"Revamp of eBay French Generals" Topic

Evening all,

I got some French Generals on eBay, and never really liked the blue of the jackets, so gave them a once over with some ink wash and I think they look much better. Also tried some photography with a plain white background, so would like to know what everyone thinks – should I use it more often?

link

Have a good evening

J

Photos look good to me. And I do think the wash helped the Generals to stand out better. Nice job.

15's ok.
IMO the too close up crunchy figures look a bit… crunchy.. yeah the blue is still a bit pale; I'd have hit the depths more with darker blue;

ADCs- sky blue lapels, not on my watch. Red tipped plumes, only for a GDV staff. The gold pattern lace on lapels should be in balance with cuffs (or other way round), its' fine filligree and shouldn't be that noticeable, same w horse furniture.
I'd reduce the 'overrun' gold even further.

Otherwise fine… I didn't think Bessieres had a bad stomach too!
:-) d

Nuln Oil is a black wash. I would have used Blue, Drakenhof Nightshade (God alone knows where these names come from) but your wash definitely improved them greatly. I do find many wash colours (not all by any means) dry with a slight sheen, but I hesitate to apply a matt varnish.

The white background is ideal for exhibition photography. Try a curved sheet of paper, rather than the sharp line of the horizontal meeting the vertical. Also you may (stress may, as you may genuinely just want to show one figure) try for greater depth of focus. Much lighting, longer exposure, camera on Av priority and on a tripod, avoid zoom. All that allows something like f27 or even 32……..huge depth of field then.

It was indeed a curious convention that gentlemen would pose with one hand in the jacket lining like that. It even was seen in the ACW 50 years later. Disappeared I guess with the appearance of Rennies.

SHaT1984 / Deadhead

Bessieres has just found out he's developed late adulthood lactose intolerance like me ;-)

Regards

J

I use burnt umber as a wash and have found that ‘less is more' as too much will block out the details it was meant to highlight.

As for backgrounds I would suggest a black one will pick out your figures to their best unless you are using a proper backdrop of farmland for instance.

A Dutch film friend suggested it.

Best wishes,

Chris

>> he's developed late adulthood lactose intolerance like me ;-)

Ewwwww….. no wonder he went looking for cannon balls….

I agree, I like the darker blue, historically more accurate