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RAWr Creativity! Show your raw self(ies)!


Seicher Rae
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No, no, I'm not talking nudes here! :/

A few of us were chatting in other threads/boards about how we'd like to see a photo thread for raw, as-is, screenshots without post-production. So... we have the technology,  let's give it a whirl.

So that we can stay on topic, and in the mods' good graces, and perhaps have some ammo against trolls, here's a little bit about the theme here:

  • This is primarily, but not exclusively, a photo thread.
  • Post images that are screenshots of scenes that focus on the avatar. That means they are not to be edited with post-production techniques, like from Photoshop. Cropping and signatures are ok. This is for portraits, not landscapes, etc. See the exception to the edited photos below.*
  • It's ok to banter and have some chat. The focus of the thread is photos, but also to have a fun community where a little quipping and bantering is ok and even welcome. Don't do pages and pages of it, but a little is fine. It is nice to have chatter about "I like your photo" but it is also nice to have chat about "I like your photo because. . ."
  • It is also ok then to have chat about, "I like your photo, how did you . . . ?" And that would be for talks about mechanics  OF THE PHOTOS POSTED.  So talks about the viewer used, the DOF settings, etc. are all on topic as long as they are about specific photos in the thread. Hopefully this doesn't don't take pages and pages and push out the photos. If that happens I hope it is ok to suggest that a new topic be started for that particular subject. It is also OK to ask, "Where did you get that . . .?" "What is the SLurl?"
  • That's about it. Have fun. Don't be a d*ck, and everything will be just fine. :)

*If people who do post-processing would share their before and after photos here then that would be another way to participate. If you do that, then it is OK to post the after shot along with the before,  or you can post a link to the after shot in Flickr or wherever you post your finished work. Strawberry Singh/Linden used to post the raw shot on her my.secondlife feed and the finished product on her blog, and I always found that to be fun and interesting. Be sure to include the raw shot!

DISCLAIMER SO PEOPLE DON'T GET TWISTED KNICKERS: It is NOT the intention of this thread to claim that raw shots are better in any way, shape, or form than ones that are edited. Nope. They are both great—but they are two different things. 

Also, I have heard from some folks that putting their screenshots in with the heavily processed shots can be intimidating. If you feel that way, post here. If your style is more quick snapshots to chronicle every day avatarisms, post here.

If you don't like a certain chat, like say, the mechanics of DOF on xyz's photo, the scroll feature works really well.

I'm hoping we get all styles and levels of participation here.

Now go out there, take some photos, show 'em off here and have fun!

Edited by Seicher Rae
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To start us out, I rummaged around to find some recent shots that haven't been posted elsewhere. I found these. I was exploring and not paying attention and this animated sculpture scared the carp out of me, and apparently Seicher, too. :) They were shot at the Lighthouse of the Imagination region.

lighthouse imagination 032420_001.jpg

lighthouse imagination 032420_002.jpg

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My friend and I were suppose to do a pose today for her blog but I ran out of time, so instead I grabbed a little shot over at the Soul2Soul region.  The first one is raw, with no editing other than cropping the shot down.  The second one, some editing was done, toned down the skin tone a little, put a couple of light filters on it to give it a bit of a nostalgic feel about the photo.  

Enjoying the Scenery.jpg

Enjoying the view edit.jpg

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@Vega Firelyte thanks for jumping into this new thread! And that's exactly what I was talking about in the OP with the before and after shots, and a bit about what was done. Once you say it, I could see. I would have "guessed" taking the tone down but not the light filters. I like it when post-production can add a little oomph but still keep the quality of the SL "feel."

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Ok, the final version of this has already been posted on the "How does your avatar look" thread, but I want to help get this rolling, so I'll post before and after shots here.

Ordinarily, when I am using Black Dragon (which I almost always do use now), I need to do very little post-processing. Generally, I'll crop and fix any clipping or rendering problems, and that's all that's needed. Occasionally I'll adjust the brightness and contrast a bit.

In this particular instance, however, I decided to take the pic in a radically new direction, so this one has a lot of processing: brightness and contrast, colour curves, saturation, levels, and photo filters. I'm far from sure that I shouldn't have stuck with the original, to be honest, but I decided I wanted a "day time" rather than a twilight shot.

So, here's the "before":

Georgic-3-Before-Blank.thumb.jpg.f31ec92134561eb3feef1fdd5c1b30f8.jpg

And here's the "after," which is the one I eventually posted:

Georgic-3-After-Blank.thumb.jpg.cdc199e63d542b2c7c5409dd2a932b5a.jpg

I'd be interested to hear thoughts on which I should have gone with.

