El Dave Photography

A photographer and his toys. Updated weekly.

Explorator 1

5:04 AM by , under , , ,

Explorator (by ElDave)

One could be forgiven for assuming I have an unhealthy fixation on the Adeptus Mechanicus. There is just something about a cyborg monk that sets me all a'flutter, and this particular 32mm model hits all the right notes. I added the little arms, aka mechadendrites, taken from a Dr. Octopus Heroclix figure. I actually need another Doc Ock just so I can make a mold of the arms to use in future projects!

In setting up this shot, I pictured the Tech Priest as an Explorator, leading exhibitions out into the galactic fringes in search of lost knowledge.

These members of the Cult Mechanicus were something of a breed apart from their kin. Any Techpriest was free to join their ranks where they undertook to complete the Quest for Knowledge across the stars in order to seek out undiscovered data, chart uncatalogued phenomena, find forgotten archeotech and learn of new unknown forms of life. As such, research stations, explorer vessels and any outpost of any distance from a Forge World are likely to be manned by Explorators of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Their brethren would call them foolish for their actions though they consider themselves as intrepid adventurers that explore the unknown reaches of the galaxy.

The exploits of successful Explorators are known to found many great prizes that have enhanced the Quest for Knowledge though many others have met grisly deaths in the hostile galaxy. In some cases, the actions of an Explorator have unleashed cataclysmic horrors on Mankind due to their ill-conceived prying though such events are rare.

An Explorator will not be visibly different from a fellow Techpriest though they will be a senior official within a warband.

I love the idea that the guys trying to learn how to save human kind are sometimes the ones who destroy entire chunks of it.

For this shot, I found a mossy tree stump that was flat enough for the Explorator to stand on (his feet are tiny). I tried several different zooms, some where it was just him and a vast expanse of moss and some, like this, that were up close and you can see the cool details of the plant. The pulled back zoom looked pretty good, but, because the model is only head and shoulders taller than a US Quarter, I lost the details of the figure. Maybe next time I'll post both versions.

Taking him into Photoshop, I first did a little selective coloring on the moss to make it a more rusty orange (to better suit the whole machine motif), then painted the spotlight the same way I do robot eyes. Finally, I felt that his robe was a little flat. There have been many complaints about how I paint my miniatures; the most common being that they are too dark or that everything is brown. Because of this, I went back and painted over his robe with a little red, set to Overlay, which really made the guy pop.

EXIF for the EXIF God:

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/2.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

File Size: 3.6 MB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 3306
Image Height: 2592
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:02:13 13:36:56
YCbCr Positioning: Co-sited
Exposure Program: Aperture-priority AE
Date and Time (Original): 2009:02:13 13:16:03-06:00
Date and Time (Digitized): 2009:02:13 13:16:03
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Color Space: sRGB
Focal Plane X-Resolution: 4433.29532497149 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution: 4453.60824742268 dpi
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Manual
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Compression: JPEG (old-style)
Global Angle: 30
Global Altitude: 30
Copyright Flag: False
Photoshop Quality: 12
Photoshop Format: Standard
Progressive Scans: 3 Scans
XMPToolkit: Adobe XMP Core 4.1-c036 46.276720, Mon Feb 19 2007 22:40:08
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Metadata Date: 2009:02:13 13:36:56-06:00
Creator Tool: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Format: image/jpeg
Color Mode: 3
ICCProfile Name: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type: D50
Measurement Observer: CIE 1931
Measurement Flare: 0.999%
Measurement Illuminant: D65
Color Transform: YCbCr
Flash Return: No return detection
Flash Mode: Off
Flash Function: False
Flash Red Eye Mode: False

Be good,
-Dave



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1 Reply to "Explorator"

kamagra on March 16, 2011 at 1:01 PM

Excellent is like the octopus doc from spiderman, another great job.