Gift's Hakurei Reimu - Another look at the Shrine Maiden of Paradise
Why go and take pictures of a new figure when I can go take pictures of an older one again I really, really like!
Actually this is a result of an itch that has been bothering me since the last post I did about my upcoming pre-orders. In that post I linked to the original post I did for this figure and it bothered the hell out of me when I looked at those pictures. I felt the pictures were so darn... meh, this is one of my most liked figures, I felt I had to do better.
So, I went and did another photo shoot of it. The super lovely Hakurei Reimu from Gift.
The original post is back from May of 2010, at the time this blog was only about six months old. Back then there were a few things that bother me today when I look back. One of them was I didn't know what I wanted to do with my blog, I have reached the conclusion to do what I want. I quite simply blog for myself as an enjoyable outlet for my figure collecting and photography hobbies.
The other thing, the more related matter is of course the pictures. 2010 was the year I actively started using a DSLR for photography. As such I didn't know what the hell I was doing with it, after all a DSLR just offers way more control and as a result way more complexity. I was definitely doing it wrong! Just look at that horrible white balance! Now though, I have used my lovely D3000 for some 3 and half years, now I know how to get the desired effect in my photos more easily than before.
That leads to this set of pictures, as I blog for myself I feel no pressure to do something new or something popular. With a better working knowledge of my DSLR I can take better looking pictures than before, add to that my personal vow to stop relying on simple variously colored backdrops so much I thought I could take a little more interesting photos.
I also feel for Reimu being the blog mascot more or less this blog sure has a lack of her. The world needs more Reimu figures, too bad pretty much the only ones I don't own from the usual manufacturers are the Griffon ones and I just don't like Griffon. Kind of a shame GSC, Max Factory or Alter didn't jump into the Touhou band wagon would love a Reimu from either of those.
Yup, bloomers on Reimu is still the best!
Aside from wanting to retake the pictures there were a couple of other reasons I want to reuse this figure. I had this idea for set for a while but I didn't really have any Reimu figures to take pictures of with that idea. Alas as with any overly ambitious set ideas I tend to think of, I keep underestimating them. Thus that ended not necessarily in failure per say but somewhat far from what I had envisioned. I should really start splitting the work and do at least a mock up before the actual day I set aside for picture taking.
Instead I went and did what I end up doing like 90% of the time, improvise!
I went and dug a couple of vaguely looking oriental place mats I bought while I was in Canada of all places. I used those as a backdrop and for the floor. Then I simply threw in the flowers you might or might not be able to recognize in the background that I bought for my original idea.
It's a somewhat familiar idea that I seen been done before, or at least something similar to it. I liked, seemed to look decent enough. Plus I got an idea that I would like to revisit using a similar set up as this one.
I also wanted to play around more with Lightroom, I think I'm starting to figure out what does what and how I can use the tools provided to get the desired effect. I'm starting to get more comfortable with it but still not super accustomed with it that I can easily tweak every picture one at a time. I think for now I will keep to just doing batch processing for most of the pictures.
Looking at this figure now, it still holds up pretty nicely, good job Gift! Although it does still have some mishaps here and there like some residue on Reimu's right sleeve. I still love the face too, the reason I bought it still holds true. I wish people would stop getting their panties in a bunch when figures take some artistic liberties, figures at the end of the day will always reflect the individual sculptor after all.
Thinking about it, complaining about this with Touhou stuff is really pointless, nothing really looks like ZUN's charming art. Except for the bestests more accurate Touhou figure ever, which I actually own... that figure looks exactly like the title screen of Undefined Fantastic Object.
Hmm... thinking about it, I don't own much Reimu stuff for her being one of my all time favorite girls.
There is this figure and the one I mentioned, the Kotobukiya one I showed before and of course the figma. My favorite out of all of them is the figma, it's just so nice and cute.
Although I haven't taken that many pictures of it, I notice that for the figures I really, really love I tend to take less pictures of them. I wonder why that is.
Looking at these pictures while I write this post sure has made me want more Reimu stuff right now. I never been much for merchandise as I don't need even more stuff to take up space in my room but some Reimu stuff would be nice. Aside from the figures I only own one of Gift's Touhou plush of her and some decals I never applied to anything.
I think I want at least a shirt, gotta show my love for my favorite Touhou after all!
Before I continue rambling I want to ask you guys something.
What do you think of revisiting figures just as I have done here? For bloggers is a figure a one shot kind of deal?
Has there been any figure that made you think, I want to shoot it again for whatever reason?
Do you try to forget about your earlier days of blogging and photography or do you look back on them fondly?
Well, I think I'm quite satisfied now when it comes to this figure now. I'm not sure if I will end up retaking photos for other figures I done before, I will just cross than bridge when I get there I suppose.
So long peeps, until next time!