Category: Cycle Round

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Scenic Cycle Round 6

This is it! The final week of ENTM’s first ever Scenic Cycle!

Before I talk about the final round, I first want to thank our judges for all their hard work during this cycle. They take hours of their time each week, seriously thinking about each shot and how it was done and possible ways to improve it. We had a good balance of technical advice from Forthyn, literary and artistic viewpoints from Ona, and puntastic commentary on colors and emotions from Ni’ko. Thank you again for volunteering to be part of my experiment!

For our final challenge of this first cycle, we took a sharp 180 from the laser focused black and whites of Amsel Adams and went back in time to the previous heydey of landscape artistry – Impressionism! I asked for dreamy vistas and pops of color, and our team of photographers did their best. This was an extremely technical round and I’m proud of what our challengers did with the in game engine to attempt to reproduce Impressionist techniques.

Nine photographers submitted shots for this final portfolio. Please enjoy them over the next few days while our judges review them.

  • Skybound Sanctuary
  • Another City, Another Home
  • Champs de Citrouille en La Noscea
  • Wings and a Prayer
  • Splendor of Mor Dhona
  • What You Leave Behind
  • Hidden Beauty
  • Grief’s Eternal Shade
  • Scarred History
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Scenic Cycle Round 5 Results

Hi folks! For last week’s challenge I asked our photographers to go out and take a shot in the style of Amsel Adams, which meant grey scale and beautiful mountain majesties. The judges were impressed at all the tricks folks used to render good quality black and white in the in game engine, and also loved the variety of mountain peaks everyone brought to the table. The round was very close this week, but the winner was Zukira Phaera with Memories of Nym.

Memories of Nym

Congratulations! There’s so much to love about this shot, but I’ll leave it to the judges to gush over the technicalities and I’ll just add in that we have a mountain, a lake, a castle, trees, cool clouds – there is just a lot of great stuff in this shot, and taking it in black and white transforms the familiar ruins into something quite different.

Please continue reading on for our judge’s critiques! We have one more round before Scenic Cycle 1 ends (just in time for Shadowbringers) so stay tuned!

Continue reading “Scenic Cycle Round 5 Results”
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Scenic Cycle Round 5: Amsel Adams

We’re in the home stretch of our first Scenic Cycle, with only two more weeks to go! Because of this, it’s time for a new round made just for this cycle – taking a shot in the style of Amsel Adams!

Adams is widely considered to be one the greatest landscape photographers of the 20th century. His large format silver prints of the US National Parks are world famous. He worked primarily in black and white, and many of his most famous shots were of beautiful peaks and valleys. In homage to the master, we have ten shots in black and white – with mountains!

  • Coerthas Valley
  • Spiked Ranges
  • The Bridge
  • Baldesian Geyers
  • Is This the Real LIfe?
  • Spires
  • Memories of Nym
  • War-Torn Valley
  • Autumnal Rift
  • Poems Written Upon the Sky

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Scenic Cycle Round 4 Results

Hi everyone! Last week our photographers had to brave some nasty weather to find us beautiful shots of storms . We had some breathtaking shots that traveled around the world, but the winner this week belonged to Aldrid Light for Byakko’s Wrath.

Byakko’s Wrath

Congratulations! The cloud formation in this shot is incredible and helps to balance the image nicely. This was a really challenging round but the judges were wow’d at how epic each of the storm shots felt, and how even when a location was similar, each shot had its own personality all the same.

Please continue reading for critiques from our judges!

Continue reading “Scenic Cycle Round 4 Results”
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Scenic Cycle Round 4

Hi folks! This week’s challenge to our photographers was another classic ENTM round, Dark and Stormy. Normally we send our models out with explicit instructions to get all wet in the rain, but for our photographers we expanded this round to include “exotic” weather phenomenon as well, as long as it’s… well, dark and stormy looking. (Aetherstorms definitely count!)

Our photographers staked out some pretty intense weather and have brought us some beautiful shots, as seen below.

