  And the avatars are much larger now then was allowed in the past so perhaps the sigs could be reined in a bit.  :)

Will consider a more personal signature soon... or when I finally get an EH saber.

point  8)

I had this format in mind as soon as I get my costume finished..point for bringing it up

This guide is really done well. What a great idea for the community, especially for newcomers. I would have liked to have something like this when I started. Nice work.  Point!

I must admit coming across to this forum from the other couple of forums I frequent was a bit of a nightmare with the signatures, particularly when viewing on a mobile phone. Often the signatures are coming up in larger text than the posts.

Thanks very much for the positive feedback y'all  :D