How does your avatar look today ?

[ForrestChild]

Gone with Pink Fuel again.

Skintone [PF] <Crystal> - Doll V2

Hairstyle *barberyumyum*L03(black)

Eyes Go&See * Babe * Genus Project Eyes

*Shape [KRR] Marianne shape (modified the eyes and lips)

Lipstick is also from the PF] <Crystal> - Doll V2. And the eyeshadow and spade tattoo are options on the Genus Head settings HUD

Outfit PIXEL BOX - Dress Black Leather Studded Tonic Fine

Accessories PIXEL BOX - Bracelet Shadows Tonic L & R

                        PIXEL BOX - Necklace Magic Secrets TONIC

                         evermore. usagi // bento ears

                         evermore. The Scythe Rune

                         Kokoro Seifuku Choker

*Shape comes with the [KRR] Marianne Skin for GENUS/OMEGA

                       

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by ForrestChild
changed a couple words around

[Kia Kiyori]

4 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

So... you haven't tried the Wet skin look, or the Wrinkled skin look or. Glam skin look.. I dunno... the neato stuff all the other heads don't have (yet) that make the Genus the big thing right now? Surely some of the other heads will add those kinds of features (that are not appliers on makeup layers) and they'll jump a couple grand in RC, too.

No, features  like that aren't really of interest to me personally. The killer for me was the extra 30k complexity. Would have been good to know about that before I bought it.

Edited December 20, 2018 by AnyaJurelle

[Kia Kiyori]

9 hours ago, Clover Jinx said:

Everyone in this thread has improved tremendously since they started posting. I found myself improving when I stopped comparing my pics to everyone else's and compared them to my own instead. So many of the stunning pictures on Flickr are so heavily painted that they can't be done with in-world projectors, gadgets, gizmos, etc. I was spinning my wheels trying. So I flipped it and focused on the things I could do, the things I like to do and what I could make the windlight and viewer do. I'm much happier with my efforts this way.

 

You're so right, Clover - thank you for helping me feel better! At least now I know why I'll never be able to take pics like those - I'm not a photoshop artist! Couldn't use Photoshop to save my life, much less 'doctor' and manipulate one with technical stuff like that (I have this brain that - for better or worse - turns platinum blond the instant it hears anything remotely technical haha).

[Gareth Kanarik]

[Angelina String]

[Saravendi]

@Angelina String lovely backgrounds, lighting, beautiful gowns, great poses! Love it.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Saravendi

[Saravendi]

So I am a bit out of commission over the next few days (I’ll try to post), but Thank God I have access to the forums everywhere!!!  Yay, for that. So to build off the wonderful comments of @Clover Jinx and thinking of the enormous strides I’ve taken with the quality of my posts here, all of my gratitude and love goes to this group and your openness to sharing tips, sims, etc,.  I would never have know about anything without you guys! 😘

So, if I may return the favor for Christmas 🎄, these are my SL photography hacks/tips for you guys who are new to this....

1- AO. Buy poses and use them. I find I get much better end results when I’ve got a static pose, rather then Using your fidgety Avi AO stands. I leave my face AO running mostly, however I also use the Lelutka head HUD that allows me to tweak eyes, head tilts, details like that.

2- Explore backdrop sims, and find cool, emotive sims to pose in.

3- Work with your Windlight setting. Dial in for ex: WL7 then use the day-night sliders to dial in cool filters, shadows etc. (firestorm)

4- Command P (Firestorm) pulls up preferences- under graphics set to Ultra. It lags hard, so only once your dressed, on set and posed. Then hit Ultra! You will Lag, but the quality of your Picts will be amazing- no photoshopping! Yay!

5- I exclusively shoot screenshots on my iMac. If your using the latest IOS you can hit “command 5” and you get a static frame box to frame out your shots, and you can use “enter” just like a shutter. Hit command 5 again and the photo framing pops back up in exactly the same place! So, I can take multiple photos, framed out the same way (especially useful if layering in PS). It acts just like having a camera on a tripod. click, click!

6- Now put that all together and your pictures can be creatively well lit, poised well executed with great quality!

This is my personal peeve that I work hard to avoid..,  is looking “fake”. You know when the eyes look wrong, the hands are not natural, the pose is “off”..  and we see these photos a lot. I think when we use a AO standing position where our avi’s are moving around, it can be exceptionally hard to nail a natural look. Same goes for chairs AO or anything like that. So, these robotic expressions or poses in my opinion devalue a photo the most.

7- last tip... tell a story about your photo, where and how it was taken, what was challenging or fun! It brings your posting to life and you can see that adding that communication breaths your personality into the posting.

I’m sure all the regulars to this forum have a lot more to offer, and I do love ❤️  your sharing!!! You can bet i’m Glued to every word of wisdom here! Thank you 🙏🏻 all for your generousity, you’ve given myself and the SL community.

