Jurassic Battle

Giant robot dinosaurs! Why are they fighting on some moon in some distant solar system? Who cares. I justed wanted to use Planet X Apocalypse in a space scene.

Apocalypse, Vulcun, and Caelus were shot together because they are interacting with each other. Quirinus, Summanus, and Neptune were shot separately and dropped into the picture. I had to cut and paste Summanus' and Neptune's heads in from different shots because they can't look up like that. Blemishes and screw holes were covered up. Glowie bits are Inner and Outer layer styles. Quirinus fire breath was created from my custom smoke brush. I added a dust cloud by overlaying one of my cloud photos.

The stars are a couple of noise layers. The swirling galaxy in the background is from a NASA photo of a hurricane that I distorted. The foreground surface is a NASA photo of the moon's surface. The planets are from marble texture images I found online and Spherized. The sun is from a lens flare.

It's pretty fun and simple to create these kind of space backgrounds. Just another option until I get a chance to photograph some more sunsets.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVeTlZaUtFanlNUE0

https://www.facebook.com/lapstransformersphotos/
https://www.instagram.com/laptutran/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/19429167@N02/albums

"I am all that is or ever was or ever will be."

Of course I would want to do a space scene with Toyworld Spaceracer. Instead of doing a simple star field or reusing the wallpaper I had found for Planet X Mors, I decided to follow some tutorials and create one from scratch.

The star field is made of two noise layers. The planet and moons are Spherize distorted circular cutouts from marble textures I found online. The nebula are created from a photo of wispy clouds taken on a summer day and one I found online. Finally, I threw in a lens flare to simulate a sun and because I'm apparently being influenced by JJ Abrams school of cinematography.

I purposely left his head sticking up a little bit. Floating up there all by himself all the time, he's probably a little bored and addle-brained.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVenZVMGpVUGNHdUE

https://www.facebook.com/lapstransformersphotos/
https://www.instagram.com/laptutran/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/19429167@N02/albums

Optimus Prime

In addition to my usual write-ups and scene recreations, I've been thinking of trying out a portrait series to highlight each character. This was inspired by a drawing I found while browsing for ideas. 

Optimus Prime has got to be one of my favorite sci-fi characters of all time. I'm really only familiar with his depiction from the G1 cartoons, High Moon video games, and Michael Bay movies. His characterization as a noble protector and self-sacrificing leader seems to be constant across various sources. I readily admit that my eight-year-old self shed a tear when he died in The Movie. I hope the upcoming film doesn't go too far off the rails.

Although I have no shortage of choices with which to highlight this character, I ultimately chose MP-10 Optimus Prime. I covered up some visible screws and the inevitable nicks and scratches. Next time, I need to pay better attention and control my lighting so I won't have to paint over highlights that don't make sense for the scene. The glowing eyes are from Inner and Outer Glow layer styles. The smoke is from one of my shots of a blown out candle.

The background was taken at Hollow Bean State Beach. It was of an odd, mushroom shaped rock I saw amongst the tide pools. I enlarged the small rock to serve as a mountain backdrop. The sky is from a random summer evening because the skies over northern California beaches are, more often than not, overcast and a boring gray. Various photo filters were used to color grade the different parts of the picture. Finally, I added a lens flare, just because.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVcmxGZGdKMjBQems

https://www.facebook.com/lapstransformersphotos/
https://www.instagram.com/laptutran/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/19429167@N02/albums