How does your avatar look today ?

[Hauntingly Boo]

2 minutes ago, Peony Swee*****er said:

And because I couldn't think what to make after finishing the ice creams, I decided it was time to change Peony's look. I was missing being an older av, so I'm back to my LeLutka and feeling much more like myself.

Actually, while I think of it - I love how the nose looks on the Simone with this shape, but I'd love a longer nose with a bit of a longer, angular face to fit it. Has anyone come across a mesh head that has that stronger, more elongated look?

 

I love your AVI! you look amazing!

[Saravendi]

Snooping around the thread..

[Saravendi]

[Elora Lunasea]

6 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Well, whatever you did, it seems to have worked: I'm not confident I can tell where the neck seam was (assuming that is what you're talking about).

I'm not sure I've very good at disguising this problem when it arises. I generally use a combination of the PS smudge and blur tools, or on occasion liquify. Something else I've tried with mixed success is to copy a slice of the neck above the join, slide it down over the seam, and then make it partially transparent while "feathering" and blurring the edges of the copy. Probably the clone tool might help too, but I haven't tried that on the neck.

The other thing I discovered when I was having a lot of problems with the join between my Vista hands and my Slink body is that changing the lighting before taking the shot can also make a difference. But that's not always practicable with the neck.

In any case, it's a really beautiful picture!

Thanks!

The lighting in world is my first line of defense. That usually works for the most part but once I start to post edit I always wind up noticing small problems I'd like to fix. I really should be using the PC for it but truly I'm just too lazy to go upstairs to our home office, preferring to be where the tv, kitchen (and cat usually) are lol. So, laptop it is.  On this one, I used some tools *barely* because it wasn't too terrible looking.

I also had to do a fix on the left ear because some of the fine head hairs were embedded into the ear. I saw that while taking the photo but no matter how I adjusted the ears I couldn't get the hair out of them.  Even if I took those ears off and used those that came with the head. I could have easily have swapped out the hair style but I liked it too much and it had the right feel for this picture. Anyway, I used the clone tool for that and I'm more happy than not with the results.

Edited May 6, 2019 by Elora Lunasea

[Elora Lunasea]

3 hours ago, Peony Swee*****er said:

And because I couldn't think what to make after finishing the ice creams, I decided it was time to change Peony's look. I was missing being an older av, so I'm back to my LeLutka and feeling much more like myself.

Actually, while I think of it - I love how the nose looks on the Simone with this shape, but I'd love a longer nose with a bit of a longer, angular face to fit it. Has anyone come across a mesh head that has that stronger, more elongated look?

I like this a LOT.

Genus Strong Face may be to your liking. Even better if you tweak it just a bit. The nose on it is fantastic - very different from most heads. I think it is what sets it apart from all other heads as it has a more unique look and I've found certain skins really accentuate this; Session and Skinnery in particular.  Also, Genus has their own basic skin for sale called "March" which is an older looking aged skin and you can turn on "wrinkles" in the HUD to add to it. It's beautiful.  

Here's the Genus Strong head with the March skin:

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by Elora Lunasea

[KimberlyPam]

16 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This is a really great photo!

thanks Shylla 😘

[Skell Dagger]

12 hours ago, Elora Lunasea said:

I really need to learn how to work on the neck area or, stop using my laptop at minimum to take these kind of photos.

It's really difficult to edit them on the laptop. I can, but with difficulty. Tips and tricks appreciated!

I always plug a mouse into my laptop whenever I use it. While I can easily do anything else with just the trackpad, for image editing a mouse is crucial.

8 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I generally use a combination of the PS smudge and blur tools, or on occasion liquify. Something else I've tried with mixed success is to copy a slice of the neck above the join, slide it down over the seam, and then make it partially transparent while "feathering" and blurring the edges of the copy. Probably the clone tool might help too, but I haven't tried that on the neck.

The best thing I've found for editing seams actually is the clone tool. I set it to grab as wide a sample as I can from the neck either above or below the seam (depending on whether that area is lighter or darker, and sometimes I mix the sampling up from both light and dark). Use a feathered circular brush, and pull the opacity down to between 20-30% (experiment to see what works best for you - mine was at 27% in the video I'm about to link). Short rapid clicks are key; don't sample and drag. Vary your sampling points frequently as you work. The larger, the more feathered, and the more random your sample points, the better your end result. And, once you're done cloning, set the blur tool to an equally low opacity (I rarely go above 35%) feathered circle and fine-tune any small, obvious lines. (If you're going close to a sharp edge, such as where your neck stops and a shirt collar begins, then change your brush to a solid circle, make it a lot smaller, and zoom in much closer.)

Here's a quick video showing how - once you're used to doing it this way - you can clear up a neck seam in less than a minute. Note how I used a larger brush on the right side of the image (sampling from below the join), but as I got closer to the darker shading of the Adam's apple I reduced the sample size. Then, as I got closer to the underside of the chin on the left of the image I reduced the size again, finishing up with a gentle blur tool at 30%.

Images behind the spoiler tag.

