Landscape Photographs!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

It seems odd that there is no thread here for landscape photography, which is actually a pretty popular genre of photograph in SL. So I thought I'd start one!

I am not disinterested: I've been focusing in my photography on the avatar (portraits or figure-in-landscape), but I'm interested in learning how to do landscapes properly and well. So I'm hoping that, in addition to awesome photos of SL landscapes, people will have hints and ideas on how best to go about landscape photography in Second Life, and maybe even offer constructive critique of my pics!

So, here's my first offering, taken at Whimberly (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Whimberly/229/109/32). (It seems to me logical that people should include locations and maybe SLURLs with their landscapes here?) It's my first really conscious attempt to photograph just a landscape, and I'd love to hear ideas to help me do better next time!

And please, post your own! I want to steal be inspired by your awesome ideas!

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Elora Lunasea]

I love shooting landscapes in SL!

Sometimes I set up little scenes on my own land, others are from my travels around the grid. Ideally, for me, landscape pix should not have any distracting peole in them or if they do, they should be very unobtrusive and more "background", not a focal point of the image. I'm a stickler on that.

This one is from a sim, Missing Melody. I like cows ❤️

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aftershock/165/82/22

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Elora Lunasea
added link so people don't have to go to my flickr

[Scylla Rhiadra]

31 minutes ago, Elora Lunasea said:

I like cows

Of course you do, Elora.

Because you're not a monster.

I agree, personally: I don't consider it a "landscape" if the focus is on people. If they are in the pic, they need to be part of the setting.

Beautiful pic! Thank you for sharing!

[Madelaine McMasters]

8 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

43 minutes ago, Elora Lunasea said:

I like cows

Of course you do, Elora.

Because you're not a monster.

What if you like trying to tip them over?

I say "trying" because it's nearly impossible, and the cows I've tried it on seem to like the attention.

And finally, those aren't cows, they're bulls.

Damned city slickers.

...shakes her head.

[Elora Lunasea]

7 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Of course you do, Elora.

Because you're not a monster.

I agree, personally: I don't consider it a "landscape" if the focus is on people. If they are in the pic, they need to be part of the setting.

Beautiful pic! Thank you for sharing!

I like you. We can be friends.

FYI - on a serious note. I run the Explore Second Life group on Flickr. It was Strawberry Singh's group, however, she handed it over to me since she didn't have time to run it anymore for various reasons (this even before she became a Linden).  I'm the only person administering it regularly - extremely taxing to say the least. The other admins are mostly MIA. I could use help so if anyone that posts in this thread would like to help out, even if only now and then, it would be really helpful to me. I am a stickler for rules though and the one about no avatars in the photo is the top of the heap. Please contact me on Flickr or here if interested!

Ok now back to your regularly scheduled serene landscape viewing 😊

[Elora Lunasea]

1 minute ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

What if you like trying to tip them over?

I say "trying" because it's nearly impossible, and the cows I've tried it on seem to like the attention.

And finally, those aren't cows, they're bulls.

Damned city slickers.

...shakes her head.

I may be originally from a city but, I do know cows!

Yes, in dairy breeds, the females occasionally have horns. Most cows have horns. However, it depends on the breed. Some have been selectively bred not to growhorns, this is known as "polled", and most Black Angus and Jersey cows are polled, as well as some other individuals in some other breeds.

[Elora Lunasea]

To be fair I did not get close enough to see if they had udders or balls.

[Madelaine McMasters]

14 minutes ago, Elora Lunasea said:

I may be originally from a city but, I do know cows!

Yes, in dairy breeds, the females occasionally have horns. Most cows have horns. However, it depends on the breed. Some have been selectively bred not to growhorns, this is known as "polled", and most Black Angus and Jersey cows are polled, as well as some other individuals in some other breeds.

Any horned milkers in my neighborhood are disbudded when young to allow denser housing. With the rise of organic farming, I suspect horns will become more commonplace. Still, if you're on a tipping excursion and see horns (body shape is also a good indicator), you may not want to get close enough for verification, much less tipping. When I was young, I convinced some of my friends to try tipping cows at a neighbor's farm, after learning from the farmer how nearly impossible it was. The entire affair turned into what might best be described as a bovine full body rubdown.

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters

[Elora Lunasea]

4 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Any horned milkers in my neighborhood are disbudded when young to allow denser housing. With the rise of organic farming, I suspect horns will become more commonplace. Still, if you're on a tipping excursion and see horns, you may not want to get close enough for verification, much less tipping. When I was young, I convinced some of my friends to try tipping cows at a neighbor's farm, after learning from the farmer how nearly impossible it was. The entire affair turned into what might best be described as a bovine full body rubdown.

 

Years ago, living in south Florida, there was a pasture I used to have to walk by to get home from work (see, not completely city slicker). Filled with cows. One night, a storm was brewing and I saw a small tornado forming in the distance of the pasture. All I kept thinking was "I am going to have to lay myself down in a ditch in that field with those cows if that thing comes my way".  And I remembered friends telling me about going in there to pick magic mushrooms and being bum rushed by said cows and falling on their butts into the mud and crap. And I had a fear.

So what I'm trying to say is. I love New York 🤣

Edited May 8, 2019 by Elora Lunasea

[Madelaine McMasters]

1 hour ago, Elora Lunasea said:

To be fair I did not get close enough to see if they had udders or balls.

