Book II Challenge V Category A: The Winged Serpent - Spire

[Tilenull]

Mounted atop a small but fearsome winged serpent, the courier for the Black Spire is charged with the transport of top secret blueprints for a fearsome war machine...

The Winged Serpent by tilenull, on Flickr

My apologies for my terrible photography skills; C/C is appreciated.

[LittleJohn]

Great entry, I really the SNOT swamp/water! The curved slopes in the wall are excellent as well, and that's a sweet serpent

[Tilenull]

6 minutes ago, LittleJohn said:

Great entry, I really the SNOT swamp/water! The curved slopes in the wall are excellent as well, and that's a sweet serpent

Thanks!

Does anyone have advice on photographing builds in black because they always come out a bit hard to see for me.

[TitusV]

very Nice build! Though the dark grey arrea could use some texturing IMHO, the snotted area and the wall are really cool

[Tezclatipoca]

Nice entry !

I like the simple but very effective architecture of the wall on the background. The serpent itself is nice too, perhaps a bit small compared to its rider, but nothing terrible.

And your photography is not so bad at all.

All in all, it's a good entry !

[Blufiji]

Very nice entry, though I think the ground probably could use a touch of color besides bley.

[halixon]

Amazing wall!

[Garmadon]

Very nice build, the wall looks great as does that little winged serpent!   Interesting use of the green beneath (is that normal green, or some slight variant?), and I do agree that some more texturing or colors on the ground may have helped, but overall a very neat entry! 

17 hours ago, Tilenull said:

Does anyone have advice on photographing builds in black because they always come out a bit hard to see for me.

Black builds are notoriously difficult to photograph, but my advice for photography in general would be to just get a good background in the first place (it's far easier and looks better than a cut out build, and a plain sheet of white paper will do for a small build, and a bendable poster board or larger sheet of paper works well for larger ones), and if possible to take pictures outside in the shade or, better yet, in the open on a cloudy day 

Your lighting and photography itself don't look very bad, though, it's more that you just need a good background and a good photo angle and you'd be pretty much set!

[Tilenull]

10 hours ago, Garmadon said:

Very nice build, the wall looks great as does that little winged serpent!   Interesting use of the green beneath (is that normal green, or some slight variant?), and I do agree that some more texturing or colors on the ground may have helped, but overall a very neat entry! 

Black builds are notoriously difficult to photograph, but my advice for photography in general would be to just get a good background in the first place (it's far easier and looks better than a cut out build, and a plain sheet of white paper will do for a small build, and a bendable poster board or larger sheet of paper works well for larger ones), and if possible to take pictures outside in the shade or, better yet, in the open on a cloudy day 

Your lighting and photography itself don't look very bad, though, it's more that you just need a good background and a good photo angle and you'd be pretty much set!

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to keep it in mind and apply it in the future.

The swamp water is sand green, by the way.

[Merc4Hire]

Excellent work, really liking the wall and the dragon build! Also, the green gives it a nice touch. 

[soccerkid6]

The curved slopes underneath arches makes a really nice combination Excellent border and swampy water as well, and a good mount for delivering messages quickly

[Grover]

I really like the clean lines and the feel of the piece.  I think the style lends itself to conveying the story and not distracting from the courier by being too busy.  Awesome job!

[Mpyromaxos]

Nice entry! the look of the SNOT swamp is great!