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Just now, Seicher Rae said:

@Vega Firelyte thanks for jumping into this new thread! And that's exactly what I was talking about in the OP with the before and after shots, and a bit about what was done. Once you say it, I could see. I would have "guessed" taking the tone down but not the light filters. I like it when post-production can add a little oomph but still keep the quality of the SL "feel."

I put it in black and white and then slowly bring the slider up, until the color is where I want it to be, for the skin tone and feeling I want to convey in the photo.  I then put in a vintage undertone along with a slight blue filter, that brings up the shadows and keeps it from going overboard on the yellowish hue.  I use iPiccy for this, which is online and easy to use, for fast edits.  

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@Scylla Rhiadra Ooooh. I find this very interesting, and did see the PS'd one before. I like to see how you got from A to B and yeah, there's a big difference. I think I do like the after better. They are both moody, and carry about the same "story" (imho), but I think the screenshot is too dark, or I prefer the lighter one, or pick your choice of words. :) I also like it because that daytime orange-y it is raining sky isn't something you see done all that often and yet I think we've all seen it.

ETA: One thing I like about both photos is that little sliver of light highlight you achieved on the slicker.

Edited by Seicher Rae
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5 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

@Scylla Rhiadra Ooooh. I find this very interesting, and did see the PS'd one before. I like to see how you got from A to B and yeah, there's a big difference. I think I do like the after better. They are both moody, and carry about the same "story" (imho), but I think the screenshot is too dark, or I prefer the lighter one, or pick your choice of words. :) I also like it because that daytime orange-y it is raining sky isn't something you see done all that often and yet I think we've all seen it.

Oh good!

/me sighs in relief

Yeah, the dark one loses a lot of nice detail . . . and I really did want to reproduce that orangy-yellowy cloud thing. I love that when I see it in RL. I sit on my porch (when I can) and just watch it when it happens.

Edited by Scylla Rhiadra
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@IvyLarae I did the thank you response on the picture but came close to the 😄 one because of your comment about "marry the hair." LoL. And I think this is the second picture I've seen with that hair, and yup, gorgeous. (Makes note to go to Doux.) I like the necklace, too! :)

 

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Just now, Seicher Rae said:

@IvyLarae I did the thank you response on the picture but came close to the 😄 one because of your comment about "marry the hair." LoL. And I think this is the second picture I've seen with that hair, and yup, gorgeous. (Makes note to go to Doux.) I like the necklace, too! :)

 

Thank you! I wanna say the necklace is from Swallow but I could be wrong, though the string part is a part of the jacket/ top I'm wearing lol

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1 hour ago, Seicher Rae said:

No, no, I don't mean photos that'll get your photos kicked out of the Forum! I'm not talking nudes here. :/

A few of us were chatting in other threads/boards about how we'd like to see a photo thread for raw, as-is, screenshots without post-production. So... we have the technology, so let's give it a whirl.

So that we can stay on topic, and in the mods' good graces, and perhaps have some ammo against trolls, here's a little bit about the theme here:

  • This is primarily, but not exclusively, a photo thread.
  • Post images that are screenshots of scenes that focus on the avatar. That means they are not to be edited with post-production techniques, like from Photoshop. Cropping and signatures are ok. This is for portraits, not landscapes, etc.
  • It's ok to banter and have some chat. The focus of the thread is photos, but also to have a fun community where a little quipping and bantering is ok and even welcome. Don't do pages and pages of it, but a little is fine. It is nice to have chatter about "I like your photo" but it is also nice to have chat about "I like your photo because. . ."
  • It is also ok then to have chat about, "I like your photo, how did you . . . ?" And that would be for talks about mechanics  OF THE PHOTOS POSTED.  So talks about the viewer used, the DOF settings, etc. are all on topic as long as they are about specific photos in the thread. Hopefully this doesn't don't take pages and pages and push out the photos. If that happens I hope it is ok to suggest that a new topic be started for that particular subject. It is also OK to ask, "Where did you get that . . .?" "What is the SLurl?"
  • That's about it. Have fun. Don't be a d*ck, and everything will be just fine. :)

What will be really FUN is if people who DO post-processing would share the before and after photos here. IF YOU ARE DOING THAT, THEN IT IS OK TO POST THE AFTER shot along with the before. Or you can post a link to the after shot in Flickr, or where ever you post your finished work. I'm personally really excited to see this thread used in that way. Strawberry Singh, when she was still called that, used to do this. She'd post the raw shot on her my.secondlife feed and the finished product on her blog. I always found that to be fun and interesting.

