Capt Wolf Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) The sky was clear, and moonlight shined down more brightly than usual this night. The Eslandolans were on the lookout for smugglers in this area, and no Garvian smuggler would dare try to sail past Fort Estrada tonight. Or would they? Their agent had assured Captain Rene that the lookout would be down tonight. Had he come through? In the fort, since it was such a lovely night, Commandant Santiago decided to walk the ramparts. He was shocked when he discovered the lookout was not at his post. Finding the sergeant of the guard, Santiago demanded an answer. “Where is your lookout?!” The answer, they would discover later, was that he was drunk in the armory. The Garvian agent had provided the young man a bottle of an extremely potent distilled beverage earlier that day when he was in town, and when the lookout decided to sneak down to the armory for a drink, he was overcome. Meanwhile, Captain Rene sailed into the channel. “There is Fort Estrada. They should have seen us by now. It looks like our man in town has done his job!” But Commandant Santiago’s midnight stroll had changed the fortunes of the Garvian smuggler. Rousing the night guards to alert status to find the missing lookout, they also spotted Captain Rene’s ship in the moonlight. Scrambling the gun crews into action, Fort Estrada opened fire on the Garvian smuggling ship. “Take cover, and change course to return to Prinport! Our agent did not succeed! We have lost! * * * I decided to have another go at some forced perspective, and I think it turned out better than my efforts in challenge 1. I also decided to try and do some night scenes, and I was shocked at how well it went. I think some of my photos came out better than they have in normal lighting. I barely had to do any editing of the photos at all. Edited March 31, 2016 by Capt Wolf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kurigan Posted March 31, 2016 Oh, wow! This is some of the best forced perspective I've ever seen. What an effort, too. Multipule sets, careful lighting, narrow depth of feild. This is good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TenorPenny Posted March 31, 2016 NIce story; the forced perspective works particularly well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phadeout Posted March 31, 2016 Fantastic, the forced perspective is great, I think the idea here is spot on, really tells a story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blackdeathgr Posted March 31, 2016 Great photography here and i also love that fort. I need to build one such later on when the game has expanded :-) Regarding forced perspective pics, do you build the whole ship or fort e.g. or just the part you want in the photo? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fuzzy MacFuzz Posted March 31, 2016 Lovely build. The night time lighting has worked really well, as has the forced perspective. I liked the way you showed both sides of the battle, both the fort and the ship's deck. The fort is great, and its clever how you convey the ship without actually building much of it...apart from the micro build obviously. And great gun smoke! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Puvel Posted March 31, 2016 Another awesome entry! The judges are going to have a hard time with this challenge! The fort looks great, especially love the upstairs and the little tower. The minibuilds for the forced perspective are superb. l don't know what you used as sea but it looks great! Well done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kabel Posted March 31, 2016 Fun story, excellent castillo, awesome fp! I've actually never seen an fp from two sides, that's just totally awesome. Great job mate! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garmadon Posted March 31, 2016 Excellent FP, Capt. Wolf, the micro ship is probably my favorite detail here, but the fortress (and micro-fort ) are great too! Very nice take on this challenge! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TitusV Posted March 31, 2016 The 5th image is great, I love forced perspective Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Braunsfeld Posted March 31, 2016 Great forced perspective and cannon blast! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elostirion Posted March 31, 2016 Really nice work on the perspective, well done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrickOn Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) This is fantastic, I love how you've done the scenes from both the boat's and the fort's perspective, great idea and well executed! Edited March 31, 2016 by BrickOn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt Wolf Posted March 31, 2016 Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I'm glad the forced perspective worked this time! Great photography here and i also love that fort. I need to build one such later on when the game has expanded :-) Regarding forced perspective pics, do you build the whole ship or fort e.g. or just the part you want in the photo? The fort is designed to be part of a modular build. You see 95% of what exists in the photos. It has a 20x20 footprint and is designed to lift out of an island base (that is incomplete because of my terrible rockwork). Images #2 and #4 pretty much show the whole lower level, and the other shots show all of the upper level. I wanted to include a shot of the big fort from the front, but it didn't fit the story. Looking at the right side of image #4 shows the basic slope construction of the wall. For the ship, I was going to build just the part I needed, but I wound up using an old MOD of the Carribean Clipper (I added standard rigging and gave it a main deck) because i wasn't sure how much of the ship i would need. I just went back and cleaned up some areas, put in some tiles for the railing, and posed the minifigs. Another awesome entry! The judges are going to have a hard time with this challenge! The fort looks great, especially love the upstairs and the little tower. The minibuilds for the forced perspective are superb. l don't know what you used as sea but it looks great! Well done! The sea is a piece of cloth with a mottled blue pattern. I use it whenever I photograph ships. And the night sky is just a piece of black cloth hung over my backdrop, which had the added benefit of creating an apparent horizon. Fun story, excellent castillo, awesome fp! I've actually never seen an fp from two sides, that's just totally awesome. Great job mate! This is fantastic, I love how you've done the scenes from both the boat's and the fort's perspective, great idea and well executed! Yeah, that was the fun part of this challenge -- telling the story from both sides at the same time. I'm glad you liked it! Thanks again to everyone for the comments! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gideon Posted March 31, 2016 That is indeed some very nice photography work! Great job with the fp! I also like that small turret (?) on the corner of the battlement Only nitpick is that your white balance seems to be a bit off in some of the pictures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Dee Posted April 8, 2016 This is a very simple entry - and it's fantastic! Showing forced perspective from both directions is brilliant, and both the full-scale and micro versions of the ship and fort are really nice. Combine that with the lovely full-moon lighting, black sky and beautiful water effect and you have very good all-around presentation. I love it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bregir Posted April 8, 2016 I was sure I had already commented on this excellent build! The two-sided forced perspective is a great idea, and you have executed it really well. The microship has the best microrigging I have seen yet. The fortress is really nice too, with a lot of details, like the shot rack, sponger/rammer, and smoke. That little tower on the corner is brilliant, and very realistic - I wonder if we will ever be allowed a look on the front of the fort? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt Wolf Posted April 8, 2016 I was sure I had already commented on this excellent build! The two-sided forced perspective is a great idea, and you have executed it really well. The microship has the best microrigging I have seen yet. The fortress is really nice too, with a lot of details, like the shot rack, sponger/rammer, and smoke. That little tower on the corner is brilliant, and very realistic - I wonder if we will ever be allowed a look on the front of the fort? Here's a shot of the front of the fort. In trimming the challenge entry to six images, this missed the cut. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bregir Posted April 8, 2016 Thanks! Are those top and bottom curves the same brick upside down? (Yeah, I might steal this design at some point... ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt Wolf Posted April 8, 2016 Thanks! Are those top and bottom curves the same brick upside down? (Yeah, I might steal this design at some point... ) They're two different bricks: "brick, modified facet 3 x 3 x 2 top" (part 2463) and "brick, modified facet 3 x 3 x 2 bottom" (part 2464) on bricklink. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bregir Posted April 8, 2016 Thanks again - and well - unless I decide to bricklink amock (I might, though... ), you will have to wait quite a while! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
