Need some photography advice

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

I just started SL up again after a few years and am reading tutorials on SL photography trying to improve. I know windlight settings make a huge difference in mood, but I notice some people are adding photoshop layers to change the look slightly. I like a more muted look but am stumped on this pic-do I need some sort of overlay? Just keep trying different windlight settings? I'm not sure where to go from here.

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Amberyl Ethaniel
pic looks weird

[Fritigern Gothly]

I am no photoshop guru (or Gimp guru for that matter) but if I were to go for a more muted look i would probably see if a slight desaturation would do the trick. A slight blurring to soften the contours and perhaps adjusting the color temperature. 

Some windlight settings can add a haze to the background which can also add to the atmosphere that I think you may be shooting for.

P.S. I hardly ever edit my pics. I rely 99% on windlights myself so perhaps my suggestions for the edits and filters are all wrong.

[Charalyne Blackwood]

I like the picture! What were your graphics set at? For pics I have a specific setting that graphics set to ultra, with viewable distance set to 32 meters. The upgrade of lighting and shadows are worth the extra steps for me. Keep shadow quality set low, as it will choke even a high end graphics card. I hope this helped.

[Nick0678]

Go to preferences and enable Shades, Advanced Lightning etc..

 

[Chic Aeon]

23 minutes ago, Charalyne Blackwood said:

Keep shadow quality set low, as it will choke even a high end graphics card. I hope this helped.

The lighting tab IS dangerous, agreed, but with fairly good computer with a designated card, they work well. I can do anything I want with that lighting tab with DOF on and shadows and everything else you might want. So for SOME folks it will work fine.  Just hate those absolute statements as they are most always incorrect == no matter how true they might be for the person stating them :D.  

[Chic Aeon]

Here is what I use most of the time in the Firestorm Viewer. Folks that REALLY want to play use Black Dragon but it is missing some things that I use daily so I stick with FS.   The Linden viewer while "simpler" is more difficult to get a good photo in IMO.   

 

And here is a Fall picture similar to yours.  But (and it's a big one) not all computers can do this. At the same time many computers with dedicated graphics CAN do much of this although it may give you the scary black screen phenomenon while the viewer "thinks" :D.   Also, it takes quite awhile to figure out Windlight (now EEP) and Depth of Field.  Practice and playing will help a lot.   The only post processing here is resizing (down) and a vignette shadow around the edges. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Chic Aeon
spelling

[Nalates Urriah]

Like Chic, don't be afraid to mess with the settings in Preferences. If you want to get wild, save you basic graphics settings as a preset. Makes it easy to reset and start over. I think all the settings on the panel tab show above are saved into a preset when you make one.

I don't consider ANY of the graphics settings dangerous. You can back out of any mistake or in the absolute worse case clear the viewer's settings and revert the viewer back to its default settings for your video card. Go slow. Change one thing at a time.

You don't say which viewer you are using. I don't recognize Nick's viewer. But all the various brands of viewers now have the preset feature for graphics settings, AFAIK.

Not all the viewers have ALL the various graphics settings out where you can find and tweak them. Some are hidden in Debug Settings. An example is here (blog article on Firestorm shadows).

Black Dragon viewer has made some tweaks and additions to the viewer render engine. AFAIK, all the other viewers use the same exact render engine. The difference is in the settings they make available for tweaking the render engine. Like Chic I tend to use Firestorm most of the time as Black Dragon (BD) lacks some of the features I use several times a day. But, for the best pictures and especially when I need to tweak a pose I resort to BD.

No one has mentioned Gamma setting for achieving the more muted look... Experiment with it. Preferences->Graphics->Hardware Settings->Gamma (slider)

Also, post or point to a picture you consider more muted. To me that might mean less vibrant, less contrast, less saturation, softer focus... or a few other things. Any of these changes can be made in the viewer or in post-production editing.

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Nalates Urriah

[Rowan Amore]

Yep, what Chic and Nalates said.  I just did a couple pics with graphics high including shadows.  They were close ups so I did keep may draw at 32.  I have a preset for everyday clubbing/shopping and one set for taking pics.  The only thing I do change on the pics preset is draw distance if I'm doing a pic where I want the landscape to show or DoF which I don't use all that often.  Those presets are awesome.

[Mush362]

I would download the Black Dragon Viewer. It reduces lag dramatically and allows you to push your graphics  

[karenx0]

17 hours ago, Amberyl Ethaniel said:

I just started SL up again after a few years and am reading tutorials on SL photography trying to improve. I know windlight settings make a huge difference in mood, but I notice some people are adding photoshop layers to change the look slightly. I like a more muted look but am stumped on this pic-do I need some sort of overlay? Just keep trying different windlight settings? I'm not sure where to go from here.

