Submitting Army
Galleries to Fanaticus

Armies of the Fanatici > Eye Candy > DBA Resources > Fanaticus

I am pleased to host Fanatici galleries featuring your DBA armies.  Your galleries provide inspiration to newbies and jaded vets alike, are great resources for evaluating various miniature options for creating your future armies, serve as painting references, and provide ideas and tips on various techniques such as basing and use of shield transfers.  Here are some basic instructions for submitting a hosted Armies of the Fanatici gallery.

Photography, Generally:  I'm not a great photographer and so hesitate to give any specific tips on cameras, photographic techniques or composition, other than what follows below.  Fortunately, many of the Fanatici are good photographers...and so questions posed in the Fanaticus Forum will generally produce useful advice.

Image Formats and Names:  I usually crop and touch-up images in Photoshop and so can work with most image formats (e.g. .gif, .jpg, .tiff, .pds, etc).  If possible, however, please submit in .jpg format to save me the trouble of converting.  Make sure the file names are reasonably short, without extra spaces, dashes, or other characters.   Use of descriptive file names (e.g. auxilia.jpg, arrayed.jpg, etc.) help me when sorting out your pictures.

Gallery Composition:  Typically a gallery submission should consist of a shot of the entire army arrayed, followed by images of the general figure(s), and pictures of each major grouping of elements within the army (e.g. the Knights, the legionaries, etc.).   For example, an Early Imperial Romans gallery might consist of eight shots featuring the army arrayed, the mounted and foot generals, the blades, the auxilia, the psiloi, the light horse and the artillery. Some galleries are comprised of as few as 3-4 images, and some may have a dozen or more, depending on the composition of the army and how the photographer has decided to group elements.   If I receive several shots showing variations of the same elements, I generally pick my favorite one when building the gallery in order to save space.   In some instances, I will keep a second shot if it is a close-up, showing some special detail such as a hand-painted banner or shield.

Image Quality and Size:  I follow a number of conventions when creating Fanatici galleries, which are designed to keep Fanaticus as compatible as much as possible with 640 pixel wide video displays and printers.  Pictures featuring a single element are usually cropped and sized to 300-350 pixels width.  Pictures featuring 2-4 elements are usually cropped 350-450 pixels width.  Pictures with more elements are sized at 450-500 pixels.  The army arrayed picture is sized at 550 pixels and occasionally I'll include a close-up that is 640 pixels or larger.  Sizing decisions also depend on the original size, orientation and quality of the original picture.

When sending images, it is better to leave the individual images larger and higher quality (more data intensive).  If the image is too small or at a low data/quality level, I may not be able to use it.  At the same time, email bandwidth is an issue, so avoid sending huge files.  I can easily handle emails with attachments which are 2-3 megabytes in total size.  But emails of 5Mb+ are hard to manage and may result in my mailbox overflowing, resulting in bounced email. If you can't adjust the size of the image or are sending a large number of images, please spread them out over a couple of emails to that no single email is larger then 2-3Mb.

Photography Tips:  The following are some general tips to help create a compelling Fanatici gallery:

  • Use a camera with macro lens for close-up shots if possible, but don't get too close a shot, or else you'll see every flaw in the figure and/or in your paint job.  If you don't have a macro lens, a regular camera will do...just get the lens as close to the figures as you can focus, and then take a large format picture.
  • Shoot using as much natural light as possible.  If you are using artificial light indoors, make sure it is coming from several sources, and is diffused as much as possible so that your figures are not throwing obvious shadows.
  • Keep your camera angle as horizontal to the figures as possible. You don't want viewers to be staring down at the tops of your figures' heads.  An angle of 10-20 degrees is best.   If you can't get your camera at that angle, then raise your figures up on a platform (e.g. I often shoot my own armies on a white piece of foamcore set on top of a few books to get it off the tabletop at a good angle for my digital camera).
  • Use a camera stand or brace your camera if you have trouble holding it steady for the shot.
  • Shoot your figures on an light solid colored surface.  Dark surfaces (and backgrounds) will darken up your images, hiding the figure detail and your great paintjob.
  • Use a background behind your figures, such as a blank wall, a piece of colored posterboard, a draped cloth, etc.  Some people go to extremes, painting very attractive canvas backgrounds of trees, mountains, etc.  These are great, but remember most of the background will be cropped out when I size the image. Having a background, even a light blue or green background, helps keep the eyes focused on the figures instead of whatever stuff happens to be in the distance.
  • Some Fanatici go to great effort to build elaborate backgrounds of hills, trees, etc.  This adds an interesting visual element to the picture, but remember much of your work will be lost when the picture is cropped and sized.  All that may be left of those trees in the background will be the roots if the trees are set too far back in the framing of the picture.  Consider that as you set up the shot.
  • When posing elements for a group shot, avoid arraying them in long lines.  Instead, break them up into smaller groups or shoot them with elements posed in several ranks for depth.  By the time I shrink a long head-on shot of a line of elements to the desired width (e.g. 500 pixels), typically the figures have been reduced to such a small size that any detail is lost.
  • Posing elements at a slight angle to the camera, instead of head-on, often produces very interesting shots, conveying movement and action, rather than a static line.  You might try taking pictures both ways (head-on and at a slight angle).
  • Generally avoid taking shots from the rear unless there is some detail on the rear of the element that is worthy of close inspection.

Army Notes:  When submitting an army gallery, be sure to include notes on your submission.  At a minimum,  identify what each picture submitted represents.  I also encourage Fanatici to submit other information about their armies, such as:

  • What was your inspiration in choosing this particular army.
  • What army/time period does it represent (e.g. this Early Imperial Roman army was painted to represent Agricola with the Legio XX Victoria Victrix at Mons Grapius).
  • Any special background on what each element represents (e.g., this Italian condotta general represents Lodriso Visconti, commander of the Free Company of St. George).
  • The figure make and scale (e.g. 15mm Essex.)   If you are using a mix of figures from different sources, many viewers would be interested to know which is which.
  • Any details regarding the basing, decals, shield transfers or flags.
  • Any tips on your painting techniques or references.

And don't forget to include your full name for use in the gallery so that I can give you credit for your handiwork.  If you'd  prefer to use your Fanatici Forum handle rather than your actual name, that's fine...just let me know your preference.  

Submitting Pictures by Email:  Contact me first by email at IamFanaticus@gmail.com to let me know pictures are on the way.  I will try to respond as quickly as possible, with instructions on what email address to use.  I will also let you know when your gallery is likely to appear and/or if I am backlogged.  When submitting, attach your images to the email.  Make sure the image attachments names include the proper file extension (i.e. .jpg).  You don't need to use zipped folders.

Links Instead of Pictures:  If you have your own website, I am pleased to link to your gallery in lieu of hosting a gallery of pictures at Fanaticus.  This helps me from pushing the space limits with my web host.  Just let me know where to link to.

Questions:  If you have any questions, drop me an email at IamFanaticus@gmail.com.   I'll keep updating this page with answers to common questions.

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Last Updated:  24 August 2010

Comments, suggested additions, and/or critiques welcome.
Direct them to Chris Brantley at IamFanaticus@gmail.com.