"Hey, can I get you a drink or sumpthin'?"

that just hurts my eyes

That actually makes the figure look quite bad.

i thought it was going to be a pic of you wearing a purple bandana.

Thanks!

So was that your intention?

No. I really like how the image turned out.

I was just thanking your for your kind and considerate comment.

Hahaha was I teh only one who got that

anytime.

geo,

that pic is rad!! keep 'em coming!

["Decontamination"]

I like the colors, angle, and backdrop, George, but how about a shot of the complete figure? I'd love to see how that looks.

Ok, I will see what I can come up with... but I don't want to damage anybody's eyes or brains or anything...

"Is That A Raygun In Your Pocket? Or R U Just Happy 2 C Me?"

That's pretty crazy! Thanks!

Holy crap this thread sucks!
I'm not a wordy person.

Those would make a pretty cool mural of Crit. I know Ramos would appreciate it since he helped bringing this figure to fruition.

IKe

Parka and Iccdp...

What is the point of your comments? Please, just come out and say it. Then we can move forward.

Wordy or not, the words you ARE choosing are not conducive to a pleasant community. The only point I can see is to take a stab and try to provoke a negative reaction. Isn't that what trolls do?

It is not just once in a while. You two in particular go out of your way to make gratuitous negative comments to my posts.

Is that what you think RFSO is all about?

If you see or read something you don't like, just move on.

I find hundreds of photoshopped pictures where the toy doesn't even look like my toys and angry posts to justify them not conducive to a pleasent community.
stabby

Keep your chin up, Geo, and ignore the negative posts. You're being baited, and your willingness to defend yourself, while at the same time keeping your head above the gutter and debating with rationality instead of trash talk, makes you an attractive target.

Keep on posting, bro. Plenty of us love your pics!

I am sorry my pictures don't look like your toys. I take pictures of my toys. I don't usually take "straight" shots, but my own interpretation of the toy - more impressionistic to bring out what I see in it. If you don't like the pictures or my interpretation, or you are after photo-realism, don't look... you can just look at your own toys in the comfort of your own home.

I am a fan of these toys. I get excited about them and how they look. There is more than one way to look at them. My vision of them doesn't need to match yours, does it? Do you want everyone to look at these in the same way? That would be a pretty boring world. A little experimentation and having an open mind keeps things more interesting, IMO.

Regarding photoshop, it is no different than taking film photos and manipulating them in the darkroom. Absolutely no difference. I do not profess to have any great skills, either with photography or with photoshop. I just point, shoot, and then adjust light and color. Most professional photographers do the same (whether in the dark room with film or with photoshop with digital).

I usually only get angry when I am attacked. When I am attacked I defend myself. The reasons I am being attacked just seem gratuitous and troll-like. That makes me even more angry. I will continue to defend myself as long as the attacks continue.

Yeah, what he said !!

Hey Geo, just wanted to add a little critique. I really like some of you shots but the blatantly photoshoped ones just don't do anything for me. The art of photoshop is not knowing that you used it at all. I guess I'm just old school where taking a good shot and not having to alter it that much in color or effects is where I'm coming from. Keep on keepin on.

That's cool and I appreciate your comments.

I know there are quite a few people who feel that the "art of photoshop" is not knowing that it was used.

I don't subscribe to that paradigm, so again, it is just a different way to look at things. I am amazed by the power of Photoshop, and have fun playing with it sometimes to create images that are pleasing to me. (Again, I don't have a clue what photoshop can really do or how to use it - I only use lightness, contrast, color, sharpness and blur - just sometimes pushed to extremes. Sometimes, the resulting images, like the one that started this thread out, don't even look like photographs. But I still believe that the images are interesting. I often take this approach where I have an original that really won't stand on its own because something wasn't in focus, or whatever. The first pic above was of the Camguts standing in front of a faceted glass candy dish on a table in my living room with the window behind. I just push it to see what happens. When it "works", the fact that it doesn't look like a photograph anymore doesn't diminish the pleasure I get out of viewing the image.)

I really am doing this for my own enjoyment, and I do not expect everybody to like what I like, but I it would be impossible to please everybody even some of the time, let alone all of the time. So rather than compromise my own enjoyment (as I have said before, this is how I play with the toys), I take shots that I like and throw them out there for others to enjoy or dismiss.

I guess the thing that I object to is somebody just coming out and saying "that sucks." Rather than opening the page, seeing the image, thinking to themselves "ew, I really don't like that" or "what a piece of shit," "or, oh my god, that picture has obviously been photoshopped" and going on about their business, clicking through to the next page. Another thing that bothers me is that there is a small gang of people that repeatedly make obviously nasty or belittling remarks in response to my posts - like clockwork, the same folks. So I take the bait and respond in the small hope that it might focus at least some attention on the small-mindedness of their remarks (oftentimes it just brings out the hyenas, but that's a risk I am willing to take).

Your work is awesome, lamour, and I personally really enjoy seeing images of it. But I can guarantee that there is someone who thinks that it sucks or is complete rubbish. If some member of this particular online community openly stated such an opinion in writing in response to one of your posts, uh... well, it would be rude and unnecessary to say the least. It is not that you couldn't handle it, or that you may be used to criticism, etc., it is just that the comment would be objectionable IMO.

There are always hornets around the hummingbird feeder... guess that's just a fact of life. You can choose to try to swat them away, or ignore them.

i'm not sure that's possible, Lamour straight up slays!!