 

Black Dragon is considered to take really good pictures, even better than Firestorm. And hence most people use BD for pictures. You can still play with your viewer's settings. Such as, try doing it with ultra quality under graphics, playing with the draw distance, windlights, lighting, Depth of Field [DoF], view angle, deferred rendering, Ambient Occulsion, environment lights, sky lights/clouds etc.

Here's a picture of mine where I used Black Dragon to take the picture. A little bit of editing I did such as sharpen, HDR, leveling the color, contrast and toning my brown skin as well.

[Jackson Redstar]

it really starts with composition - what is subject and where do you want the viewer to look. Nice thing about windlights then is you can create a mood, so you can flip through some to see if it sparks you or if you have a basic idea go trough some settings similar to what you had in mind. Then sun position and elevation, remember shadows falling across an avatar not always a good thing. Look at rl professional photos to get ideas on lighting a subject outdoors. Then DOF - you really want to use DOF whether you use the viewer's DOF or fake it in post. Remember also when you look at a scene IRL, more distant objects become less sharp and less saturated the further behind you they area. You can pretty much accomplish most all this in world in the viewer without post processing but of course some post is always nice. The biggest take away is look at RL photos done by pros - or really good amateurs, and see how they did landscapes or photoed people outdoors

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

23 hours ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

I am no photoshop guru (or Gimp guru for that matter) but if I were to go for a more muted look i would probably see if a slight desaturation would do the trick. A slight blurring to soften the contours and perhaps adjusting the color temperature. 

Some windlight settings can add a haze to the background which can also add to the atmosphere that I think you may be shooting for.

P.S. I hardly ever edit my pics. I rely 99% on windlights myself so perhaps my suggestions for the edits and filters are all wrong.

All great suggestions, I desaturated slightly but I think it's still to bright, and now that you mention it, maybe a slight blur would give me more of the look I'm going for. Thank you!!

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

22 hours ago, Charalyne Blackwood said:

I like the picture! What were your graphics set at? For pics I have a specific setting that graphics set to ultra, with viewable distance set to 32 meters. The upgrade of lighting and shadows are worth the extra steps for me. Keep shadow quality set low, as it will choke even a high end graphics card. I hope this helped.

Thank you, not bad to start but want to make sure I get better..I was at ultra but my draw distance was around 200 meters? I think? I'm not sure which windlight setting this was originally (maybe sunset?)need to write that stuff down. Is setting to a lower draw distance better for pics?

Edited October 13, 2021 by Amberyl Ethaniel
adding text

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

22 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

Go to preferences and enable Shades, Advanced Lightning etc..

 

I read in a few blogs that you don't want shadows? I do have advanced lighting enabled though..is a lower draw distance helpful too? Mine was 200 m or so..

 

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

22 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

The lighting tab IS dangerous, agreed, but with fairly good computer with a designated card, they work well. I can do anything I want with that lighting tab with DOF on and shadows and everything else you might want. So for SOME folks it will work fine.  Just hate those absolute statements as they are most always incorrect == no matter how true they might be for the person stating them :D.  

I have a pretty good graphics card and a considerable amount of Ram so not too much of an issue..

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

22 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

Here is what I use most of the time in the Firestorm Viewer. Folks that REALLY want to play use Black Dragon but it is missing some things that I use daily so I stick with FS.   The Linden viewer while "simpler" is more difficult to get a good photo in IMO.   

 

And here is a Fall picture similar to yours.  But (and it's a big one) not all computers can do this. At the same time many computers with dedicated graphics CAN do much of this although it may give you the scary black screen phenomenon while the viewer "thinks" :D.   Also, it takes quite awhile to figure out Windlight (now EEP) and Depth of Field.  Practice and playing will help a lot.   The only post processing here is resizing (down) and a vignette shadow around the edges. 

Love this! It's more of the look I was going for. I think the vignette helps with the edges of the photo too-more finished.. Mine look too sharp. Thank you for the settings, that helps a ton!!

 

22 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

Like Chic, don't be afraid to mess with the settings in Preferences. If you want to get wild, save you basic graphics settings as a preset. Makes it easy to reset and start over. I think all the settings on the panel tab show above are saved into a preset when you make one.

You don't say which viewer you are using.

Not all the viewers have ALL the various graphics settings out where you can find and tweak them. Some are hidden in Debug Settings. An example is here (blog article on Firestorm shadows).

No one has mentioned Gamma setting for achieving the more muted look... Experiment with it. Preferences->Graphics->Hardware Settings->Gamma (slider)

Also, post or point to a picture you consider more muted. To me that might mean less vibrant, less contrast, less saturation, softer focus... or a few other things. Any of these changes can be made in the viewer or in post-production editing.

 

OOh, good ideas. I didn't know about the gamma setting. I'm using Firestorm. reluctant to use BD as I just came back and becoming more familiar with Firestorm is challenging enough. Saving settings sounds really helpful.

