ENTM Prelim Round 3 - Ifrit Shot

I pretty much was a lurker when the first ENTM cycle was going on (plus I had a pretty busy work schedule around that time) I've been actively voting in ENTM cycle#2 and I really like what I've seen out of it thus far- Wanted to give my thoughts on ALL the models this round- not just the ones I liked. It's really cool what you've all done weather they're good or bad, your putting yourselves out there and having fun so I think that's great ^^!


Notes/Thoughts/Critiques on each shot: Gonna be brutally honest! Take with many grains of salts because there is both good and bad here!

Arias:
I had enjoyed the pose, and thought the outfit was decently put together, what I strongly disliked was the fact that your character didn't contrast enough with the background. You ended up blending in too much, so while you had a great pose that ended up looking like you were punching ifrit right in the face, it was completely lost by lack of contrast between the foreground and the background.

Bleizahr:
My favorite part was probably the smoke/eruption background effect followed by the aura that comes off your brand. My biggest WTF is the fact that not only is your head hidden, but ifrits head is perfectly cut off screen. The only face I can clearly see in this photo is your SCH in the background and my eye is directly drawn to it second- right after the plume effect. I want to be drawn to the model not supporting/unimportant characters.

Byooki:
While I liked the fact that the incinerate is happening and it gives off a decently nice lighting effect yours is very similar to Bleizahrs in the sense that both yours AND ifrit's heads are hidden. If you had just turned the camera 180 degrees and taken it from the opposing side you would have probably had a much more interesting screenshot and could have added way more to the feel of the screenshot.

Ciara:
One of my favorite shots I voted for, outfit was well planned, timing well executed, pose interesting enough. While the shot itself is of high quality I would have been curious to see if you had lowered the angle a bit more and had a different player take the photo so you were slightly to the left/or right and ifrit was a bit more in the shot. Nonetheless your photos have thus far been very strong and this shot was defiantly in par with the rest of yours.

Jayzan:
I actually really liked your character pose, and the fact that your axe makes a good contact with the ground creating an interesting line of action. My biggest gripe with this image is that the effect in the middle is so blaring it almost takes away too much focus from the model. (SECONDLY YOU MANAGED TO GET IFRIT TO GIVE YOU A THUMBS UP. So SERIOUS props for that LOL, seriously did anyone else notice this???)

Kaelah:
I felt the strongest point in this shot was that you really captured the depth of field with your left arm coming across your body, I liked the aura but I felt it was a bit underwhelming. Other than that though... I felt it was a really bland shot, Had ifrit even been pulled? The background didn't have anything interesting in it, I really would have liked seeing your eyes directed towards the camera even while your face was turned away (have one of your party members run to your left in front of the camera and taken it) Anyways, if you make it through, amp up your shots, and get some really interesting things going on.

Kin:
While ifrit wasn't in this shot (although wasn't a requirement) you were able to utalize your space, posture, and effects to the best of your ability.) As another one of my favorite shots, I must say- I stared at your image with a friend of mine where we literally discussed your shot for a good 10-15mins trying to figure out how it was accomplished. Was it a physic? Was it summon? Was it a combo of a physic + someone in front of you casting blizzard? To my knowledge physic doesn't have that anim paired with it while summon does, or was it just summon?. So props, trying to dissect your shot we got lost in it. And to me, that is, and what ENTM should be about.

Kurri:
Another one of my choices. I think this is my favorite one that actually utilizes ifrit in the shot, because many of the ones that do, didn't come out as well. My favorite part of the shot is the facial expression tied in with ifrits. It's almost as if your reacting to his roar, and as a small lala in the wrong place wrong time your scared to death. It tells a story and I like that. The background plumes/hellfire rising in the background are a nice touch as well lol kinda looks like ifrit has wings.

Maxwell:
I actually really like the bubble effect Holy is giving off, but other than that I didn't like much more in the shot. The left side of the image has a lot of negative space, while the right side the tank's ability being used is creating a blaring white light that my eye directly goes too. Along with distracting party member/fighting going on as well. Simply put your shot is very heavily balanced on the right and takes away too much from the model. While your left side is completely blank.

Mini Ninja:
Bad asses don't look back at explosions. Enough said lol! It's like Michael Bay was your director in this photo shoot, I like the backdrop you have, your clothing + style works well with what I believe you were trying to convey, my only wish was that you could have distanced yourself just a slight bit more to give your character that really "larger than life" feeling and giving a better sense of depth of feel while still keeping the explosions going on in the background- but overall this shot was brilliant and I really liked it (Also ifrit's tongue is soooo distracting! LOL)

Rhaja:
Honestly, this was probably my least favorite out of every ifrit shot I'm sorry to say. I felt everything this photo should have been focusing on wasn't present. The strongest point of this photo was the feathers... followed by the interesting fire ember effect that turned out looking like a fire ghost on the far right- Other than that I can't see your face, your axe perfectly covers up Ifirit's face, I'm really not feeling the Ice axe against Ifrit, and I couldn't tell for the longest time if you were wearing a speedo - or just really tight pants (I believe their actually WAR AF after looking at it for long enough) This shot wasn't your best, but your previous shots haven't been as bad, move on and step up your game if you make it to the next rounds!

