Forum monthly theme-shoots w. virtual magazine compilation

[Zeta Vandyke]

5 hours ago, Saravendi said:

I agree... we should throw out a theme and give everyone a few weeks to pull together a post! I will eventually get everyone in. 

Most importantly for me is a solid background (like a green screen) so it’s easier to stitch everyone together. White or black. But... if your outfit is white, please shoot against a black background... and vice-a versa. 

I missed this in the other topic, did not know you Sara planned on making posters again of all the upcomming themes as well. So My earlier question about allowing backgrounds too seems to be answered by that. Black or white it is

[Angelina String]

Then my few cents/small change when it comes to the magazine as such - to be worthy of being called a magazine, it should at least have a cover (how else should we poor contributors have our chance to become cover-girls...). My suggestion is to hire a guest designer for each issue to do the front cover, and do a "collage ala Sara" as the back cover, OR perhaps even better -  a/THE poster should be a double page spread on the center pages...

A proper masthead for the magazine cover should also be designed of course - so it gets the look of a real mag and we get some consistency going...

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by Angelina String
Got better ideas :)

[Orwar]

14 minutes ago, Angelina String said:

Just one thing Orwar - I think you are skipping very lightly over this point. Without @Saravendi using her creativity to come up with (and taking her time to make) her bunny-poster, this whole thing would have been yet another standard forum issue of one asking for details about a certain outfit, getting the answer, and then some of us chime in later with a "hey-look-I -got-something-similar-too" posts. Only THEN, after the bunny-wall/bunny poster had been running/been expanded for a while and had become a thing by itself, the idea surfaced to take this further... So I think a bit more respect for Saras' "ownership" to this thing would be in place, just sayin'...

What this magazine at least needs is an editorial in the first issue describing the origin of this whole thing, credit put where credits are due... (and perhaps even a short mentioning of the origin/background in the colophon of each further issue)

I might (very well) be a bit thin-skinned and overreacting a bit here, but that's how I've become after being an (often) lone female in a male-dominated creative business (and I would have been as eager to put things straight even it if was a guy who came up with the original idea )

So, that was me getting this off my chest, no more party-spoiling, sour grapes or ranting from me   Carry on carrying on, guys

   Of course, credit where credit is due - and I think that's an excellent suggestion for an editorial in the first issue.

   I don't think you need to get quite so afraid of exploitation in this case, though. There's no intention for this making any kind of profit, participation will be entirely optional and Sara was one of the first people who reacted positively to the suggestion.

   I was about to reference a movie for a long-winded point, but then I realised that it's a Swedish picture that hardly anyone has seen even here. But in short, the sole purpose of this whole thing is for people to get another outlet for their creativity - it can be very daunting to move to 'the next step' of SL photography (whether it's getting a Flickr or making a blog or doing an in-world exhibition). It becomes so very apparent when your traffic is no good, and it can be extremely discouraging to try to 'compete' with others in the field - so, this way you don't get a certain amount of 'likes' or 'faves' on your individual picture; here, everyone gets to participate, regardless of skill or experience. It's more of a kindergarten project than a business scheme, really. That's pretty much the way I view the forums overall, anyway. And whilst kindergarteners can be wicked and cruel - we've got Dakota here, aaand she scares me a little, so I behave. Usually.

[Angelina String]

Oh - blame yourself, but now you got me started  - lol

A suggestion:

Everybody is given the possibility to submit two pictures,  one that might have a background of any kind to be used as the full page picture in the individual articles (optional), and one on a black/white background for the poster (mandatory, this will then be used as the main article photo if it is the only pic submitted). Same/similar poses on both pics, perhaps?

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 hours ago, Zeta Vandyke said:

Since we are putting them in a magazine or Flickr, would it not be a lot more fun to do including backgrounds? It adds a lot to the theme if it has a fitting background. Will get a bit boring if its always just an avie on all on black background.

