Kelinda Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I thought it would be fun and educational to post a picture and get feedback from the community, so here it is.I have just started to taking my photos more seriously, paying attention to graphic and Windlight settings. How am I doing? Any feedback both positive and negative is welcome. This photo is has no effects on it, it is a screen capture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceres Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Facelight.. not sure if was meant to be pointed towards the chest or the face but nice mix of colors all around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelinda Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Yes avatar lighting is something I am still getting use to. I don't know if I should buy some lights that are on stands or get better face and body lights. Stand lights are not very useful when you are on-location though because of the auto return on many sims. Thanks for your feedback, I am still learning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Furse Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I like your picture Kelinda it's pure and very special .... u will develop for sure .... I use the lights around me and my facelight, I can achieve very nice results without even using special filters in photoshop or paintshop .... below picture was taken in midnight modus and effects created with the lights around me ... *meows* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelinda Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Thank you for your feedback Wildcat. I would be curious to know did you make your own lights or are they something you bought? I found one set of lights by PhotoLite that attaches to your avatar so you can take pictures on-location. It's around L$2,000 I wonder if it is wroth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Little Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I really like the way you use the colors. I agree that lights on stands are not very practical. I don't know how good you are to edit things? Maybe you don't need a new facelight, if the one you have is modify. You can see your facelights when you turn on "highlight transparent" Ctrl+alt+T toggles it on and off. You will see your facelight as one or more red orbs, usually around your face/chest. Now you can select it and move it up or down, to cast the light effect as you want it. You can also edit the strength of the light and the color. A soft peach is often nice. I use Photoshop, but I am not so good with it. I have to follow a tutorial every time I try something advanced in it. I use PS for Liquify, if the avatar mesh is broken. My preferred editing program is Picnik. I think I use Crop absolutely most, followed by Vignette and different frames. I know I use Vignette a lot, but I like the effect. Dodge and Burn, and Curves are great too. I am really picky when i take pictures inworld, I want it to look good so I can just crop it and add on some effects after. Many times I spend less than 5 minutes on Postprosessing, but I can spend hours inworld, looking for locations, poses, experimenting with Windlight and outfits. Yes, sometimes I spend more time in Photoshop, but I get really tired of it. This picture is all Picnik. It is Vignette again, but what's inside the darker edges is close to SL as I saw it on my screen. I spent a lot of time on the outfit and modified the hair and leg holster a lot, even if it's hardly visible. Posing with a lot of prims on takes some time, because I don't want to use poses where the prims cut too much into each other or the body. I don't think I use a facelight here at all, only Windlight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Little Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I would not buy that set.... it looks a bit overpriced. I don't buy many photo gadgets in SL, because i find that Windlight settings is much better, and for a facelight, I can find so many freebies and cheap ones. The smoke and fog effects sounds like fun, if you can test it in a store inworld. If you like it, it is worth it for you. The photo stand included will only work on places where you can rez.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Little Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I send you a Facelight with a HUD inworld. This is a freebie with full permissions.:smileyhappy: Wear both, and the HUD will attach to upper left corner. The top button turns it on and off. The lower button open the HUD, with options like colors, radius and brightness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Furse Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Kelinda wrote: Thank you for your feedback Wildcat. I would be curious to know did you make your own lights or are they something you bought? I found one set of lights by PhotoLite that attaches to your avatar so you can take pictures on-location. It's around L$2,000 I wonder if it is wroth it? Like Marianne quoted, there are different face lights available with low or high strengths, and moving them around your avatar can give indeed amazing effects ... a good advice is is to wander around the grid in 'midnight modus' u will be able to see the lights better and which ones gives a better effect or not ... a lot of pratice will help u for sure ... I am a debuting photographer and learning everyday :smileywink: *meows* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Furse Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 that's another amazing shot Marianne .... just love it ... *meows* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda Huntress Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Kelinda, you seem to have a good eye. The balance is nice and this does feel like a study in balance with both warm and cool colors, a single complex object (the avatar) centered in field of simple shapes. It is set up very well. For playing with the windlight settings, I think the lighting is off a bit as has been mentioned. The way your lower torso looks is what you want to achieve for full torso and face. As it is, there is a bit of glare from too much light on the model's left breast and too much shadow on the face which makes it a little blocky. I am by no means an expert and what little I know about lighting I stole from other people But here is my typical set up if ambient lighting is not working for me. Fist off, face lights. I love them and use them even tho many people will say they are not needed with the new windlight engine. I keep mine turned off maybe 80% of the time. One small light set even with your chin (maybe even attached to the chin) about half a meter away. Set the radius to 1.5 meters. Intensity to 5. Color should be close to your skin tone. I use a brownish orange color. Once you have it in place, adjust the falloff up or down just until the shiny reflections go away on your forehead. If it works right, no one will know it is on; it is just to keep those hard shadows off the face and help hide the chest cavity. Next, lights for a portrait. For me that means two. One main that is set high and off to one side; the other offsets that one with a warmer color. The main light is usually a very pale yellow nearing the realm of being white. 255, 255, 200 or something close. I set it about 1 meter above the model, 1 meter to right of the model (my right) and 2 meters in front. I use a 5 meter radius, leave falloff at default and adjust intensity down until there is little to no glare. The offset secondary light is usually a bright orange, set about hip high or maybe mid thigh, 1 meter left and in line with the hips. 3 meter radius, falloff at .5 and intensity at 5 but could be less if it starts to mess with the colors of the model too much. If you really wanted, you could buy a set of studio lights but I just tend to res a ball and set the light values. Once the lighting is right, I set their textures to "*default transparency" out of the library. For no res areas (and if I just can not do without the extra lights) I will res small balls at home and attach them to my hip and pec then adjust them as necessary on location. Again, setting to transparent once the shot is set up. Most of my shots only use windlight settings. I have very few I use and I keep the main light source (sun or moon in this case) to the right like I would with a studio light by adjusting the east/west angle slider of the preset. Sorry, I got way off and rambled there. I love your use of color and balance. I like the deep shadows of the chair and would not try and use the sun for the main light source because that would ruin the depth you get there. (Actually I probably would have done it and missed an good effect) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelinda Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Wow! /me blinks, looks again... Wow! Thank you for the feedback, very useful information and the Facelight. I knew there was a way to see those orbs, I did it by accident once, but I couldn't figure it out. The short cut will really help. Photoshop is fun, but I am finding like it sounds you have, looking for locations, poses and playing with Windlight can be more fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelinda Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Rhonda thank you for your feedback. I think you just saved me a lot of Lindens on lighting. I agree with you about the facelights I am finding with the Windlight settings unless I am facing the sun or the moon it is not enough light. Thank you for all your tips about how to set the lights. Last night when I took the picture I wanted to change the lighting but I couldn't really get the hang of how to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelinda Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 Here is tonight's try. I still have shadows under my eyes I don't know if that is because of the skin or my lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Furse Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Kelinda, by moving the 'face light' you should be able to remove the shadows *meows* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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