Inworld photography community

[Imajika Wirefly]

Hello.

I have been looking for an inworld community of photographers for a long time (see one of my threads in 2016).  That thread is a bit old so I'll refresh it here.

I did check the photohunt, and I plan on taking part in it, sounds fun.

However, I was thinking of seeing if the interest was there to set up a place in world for a photographer's forum that would cover all topics that photographers in SL might want to know about, from contests and galleries to flickr communities.  A place to share locations and possibly even have some seasoned photographers run a few in world tutorials or field questions in real time.

Do you all think that this sounds like it could generate some interest?

I already have the group made up, it's the "SL Photography Guild", if anyone is interested in joining and helping me plan out an inworld presence.   If this is already being done out there somewhere, please let me know. It'll save me time and lindens.

Thanks all! ❤️

Maj

[Myra Wildmist]

There have been a few attempts to start a group like this. In my experience, the groups have faded or just ended up as group of friends. I think it's a great idea. It just would need someone to keep it going and focused, plus keep it accessible to the entire SL photographer community. It can be done, but would need someone committed to making it work.

[Orwar]

   There are a lot of photographers of varying 'levels' in SL, most of which are quite happy to answer questions as they come up in various group chats related to photography or backdrop sims. They also tend to be used as personal advertisement for Flickr links and such, which is one reason I rarely pay much attention to them (especially considering a very large portion are just NSFW pictures taken with little to no skill or effort). I do like the idea of a more 'technical' group, perhaps even with an in-world presence - maybe a gallery where the photographers write about what they've done to achieve a certain effect in their picture. Perhaps even classes relating to photography, if there's people interested.

   Unfortunately I don't think that I personally have the time to commit to building such a community, but I'd be happy to assist if someone was setting out to do something along the lines of what I described. 

[Chic Aeon]

If you get things going, you are of course welcome to use LEA6 (Machinima Open Studio Project) as a home base (you can't set HOME there but  for meetings and such).  There is a meeting room in the city plus plenty of photography shoot areas and 20 minute rez.

Good luck!  There are  certainly plenty of photographers around.   

[Jackson Redstar]

might be a good idea, however, what usually  ends up happening is low to mid level photographers  use it for endless self promotion and contribute little, if any any, to the dialog.  

[Styx Winchester]

Hello ! 

As someone who just started taking photos very recently I'd be thrilled if such a thing was to happen ! I can only give you my point of vue from this angle but I think that is a very good idea and many people could benefit from that.

To be honest, I was a bit sad to find out that it didn't already exist. I was almost expecting it to already be a thing haha Not that I want someone to do all the hard work for me but it's a bit hard to get started, you don't know if you do things properly, or what are the ways to do basic things. I'm sure that I do things that would make seasoned photographers cringe but well... And I sure as hell could benefit from some kind of "mentor" or a community if I had questions... you know ! I can't be the only one. 

Sorry if it seems like I'm complaining, that's not what I mean at all >.< 

But yay for a photographers community with tips and tricks and good camaraderie ! 

Edited September 5, 2018 by Styxes

[Alyona Su]

Rather than such a group, perhaps an "SL Photography School" of some sort would be a better option.

I've done professional photography in RL, and I love teaching people things. I just don't have the SL time to do such, but if I did, I would open a "school" - kind of like New Citizens, inc., and teach real-world photography techniques and how to translate those into SL. I'd do it for free, relying only on tips (that way I would get the most participation, which would be the real goal and make it worthwhile).

The problem with "SL Photographers" is that most just aren't that good at it. I don't mean this to be insensitive or mean, I am just stating a fact. And it's not their fault; they just don't know what they don't know. However, with the right instruction, I believe most, if not all, could become awesome "Snapshotters" (that's what I call it, as it isn't "photography" by definition). LOL

Anyway, as I've said, I love helping people with stuff, if anyone is interested in some kind of crash-course mentoring, I'm happy to help out! Just IM me in world or something.

[Orwar]

   I'm with Alyona, and whilst I don't consider myself a 'great' photographer, I've put many many hours into the theory as well as the practice. Though my photography experience in RL extends to... Not even owning a camera, but at least knowing the camera in my phone is a joke. Still, I've watched/read several RL photography tutorials and tried to translate it into SL. Some things works, others not so much.
   I'd be happy to be involved with a school-type project, and I think that it would be a much appreciated resource in the SL community.

[AlexandriaBrangwin]

Well I did start my own group to facilitate something like this.

I switch between snapshotting & massive builds/complex scenes and was just DYING to share that with people...but it ended up as well as you'd expect.

In our ever interconnected world we have a severe lack of connection.

So now it's every shutterbug for themselves.

[Tamara Artis]

Check Visionaire, they teach photography, have their own group where you can chat, their classes are open to all old students, they often have guests photographers who teach some specific topics and, in general, its the best place to learn and socialize. 

If you are thinking about starting your own group/place for photographers my opinion is that it's a good idea but, as Jackson said, it is really hard to deal with everything that goes with it. 

Imagine your place becomes popular and ends up first in search? After being happy about it for a few days you'll start to notice newly created accounts landing in front of your doors and bumping into walls, asking tons of questions about how to play this "game". You will have to deal with people who use your place to advertise their business, you will see new photographers who come only to pick up new clients, or even worse, when you go offline there will be people representing themselves as members of your team and taking advantage of everything they can use. Day after day after day you will see new wannabe photographers who will ask same questions, even though you put tons of notices and tutorials in group notices and websites and even on walls inside your buildings, they will ignore everything and demand to go straight to you to ask something like "what's aspect ratio?" 