 

53 minutes ago, Zeta Vandyke said:

I missed this in the other topic, did not know you Sara planned on making posters again of all the upcomming themes as well. So My earlier question about allowing backgrounds too seems to be answered by that. Black or white it is

 

14 minutes ago, Angelina String said:

Oh - blame yourself, but now you got me started  - lol

A suggestion:

Everybody is given the possibility to submit two pictures,  one that might have a background of any kind to be used as the full page picture in the individual articles (optional), and one on a black/white background for the poster (mandatory, this will then be used as the main article photo if it is the only pic submitted). Same/similar poses on both pics, perhaps?

 

My opinion -- For the magazine, I think pictures with backgrounds should definitely be allowed, but not mandatory - because, as previously mentioned, all black backgrounds on every magazine pic is going to get boring.  If addition, everyone should submit a pic on a solid black/white/green background so that the image can more easily be cut for inclusion onto a collage picture.

So in each month's themed forum thread, post a picture on a solid background and another, if desired, using any sort of background.

Edited April 2, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[BelindaN]

Maybe make a start collating a list of future themes? Might just make it easier to keep the momentum........

I have one.  It will require some shopping because it's not my thing.....

Here we go.......

"Biker Girl" ....or boy........😌

[LittleMe Jewell]

Just now, BelindaN said:

 

Here we go.......

"Biker Girl" ....or boy........😌

I like it, but I also might have to shop.  I have an old killer biker outfit, but it is really old - system layer clothing with sculpt and prim parts.

[Orwar]

17 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

Maybe make a start collating a list of future themes? Might just make it easier to keep the momentum........

   Yeah, I'm thinking either an in-world post box for suggestions at the home office when we've got that up, or those Google ThingyMacGiggles.

[BelindaN]

I'm just about to turn off the light, but I'd just like to say how amazing this momentum has become after that one post by Zeta in "that" bunny outfit.

I can't wait to see where this has gone by the morning! 

It's what SL does best. That unplanned organic interaction which builds relationships and makes the Forum such a great place to hang out.

So thankyou to everybody who has played a part in the bunnyfest, especially to Sara for the compilation on black!!

[Catrie]

 

I have a whole Google doc on themes that I used for Halloween.  things like cyberpunk, steampunk, Alice in Wonderland,etc.

[CarolinaSchoen]

I love it all, count me in.. I volunteer to help as I can ❤️

I will love to be poison ivy for the next threat if no one is against it (am I asking for this in the wrong threat?)

im good with edition and know a little bit of websites but only the basics really.. so just let me know 

[LittleMe Jewell]

18 minutes ago, CarolinaSchoen said:

I will love to be poison ivy for the next threat if no one is against it

You can be whatever you wish.  I don't even think it matters if someone else is doing the same character, since costumes and poses will likely be different.

[Fionalein]

1 hour ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

You can be whatever you wish.

I doubt that, I will try tracking down a waffler costume but I'm not sure I can find one.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Fionalein

[Zennessa]

4 hours ago, Angelina String said:

So I think a bit more respect for Saras' "ownership" to this thing would be in place, just sayin'...

I absolutely agree and my next question to Orwar was going to be if he had that discussion with Sara since i saw a post somewhere within the few threads out there about this where he referenced her making said upcoming "collages" and such.   Not sure if she yet agreed to do it,  but if so she is the biggest part of this without a doubt!   Some will have actual work to do in getting this magazine together each month, some won't,  but i think ownership will belong to anyone and everyone that participates with ideas and photos.

[Candice LittleBoots]

8 hours ago, Orwar said:

Post-processing is allowed

For that reason .. I'm out.

Post-processing of any sort is tantamount to cheating.

Same on all the 'look at me' threads, in my opinion.

If you can't manage without the help and assistance of additional tools beyond the realm of SL, then it isn't pure SL.

[Zennessa]

So here are my thoughts on duties which we'll give titles to for fun. Obviously nothing is official but we need to get this started.  Feel free to provide any suggestions, additions,  or input you may have. This is just a suggestion to get us started in the process so that we know who is doing what to get us going.  So from reading this thread and the comments my thoughts are something like this...