DISCLAIMER SO PEOPLE DON'T GET TWISTED KNICKERS (as if): It is NOT the intention of this thread to claim that raw shots are better in any way, shape, or form than ones that are edited. Nope. They are both great. But they are two different things. 

Also, I have heard from some folks that putting their screenshots in with the heavily processed shots can be intimidating. If you feel that way, post here. If your style is more quick snapshots to chronicle every day avatarisms, post here.

If you don't like a certain chat, like say, the mechanics of DOF on xyz's photo, the scroll feature works really well.

I'm hoping we get all styles and levels of participation here.

Now go out there, take some photos, show 'em off here and have fun!

 

ps. I can change the OP for something like 24 hours, so there may be some changes while I can do that. This is a new thread for me, too!

 

 

 

 

I really like your idea of a 'before' and an 'after' picture. :) And a great many kudos for starting this initiative even. 👍

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36 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Ok, the final version of this has already been posted on the "How does your avatar look" thread, but I want to help get this rolling, so I'll post before and after shots here.

Ordinarily, when I am using Black Dragon (which I almost always do use now), I need to do very little post-processing. Generally, I'll crop and fix any clipping or rendering problems, and that's all that's needed. Occasionally I'll adjust the brightness and contrast a bit.

In this particular instance, however, I decided to take the pic in a radically new direction, so this one has a lot of processing: brightness and contrast, colour curves, saturation, levels, and photo filters. I'm far from sure that I shouldn't have stuck with the original, to be honest, but I decided I wanted a "day time" rather than a twilight shot.

So, here's the "before":

Georgic-3-Before-Blank.thumb.jpg.f31ec92134561eb3feef1fdd5c1b30f8.jpg

And here's the "after," which is the one I eventually posted:

Georgic-3-After-Blank.thumb.jpg.cdc199e63d542b2c7c5409dd2a932b5a.jpg

I'd be interested to hear thoughts on which I should have gone with.

 

IMHO, the post-processed one is definitely better. :) Your back was too shadowy in the first one, I think (up to the point where it hurts a bit on one's eyes); revised version feels much more easy on the eyes, and doesn't force your brain to determine where the sides of your legs begin, and where the shed in the background).

Also, I like that, the daylight despite, the scene is dim, as it were, but not ostentatiously so, using actual twilight.

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10 minutes ago, kiramanell said:

 

I really like your idea of a 'before' and an 'after' picture. :) And a great many kudos for starting this initiative even. 👍

I should put in fine print in the original post that sucking up to the OP is encouraged. 

♥ ♥

And all kidding aside, thank you. I hope folks will have fun here, however the eff they choose to participate. Chatty, photos only, whatevs...

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Here's one that is untouched other then being cropped and from the looks of it, I think I did some blurring. lol. I think I'll actually enjoying posting in this thread

Daydream Believer.png

Edited by Annie Nova
to add something
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@Annie Nova  And thank you too for testing out the waters in this new thread! I hope you will enjoy posting in this thread. It does look like you did some blurring, so technically not a screen shot but these are early days and I don't feel like getting nit picky. :) I like the graininess, too. Don't know if that is because your ambient occlusion was set high (or is it low? to get the graininess) or a noise filter. We'd love to see the before shot, if you've got it, to hem and haw over. :)

 

 

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Heyo!

This is a fun idea, Seicher-chan! 

I posted this one earlier today, so I apologize for double posting? I guess. =p Also, my bad for the wall of text--but I didn't wanna just post pics without saying something...So, here's just my blah:

But, the original is first and then the PS'd one. I personally quite enjoy post-processing my photos--I get a serenity out of doing it, as weird as that may sound. I do try to do most of the work in the viewer though. And like Scy-chan, most of my images actually don't require a lot of post-processing because of Black Dragon, which I also exclusively use for photos. But overall (for my process) I'm not satisfied with my images until I do just even a little bit of PS. Everything I take can be at least lightened up a little for better clarity to me.

While in BD, I always consider each image for whatever that image is. I don't have a "default" set up but I do have a checklist that I go down for each pic: generally all the background is determined after whatever I'm going to wear; then I get the pose in; my camera zoom and perspective is adjusted; windlights are glanced over; and lastly, everything, all at once, gets tweaked until I'm satisfied enough to take a pic. And honestly, sometimes I spend an hour in this phase and sometimes I can spend two or three hours. Sometimes I end up with three pictures to choose the best from, and sometimes I take 30--it's all based on just however that image is going.