Ronberku:
I will say, you were probably my last pick out of the 8 we had to choose, and it was close between you and Yunie, but I choose yours over it because I felt the set up was quite a bit more intensive whether it was planned or unintentional... I normally like seeing the models face- and while both yours and ifirts were both not present I felt everything else in this picture was done right. You pose was staged perfectly, your line of action can be followed down your body to the swinging of your axe which you were able to pick up a fancy motion blur with. I like the fact that you went with ifrit after HF to get his glow for the lighting, AND the fact that I didn't even notice the sacred soil dome effect above both ifrit and yourself until a friend mentioned it to me because the base bottom effect was hid so perfectly by the plumes made me realize the set up this shot probably took. Whether intentional or not I enjoyed your shot, and would like to see more of this type of thing!

S.Q.
Let me start out by saying this shot had a major problem with it- I probably don't even need to mention the main issue in it, I'm sure your already well aware of it. Nonetheless, everything else in this shot was done meticulously so I wanted to give a vote in attempts to see more from you in the future. Your one of the few who I thought did a back shot very well, still keeping your face in frame, and you also accomplished getting a nice pose out of the NPC ifrit which is hard at times to get the shot right having no control over him. The MNK effect, and fist of wind vortex around your bottom half is a nice touch, and the small details of Ifrit's glowing effect around his upper body from when he casts Eruptions really complete's this shot. I gave you a vote because I thought everything was set up extremely well and I want to see a good deal more of it- I'm sure the player running through the front of it was running from an eruption and probably got in the way of a perfect shot (the fact you had your players probably be in front of you so the eruptions didn't end up in the background was brilliant)- but if time permits next time try to replicate it and shoot again and retake if something like that happens, because that nearly ruined the shot completely.

Soothing Ruby:
While this wasn't my least favorite- it was down there. I didn't have a problem with the pose, nor did I think the background was horrible (I actually really like the plumes blowing up in the BG) But I felt the player characters in the front were too distracting. I immediately look at the bio/poison effect going off then to the Dragoons using the ability then to you. If it was just a bit more focused on you I feel it could have been a much stronger photo. But unfortunately I felt this was a picture that you may have just went in and shot because a cool ifrit effect happened, not thinking much about all other aspects of the photo.

Tia:
I don't really have much to say about this photo, not because it was good or bad but more just bland. The background effects is okay, during ifrit's HF he's un-targetable so I realize you couldn't have really done a weaponskill to get a interesting action pose but a buff could have been used to get an interesting effect (bloodbath/infuriate/defiances/internal release/ second wind/vengance/foresight/feather foot/ etc- SOMETHING could have been done to give more umpf). Just standing there in idle stance really didn't sit well with me, I felt it was very boring and something could have been done to improve the overall feel of the shot.

Tinsley:
I felt this shot was very elegant and well though out, simple beauty. Ifrit isn't in the shot, but similar to some of the other contestants you used your abilities, and staging to your advantage. I actually don't mind the duller background because of the fact that your character is in so much contrast to it making you stand out much more, a true beauty shot, anything else would have been overkill- and I believe you have a good grasp on when just enough and to not go overboard and kill the shot with effects.

Vahn:
I love the pose, choice of clothing to really exaggerate the high specular and gloss that this battlefield gives off. Background is interesting, and your line of action is in quite a 'hold your ground' sort of way. I love the shot overall- my only gripe is that there is a decent amount of negative space on the left, had the camera been swung over more to the right to better center the eruption behind you I think it would have been a nearly perfect shot- Needless to say great shot, you had one of my votes so I look forward to seeing more from you!

Valentina:
I liked the effect work in your shot- but other than that I thought it was a really safe shot. Whether ifrit was pulled or not- it could have easily been taken before the start of a battle (or even after for that matter) I do like the angle but I fell you could have gotten something way more interesting out of a more riskier shot. I'd like to see more from you though, I felt this was one of your weaker shots but needless to say keep improving and amaze me next time!

Yuni:
Okay- so I saw your 'blooper' shots, why in the world did you go with this shot over some of your blooper shots? I felt your official submission was way too cluttered while this shot OR even this shot were much stronger! I'm actually a bit confused ><; because in my opinion your 2 blooper shots were much stronger overall than this.

Yunie:
It was really close between yours and Ronberku's but the main reasons I didn't choose you was because in comparison to your previous shots, I felt this one was too close on the safe side. I really was expecting to see something crazy from you. As for the shot as a whole it was a good shot, I wish I could have seen the lighting from ifrit's incinerate on your backside, normally that gives off some crazy lighting effects so if you had just moved a bit farther back it would have back lit you more which would have been fabulous. Or even if the ifrit had been incinerating a bit more towards/into you would have really tied in the actor with the NPC. But currently it comes across as your just posing as two separate entities rather than one whole complete image working together.



WHELP, don't /panic and


~Nari <3