It’s the end of the year again. I’ve wrapped up the last few years going over some of my

It’s the end of the year again. I’ve wrapped up the last few years going over some of my favorite or most memorable builds, but I thought this time I’d change things up by going over some of my favorite photos I took this year. I’ve been actively trying to take more dynamic and interesting shots as of late, so I though it’d be a good time to look back at how I’ve improved and forward to what I can do better.At Number 10, we have this shot from the RG Wing Gundam review. It’s a simple crossed swords close-up, but I like that the beam sabers and effect parts’ colors matched, which gives it a little bit of an edge over similar shots I’ve done in the past. It’s surprisingly hard to get crossed swords to look good, as standard articulation and other parts tend to get in the way. Not to mention that actual standard depth perception can be very different from artistic depiction. Of the few times I’ve tried, it’s probably the best one I’ve managed to pull off.At Number 9, we have one from the Mugendramon Amplified review. Most of the time, when I review a model kit, I start off with a front and back shot of the kit before going into accessories, gimmicks, etc. This was an instance where I took my usual back shot, and specifically posed him to show off certain details, like the side of his head, the tip of his tail, and the fill-in within his cannons that emphasize the shadows. I know it’s not always possible to pull this off, but Mugendramon had just the right form and posability (mostly the neck).At Number 8, we have a very simple, but thematic pic. It’s just May painting her Wodom Pod gold, with all my old gold paint pots lined up. While there isn’t anything dynamic about it, I like that I managed to tell a story with it.I actually ended up really appreciating May. I’ve said before I’m not a huge fan of MS Girls, but having her as a (close to) scale character that is actually the size of a Gunpla, and having her interacting with them has made for some interesting photos. With Re:Rise over, I don’t know when I’ll get to do anything photos like that again, so it was fun while it lasted.When I was posting the Final Battle versions of all the BUILD DiVERS Gunpla, I ended each with a silhouette of Re:Rising Gundam to lead into its eventual photo set that I ended up posting months later due to scheduling. This was probably my favorite, utilizing the magic ring from the MagiKing figure to mimic the Grand Cross Cannon, specifically placing its head within one of the emblems, and the back glow illuminating everything from behind. I’ve always tried to strategically place the head in close-up shots, and this is a good example of that. It just turned out great.When I have multiple of a similar or the same kit, I like doing stage-by-stage in-motion shots. Like with the silhouettes from Number 7 above, each of those same photo sets had one of those, with the one from the ExValkylander photo set being my favorite. It’s just each of its stages, Dragon, Avalanche, Ex, and Ex FB moving with a light turn, but it shows off each of them to a good degree, with easy to follow motion. It’s also the easiest to tell what’s going on, as some of the others seem a little more confusing at first glance.I feel like this might be an odd choice for Number 5, but I really like this one. It’s the Verde Buster in a pretty dynamic pose (which is tough for an SD), with good use of effect parts, and some decent background elements. Just fun.I was unsure about buying a bunch of Bugs at first, but I’ve certainly gotten my money’s worth, as I’ve ended up using them a lot since I’ve built them. Even if I don’t always use them all at once, having a group of expendable mooks for backgrounds or attacks comes in handy.I won’t lie, I may have a higher opinion of the Sentai pics than the Gunpla ones, just because they’re so much harder to get into decent poses. This is a fun (using that word a lot) pic of the Zenkaiger cast, all posed together, with the Zenkai Cannon as a background element. Also, this one took a while. Zenkai Cannon fell over at one point and knocked everyone over… and apart. Took about an hour to get this set up. It’s amazing how just putting someone at an angle can dramatically change the dynamism of a pose.I love this pair of photos. I was actively trying to mimic the stock footage from GoGoV, and it turned out pretty good. Of the two, I think I like this one more. Getting the explosion effects to sit in place took a minute or two, and it’s more interesting than the single wind effect I used on the other.Grand Liner was such a great experience. Tons of fun to put together, a great toy, and some of my favorite photos from this year. Neat.At Number 2, we have the photo I probably put the most work into, from the Zenkaiju-Oh review. While the titular robot itself isn’t in any grand pose, I utilized the city stage I’ve been building, along with a number of effect parts. Getting the background to work was hard, though. At the time, the full screen on images on my computer was glitching out and the taskbar was always visible, so I had to zoom in while windowed and prop everything up on a red binder and towel to get it at the right level and hide the bottom half of the screen.Now, see if you can spot where I accidentally left my mouse on the screen…And finally, at Number 1, we have… what could technically be considered a cop out. I did quite a few customs this year, and the two I worked the hardest on were the above Ryuba Gundam and Dutch Gundam. And I just… like this picture of the two of them together. While I didn’t put a lot of work into the photo, I did put a lot into what is pictured in it, and this one photo is somewhat of a culmination of all that work, in a way.Also, it’s my list and I can do what I want with it -_-Overall, this year, I definitely feel like I’ve improved somewhat as a photographer, and as a builder. I’ve been more experimental, and I feel like that’s paid off in multiple ways. This year wasn’t the best for me, so it’s nice looking back on something positive that I can take away from it. -- source link

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