This image in particular I had 7 total shots to choose the best from.

And I imagine that the more I work at it, though, I'll eventually be able to get faster at all of this--but who knows. I have fun even at this stage (even if I think it's the most frustrating stage >< )

As for PS, my techniques are generally the same per image. I add a few blurs here and there depending on how I want the overall feel of the image to be; I tweak the colors and vibrancy from scratch; and I do any little corrections from clipping or odd seams. Sometimes I lighten and darken and sometimes I add an effect--like bokeh for instance.

I never take anything down or move my avi in the viewer though until I'm absolutely done with my PS part. >< Cause, normally, I'll see most of my clipping issues while I'm working in PS. And when I know I can't fix it with magic, I'll go back and retake the shot after making corrections to whatever. >>

Like in this image, for instance, I realize now that there are clipping issues with some of the flowers in the background that I didn't catch earlier. =p Based on the type of clipping issues they are, it would have honestly just been easier to go back and move one of the flowers around until the clipping had stopped--otherwise, I think, I'd have to try to erase the problem flowers and branches and make it all seem seamless...>< Which is waaay more work than just moving something in the viewer. ><

Anyway, that's normally about it. x 3x I like hearing constructive criticism about my pieces, so anyone feel free to comment. :3 I'm not a huge forum conversationalist, (I just prefer talking in IMs. >>) but the feedback is still always nice and appreciated. ^^ I'll try to use this thread and reach out of my shell every now and then and offer some advise, when I think I have some. 💛 Cause I really am a huge SL photography fan, and I love helping others interested in it.

Snapshot_002R.thumb.jpg.6803b5bcd5a7bbec9c2f79d2e13065f9.jpg

 

Faun-tastic!

 

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4 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

@Annie Nova  And thank you too for testing out the waters in this new thread! I hope you will enjoy posting in this thread. It does look like you did some blurring, so technically not a screen shot but these are early days and I don't feel like getting nit picky. :) I like the graininess, too. Don't know if that is because your ambient occlusion was set high (or is it low? to get the graininess) or a noise filter. We'd love to see the before shot, if you've got it, to hem and haw over. :)

 

 

I thought I had saved it but I can't find it. Sorry 😞 Next picture I'll make sure if I do anything to it, I'll post both 

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So, I thought I'd combine two suggestions from Seicher in this pic.

The first is that it is a "raw" shot, straight from Black Dragon. I haven't even cropped it: it is literally what the viewer spat out. Generally, as I've said, I don't need to do a lot with a shot from BD, but, like Momo, I'll sometimes tinker with minor adjustments and, obviously, fix clipping issues. There weren't any of the latter in this pic (at least that I noticed), and I was reasonably happy with the lighting and so forth, so I'm just letting it stand as is.

The second suggestion Seicher made a while ago was taking sort of impromptu or "opportunity" shots -- ones that one hasn't spent time setting up. Tonight, I was setting up another photo on my "farm" (where, yes, it's still raining), so I grabbed a shot of me "working." It's not entirely impromptu: I changed the field of view (which is normally at default when I'm building or moving things around), and the EEP/Windlight (fog actually isn't the best environment to work in, normally). Otherwise, though, this shot "documents" reasonably closely what I was doing tonight.

BTW, EEP has completely ruined two of the most intriguing and interesting Windlights: Orac's two versions of "Black Fog." Grrrrr!

Fog-and-Rain-Blank.thumb.jpg.02717f2a07b75608688ee0df6f4a495b.jpg

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Here is a completely raw shot, totally unedited, not even cropped and only Nam's Optimal Skin and Prim Windlight

Below the first one is cropped, with some messing with brightness and temperture.

 

raw shot_001.png

cropped.jpg

Edited by Annie Nova
add a word
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3 hours ago, momomoonusagi said:

I personally quite enjoy post-processing my photos--I get a serenity out of doing it, as weird as that may sound.

Weird. So do I. I really enjoy futzing around in Photoshop. I have no idea why, but it is relaxing. Sometimes I suspect I mess around with pics from BD entirely unnecessary, adding barely noticeable effects, just so I work in PS!

The glow you've added in this is a really cool touch.

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Pretty much every pic I do is raw, all I do is crop and resize to make them small enough to post on the forum.

Last Friday, Madison and I celebrated our 9th anniversary together, and I took a series of pics while we were dancing. This one is my favourite.

200508_001s.thumb.jpg.906d8c52cdb77b7b12f2c3b16a9f726f.jpg

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