So yeah, it's doable but has tons of little things that someone has to deal with... 

 

[FairreLilette]

On 9/6/2018 at 7:23 AM, Alyona Su said:

Rather than such a group, perhaps an "SL Photography School" of some sort would be a better option.

I've done professional photography in RL, and I love teaching people things. I just don't have the SL time to do such, but if I did, I would open a "school" - kind of like New Citizens, inc., and teach real-world photography techniques and how to translate those into SL. I'd do it for free, relying only on tips (that way I would get the most participation, which would be the real goal and make it worthwhile).

The problem with "SL Photographers" is that most just aren't that good at it. I don't mean this to be insensitive or mean, I am just stating a fact. And it's not their fault; they just don't know what they don't know. However, with the right instruction, I believe most, if not all, could become awesome "Snapshotters" (that's what I call it, as it isn't "photography" by definition). LOL

Anyway, as I've said, I love helping people with stuff, if anyone is interested in some kind of crash-course mentoring, I'm happy to help out! Just IM me in world or something.

I was wondering if there was a SL photography school because I'm kind of lost as a beginner.  There are hundreds of filters and I just bought a shadow attachment yesterday.  

My photos, in spite of so many filters, just look kind of blah and dull whether color, sepia or black and white.

I'm currently looking at videos on You Tube but it's all greek to me now with lots and lots of steps.

I have not achieved a single photo I am happy with even with photoshop enhancements.  

I am glad Alyona brought up a need for a photography school and Tamara answered.

I need a school. 

Edited November 23, 2018 by FairreLilette

[Alyona Su]

1 hour ago, FairreLilette said:

I was wondering if there was a SL photography school because I'm kind of lost as a beginner.  There are hundreds of filters and I just bought a shadow attachment yesterday.  

My photos, in spite of so many filters, just look kind of blah and dull whether color, sepia or black and white.

I'm currently looking at videos on You Tube but it's all greek to me now with lots and lots of steps.

I have not achieved a single photo I am happy with even with photoshop enhancements.  

I am glad Alyona brought up a need for a photography school and Tamara answered.

I need a school. 

I created this to help people get a kick-start:

 

[FairreLilette]

2 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

I created this to help people get a kick-start:

 

Thanks, I made the 3 balls.  I put a hide and show script in them.  I positioned them around my avatar.  The problem is with the sim I'm using, it's already illuminated a certain way and adding the fill lights turned it so bright, nothing much but utter brightness could be seen.

The other problem is, and I just realized this, I have always been a natural light photographer.  Always hated flash.  

So, the problem with my photography is, in SL, there is NO actual natural light nor actual light source; it's all an illusion.  So, the light for a photograph in SL has to be "created" so to speak.  And, that's what's missing from my photographs, an actual light source.  

So, if I want to re-create natural light photographs in SL, I have to create a light source somehow.  

I'll add a photograph and you can see, there is no actual realized (natural) light in these photos.  

Or, is there?  I don't think so.

I don't know if the second photo is okay...let me know as I can remove it.  

 

[Alyona Su]

The trick, which it is my #epicfail to mention in that, is to set windlight to *default* then the sun to "Midnight" - then use the lights. Or, any other darkened or moody windlight that tones down the ambient light so you can get directional light from the light-spheres.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Alyona Su

[FairreLilette]

2 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

The trick, which it is my #epicfail to mention in that, is to set windlight to *default* then the sun to "Midnight" - then use the lights. Or, any other darkened or moody windlight that tones down the ambient light so you can get directional light from the light-spheres.

Okay, yes...I figured that out.  I had to blacken the area with a very dark setting to work the three ball lights.

Next, I figured out an answer to my own question as to whether when using actual "natural" lighting (to me natural lighting includes whatever is occurring in the moment whether from sunlight or a street lamp or any other light source).  And that answer is yes, the natural lighting will show up but only on ULTRA graphics.

As to how to add shadows, it's confusing because you have to turn off advanced lighting as far as I can see to use some of the shadow makers.  I cannot seem to get any shadows with sun+moon nor sun+moon+projectors, but that could be the sim I'm working on which has a lot of illumination all around it.  I'm not really sure.

In these two photos, the first is on mid graphics.  The second is on ultra graphics.   The ultra graphics seems to automatically dim also and use the ambient lighting of the candles and the lanterns as shown in second photo.

[FairreLilette]

The thing with key, back and fill light is they are not always necessary.  For snapshot type photography they may be, but not for all photography.  

So a school would need to be well thought out because I am not really a "snapshot" type of photographer.  It's not my cup of tea, to be frankly honest, and I don't think I'd want to go to that class in particular.   

If I used key, back and fill it would have ruined my photo as it's just way too bright even on the darkest night setting I could find.

So, where would I start in a school?  Abstract lighting techniques?  I really don't know....

What I needed was to start on ULTRA graphics.  This has helped tremendously for the photos to not so blah and dull.  

Next photo is on ultra graphics setting and it's much better though background set is not done yet.   Second photo I edited in to show how bright it is.  

Sorry derailed your thread.  I'll be looking for school and groups but this is like my first 24 hours of using any kind of phototools.  98% of my photography has just been straight midday shooting with no special effects whatsoever.   

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by FairreLilette