How to shoot bright, vivid, candy-like photos with little shadow

[JessieHoo]

Hello, recently I am considering to participate in a photo contest. I have checked the already posted photos on the contest site, And found many of them (and I believe that it is a general genre of SL photo as well) have the following traits: they do not strive for real-life like effect, and generally have little to no shadows, but they are very bright, vivid, and offer the viewer a pleasant, refreshing experience from inspecting them. Two examples are here:

I have been focusing on the light and shadowing effect on photos, and I cannot replicate the similar effect on these photos (and there are many of such photos as I view SL photo sites regularly). I would very much like to learn how those effect are achieved. Which WindLight, graphic, timing of the day, Phototools filter, and PhotoShop (or PIMP, or other post-processing software) settings should be used for me to shoot these photos? Thank you very much for your suggestion. 

[Alyona Su]

7 hours ago, JessieHoo said:

and I believe that it is a general genre of SL photo as well)

Actually not. There are millions of SL snapshots on Flickr (and, sorry, it's not photography by definition of the word LOL) - I recommend you follow this forum: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/405992-how-does-your-avatar-look-today/

 

[Chic Aeon]

Here is a start.  For the less saturation photo  you likely need to post process OR maybe use an alternate viewer -- I would guess Black Dragon.

My extremely old graphics software doesn't have a filter like the top photo but I can tell you what the filter DOES. It desaturates the photo (taking out the vibrancy) while keeping (or upping) the contrast. 

Found this with a quick search. 

 

Edited December 5, 2018 by Chic Aeon
adding info

[Jackson Redstar]

IMO we sometimes get over fascinated with shadows in SL. Look at high end fashion photography you really dont see alot of shadows (from natural source like the sun)

Second, the avi skin really dont roll off the shadows that well. It often looks rather unnatural (very top pic a perfect example the shadow line running down the arm)

[Bree Giffen]

In windlight settings,

1. Set sun/moon light to black. This turns off all light from the sun/moon and removes shadows. 

2. Set ambient light to a shade of gray. Darker gray turns the ambient light level down and lighter gray makes ambient light brighter. You can pick other colors in ambient light but gray gives a neutral light.

3. Set sun position to anything but 12 noon. It shouldnt matter with sun light turned off but there i still see that colors are brighter facing the sun. 

4. SL is naturally more vibrant than real life. Photoshop, Gimp,etc, can adjust the color saturation level higher or lower. You can do a lot of different color manipulation with these programs. 

5. Take pics in high resolution.