Orwar: Editor-In-Chief (Duties include bossing everyone around; overseeing the artistic aspects of the magazine and deciding on the layout each month with the assistance of his Art Director; makes all final decisions)

Zenn: Deputy Editor-In-Chief (Duties include handling paperwork and any other thing the Chief Editor requests; helping to oversee and organize all submissions for the magazine)

Kotelle: Managing Editor (Duties include creating and enforcing deadlines; help to organize polls and gather ideas for themes; and various other duties as they come up)

Sara: Art Director/Editor (Duties include overseeing the artistic aspects of the magazine together with the Editor-In-Chief, including the layout)

Angela String: Designer (Duties include designing (or finding a designer) for the front page of each addition; and any other insert she may be asked to design for an addition)

Everyone else: (Duties include posting pictures for each months theme and having fun doing so!) - We can add more titles and duties if needed or suggested!

 

 

And go....

 

 

[Maitimo]

4 hours ago, Candice LittleBoots said:

For that reason .. I'm out.

Post-processing of any sort is tantamount to cheating.

Same on all the 'look at me' threads, in my opinion.

If you can't manage without the help and assistance of additional tools beyond the realm of SL, then it isn't pure SL.

Honestly, the only post-processing I do on most of the shots I post here, is to crop it and make it small enough. And they still get plenty of "likes".   

These two, for example, are both raw SL shots I've recently posted here:

It isn't a competition, and it's not "cheating" if there isn't any "winning" or reward. I'll still be including raw SL shots. 

[Zeta Vandyke]

4 hours ago, Candice LittleBoots said:

For that reason .. I'm out.

Post-processing of any sort is tantamount to cheating.

Same on all the 'look at me' threads, in my opinion.

If you can't manage without the help and assistance of additional tools beyond the realm of SL, then it isn't pure SL.

There's a lot of levels of post processing. I doubt anyone for this magazine "mission" will end up making drastic changes to how they look. Some people have awesome graphic cards and skills with lights and photo tools in the viewer, and can produce perfect raw images that look like a total different SL than others who might end up needing some minor adjustments to enhance the quality of their picture.

Taking my own Poison Ivy pic for example, I tried for an hour to work with spotlights and windlight to make the red hair come out properly as its a big part of the original characters look but I end up with either way to bright overall, or to dark to see the hair color. So I upped the red values on the hair a bit in Photoshop.

Magazines in RL do tons of post processing too, and to be fair, usage of spotlights and photo tools in SL is kind of the same as using Photoshop, its digitally enhancing the picture with effects that you do not see in general day to day play in SL.

To each their own though, if this does not feel good to you, you don't join. Its a fun project for people who enjoy it, not an obligation. I always do love your pictures!

[AyelaNewLife]

6 hours ago, Candice LittleBoots said:

For that reason .. I'm out.

Post-processing of any sort is tantamount to cheating.

Same on all the 'look at me' threads, in my opinion.

If you can't manage without the help and assistance of additional tools beyond the realm of SL, then it isn't pure SL.

My editing process is almost entirely layering raw shots. I can remove/reduce most alpha overlap glitches by combining two layers with a different form of DoF applied (Black Dragon feature). I can add vibrancy to the colours or make the shadows darker simply by layering a different windlight (with the same sun angle) onto a base shot. The end result is something that's incredibly faithful to the raw SL shot, yet impossible to recreate without editing tools.

Meanwhile there are those that will take a quick snap in front of a greenscreen, and then edit the photo to the point where it looks like it was painted by hand. And there's nothing wrong with that at all; it's just a radically different style to mine, and from the sounds of it yours too. And I don't think lumping them in together as "edited so doesn't count" is either fair or accurate.

[Saravendi]

KI appreciate Tayas support of my efforts putting together the bunny poster. It is true, and she is right, I did feel a bit pushed aside once the whirlwind regarding the book started to take shape, and especially being omitted from the original post and story of how this thing started. I kind of had the significant role in its evolution. Anyway, that said, it was never ever my intention to own anything or get anything other then my personal enjoyment in giving our community another way to engage with each other and a fresh way for us to see ourselves as a super creative community.

