How does your avatar look today ?

[Eva Knoller]

17 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

I wasn't offended, but Justines post did reflect a lack of understanding and appreciation of the environment here.

Clearly it can be intimidating to walk into this virtual room of photographers, and we've all stood at the door and peered over the threshold, but an insecurity in relation to posting an image doesn't sit well with a text wall of what some might see as essentially negative feedback.

I hope we hear from Justine again and I hope it includes an image or two, but somehow, I think that Sarah might have nailed it.

Only time will tell...…….

I agree that she must not have lurked much at all to get a feel for the environment before posting her WOT. The main reason I felt comfortable enough to post that first time was due to the overwhelmingly helpful and encouraging posters here. I saw that from quietly reading from the sidelines for a few weeks. Y’all are so nice! And I try to do my part to keep the helpfulness going to encourage others to post too.

[VictoriaGrwd]

[Chic Aeon]

Didn't read all the dram-a chatter but aside from my current gray blurry edges  and signature I have never done a lot of post processing. I will say that folks with low end computers have a more difficult time with photos simply because the world doesn't look as good to them. Not a skill thing there at all.  Still, ideas, styling and composition can make some very engaging photos. The important part is to have fun. 

 

Girlie Pinks

 

[Zeta Vandyke]

 

 

[Chic Aeon]

So I got to thinking about the "post processing" and other possibly elitist remarks a little ways back and did a test to see if my theory also mentioned a few posts back holds true.

This is a completely raw shot, not even taken with the viewer but with the "snip tool" in Win10. It is at the very lowest setting with almost NOTHING turned on.  Still, it isn't a bad shot at all IMO.  

WAY before people take their photos, they are hopefully thinking about the styling they have put together, the pose they have chosen, the location of the shot, and the composition of the completed photo.  ALL those things happen before we take our screen capture.   Would this be a better photo with high-ultra (my default), shadows and Depth of Field? Likely, but that doesn't mean people should feel they cannot "compete" with high end computers and fancy graphics programs. 

I will eventually post "the fancier" shot when I get around to it LOL, but here is the simple and nice one.

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Chic Aeon

[Scylla Rhiadra]

21 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

So I got to thinking about the "post processing" and other possibly elitist remarks a little ways back and did a test to see if my theory also mentioned a few posts back holds true.

This is a completely raw shot, not even taken with the viewer but with the "snip tool" in Win10. It is at the very lowest setting with almost NOTHING turned on.  Still, it isn't a bad shot at all IMO.  

WAY before people take their photos, they are hopefully thinking about the styling they have put together, the pose they have chosen, the location of the shot, and the composition of the completed photo.  ALL those things happen before we take our screen capture.   Would this be a better photo with high-ultra (my default), shadows and Depth of Field? Likely, but that doesn't mean people should feel they cannot "compete" with high end computers and fancy graphics programs. 

I will eventually post "the fancier" shot when I get around to it LOL, but here is the simple and nice one.

 

This is a brilliant idea. And yes, you still look fantastic.

I'm tempted to try this myself!

[Derekmate]

I got bored being a human 

 

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Ok, I did the same thing Chic did, using the same settings (i.e., pretty much everything except basic shaders turned off), and capturing the image using the "Snip" tool. One thing I didn't do, that would have made this shot a bit better, was to turn off names.

Also, of course, no post processing. I haven't even cropped it.

It's not at all a terrible pic, I think.

ETA: Something else I should have done was check my hover height! Oh well, I did this really quickly. I think the essential point is clear, though.

Edited June 7, 2019 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Love Zhaoying]

19 minutes ago, Derekmate said:

I got bored being a human 

 

 

Brony!

[Angelina String]

6 hours ago, VictoriaGrwd said:

I went there seems to be hardly anything there at all. 

I sooo miss the old Argrace hairstyles, luckily I got the memo when the store closed down to be redone and was able to get at least some of my faves before closing.Luckily it seems like the selection of hairstyles in the new store is steadily growing, both with completely new hair and remakes/new versions  of older styles (got a version II of my CHIZURU for instance...)

