It is fascinating to see the design evolve and 'settle' in with your photographs. Perhaps there were a few complaints about chipped coronets on the early queens (or broken pawn heads) that warranted some changes. The later pawns remind me of helmets. The later rooks have fewer crenellations. For no particular reason, I seem to enjoy the 70s knights more when compared to the others.
Soviet sets comparison: ’60s Shkolnik II, ’70s Shkolnik III, & ’80s Shkolnik III
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BobbyStaunton wrote:
It is fascinating to see the design evolve and 'settle' in with your photographs. Perhaps there were a few complaints about chipped coronets on the early queens (or broken pawn heads) that warranted some changes. The later pawns remind me of helmets. The later rooks have fewer crenellations. For no particular reason, I seem to enjoy the 70s knights more when compared to the others.
I’ve never seen damaged pawns, but yes, queens without those thorns on the crown are not uncommon. In fact, my black queen lacks them; I unfortunately didn’t notice that in the photos of the listing. I see no signs of the thorns having broken off though, but I guess the crown has since become polished through use. Or the thorns just wore down through use.
"avoid perspective distortion and control the angle and lighting"
1) Photograph from further away, with a longer focal length if possible to reduce cropping. Trying to fill the frame with a wide angle lens maximizes perspective distortion. Do the opposite.
2) Tripod and lightbox with flash
mjeman wrote:
"avoid perspective distortion and control the angle and lighting"
1) Photograph from further away, with a longer focal length if possible to reduce cropping. Trying to fill the frame with a wide angle lens maximizes perspective distortion. Do the opposite.
2) Tripod and lightbox with flash
Thanks! Yeah I was thinking of buying a digital camera, so I can adjust the focal length. And get better quality in general; my phone camera is not the best.
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And of course, the queen of the Shkolnik II set has that amazing thorny crown (and an even larger orb finial). Is it called a finial? I thought there was a different name for that part, but I can’t find it.
For some curious reason though, the ’80s Shkolnik III set comes with two distinct pairs of knights; a black and white pair that looks almost identical to the knights from my ’70s set (manes aside), except with more upright ears (see the fourth knight above, or the second knight in the photo below). The other pair looks more refined and anatomically correct; a nicer jaw design, a slightly shorter muzzle, and more refined ears that point backward. Oh and curiously, the second white knight has its nostrils hanging too low! Such a strange nostril design as well. It’s quite a goofy knight in general.