 

Before and after - full image versions (the forum forced a resize down to 512px, but clicking twice will show the full version, albeit highly pixelated) -

Sample sizes:

Before and after, close up images:

[

Edited May 6, 2019 by Skell Dagger

[Skell Dagger]

Forgot to mention one other edit that I sometimes have to do, and that's the hairline. A lot of male hairs show rather visible joins - especially on the forehead - so I grab a 'splatter' brush and use quick, short strokes from the head into the hair and then out of the hair onto the head:

Most of my editing is done using an old version of Photoshop (PS6) because it loads quickly and has pretty much everything I need. I keep Photoshop CS5 for when I need the heavy guns

Before and after images (just a quick touchup done in about a minute) are behind the spoiler tag:

[KimberlyPam]

Warrior today because Monday .... LOL

[Scylla Rhiadra]

23 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

[A lot of amazingly useful stuff that I'm bookmarking for future reference]

Skell, this is amazing! Thank you! I almost want to force a bad neck join in my next pic so I can try this!

I'll admit that the clone tool has always frightened me a bit: I don't entirely understand how it works (although I'm getting better at that). I have used it before to fix hair and other more complicated textures, but this is kind of brilliant!

Again, thanks!

[Lewis Luminos]

New skin, new profile pic.

[Rhonda Huntress]

[Skell Dagger]

3 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Skell, this is amazing! Thank you! I almost want to force a bad neck join in my next pic so I can try this!

I'll admit that the clone tool has always frightened me a bit: I don't entirely understand how it works (although I'm getting better at that). I have used it before to fix hair and other more complicated textures, but this is kind of brilliant!

Again, thanks!

Welcome! The clone and blur tools are my most-used ones. I rarely use anything else, to be honest, except perhaps the curves adjustment.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

except perhaps the curves adjustment

/me runs to check what a "curves adjustment" is . . .

I've got curves! And some of them could probably use a bit of adjustment!

[Skell Dagger]

9 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

/me runs to check what a "curves adjustment" is . . .

I've got curves! And some of them could probably use a bit of adjustment!

Ah, if only Photoshop could help with that (outside of image editing itself). Overindulged at Christmas? Clone out that post-prandial pudge! Getting older? Blur away those wrinkles! (Mind you, might want to practice first, otherwise you might end up looking like this )

Curves is a way of fine-tuning certain levels of RGB - their depth and strength - in an image. I tend to use it either to discover interesting tint effects, or for lightening or darkening images since it gives me more control over that than the simple contrast etc tools do. Couple of quick example videos (I'm just using the existing points on the curve, but you can click to add more):

• darkening an image using overall RGB
• tinting an image by changing just the red value

Before and after of that second image:

I'm monopolising the thread with image-editing stuff again, aren't I?

/me slinks off and lets the pretty people keep being pretty.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

12 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

Ah, if only Photoshop could help with that (outside of image editing itself). Overindulged at Christmas? Clone out that post-prandial pudge! Getting older? Blur away those wrinkles! (Mind you, might want to practice first, otherwise you might end up looking like this ) 

Now, there's the AR app that the world is really waiting for. Even if it means compelling everyone else to wear special glasses whenever they meet me.

13 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

Curves is a way of fine-tuning certain levels of RGB - their depth and strength - in an image. I tend to use it either to discover interesting tint effects, or for lightening or darkening images since it gives me more control over that than the simple contrast etc tools do. Couple of quick example videos (I'm just using the existing points on the curve, but you can click to add more):

I've just been playing with it a bit: it looks like it provides much more control than the basic colour and lighting tools I've been using. And a good way to get a more nuanced version of the pretty ham-fisted filters like High Key that PS Elements currently provides. Yay!

 

17 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

I'm monopolising the thread with image-editing stuff again, aren't I?

I think that, with the posts you produced on lighting months ago, you pretty much single-handedly changed the way a lot of us approach that. Certainly, it totally revolutionized my own approach to photography. I don't think you'll hear many complaints about these hints either: many of us are going to find them very useful!

20 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

/me slinks off and lets the pretty people keep being pretty.

You're always pretty, in that way that only you can be, especially when you're helping us be prettier!

[Eva Knoller]

@Skell Dagger Don’t slink off too far. I always find your image editing posts extremely useful. Thank you! 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

By the Post-Apocalyptic Record Store. Because even zombies and radioactive mutants need music, right?

Still experimenting with portraiture, but this time trying out some slightly more sophisticated masking techniques, and CURVES ADJUSTMENT!!! (Thank you, Skell!)

Not perfect, but a worthwhile first step, maybe!

 

[Eva Knoller]

3 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

By the Post-Apocalyptic Record Store. Because even zombies and radioactive mutants need music, right?

Still experimenting with portraiture, but this time trying out some slightly more sophisticated masking techniques, and CURVES ADJUSTMENT!!! (Thank you, Skell!)

Not perfect, but a worthwhile first step, maybe!

 

Nice curves adjustment, and DoF! Very realistic shot.

[MaidenHu]

Good moring, a short walk to the farm.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, Eva Knoller said:

Nice curves adjustment

You have no idea how much I long to hear these words! 😄

And thank you, Eva!

[Rhonda Huntress]

I have been playing around all morning.  I like staying with raw shots.  Not because I am some purist or anything.  If I were not so lazy I would fix the elbow and the hair but ... pbbbtttt.  Too much effort for a "look at me" post

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

Same look, different pose.  I just love the texture on this corset

[Elora Lunasea]

3 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

Welcome! The clone and blur tools are my most-used ones. I rarely use anything else, to be honest, except perhaps the curves adjustment.

Curves works really well for my RL photos - especially the RGB one. Tones things done quite a bit

[Panteleeva]

me:will i make a good poc with new TRUTH gift?

my laptop:HAHA.....no:P