Saber Forum

Hi everyone. I plan on using this thread to occasionally share some of my Star Wars action figure photography. I occasionally do some other stuff, which you are welcome to view on my Flickr page (https://www.flickr.com/people/184958557@N03/)!

Here is one of my favourites to kick things off.


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48911486561_75805dda07_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hw99Ur)No Disintegrations (https://flic.kr/p/2hw99Ur) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

“Blood of the Empire”

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49130948932_487f10cda5_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hRwXqq)Blood of the Empire (https://flic.kr/p/2hRwXqq) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

Nice! I like the fisrt one especially.
Do you favor light- or darkside points? 'Cause you've deffinately deserved them.

Thank you!

I don’t have a strong preference either way, but I might slightly lean dark side. :-)

Hey there, lot's of good work, I put you on the dark side of points now.

I appreciate it!

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49001769908_6a247de446_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hE7SZS)Quiet, Chewie (https://flic.kr/p/2hE7SZS) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

Neat photos.   :-)   Have you ever considered doing a stop-motion animation?   :

This is the photo my profile image came from.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49039656438_a1abd5ee11_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hHt4kU)Lessons (https://flic.kr/p/2hHt4kU) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

Oof. Stop motion is so much work! I’ve done a very tiny amount and haaaated it. Lol

Loving this!

These are fantastic, imprimis5!  Great visual storytelling  :)   Speaking of...

Karm read my mind (happens often  :D)!

Perhaps you could try a more...static approach?  Like Sequential Art or a "live" comic  :)

Also: I would HIGHLY recommend that you check out what other submissions the Fan Fic section has to offer!  There are several excellent authors writing wonderful stories--anything from Karmack, Lord_S_Gray, Taegin Roan, TheDrunkenConsular, and Lady Revan are truly enjoyable--as well as other Forum members adept at the visual medium, For Tyeth and PsycoSith. 

Definitely check them out; you won't be disappointed  :)

I’m still figuring out how to handle lightsabers that aren’t lit on their own. This may be my best yet, but it still has a long way to go.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49135779301_4b3133a6dd_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hRXHjD)Duel at the Temple (https://flic.kr/p/2hRXHjD) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

Grump grump grump. So I was gonna have a new photo today, but my memory card failed and I lost an entire shoot’s worth of photos from last night. That’s more than a little disheartening.

You could always use a wifi enabled memory card in your camera and auto backup to an external drive, laptop, desktop, etc. Saved my bacon several times at work.

I REALLY like this tableau, i5!  Both Vader and Ahsoka are personal favorites and you've done a spectacular job here (including the lightsabers)!

Can't wait to see more  :)

Point!

Hello imprimis5 nice to meet you. I have been looking at your great images and when TheDutchman mentioned my name so kindly and you said you were having problems with the lightsabers I thought I would try and see what I could do.

So I hope you don't mind I edited your Ahsoka and Vader pic a little to look like this...
(https://ftsabersite.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/vader-vs-ahsoka-ft-edit.jpg)

I use GIMP and have an add-on that produces the saber blades using a selection mask. The flare is a built in fx named Supernova.
Keep up the great work and I have to say I particularly like the Bounty Hunters assemble picture with Bossk  (I met Mr Alan Harris who played Bossk at my local comic con and got to chat about this very scene with him).

point on the way.

I’ll be honest and say I had no idea there was any such thing. My equipment in general isn’t the best, so that might be a good thing to bump up in my upgrade list.


Thanks!


Thanks for the example, and that looks great! I do almost all of my editing in Affinity. I’ve never checked to see if there’s a plug-in for that sort of thing. Honestly, I kind of hate photo editing and view it more as a necessary evil for the type of photography I do.

Hi again, no problem and thank you. I started photo editing about four years ago when I started designing lightsabers but the online builder didn't have a function to add blade  effects so I used GIMP to edit the preview images. I have since learnt to use Blender 3D to make models (rather than 2D imagery) and add blades to the model then render images.

How you would replicate a saber blade "physically" using just your camera I'm not sure but you could look up how to use area masks with Guassian Blur in Affinity to create LucasFilm style saber blade effects. Basically you create a mask layer over the blade and fill the mask with a colour, then make multiple copies of the mask layer and apply a larger blur to each layer while making each layer more transparent to create the glow.

Hope this helps.

I'm  PhotoShop noob and I was able to find some sweet and easy tutorials on YouTube that make blades look great! You should be able to see the results on a few of my saber albums below

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49161945357_8d06cbdfc9_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hUgPzx)Faster, Chop! (https://flic.kr/p/2hUgPzx) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

That's another cool shot ;D

No doubt!  Point to imprimis5 for that one!

I know, I know. It’s not Star Wars. But I’m capable of more! And I got new figures today.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49166023623_fd3f6a4ba9_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hUCHUt)Aang (https://flic.kr/p/2hUCHUt) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49166021483_1b51db35c4_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hUCHgz)Zuko (https://flic.kr/p/2hUCHgz) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

I’m sure this one won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I have to keep my (proven wrong) headcanon alive.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49191092482_4b8a5c6fda_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hWRd1b)True Lovers (https://flic.kr/p/2hWRd1b) by Craig McRoberts (https://www.flickr.com/photos/184958557@N03/), on Flickr

Wow this is incredible, I5!  While Rebels wasn't my favorite, it really had some great storylines and characters.  Well, your tableau perfectly captures them!

I've read about some people shipping Finn and Poe and--to be honest--I felt that their relationship was better established than say Finn and Rose (but the fact that I really, REALLY dislike "The Last Jedi" might have something to do with that).  Oh yeah, and I love what you did with Finn's leg  ;)

Point!

Ok the Finn and Poe thing...genius, its like a piece of art commenting on the new trilogy in a myriad of ways, the self indulgence, the inexplicably strange twists it takes etc.