So I ADORE https://layersuponlayas.com/ look. Most (but not all) of hers are what i consider muted. Like this example. Much more "painterly" and muted than a regular SL snapshot.

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

20 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Yep, what Chic and Nalates said.  I just did a couple pics with graphics high including shadows.  They were close ups so I did keep may draw at 32.  I have a preset for everyday clubbing/shopping and one set for taking pics.  The only thing I do change on the pics preset is draw distance if I'm doing a pic where I want the landscape to show or DoF which I don't use all that often.  Those presets are awesome.

For some reason, the articles (they were old so maybe that's why) didn't want SL shadows and basically said if you needed any, you could add them yourself in post processing..old info?
So if you're doing closeups, setting a lower draw is better?

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

9 hours ago, Mush362 said:

I would download the Black Dragon Viewer. It reduces lag dramatically and allows you to push your graphics  

Since I've been gone from SL so long, I'd like to stick with Firestorm for a while at least until I get more familiar with things. What do you find BD does best, or things you can't do in FS? More windlight? Effects? Better quality?

[Charalyne Blackwood]

14 minutes ago, Amberyl Ethaniel said:

Thank you, not bad to start but want to make sure I get better..I was at ultra but my draw distance was around 200 meters? I think? I'm not sure which windlight setting this was originally (maybe sunset?)need to write that stuff down. Is setting to a lower draw distance better for pics?

Lower drawing distance can keep unnecessary things out of the background, unless you're taking landscape photos. Most of my photos are up close, use backgrounds as an image on a prim or use bare backgrounds. Fewer items rendered can make the processing a little quicker. I use 7k by 7k to start with to for optimal detail then I reduce the image to something small enough for posting or uploading after a run through Photoshop.

[Charalyne Blackwood]

18 minutes ago, Amberyl Ethaniel said:

I have a pretty good graphics card and a considerable amount of Ram so not too much of an issue..

Same, but for me, setting shadows above 2 tended to crash the viewer while capturing the image. While troubleshooting and searching information at various SL based forums many people said higher shadow detail settings caused similar issues, even some with nVidia Titan cards. Not all of us can drop $1,500 + on a monster card that runs SL maxed out...

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

8 hours ago, karenx0 said:

Black Dragon is considered to take really good pictures, even better than Firestorm. And hence most people use BD for pictures. You can still play with your viewer's settings. Such as, try doing it with ultra quality under graphics, playing with the draw distance, windlights, lighting, Depth of Field [DoF], view angle, deferred rendering, Ambient Occulsion, environment lights, sky lights/clouds etc.

Here's a picture of mine where I used Black Dragon to take the picture. A little bit of editing I did such as sharpen, HDR, leveling the color, contrast and toning my brown skin as well.

beautifully lit! Are the petals in world or added later. Love that! I'd like to postpone BD for a while till I'm comfortable with firestorm after so long though..

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

3 hours ago, Jackson Redstar said:

Nice thing about windlights then is you can create a mood, so you can flip through some to see if it sparks you or if you have a basic idea go trough some settings similar to what you had in mind. Then sun position and elevation, remember shadows falling across an avatar not always a good thing.

Remember also when you look at a scene IRL, more distant objects become less sharp and less saturated the further behind you they area. You can pretty much accomplish most all this in world in the viewer without post processing but of course some post is always nice. The biggest take away is look at RL photos done by pros - or really good amateurs, and see how they did landscapes or photoed people outdoors

Good advice, thanks! I was having issues with DOF in world and forgot to add it in post. Definitely do need that tho!
Love playing with the windlight settings and see what they do..

[Jackson Redstar]

didn't mean to 'steal' your pic but I gave it a quick run through LuminarAI see if i could do anything with it the way it was snapped....

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

27 minutes ago, Charalyne Blackwood said:

Lower drawing distance can keep unnecessary things out of the background, unless you're taking landscape photos. Most of my photos are up close, use backgrounds as an image on a prim or use bare backgrounds. Fewer items rendered can make the processing a little quicker. I use 7k by 7k to start with to for optimal detail then I reduce the image to something small enough for posting or uploading after a run through Photoshop.

Ah, I didn't consider the processing speed. Why make it harder on the computer than it needs to be?
This one I think was 6000 on the larger size. What size do you normally post at?
Do you buy backgrounds on SL? I saw now that a lot of pose makers use a "set" to go with their poses. I wondered if those worked well..

[Amberyl Ethaniel]

11 minutes ago, Jackson Redstar said:

didn't mean to 'steal' your pic but I gave it a quick run through LuminarAI see if i could do anything with it the way it was snapped....

Interesting! I like the background and dog better, but something about the blue cast to her skin highlights throws me off a bit. This process does make the pic look less sharp which I love. Thanks for taking the time!