I think that the bunny poster worked because it was spontaneous and organic in its nature. Zeta, Taya and Alice posts... I post the four of us... another jumps in and off it went. I just finished everyone today at 32!!! I never expected it to grow like that... we drew out some outliers and  newbies that rarely post and that helps threads grow and thrive. The important thing is that it seemed like everyone enjoyed the process and their inclusion into the community.

Yes Orwar, I did support your & Zenns idea and I think that if you guys can dedicate the time, it could be an awesome project. My only concern is that after a while it might become more & more work, like a job and demanding of our time and when that happens, the fun starts to fade fast and it can fall apart quickly.

My intention moving forward (prior to this project) was to organically feel out the desires from the thread... it seemed like the Superhero thing was bubbling up and I thought i might run with that if that felt fun for the group. However, now I’m not sure how to move forward?  

Zenn- thanks for the inclusion. I’ll help where I can... the poster thing is definitely a fun project for me to do, so just let me know. 

Lastly, I’d love for this to become super successful, but for me... not at the expense of “hows does you avatar look today” thread. That’s still where you’ll find me hanging out.

~ Sara

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by Saravendi

[Angelina String]

7 hours ago, Zennessa said:

Angela String: Designer (Duties include designing (or finding a designer) for the front page of each addition; and any other insert she may be asked to design for an addition)

Oh - I’m not sure if I’m able to commit to this right now   I’m living with having to meet deadlines in RL, and the next 4 months are the worst of the year... 

I will of course offer my assistance when I’m “available” - but I cannot commit to more deadlines now - I probably end up delaying the whole ting...

 

[Zeta Vandyke]

Maybe we are overthinking it a bit to much, making it way to big?

I cant speak of anyone else, but in my mind we would just casually decide a theme, throw in a lot of fun pictures in the theme topic, and end of the month someone picks up these picks and drops them in to one of those premade magazine thingies where you just have to drop an image on the page and done.

Im ok with anything, as long as it stays fun

[Marianne Little]

Sorry if this is covered but:

It's all kinds of fantasy superheroes/villains? Our take on them? It must not be only known superheroes/villains like Batman or Wonder Woman?

Can put on latex, mask and a superweapon and call myself somethingsomething super?

[Catrie]

10 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

It's all kinds of fantasy superheroes/villains? Our take on them? It must not be only known superheroes/villains like Batman or Wonder Woman?

Can put on latex, mask and a superweapon and call myself somethingsomething super?

yes, your interpretation of them.  Doesn't have to be a popular named one. 

[Orwar]

   I think I've caught up with at least most of the questions that have cropped up through the night, but I'll go over the threads again and make a Q&A format post in this thread. But one thing that appears to be quite pressing is the aspect ratio and background - so I'll go ahead and address that here.

Aspect Ratio

   The aspect ratio of the pages in the magazine will be 3:4. When writing out an aspect ratio, the width is the first number, and the height is the second number (just as with monitors; a 16:9 screen is slightly less than double as wide as it is high - a 16:8 screen would instead be written as a 2:1, as you always write the numbers of the aspect ratio in its lowest possible numbers by which both aspects are dividable. A 16:10 screen is slightly higher than a 16:9 screen).

   As you can see in this picture, 4:3 and 3:4 are thus landscape and portrait of the same format in terms of layout. If some people use one ratio, and some people use another, the pictures will end up the wrong way or the pages will be of different sizes. Therefor it's important that people use the right format, lest pictures will need to be cropped to fit the page.

   The final resolution will be 768 x 1024 per page, so that's the preferable minimum size - but you can take your pictures in up to 4608 x 6144 (or higher, if you've got a viewer that can do that). If your picture is larger, we'll simply scale it down for the page. Scaling down generally works better than scaling up, though - if you upload an image that's, say, 384 x 512, it's going to look very blurry.

            

   In your viewer's camera (or 'snapshot' tool), you set your image's size in the boxes marked Width x Height. Width first, then height. Make sure to uncheck the 'Constrain to proportions' - this option will, well, constrict your proportions - to what your application's format (which is 'usually' 16:9). If you need further explanation on it, please give me a nudge. I'd really hate to take a virtual scissor to people's pictures!