~ Sara

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by Saravendi

[MoiraKathleen]

So I took this picture before coming back in here and reading Saravendi's excellent tips above.... so I didn't include hardly any of suggestions.  I'm mainly just a point and click after playing around with windlight (sometimes) type of picture taker.  I see something on my screen that I like the look of,  or the coloring of,  or something that I want to be able to look back on later and remember …  and there I am snapping a picture...   I took this one after spending some time messing around with how I look and deciding to go back to a look that I was very comfortable with in terms of hair color and body being used. 

[MattNight84]

https://mattnight84.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/sugar-spice/

 

[Saravendi]

Gettin back into the 🎄 Christmas sprit, after all my recent beach posts 🏖!

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by Saravendi
tweaks

[Saravendi]

1 hour ago, moirakathleen said:

So I took this picture before coming back in here and reading Saravendi's excellent tips above.... 

I think this is a wonderful picture! The textures, your body language, your outfit is just perfect. Excellent IMHO 

[Laoise Rumsford]

1 hour ago, moirakathleen said:

 

Absolutely breathtaking. Please, come decorate my apartment. lol...

[Coby Foden]

Cute free outfit for Christmas (dress, boots, antlers, bracelets)
Bella Moda - Costume della Renna Reindeer Outfit
At the back of the dress there is even small wiggling bento tail (detachable)

At event: The 2018 Shop & Hop is Here with Deals & Gifts from 100 Merchants!

[Talligurl]

[BelindaN]

I'm still point and click although recently I've used the flickr edit tools sometimes on the Lutz images. when I get my new laptop next year I'll try Firestorm, but I daren't mess with it on this old laptop in case I screw everything up...........

So as Tali has moved into gown images, here's one I clicked off last night at Franks. I've been a slow adopter of gowns because I don't like the way they move when I'm dancing.....

BUT my obsession with wedding dresses is driving me more that way......haha!

This gown is Shey Kattya. Hair is Truth Gwen.

 

 

[Panteleeva]

while not feeling good i can do some exercises

[Alyona Su]

14 hours ago, AnyaJurelle said:

You're so right, Clover - thank you for helping me feel better! At least now I know why I'll never be able to take pics like those - I'm not a photoshop artist! Couldn't use Photoshop to save my life, much less 'doctor' and manipulate one with technical stuff like that (I have this brain that - for better or worse - turns platinum blond the instant it hears anything remotely technical haha).

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).

Even with RL photography: never compare yourself to others, but rather compare yourself to yourself. View the others for inspiration. Nothing wrong with trying to recreate the look of another on your own, that's how you grow and get better.

For me, the first thing I worked on in trying to improve myself was in creative angles, to highlight what I wanted you to see first. Then it was in using different field-of-view settings, then my last effort was to play with how the scene is lit. All 100% in-viewer. Then I pass them through the On1 app for the fine-tuning of it. About the only effects, I ever add is a slight glow (so subtle you cannot even see it unless you toggle it on and off quickly to see the difference) and a vignette. Once in a while I'll I'll add a look from a preset (like Lord of the Rings preset - then tone it down) LOL

Anyway, this is why I love every single picture I see here. Because it's the "you" inside and always an interesting story. Besides, less is more (that includes fanciness of the image) unless you're making a bold statement (which many on Flickr are trying to do, I presume) 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Well, speaking of over-processed . . . an experiment in Photoshop.

I may not be a very good dancer, but I'm an exuberant one!

[CurseSmile]

so this Christmas time, I have decided to do something nice and adopted a newbie lol
(she's a bit camera shy)
p.s if you know any bento heads mesh bodies on sale this holiday let me know

[CurseSmile]

5 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Well, speaking of over-processed . . . an experiment in Photoshop.

I may not be a very good dancer, but I'm an exuberant one!

You can practice w/ me to lol

it looks carefree, I like it

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 minutes ago, CurseSmile said:

You can practice w/ me to lol

it looks carefree, I like it

A very sweet offer. And thank you!

I'm sort of trying for "free form," but carefree works too!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

17 hours ago, TatianaNikolay said:

Adding the final touches to the mantle...

Tatiana, there's often a sort of "70s photograph" feel to your pics that is really distinctive and interesting! Are you using a filter?

[Scylla Rhiadra]

16 hours ago, Talligurl said:

Oh but SL weddings are so much fun, and all the forum angels want to be bridesmaids.

I used to do a sideline in presiding over SL weddings.

Just sayin' . . .

(Although, as a result, I never got to be a bridesmaid. That would be nice too.)

[Laika Ravikumar]

[MoiraKathleen]

56 minutes ago, CurseSmile said:

so this Christmas time, I have decided to do something nice and adopted a newbie lol
(she's a bit camera shy)
p.s if you know any bento heads mesh bodies on sale this holiday let me know

Take a look at the https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/424299-free-mesh-bodies-and-heads/  thread - scroll thru towards the end (or start at the end an then go backwards).