Previously on Fuyoh!:
I took a photo of this figure in almost the same pose over two years ago. I’ve improved a lot since then, I think.
Perhaps not.
I had a nagging suspicion my photos would look different when viewed on another display device so I copied over an entire year’s worth of Fuyoh! photos to my PSP’s memory stick earlier.
Sure enough, the photos looked different on the handheld but I wasn’t prepared for just how different the photos looked. Colours looked washed out and edits (especially my attempts at lightening dark areas) were far too obvious and embarassing. It was very dispiriting to discover the photos I had worked on for such a long time didn’t look the way I wanted them to look.
I doubted the problem was due to the PSP’s LCD screen, which is fantastic, so I assumed my 17-inch el cheapo CRT was the culprit. With that thought in mind, I experimented with the monitor’s brightness, contrast and its Vivid feature to see if it helped.
The good news was photos looked roughly the same as they did on the PSP. The bad news was my eyes would hurt if I spent more than five minutes staring at the monitor.
I then tried to calibrate the monitor with Adobe Gamma, an applet that was included with Photoshop Elements. This proved to be a better solution but I’m still not sure if I got it right. If I erred, my photos will either look too dark with details obscured or too light with the colours washed out.
(This would be a subtle invitation for you to let me know.)
Honestly, I think the new photos look great. That said, this is coming from someone who hasn’t really put effort into his own pics, heh.
Thanks for the link earlier, btw. I really appreciate it. I can’t wait to get some more CG stuff done again, too.
And I’m really into the Busou Shinki reviews and links you’ve posted. I have one (the Angel one) on pre-order and am pretty stoked. I may have to start collecting AmDriver stuff for the compatible accessories…like I have space lately. I still need to find a safe place to display some of my more recent aquisitions…really need to triage some of the collection, methinks.
You had better free up space somehow because I think you’ll love the Busou Shinki line enough to get a few sets. The MMS figure may be 6 inches tall but there’s definitely a strong Microman (or Microlady, I should say) vibe there.
The upcoming sets look very promising as well. The Strike Freedom Gundam-ish set might very well have been inspired by fan-creations combining MMS figures and Gundam kits.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Takara Tomy comes up with a similar offering in the coming year. The company has already produced moe-flavoured offerings for Microman and Transformers and it does have the Cool Girl line as well but I expect the company will come up with a separate line for mecha musume designs.
(Hmm, Armed Ricca-Chan, perhaps?)