Background

   Some people have already started posting pictures, and we've gotten ones both with solid colours and ones with environmental backdrops. Originally, the purpose of the solid black background was for Sara's collage; when people realized that their picture would get its own page in the magazine, the backdrop question got brought up and people gave different answers and opinions, ranging from 'it should be solid black' to 'it should be solid, but any colour will do' to 'since we're getting our own pages, we can do anything' to 'make one with a black backdrop for a collage, and one with an environmental backdrop for the page'.

   I'm not going to give you a straight answer just yet though. I think it's a matter that needs be discussed, and there are some things we'll have to consider.

1. Will @Saravendi want to make collages? If yes, I'd vote solids. If no, possibly still yes but not quite as strongly so.
2. Will people be discouraged if they A: have to use solids because they think it's boring, or B: think that it's too much work to do a picture which includes an environmental backdrop that. My thinking on this is, a solid single-colour backdrop is available to everyone, and especially for people who are still getting their feet warm with SL photography, it might be nice not to have to worry about the backdrop too much, instead focusing on the outfit and pose. Likewise, for those of us who do who know how to light up a backdrop and use DOF for focus, it can be a nice challenge to bring back the focus to the subject (I say 'us', but honestly, a lot of my pictures have solid backdrops as I tend to do more people portraits than full scenes).
3. What will the general aesthetic of the magazine be? This is still sort of a work in progress, so we don't know - personally I'd prefer some level of uniformity and equality - solidarity, even, if you feel that you're 'too good a photographer for simple backdrops' (not saying anyone has given that vibe, but let's be blunt: SL photography always has its elitists who think that they're doing things 'the way it should be' - me, I prefer sharing my experiences and listening to others). If we get 20 people with 20 vastly different aesthetic preferences all picking their backdrops and fonts (I'm looking at you and your multi-coloured Comic Sans, @Zeta Vandyke... ), the final product is going to feel rather awkward and incohesive, which I believe would be more harmful to the project, than a few guidelines.

   That's my point of view, but I'd be happy to hear what people think about it. Either way, there's the fact that people have already started posting pictures with other backdrops than solid black - in hindsight I suppose I perhaps should have made a decision myself and chiselled it down at the get go; so as far as the April theme goes, anything goes - BUT, if Sara wants to do a collage, and you've used a different background, it's up to her to decide how she wants to do with it, and whatever she goes with - even if it means excluding people's pictures because it would be too much work - I'll stand behind her in that choice.

Tact & Skin

   Finally, before I go onto the actual Q&A, I feel it's become necessary to address the polarisation of attitude. I'm not going to point at anyone in particular, but a few suggestions for how to survive in a virtual, social environment that is based on text: never presume that you're being attacked - so much of the drama that comes up all over the forums could so very easily be avoided if people didn't apply unnecessary emotional filters to what they read. People have different opinions and ways of expressing themselves, and many of us don't speak English as our first language; communication errors occurs easily - subliminal insults are just juvenile, but letting such an insignificant occurrence get to you is just stupid. Should a misunderstanding occur, it's better to ask the person what they meant by what they said and resolve it in private.

   I know that I don't always come across in the most friendly manner, I've had people tell me that I come across as strict and stern because I put full-stop after my sentences - personally I think that I'm often much too liberal with my punctuation. But rest assured; if ever I intend to insult someone, it'll be delivered in the form of charged, callous criticism with categorical clarity. Or in Swedish. Or German. Or Finnish. English is a pretty poor language when it comes to insults and cuss-words, after all (like the word 'cuss' itself, it sounds like something an infant would say!).

   If people can't handle not being agreed with at all times, and waste their and our time by bickering and jabbing at each other; by all means, don't feel obliged to participate - everyone and anyone is welcome to participate until they make themselves unwelcome. I for one want to do this because I think it would be a fun project, not because I love to argue with people to somehow try feeling better about myself. Take out the fun, and I'll be out as well.