ESO Photoshoot Station

I've taken quite a lot of gear pictures and finding a good place is difficult. There are certain qualifications the place needs to fill.

• Good general lighting.
• Background that is different but does not draw attention.
• Close to crafting stations.
• Relatively quiet location.

[bctt tweet="A guide for taking pictures from ESO gear, and a .. um .. contraption to take pictures. #ESO @TESOnline"]

My favourite spot has been close to Rawl K'ha on top of a cliff behind stables. It had great lighting on sunny day - not so great when raining. The cliff was high above everything and ESO distance blur nicely fades away background. Sometimes the roofs of the houses allowed nice perspective shots. Crafting stations were close but the cliffs hid the place.

Now i am trying a new place in Coldharbour Surreal Estate.

• It has almost constant weather and new lights make lighting problems completely away.
• The Estate is floating high above the world and background is bluish mist with some vague shapes far away. lower part of the images have wooden platform background. The two neutral colours enhance the model's visibility. Either of the backgrounds is distinct enough to pull the model shape out.
• Being a crafthouse, every station is available.
• I can kick out anybody disturbing :) .

For taking the photos there is a contraption. I had an earlier version, but while using it for shooting photos i wasn't happy.

The background was not good. The model should pop out from background and here it does not happen. I quickly rebuilt the stage for next motif:

Now the background is split to two colours and the model shape pops out. Even if either half has non-distinct colour from the armour, eyes can follow the shape from the other half where it is distinct.

With the experience from the PTS pictures i built the current contraption (i just don't know any better name for it).

I am always shooting pictures by using two accounts: one is the model and the other is shooting pictures.

The stage has flat area for model and a slope for the picture taker. By positioning both in different locations i can take general pictures and details from different relative height. The yellow and blue lights alternate to give a good general whiteish general lighting. It's slightly more yellow to compensate Coldharbour bluish general lighting.

Here are few pictures showing the use of the stage. There is one picture of the situation and the actual picture.

Foot fetish picture:

Hip-level details:

Shooting from above:

General picture - notice how the picture taker moves away from the model:

The last picture also shows how the background works. It is distinctive enough to allow model to pop out to front and it does not draw attention.

The height difference between slope and flat area has to be large enough. At lower end the model needs room to turn around. That is why the slope ends before the flat area. Taking pictures from a tall high elf and short wood elf requires different positions.