Flicker Photography questions, need some help?

[AlucardsSisterCrystal]

Hello all, My name is Crystal.

                I have a flicker account and have noticed from other second life photographers that their photos are in a large size where you can zoom in on them  and see everything clearly. Yet for me, every time I take a photo it comes out rather small and blurry. I was wondering, what are the size's that are best  used to upload flicker photos from second life? I hope what I am saying makes sense.

[sandi Mexicola]

I often upload at 6144x3766 pixels. if not that, then roughly screenshot size: 1920x1200

 

[Mollymews]

as sandi mentions, in Snapshot tool we can take a photo at a higher resolution than our screen can display

Snapshot \ Save \ Disk \ Custom \ Width x Height (set as we prefer).  Format: PNG (lossless)

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by Mollymews
save

[sandi Mexicola]

Yeah, and what Mollymews says too! 

[Chic Aeon]

I take my photos at a high resolution - currently 5999 x 3227 (my native screen resolution is 2560). I then crop as needed and resize to 2000 or 2400 and sharpen, then upload.  The size of a photo that your computer will take is based partly on how powerful your computer is. It also depends a bit on your settings --- so if you have shadows and depth of field on, it is more difficult for your computer to take a shot.  

 

This screenshot was just taken with the snipit tool in Windows and is not as clear as my typical Flickr photos.  So how large and clear you can make your photos isn't just about the choices you make in your viewer, it is also about how powerful your computer is. Some fashion bloggers take photos MUCH bigger than my the ones my settings ask for :D.

 

[Frederika Rayna]

for flickr uploads i never downsize. Flickr is made for the 'photographer' who often are shooting pics 20megs or higher. I believe though 6000 is the max resolution in the viewer. I sometimes shoot 5000 but mostly just double my screen resolution at about 3840. I also use a high pass sharpening set to about .8 and on a overlay blend for the final sharpening

[sandi Mexicola]

It's interesting that several people mention using sharpening, which I hardly ever use.

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, sandi Mexicola said:

It's interesting that several people mention using sharpening, which I hardly ever use.

Only really needed if you take large shots and then resize. When you resize (and there are options with most software about HOW it resizes also) the pixels get pushed around and are not as clear as your original shot.  Really just depends on the look you want. 

[sandi Mexicola]

thank you, Chic Aeon, for that explanation.   could be my low quality monitor, or my sub-premium eyeballs that i not notice that!  Actually, I don't often resize before uploading.  But if I do, I generally shrink the picture down.  

[Orwar]

9 hours ago, Frederika Rayna said:

Flickr is made for the 'photographer' who often are shooting pics 20megs or higher. I believe though 6000 is the max resolution in the viewer.

   6144 x 6144 is the highest you can go. I usually shoot in 4608 x 6144 for portraits (3:4). Note that some features don't scale up 'properly', such as DOF and shadow blur, which may make the shadows look really weird (streaky) and require you to over-do the blur for it to have any effect on the shot. In Black Dragon you can scale the shadow blur and display the shot as it will be taken at its given format, allowing you to improve the shadows' appearance - as for DOF I've gone over to almost completely leaving that to my editing (create a layer copy, blur it and mask it to un-blur your focus). Due to how lighting in SL works, I also occasionally go over the shot to either brush in the shadows to make them darker and softer (occasionally you can improve them with simple smudging) or, if I'm lazy, duplicating the layer and using grain merge and a low opacity to 'fill' the shadows.

   I do occasionally think that it might be better to shoot in lower resolution as, well, not a whole lot of people are going to download your photo to zoom in to 100% resolution anyway, and Flickr's zoom doesn't come anywhere near the native resolution (unless you've got a huge monitor). It would make certain things easier, but it's also easier to do manual brushwork on a larger image, so it's a question of how (if) you want to edit the shot before uploading it. Since Flickr allows a number of shots rather than a data limit, you might as well upload them in full resolution - then you just embed the pictures if you want to share them on the forums (or anywhere else).

[Frederika Rayna]

as far as DOF, the 'preview' in the snapshot windows gives a pretty accurate preview. and I just shoot with and w/o DOF to make sure the face and foreground details are in focus. Just mask them in PS

[Chic Aeon]

7 hours ago, sandi Mexicola said:

thank you, Chic Aeon, for that explanation.   could be my low quality monitor, or my sub-premium eyeballs that i not notice that!  Actually, I don't often resize before uploading.  But if I do, I generally shrink the picture down.  

Shrinking down is resizing in my book LOL.   

 

Also to save a post, someone mentioned that DOF preview is pretty good -- and it is once you get used to the process (many posts over the years with folks trying). One issue is though if you shrink you photo (resizing down) you lose some of the DOF so if you are taking 5000 plus screenshot and making them smaller then you need to compensate when taking your shot by "overblurring".  Took me a long while to figure that out :D. 

[sandi Mexicola]

Yes, Chic Aeon, you are right, shrinking is resizing!   

Where I noticed losing DOF is when I set it up so it looks right in FS, but then when i take a large picture (6144x3766) ... it seems lost in the large picture.  So I try to remember to over-blur for that reason.  If i forget, I just edit in PS and throw some gaussian blur on the background!

 

[AlucardsSisterCrystal]

Thank you everyone for the most amazing feedback. all this information has helped me out greatly. All of you Ladies and Gents are amazing!  

[sandi Mexicola]

coolness!