I did.

We're both wrong...

ETA: I love the owl themed picket fence.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters

[Elora Lunasea]

Ok going to bring this back to landscapes so we don't get too off track

I was map hopping one day and landed on this really great southwestern inspired role play sim, AZ Sonora West. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/AZ Sonora West/119/156/28

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

4 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

It looks like two of the seagulls in your shot are diving for fish. Did you watch them long enough to see if that's actually what was happening? If so, that's pretty neat.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

It looks like two of the seagulls in your shot are diving for fish. Did you watch them long enough to see if that's actually what was happening? If so, that's pretty neat.

Oh, I was far too busy photographing the landscape to pay any actual attention to it!

That's a great question. I'm going to guess not: my experience of these animated bird thingies is that they tend to fly in circles. But I'll check it out next time I'm there!

[Madelaine McMasters]

24 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Oh, I was far too busy photographing the landscape to pay any actual attention to it!

That's a great question. I'm going to guess not: my experience of these animated bird thingies is that they tend to fly in circles. But I'll check it out next time I'm there!

I checked it out. The gulls don't dive, but the creator of the sim understands their behavior. Some of the sculptie (mesh?) paths along which the gull textures are animated have been turned near vertical, to simulate their diving behavior.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

I checked it out. The gulls don't dive, but the creator of the sim understands their behavior. Some of the sculptie (mesh?) paths along which the gull textures are animated have been turned near vertical, to simulate their diving behavior.

Well, aren't you clever! I had no idea you could do that!

And yes, that's very cool. I do sometimes marvel at the work and thought that goes into some SL creations.

[LittleMe Jewell]

I haven't taken any landscape pictures in quite a while, but I felt like posting...... so you get one from last year.  I don't think the location exists any more, but here is the slurl just in case:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dokkaebi/202/213/82

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

10 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I haven't taken any landscape pictures in quite a while, but I felt like posting...... so you get one from last year.  I don't think the location exists any more, but here is the slurl just in case:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dokkaebi/202/213/82

 

Such a great pic, Lil! Did you have to use your own Windlight, or was that the region default?

It'll be really interesting to see how EEP changes landscape pics -- once it's actually fully supported by our viewers (and the stars no longer look like tennis balls that have been rolled through the muck).

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Such a great pic, Lil! Did you have to use your own Windlight, or was that the region default?

It'll be really interesting to see how EEP changes landscape pics -- once it's actually fully supported by our viewers (and the stars no longer look like tennis balls that have been rolled through the muck).

I used a Windlight setting, noted on the flickr picture itself.  I think if you click the pic it will take you to the flickr page.  I can't confirm that right now because I'm at work and they have flickr blocked.  *sigh*

[Scylla Rhiadra]

4 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I used a Windlight setting, noted on the flickr picture itself.  I think if you click the pic it will take you to the flickr page.  I can't confirm that right now because I'm at work and they have flickr blocked.  *sigh*

Clicking on the picture downloads the image, rather than taking me to your Flickr, but that's fine! I am sure I can find it on your page!

And what kind of MONSTERS block Flickr????

/me shakes head sadly at the inequities of life

[LittleMe Jewell]

31 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Clicking on the picture downloads the image, rather than taking me to your Flickr, but that's fine! I am sure I can find it on your page!

And what kind of MONSTERS block Flickr????

/me shakes head sadly at the inequities of life

If you go to my flickr page and then click Albums, it is in the Misc Exploring one - the album is top row, 3rd or 4th over, I think.  The pic was from early 2018 - so a few rows down the page.

 

These folks also block many gif sites.  How am I supposed to properly respond to all things without any gifs?

Edited May 10, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[Scylla Rhiadra]

33 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

If you go to my flickr page and then click Albums, it is in the Misc Exploring one - the album is top row, 3rd or 4th over, I think.  The pic was from early 2018 - so a few rows down the page.

I checked it out: it's part of the same shop (I think? Sort of fetish wear?), but the parcel itself is now a gothic graveyard. Quite well done, in a sort of a campy way, if you like that kind of thing! But definitely not the same setup!

[natashaderkach99]

May I suggest you to read https://kenrockwell.com/tech/fart.htm

 

[Ana Stubbs]

Why have cows when you can have sheep?

Dragonfly Lake

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dragonfly Lake/215/224/29

Edited May 10, 2019 by Ana Stubbs
Can't get this darn formatting right

[Elora Lunasea]

This was taken on my own land, which is a private estate. it's part of a larger group of islands that is ultimately owned and controlled by someone else who prefers the entire area not be overrun with strangers; he likes it quiet and private which I also appreciate so no landmark provided. It's always a work in progress - I am constantly changing it according to mood/season/whatever.  Or, maybe I'll do an open house at some point instead for a few days and give the owner fair warning 😋

Anyone interested in visiting, however, feel free to ping me in world. If I'm around and not too involved in other things, you are welcome to come over for a while to wander around. 

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Elora Lunasea

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 hours ago, Ana Stubbs said:

Why have cows when you can have sheep?

Dragonfly Lake

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dragonfly Lake/215/224/29

This is gorgeous!!! I love the angle, and the slope of the hill!

(The sheep are pretty cute too.)