Update! 9/08 First Castle MOC

Poshwa · Post by **Poshwa** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:28 am

First post at CC. I've been looking at this site for awhile at the MOCs here and all those great stickers.

Sorry for the Blurry pics. I desperately need a new cam

. Please don't view them at full size.

Folder after mod:
http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=97815

Deep Links:
http://brickshelf.com/gallery/Poshwa/Ca ... /aaaaa.jpg
http://brickshelf.com/gallery/Poshwa/Ca ... adders.jpg
http://brickshelf.com/gallery/Poshwa/Ca ... tower2.jpg
http://brickshelf.com/gallery/Poshwa/Ca ... tower3.jpg
http://brickshelf.com/gallery/Poshwa/Ca ... /wall2.jpg

Thanks to Anthony Sava for the Black Falcon stickers. I only have 3 "real" falcons and 2 "real" shields. The stickers are a great help to those without old castle sets.

I made this castle a few months ago and since then it has had many changes, but I only have pics for this version. I'm working an another new MOC, but awaiting my few thousands bricks to arrive

!

LEGOFREAK · Post by **LEGOFREAK** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:49 am

very nice moc, from what I can tell.

You're right about needing better pics. From what I can see though is it really puts me in the mind of some of the older castles.
much taller of course. very cool gatehouse - I would love to see some detail pics when you get the camera thing straightened out.
Welcome to CC and congrats on your first castle moc.

Legofreak

porschecm2 · Post by **porschecm2** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:40 am

Hey, pretty kool. Is this your first castle MOC, or you first posted one? Either way, I like it. You've got enough detail on the walls to keep it away from that 'big grey wall' syndrome.

Good work.

And the pictures don't look that bad to me. I've seen alot worse.

Cm2

fcarcanague · Post by **fcarcanague** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:14 am

Like the other comments, very nice work. Good detail, I personaly like all the weapons at the figs disposal.

About picture quality... The blurryness is from lack of stillness. Sugestion, is use a tripod or something to hold the camera still.

Fred

Troy T. Moore · Post by **Troy T. Moore** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:22 am

I like the barrels of spears on the ramparts and towers. "Keep throwing! Keep throwing!"....like a pigeon on a spit.

Tall ominous towers.

Post by **Formendacil** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:59 am

Overall, I like the design of your castle. My only quibble might be that the two frontal towers are too tall for the overall footprint of the structure. Too top-heavy, so to speak. Otherwise, it looks good.

Poshwa · Post by **Poshwa** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:25 am

I guess I should take pics before midnight to hold it steadier. This MOC has been taken apart and a new much bigger one is being working on. I can take some in progress shots, but I just ordered a few thousand bricks to makes the walls. I may also have to place a BL order for more arches.

To porschecm2: This is my first "grey castle" MOC. I've made a few tan towers and last year I made a gatehouse in grey, dk grey, sand green, black, white, and tan. It was a pretty cool design, but the colors gave you a headache.

To Formendacil: I'll try to proportion the towers better next time.

Post by **Bruce N H** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:17 pm

Hey Poshwa,

It looks pretty good. I especially like the way you made the portcullis and the detail work near the tops of the walls with the inverted slopes and the arches. The barrels of spears are another nice detail.

If you don't have a tripod, what I do is just build a 4x4 stack of bricks to steady the camera. This is good because you can get an infinite variety of heights, from the figs eye view to a bird's eye view.
Another photography suggestion would be to either hang a sheet over a chair as a background or to shoot your photos against a blank wall. That way other items in the room don't distract and the details of your MOC stand out more.
Finally, what type of camera are you using, and what are you using to edit photos? If you are using a digital camera, I suggest taking tons and tons of photos and then only showing the clearest ones. That way you can throw out any where a shaky hand leads to fuzzy pictures. If you are using some sort of graphics software, look at the different filters to see if there is anything like "sharpen" or "unsharp mask". These can help digital photos look a lot better. Of course, if you are taking film photos and scanning them in, these suggestions don't help.

Bruce

Poshwa · Post by **Poshwa** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:38 pm

I use a digital camera. I have photoshop, but I've never used it. I did take tons of pictures, but these are the only ones that came out sort of clearly. Thanks for the 4x4 brick thing, I'll try it soon.

Post by **Bruce N H** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:59 pm

If you want to use photoshop to edit, here is my basic procedure (based on Photoshop 4.0.1 for Mac OS 9, so some of the menues might be different if you have a different version):

1. Open the image downloaded from my camera in photoshop.
2. Use the select tool (this is a dotted box that is in the upper left of my tool bar)--click on the photo and drag the mouse to create a box around the portion of the photo you want to show. Under the "Image" pull down menu, select "crop".
3. Size the photo. Under "Image" select "Image size . . ." and then type in dimensions. I do this because the images from my camera initially come in quite large.
4. Under "Image" again, mouse down to "Adjust" and select "Brightness/Contrast". I play with the two sliders to come up with a crisper looking image (be sure that "preview" is clicked so you see the changes as you make them).
5. Under "Filter", mouse down to "Sharpen" and select "Sharpen".
6. Under "File", "Save as" as jpeg format and select an image quality (I always go with 6 as a nice balance between image quality and file size).

BTW, if I'm doing any photoshop tricks to add special effects, such as Gandalf's magic here (which used Filter>Render>Lens Flare):
http://www.ozbricks.com/bricktales/lotr ... 06-04.html
or cutting and pasting to put images together, I always doing all of that before doing the "Sharpen".

Bruce

David Girard · Post by **David Girard** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:18 pm

The quality of the picture is not the best, but this is enough for us to see what you build.

I have to say that the castle you builded is nice. I like the way you use arches on castle side.
This is well done. Simple, effective and nice. Not to much. I hate when there is too much, but that is not the case with your castle.

Poshwa · Post by **Poshwa** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:33 pm

http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=97887

This is my new castle that I'm working on. The towers aren't done yet. Updates coming soon when my new shipment comes. Don't mind the couch in the background, this was the clearest spot I could find to photograph.

Draygen · Post by **Draygen** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 3:22 am

I really like the spears. Its always archers, I mean I love archers don't get me wrong, but throwing spears thats just great hehe.

I agree its a bit too top heavy, the poor soldiers would be outta breath before they reached the top and a well aimed strike would toppled the tower over. Can't wait to see more though =)

Keep it up

David Girard · Post by **David Girard** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:36 am

Your new construction look promising too. Keep building !