Here is the current Argrace fave of mine:

 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Angelina String

[Peony Sweetwater]

4 hours ago, MayaSkyrose said:

The head looks good! If I had the extra 150Ls I'd join the group and get it I so want a new head!! Is the head omega? Though.. being bento and all it should have omega too lol..

Oooh - that new Akeruka head looks like something I or my alts could happily use...I kinda liked the Maia, but it was never quite what I wanted it to be - she was always so young and grumpy. And yes, Akeruka heads are omega, though they made some tweaks to the UV layout in their more recent heads, and they also added some high definition makeup layers...worth looking for Akeruka HD specific stuff, though you should find most omega works ok.

Anyway back to how my avatar currently looks as I play with my Genus head...it never quite felt right with my older skin on this head (it looked fine, but it just wasn't Peony), so I decided to go through my skins til I found a look I liked.

[BelindaSalt]

Big Sis let me out for a while today, in my new beach dress.

I couldn't quite get the light as I wanted but ran out of time so here it is anyway!!!

 

 

[Miakis Littlepaws]

[alienaisha]

2 hours ago, Derekmate said:

I got bored being a human 

 

 

Omg! Another pony friend! We should take a picture together sometime ^-^ 

 

[Orwar]

4 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

Didn't read all the dram-a chatter but aside from my current gray blurry edges  and signature I have never done a lot of post processing. I will say that folks with low end computers have a more difficult time with photos simply because the world doesn't look as good to them.

   Lower end computers can do quite well, as long as you have some idea of which settings that are relevant to bring up and which you can have turned down. The FPS might take a larger hit, but you don't need a high frame rate to take a static shot. My computer is no beast by any means, it was 'decent' back when I bought it but it has a few years on its neck now.

   Knowing how to optimize your options, both on your computer's end and the viewer's end, may seem daunting but min-maxing and just trying things out to see what works can be an interesting process - and there are plenty of forum threads and blogs talking about graphic/performance optimization for the different viewers, and thousands of forums, blogs and dedicated sites discussing computer 'health'. Just by keeping your drivers up to snuff and keeping unnecessary background processes, and clogged registries and disc space at a minimum, you can really improve your computers performance overall. And of course, not letting the computer vacuum under your desk for you (two thirds of the computers I've gone through in my days were killed by getting dust in places where you don't want dust!) - same goes for laptop users, don't put them on soft surfaces (calling them 'lap'tops really is silly, considering both the burn risks and the fact that a lot of laptops have their fan inlets on the underside, the blocking of which cause overheating, which can lead to hardware failure as well as risks of burning your house down). Propping up a laptop on two small boards can improve the performance greatly as it allows the fans to work more freely.

   Even if the FPS is lowered and the rendering time is increased on lower-end hardware, it shouldn't have any noticeable impact on the end result. I shoot in the highest possible resolution for the viewer because it gives me a bigger resolution picture to work with in my post-processing; and to me personally, post-processing is a very appealing part of the process as I enjoy playing around with different techniques. I think it's extremely silly and snobbish by anyone saying what you can or can't do with your pictures, whether it's snapshot/screensave-only elitists or people who stick their noses up when they see 'raw' shots.

   Photography in SL is a very broad subject, how people wish to approach it is up to them - everyone should focus on whatever they enjoy doing, not on what other people do or don't.

   ... Though plastering your avi's face on a photo of a real human and skin-blending it (face-morphing) is unacceptable and any practitioners ought to be poked with a blunt fork.

   Anyway, I again feel the need to put a picture in the post due to the nature of the thread, aaaand after moving and just having put my computer up, this is all that I've been able to see of Neph for the past few minutes. I suspect a re-log may be in order. That is a smexy septum though, I have to say...

