Sunset Run

Sunset Run

The car mode of this figure is absolutely gorgeous. I just had to use it in a project before transforming it.

I shot Unique Toys Peru Kill on a sheet of dark sand paper while positioning my laptop screen so that the fullscreen photo of a sunset would reflect in the windshield. It had the added benefit of adding some nice purple highlights to the car itself. This saved me the trouble of trying to superimpose a sunset later. The soft shadows are also a result of the laptop screen. The sunset is one I had photographed at Shoreline Lake last year.

In Photoshop, I combined my shot with a couple of street texture photos that I found online, cleaned up the usual blemishes and dust on the car, and added headlights and tail lights. I used some motion blur to convey a sense of movement.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Gt-jlJB7cdp569SXuBZXgXGXXcvWWWuP

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"You have failed me for the last time . . . again"

"You've failed me for the last time . . . again"

Starscream, the trope namer for the overly ambitious subordinate who's ready to take over for the big bad at the first sign of weakness. I've always found it hilarious how he was so quick to declare that Megatron had fallen and assume command of the Decepticons. I can't help but feel a sense of vicarious pride for the smug bastard during his crowning ceremony in The Movie, only to laugh when Galvatron finally shows up and does what Megatron should have done so long ago. I wish they had shown how Starscream managed to subdue all the Decepticons, including Devastator, after jettisoning a mortally wounded Megatron. My biggest complaint about his portrayal in the live action movies is that we never saw that traitorous aspect of this character.

I suppose I could have shot Masterpiece Starscream with his crown and cape accessories at the height of his glory, but I suffered from new toy syndrome with Maketoys Meteor. Although the mechanics of shooting Meteor and Despotron were simple, I did have to spend a bit of time finagling the figures into position because of Despotron's arm sculpt butting against Meteor's chest sculpt.

The final image is a composite of a couple of shots - one with purple gel and another with orange gel on my flash. In Photoshop, I combined them together, exposing whichever parts of each layer I felt worked against the background I had chosen. The background is a shot of some random fall evening. I also added some color overlay layers to further enhance the purplish and orange reflections. It's a subtle effect, but worth the effort I think because the figures would just be a somewhat plain off-white otherwise. The reflections of the clouds and trees on Meteor's body were done with a layer mask and a slightly transparent brush to allow the background to show through.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h2BJ09Nmc3Way8CWS1R5ugpq_vIVVdMo

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