  • The Gathering Storm
  • Grim and Gloomy
  • Nevermore
  • Azys Lla Light Show
  • Looming
  • Angered Skies
  • The Measure of his Reach
  • Byakkot’s Wrath
  • The Dark’s Guardian
  • Aetheric Presence
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Scenic Cycle Round 3 Winner

Last week I asked our photographers to send us a postcard from their favorite lake or river. The judges felt that the photographers have all really stepped up their game – this was a fantastic round, and it was a challenge for the judges to rank them.

But after all the votes were tallied, the winner this week was Zukira Phaera with Mystic Cavern.

Mystic Cavern

Congratulations! Hullbreaker Isle is gorgeous from start to finish, even the caves. I think a lot of us are going to be saving his one as a wallpaper.

For all the photographers, the judges critiques can be found below.

Continue reading “Scenic Cycle Round 3 Winner”
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Scenic Cycle Round 2 Results

For last week’s challenge, I asked our photographers to go and take a shot of a sunrise or a sunset. No filters were required this week, but they did have to be in a specific window of time (5-7 AM or PM in the game.)

We had ten beautiful shots, but there can only be one winner each round – wait, what??

TWO?? We had a tie?

That’s right! Since Scenic cycle is anonymously judged without community votes, we had a dead even score between two photographers this week. The two shots were Edge of Eternity and End of the Occupation, taken by Malkovich Malkovich and Darius Stormcrow.

Congratulations! The judges had a really tough time this week, and a tied score proves it.

For all of our photographers, please check out the critiques below the fold.

  • Edge of Eternity
  • End of the Occupation
Continue reading “Scenic Cycle Round 2 Results”
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Scenic Cycle Round 2

Hi folks! For this week’s challenge I asked our photographers to find us a beautiful sunrise or sunset – specifically, to take a shot between the hours of 5am-7am or 5pm-7pm. Even back in FFXI I was always struck by how beautiful the transition from day to night could be for such a simple game, and in XIV the devs spent so much effort perfecting that small moment in time.

Our judges will be reviewing the shots over the weekend, but for everyone else, please look at our entries this week!

  • Frozen Warmth
  • Blood on the Sands
  • Sahagin Sunset
  • The Sun Melts Into the Sea
  • Setting Sun Rising Warmth
  • A Hundred Little Suns
  • Edge of Eternity
  • End of the Occupation
  • A Dream of Painted Skies
  • Desert Rose
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Scenic Cycle Round 1 Results

For Scenic Cycle’s very first round, I asked our photographers to take a stab at ENTM Forum Cycle 1’s first round theme, “On the Beach.” We had ocean waves, sandy beaches, jagged coastlines, and shots from morning til twilight.

Now, the judges ranks are in and we have a winner! The first winning photograph of Scenic Cycle 1 was ” Salt Strand by Day” – taken by IG2’s very own Malkovich Malkovich! Congratulations!

Salt Strand by Day

For all of our photographers, we have critiques from the judges below the fold.

Continue reading “Scenic Cycle Round 1 Results”
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Scenic Cycle Round 1

On the “Beach”

Hello everyone, and welcome to the start of ENTM’s brand new Scenic Cycle!

This is a small experimental cycle to test out the new gallery hosting possibilities of our website. This cycle is being anonymously judged by a panel of three – two ENTM veterans and a community expert on landscape art and photography.

But everyone is allowed to look at the beautiful round while it is being judged – so here we go! The first round’s theme was a throwback to Forum Cycle 1 Round 1, which was also named On the Beach. (This time we have fewer catgirls in bikinis, however.) The challenge was to take a picture of the ocean with the coastline or shoreline in the view. Beach sand was not required – just the ocean was. We have ten beautiful shots from our photographers, and they are available to view now below!

  • Treasure at Twilight
  • The Beacon
  • Salt Strand by Day
  • Perfect Beach Day
  • Costa del Stella
  • A New Day
  • Cerulean Tranquility
  • Rainfall Against Carapace
  • The Inspiration of it All
  • Beachside Nightlight