[Gobilly]

There's a hint of Game of Thrones' Khal Drogo in my look today. I could have pushed that envelope even further by using the shape and make-up that comes with the skin, sticking on a beard and another hairstyle, but I don't visit fantasy sims and never do any role playing, so I just approached it as a good-looking skin without going for a very particular look.

https://billybeaverhausen.com/2019/06/08/taking-david-to-tmd-june-2019/

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

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

Oooh - that new Akeruka head looks like something I or my alts could happily use...I kinda liked the Maia, but it was never quite what I wanted it to be - she was always so young and grumpy. And yes, Akeruka heads are omega, though they made some tweaks to the UV layout in their more recent heads, and they also added some high definition makeup layers...worth looking for Akeruka HD specific stuff, though you should find most omega works ok.

Anyway back to how my avatar currently looks as I play with my Genus head...it never quite felt right with my older skin on this head (it looked fine, but it just wasn't Peony), so I decided to go through my skins til I found a look I liked.

This is gorgeous. Is this the Genus Classic? I'm actually a little astonished at how possible it is to produce very different looks using this head.

[TatianaNikolay]

Hanging out in a quiet spot at the beach.

[LittleMe Jewell]

4 hours ago, Derekmate said:

I got bored being a human 

 

 

So do I.

 

Wait...  you weren't talking about RL, huh?  

 

[Saraya Starr]

[MrsSeren]

Just felt moonlight/twilight setting was more fitting for this shot.

[Chic Aeon]

Here is the high tech version of my styling (see post on this page towards the top).  

Shadows, Depth of Field, Vignette shadows (and a different pose of course). I added some extra props too.  It all comes together and now and then our vision becomes reality. 

 

[MayaSkyrose]

4 hours ago, Orwar said:

   Lower end computers can do quite well, as long as you have some idea of which settings that are relevant to bring up and which you can have turned down. The FPS might take a larger hit, but you don't need a high frame rate to take a static shot. My computer is no beast by any means, it was 'decent' back when I bought it but it has a few years on its neck now.

   Knowing how to optimize your options, both on your computer's end and the viewer's end, may seem daunting but min-maxing and just trying things out to see what works can be an interesting process - and there are plenty of forum threads and blogs talking about graphic/performance optimization for the different viewers, and thousands of forums, blogs and dedicated sites discussing computer 'health'. Just by keeping your drivers up to snuff and keeping unnecessary background processes, and clogged registries and disc space at a minimum, you can really improve your computers performance overall. And of course, not letting the computer vacuum under your desk for you (two thirds of the computers I've gone through in my days were killed by getting dust in places where you don't want dust!) - same goes for laptop users, don't put them on soft surfaces (calling them 'lap'tops really is silly, considering both the burn risks and the fact that a lot of laptops have their fan inlets on the underside, the blocking of which cause overheating, which can lead to hardware failure as well as risks of burning your house down). Propping up a laptop on two small boards can improve the performance greatly as it allows the fans to work more freely.

   Even if the FPS is lowered and the rendering time is increased on lower-end hardware, it shouldn't have any noticeable impact on the end result. I shoot in the highest possible resolution for the viewer because it gives me a bigger resolution picture to work with in my post-processing; and to me personally, post-processing is a very appealing part of the process as I enjoy playing around with different techniques. I think it's extremely silly and snobbish by anyone saying what you can or can't do with your pictures, whether it's snapshot/screensave-only elitists or people who stick their noses up when they see 'raw' shots.

   Photography in SL is a very broad subject, how people wish to approach it is up to them - everyone should focus on whatever they enjoy doing, not on what other people do or don't.

   ... Though plastering your avi's face on a photo of a real human and skin-blending it (face-morphing) is unacceptable and any practitioners ought to be poked with a blunt fork.

   Anyway, I again feel the need to put a picture in the post due to the nature of the thread, aaaand after moving and just having put my computer up, this is all that I've been able to see of Neph for the past few minutes. I suspect a re-log may be in order. That is a smexy septum though, I have to say...

Lower end computers do great too indeed! I don't have a gaming computer and mine are somewhat okay I guess anyway! 

Here is another picture of me using high graohics, no editing and default windlight! 

Ps: the profile picture for forums is high graphics with default windlight as well

Edited June 8, 2019 by MayaSkyrose

[Talligurl]

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 hour ago, Saraya Starr said:

I love this picture, Saraya! Especially the light and delicate shading!