Lava Castle

[maxfurtado]

Hi,, personal work.

High Resolution http://www.maxvfx.com/lava_castle_HR.jpg

http://www.maxvfx.com/lava_castle.jpg

Max
www.maxvfx.com

[sdinozzi]

Nice image Max, excellent mood and atmosphere you have going on here. Also I like the merge between the castle and ground. Ive been trying to find some volcanic references lately but have been out of luck, mind sharing some helpful links or search words that you used for this?

-Steve

[maxfurtado]

Hi Steve, I´m very so sorry about delay your answer,, thank you for your comment, I use www.flickr.com to references keyworlds = lava, lava field etc...

Max

[nickmarshallvfx]

Nice stuff Max

Something doesnt feel quite right with the lighting on the castle to me. Try taking out and bringing down a lot of the highlights to make it fall into more of a silhouetted form, and i think that will add more depth and improve the look.

Good stuff, loving the colours!

Nick

[Madster]

Flickr photographs are NOT royalty-free images.
Unless the photographer specifically states that the images are for free use, every photograph is COPYRIGHT, and you legally cannot use their images for your mattepainting.

It's called Copyright Infringement, and you can be taken to court over it, however unlikely it may be for someone to recognize that you ripped off their photo.

There is also the thing called ethics. As an artist, while you want inspiration and reference, you don't want to be a thief...hopefully.
It is thievery to use someone else's photos or work without their permission...

At the very least, you need to contact the photographer, and obtain permission to use their photograph in your mattework.

That is why it is so much easier to simply use sites like sxc.hu (Stock Exchange) or Morguefile.com for your reference images, as they are royalty free in the vast majority of cases.

~M

[ragecg]

It is thievery to use someone else's photos or work without their permission...~M
Um, he specifically stated that he searched Flickr, and used it for reference.
He never said anything about using shots found there as source material.

...or to quote him: "references".

So, although your heart is in the right place, you might wanna chill out a little on the public accusations (or in your case, implications).

Anyhoo, I mean no disrespect, but damn hehe, our community is small enough:)

Party on..

[maxfurtado]

Hi ragecg,,

I don´t know about "inspirational or references" copyright laws, I believe there is no any problem in using an artist or an image as a "reference or inspiration" to a photo montage, matte painting or to study the characteristics of a particular subject, Madster has probably confused the meaning of the word "reference".

But if you need to "GET" material and "USE" that in your project, you can visit http://www.cgtextures.com/ and others.

Max

[Madster]

A photo montage utilized PHOTOS, and is not painted from scratch. If you are pasting ANY photo into a work that you did NOT take yourself, or do NOT have permission to use, it is Copyright Infringement.

Thank you, Max and ragecg, but I KNOW what the word "reference" means, as well as the word "PHOTOGRAPH." You cannot have a photo reference, unless it is a photo.
I would be quite willing to wager that the Lava field "reference" for this work looks extremely similar to the way the lava field in the final image looks. Possibly reversed, but overall identifiable...

I also used to work for a lawyer who specialized in Copyright lawsuits...

Perhaps it is YOU who are "confused" as to how Copyright works...

If you PAINT a matte from a COPYRIGHT photo, and the photographer can identify it, guess what? Even though you PAINTED it, you have committed Copyright Infringement.

Inspiration? No problem. Be inspired all you like from someone else's work. Just don't steal the photo and paste it into your matte, and don't copy the photo by painting it. That is called a "derivative work," and is also illegal.

Here (http://painting.about.com/cs/artistscopyright/f/copyrightfaq7.htm) is an article explaining it perhaps a bit better...

~M

[sdinozzi]

Madster its nice to see you get down to the bottom of this ...*sarcasm* but if your going to point fingers here you might as well leave the same message on every post here, because most of these works include photo references not taken by the artist, even pro's. Like the old saying.. if you dont have enough for everyone, dont share at all.

[maxfurtado]

madster please do not feel offended, you probably have played in an interesting subject and I am not able to understand, please let me know if there is any of copyright on the below image ? and why? I sincerely would like to know more about it.

Thank you

http://www.maxvfx.com/copyright.jpg