Jump to content

How does your avatar look today ?


Nostoll

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, Sagadin said:

Well put! There is often a fine line between just enough and too much post-processing. Though sometimes going way too far is really just right. 

I am glad to see more "constructive criticism" in this thread too. I have learned so much just by looking at people's photos, but it is nice to hear suggestions for making things sparkle more, and more ideas and tricks too!

Here's my latest, as I try to convince this sadly exploited polar bear that I would never wear anything but fake fur!

 

saga-1069.jpg

 

ETA: BTW, one thing I noticed about this one just AFTER I posted is was that I'd like to be able to move my avi around more precisely than the native Firestone tools allow, since I am a little TOO close to the polar bear (talk about bad breath!). What do you all use for moving your avi around while in a pose?

(I quote all three because they "work" together. First this one: Remember the image is "flat" - you don't have to be close to the giant Teddy bear at all - you could be way behind it! Just facing the same way, the oldest photography trick in the world of photography: forced perspective (just face the same direction as though facing the bear). Problem is that lens distortion will give this away (which is why you need to use Field of View: CTRL +0 like 8 times) - quoted below!

OH, And I love the framing of this, the apparent "empty space" above and to the right add character! Great off-centering you did; it makes your picture even more interesting!

2 hours ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

If you can res an object the best thing to do is use a poseball.  But that is not always an option. Most of the time it is walking around, trying to get the right camera angle and adjusting my hover height to fake the correct position.

See above - you do not always need to get that close. Otherwise building a poseball (any prim) with all your animations and a player/changer script will work! This is an excellent tip!

2 hours ago, Angelina String said:

fov.thumb.png.8eb8e3b445084bcd5a5b237e385ed55e.png

 

And I quote this because it is probably the best, most powerful of all SL tools for snapshotting (I use it in 99.5% of ALL my images: CTRL+9 at least 6, usually 8 times!) Here are the main keys to control your camera after you alt-click and set view angle:

CTRL+0 (or +8 if you want fish-eye look) and +9 to reset. By the way, in RL professional portraits are usually shot at 70 to 90mm and if you cannot get entire face in focus, then always focus the nearest eye. :)

Then use  ALT+Arrows and ALT+CTRL+Arrows and ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+Arrows - these will move and rotate your camera in every direction. Great if you use background defocusing (Focal Plane) and alt-click the place you want to be in focus and still off-center it (like your face LOL)

EDIT TO ADD:

PROTIP: In the "CTRL+0 x 6" example above: this is the *TRUE* shape of that face. You should always edit your entire shape with CTRL+0 x 6 to 8 - this will allow you to see your TRUE shape as you edit. BUT DON'T DO THIS, LADIES. Because you will end up looking really accurate and the "Hey, sexy baby..." IM's could increase ten-fold. GUYS: PLEASE DO THIS, so no more Tyrannosaurus arms and pea-sized heads, please.

Edited by Alyona Su
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

The funny thing is that because it is an original digital image we "over-process" it, but in over-processing, you made it look a lot more like a natural, camera-captured *photo*graph (Photo being as defined to be "from light"). By over-doing it, you've actually "pulled it back"!

Thanks Alyona!

Part of what I was trying to do here (other than playing a bit with over-exposure and glow) is to reproduce a feeling of motion or movement -- something you can do by playing with shutter speed in RL, but that's obviously not really possible in SL (as things stand). Photoshop has a few tools to simulate that . . . more experimentation required!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

OH, And I love the framing of this, the apparent "empty space" above and to the right add character! Great off-centering you did; it makes your picture even more interesting!

Thank you! Inspired by a post of yours from some time ago if I remember right. You mentioned a trick to keep the avi in focus without messing up the depth of field effect, what was that again?

Oh and yeah the ctrl+8, 9 and 0 are indispensible for me, especially as I have really been trying to pay attention to  the flatness of the image.

Naljepsa Hvala ("most beautiful graces" in Slovene) for the tips!

Edited by Sagadin
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Amanda Dallin said:

I kinda got put off of SL weddings when nearly 2/3 of the grooms made a pass at me in IMs while we were there with his bride discussing arrangements although remembering the 3 way lesbian vampire wedding still makes me smile.

Oh dear. And ick.

I was never in it "professionally." I think I jokingly officiated at a mock wedding once, and then word got around that I was "good" at it. Of the 4 or 5 times I did it, I already knew the groom at least, or the couple, as a couple, so that wasn't an issue.

I DID once preside over a vampire wedding . . . but it was a fairly standard thing. I'm feeling regrets now that it was!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, BelindaN said:

I've been a slow adopter of gowns because I don't like the way they move when I'm dancing.....

Flexi gowns are the absolute best for dancing.  Unfortunately, because of their properties, they also tend to have very hi CI values. 

I hate mesh gowns for dancing also.

*sigh*

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read all of these various tips on photos and most of them just make no sense to me no matter how well they are explained.  I seem to be extra dense in the photography area.  I even remember waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy back in high school opting to drop photography rather than take a D or F because I figured out pretty quick that I was just never going to really get it.

I can handle moving pose balls around and using my Animare &AnyPose gadgets (sort of), and I have mostly mastered the Ctrl-9/0/8 stuff.  The rest of it is just gibberish to me.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Talligurl said:

With all of  this talk about poseballs and moving and all that great stuff that i do use a lot, Sometimes I just find the scene set the windlight,  and let my ao run till I see something I like.

12.20.2018pm_001.png

Really, really lovely composition! The sort of "dustiness" in the distance is Windlight mist/fog?

