Graphics Galley [Updated]

[LaurelLance89]

I just made two samples, using my avatar in freebie stuff. Just playing around in photoshop. Maybe, I can get a job making graphics for advertisements and shops.

They didn't come out as good as I was hoping, but it's a start.

I didn't know where to post this, so I posted it here. I'll post more later. Opinions are welcomed.

 

 NEW

Used google for the images and gave it another try. What do you think?

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Yes, it is a start and I admire your willingness to jump in and give it a try but you have a long way to go before you will get any jobs doing graphics. But don't get discouraged, we all started somewhere and many people that are very good at this now had less going for them than you do.

Check out the marketplace or inworld stores, particularly the most successful ones, for the quality of their ads and strive to match them.  People that can afford to hire someone to do their graphics are people with very successful businesses and they demand professional quality photography, modeling and graphics.  Most businesses can't afford to pay anyone so generally do their own ads or rely on talented friends to help out in return for favors.

I suggest you look at the SL Wiki and search photography for lots of tips and tutorials about using all the photo and lighting tools available in your viewer and how to use them to take much better pictures.  Also check  Art, Music and Photography  for more information, tips and as place where you can ask a lot of specific questions.  You will also need to invest money in high quality photographer poses.

You should look for photoshop tutorials on google for how to do more professional looking text and backgrounds and how to edit photos. You will even find tutorials specific to SL and/or take classes in world..

Of course you can hire models, some of whom will work for free clothes or copies of the pictures you take if you are very good at it.  However if you intend on being your own model you are also going to need to invest money into your avatar getting  multiple skins, hair, eyes, shapes etc of the highest quality.  You will be expected to change your appearance to meet the expectations of your clients for different looks.  I am afraid modeling is highly competitive and freebies just won't cut it for this.  Modeling classes are available in world though if you wish to pursue this.  However right now you can ask friends that have great avatars to sit for you as practice or ask people with great avatars that you will see as you roam SL if you can take a picture of them for practice.

[Ren Toxx]

- Try wearing the fanciest stuff you can find, even if it's freebie; since you're new, you probably haven't had the time yet to find better items, which are harder to come by (hunts, monthly gifts, subscriber gifts, etc), but eventually and with patience, you will. And you'll need to, because the quality of those you're wearing now is way below what most shop owners would want for their advertising (even if the products you feature for them are good, the impression would still be bad).

- You need to play with all the windlight settings to control the scene's lighting as much as possible, because in the first picture it makes your skin look flatter than it already is, and in the second, it bleaches it too much. I think the official viewer allows for all the essential adjustments, but if you're up to it, try some of the third-party viewers, such as Firestorm... they have extended controls which are great for photographers.

- Also, try your computer's highest in terms of overall graphics quality, at least at the moment of doing the capture (since it's going to be a static capture, you don't need to worry if the frames per second drop to a crawl... and you can lower the graphic settings again later, when done). The most noticeable problem in your pictures is aliasing (some of the borders look pixelated), and this can be prevented by activating your viewer's antialiasing (again, at the expense of momentary additional slowness); it could be corrected in post-processing, but trust me, it'd be a lot of manual work.

- The first picture's background may be OK for some vendor's needs, though most will prefer at least a hint of a shadow or gradient or vignetting or something; but the second one's definitely not: it's far too visible, stark and contrasty, detracting the viewer's attention from the intended subject of the picture (the model and, presumably, her clothing).

- I like what you did with the price tag... simple, cute and effective; it's in the right direction, and without much more polishing it could be good enough for many vendors.

[Kelli May]

It'd be worth your time looking at the Vanity Thread over on the avatar forum. It'll give you an idea how how some people set the bar with SL photography. Clearly some of the pictures on there are too large for most vendor ads and there usual isn't any added text, but it can show you what you can accomplish with some practice.

One general criticism - not of your images in particular, but they reminded me of something about SL vendor pics - it's important to say what exactly is being sold. In RL, if you see an advert in a clothes store showing a woman in an outfit, you can be pretty sure it's the outfit that's for sale. In SL, it could be the skin, hair, shape or make-up. 

[Wooja]

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Kelli May wrote:

it's important to say what exactly is being sold. In RL, if you see an advert in a clothes store showing a woman in an outfit, you can be pretty sure it's the outfit that's for sale. In SL, it could be the skin, hair, shape or make-up. 

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Or even the woman herself . . .

Wooja...holditagainstmeifisaidyouhadabeautifulbody

[LaurelLance89]

Thank you all for your feedback. I did see a lighting class with the builder brewery, but they use gimp and I prefer photoshop. However, I am sure I can find tutorials on my own. Everything I do know how to do, I've learned from googling it or a friend. I'm going to keep at it. Again, your feedback helps a lot and encourages me to keep working at it.

 

I'm not sure if SL supports gifs, but here is a non SL related sample.

[LaurelLance89]

BUMP

[Bree Giffen]

You should try to find the best looking SL picture you have ever seen, try to recreate it, and then make something original that's even better.

Lighting is really important in SL photos. You need to play around with windlight, using prim light sources and projector lighting.