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I read all of these various tips on photos and most of them just make no sense to me no matter how well they are explained.  I seem to be extra dense in the photography area.  I even remember waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy back in high school opting to drop photography rather than take a D or F because I figured out pretty quick that I was just never going to really get it.

I can handle moving pose balls around and using my Animare &AnyPose gadgets (sort of), and I have mostly mastered the Ctrl-9/0/8 stuff.  The rest of it is just gibberish to me.

See that's how I get when anyone starts talking Animare/AnyPose or AnyThing ReMotely TechNical at me - so you're miles ahead of me :D

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Orwar said:

   Wags eyebrows.

   Well, that does make sense. I might implement it. If I remember it.

Couldn't imagine using a slider - have always used ctrl 0 and 8 - thing is, there's no 'right' or 'wrong' - it's whatever works best for each person and whatever they're used doing/most comfortable using.

Edited by AnyaJurelle
typo
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So... there was obvious pent up photographic tech just waiting in the wings to ooze out into the forum! Great stuff. But,  I seriously didnt know 1/2 of what you guys are talking about?

q: what viewers are you all using?

q: ctrl 0-8?

am I missing something? Why wouldn’t you simply frame your image and screen shoot it. You basically get what you see Except no play with DOF. If I want that effect, I blur my background in PS... 1-make a duplicate layer, (cntrl J), 2- apply glossian blur, 3- mask the subject and 4- erase the area masked in my duplicate blurred layer... lol!  However, I wound love to understand more..., just email me within this forum. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

FYI for everyone (if it applies): Photoshop ain't all that; it's overrated. I use On1 Photo Effects (https://www.on1.com/products/effects/) - it is a photographer app designed by photographers for photographers and it works just as well for SL snapshots. Photoshop by name is a misnomer, it should be called "PhotoIluustrator" - because that's what it's best at: turning photographs into photo-illustrations (the legal term for what most "photoshopped" images are).

Thank you for turning me into on1 photo effects. A great app that can quickly give you various moods, color profiles etc.,, that you can layer and stack. I will be using this for sure.

I do however feel the weird prompting from the universe, to come to PS defense. I’m a daily user of PS for 20 yrs (invaluable and priceless for me in my rl work) and it is the single most important and powerful photography tool available! Literally. Every app or program with an eye towards somehow effecting photography (analog or digital) has its roots:foundation in PS. In experienced hands, PS is capable of almost anything you can dream up. It is def not an illustration centric program, that would be Adobe Illustrator or a 3D render program like Blender or a graphics layout/publishing program like InDesign.

Photoshop belongs in the hall of fame  with other programs like, MSWord, Excel, CAD or companies like Apple or Google. Its probably best not to trash talk tech here. A better approach would be to inclusive and simpliy add your fav tools or programs for us to discover.

IMHO ;)

~ Sara

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Really, really lovely composition! The sort of "dustiness" in the distance is Windlight mist/fog?

Yes the only "effects" used are Windlight, and camera position, for this shot I panned back into the next room, and used the view angle to make my image larger in the frame.

Edited by Talligurl
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Inspired  by the picture on the poster on the wall, Bunny in Tub by Pamela Hanson. A couple of the previous pictures came  about as i was working towards getting this one.

 

 

12.21.2018_002.png

Edited by Talligurl
  • Like 18
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Saravendi said:

I do however feel the weird prompting from the universe, to come to PS defense.

I started using Photoshop from version 1.7 and it is a great app.  In the beginning, it was definitely the best for the job (the only competitor being Photostyler at the time, hey, remember Kai's Powertools plugins?). Nowadays, for the way photographers manage and post-process photographs there are far better tools than Photoshop, I have On1 Photo RAW (which includes Photo Effects) - RAW has practically every tool and ability Photoshop has, including calculations, etc. There is practically nothing that can be done in Photoshop that I cannot do in On1 RAW, and faster, unless you are a Photoshop professional being paid $150-an hour (because you are that adept with it.) RAW doesn't only replace Photoshop, but Lightroom, too.

I mean "ain't all that" the same way as MS Word "ain't all that" - not anymore - it is no longer the defacto standard or as necessary as it once was. MS Word is mostly irrelevant from what it was and now is basically "just another word processor", though Photoshop is hardly irrelevant.  I just don't see the need to spend that much money for Adobe Photoshop (in a recurring subscription) when it is really a jack-hammer when alI that is needed is a good chisel. The same is true for Adobe InDesign. The only Adobe holdout is Illustrator, but on the macOS side of the pc world there are decent substitutes for that also. :)

I'm not intending to debate, I agree: Photoshop is a powerful program. Though it's also overkill for the way 75% of its users use it for. I'm just saying there are better, less-expensive tools available. (The company I work for has been migrating away from Adobe products for the last three years and we are mostly there now.)

Edited by Alyona Su
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my latest gown, which I sorted out yesterday and went dancing at Franks with a Forum friend....hehe!  

It's [hh] Philomenia Pearl Gown. It has the usual large texture HUD, and looks lovely, except for a bit of stretch. I'm still looking for the perfect lacy gown........anybody????

Maybe open fronted would work better.........

 

 

 

Secondlife08.jpg

Secondlife09.jpg

  • Like 20
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Talligurl said:

Inspired  by the picture on the poster on the wall, Bunny in Tub by Pamela Hanson. A couple of the previous pictures came  about as i was working towards getting this one.

12.21.2018_002.png

Cute photo! ;)

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...