Photo help- depth of field/shadows

[Eliza Mint]

When I am taking photos, I see the screen as I would like everything, but the photo saves differently.  Note the left side's depth of field slightly blurred, but missing in the actual saved photo.  The same is true for the subtle leg shadows, which then appear very obvious in the saved photo.  What am I doing wrong?  Is it a setting?  This is out of Black Dragon, but similar things happen in Firestorm.  Thanks for any suggestions.

[sandi Mexicola]

I have found that if I am capturing an image that is larger than my monitor, shadows don't look the same.  DoF doesn't either, in the final image that I capture, DoF seems "muted" or "toned down."  To compensate, I take test shots to see what the shadows will really look like.  As for DoF, I already know I will have to turn it up higher than looks correct.  Then some more test shots to make sure I have set DoF correctly.  

If you are not capturing larger than your monitor (5,000 x 6,000 pixels), then please disregard my answer.  Also, please, trade me computers. 😁

[Eliza Mint]

lol

I've done that in Firestorm (turned on DoF too much) to capture a better DoF in the photo.  Black Dragon typically cooperates without the overcompensation.  So having this issue in BD now made me decide to tackle the sort again.  OK, maybe I am taking pics that are way too large....  usually I do 6000x6000 and then crop/tilt them, etc.  I didn't even realize this could be the issue.  

So it sounds like I need to take the same pic in different sizes and find the sweet spot.  I'm on a laptop with a 16" monitor.  

Thank you so much sandi.

[sandi Mexicola]

Just now, Eliza Mint said:

So it sounds like I need to take the same pic in different sizes and find the sweet spot.  I'm on a laptop with a 16" monitor.  

yw!  

Well, you might get what you see if you shoot at monitor resolution.  But that's not as cool!  😎

[Chic Aeon]

Agree with sandi about high resolution and DOF. And your photo IS large. But I just did a test and I don't have the same issues as you do.  Since your frame is "tipped" I am guessing you are using Black Dragon and so that preview issue may be JUST a part of that viewer. Does the final snapshot turn out the same?

 

 PS I am using Firestorm.  Also I have no idea what the "remember" box that is checked does. So you might investigate that. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Chic Aeon
adding info

[Eliza Mint]

Yes, the final saved photo closely resembles what you see on the right.  I think I need to compare sizes vs the 2 viewers, etc.  In Firestorm, the preview seems to have DoF, but saves without DoF.  

Just talking this out is helping.    I guess I truly don't understand photo size and how that has been affecting my pics.

[sandi Mexicola]

Ideally, it should be "What You See Is What You Get"... but oh well.  🙄

 

[NiranV Dean]

Taking snapshots in SL has always been a bit weird due to how the shaders work that produce these effects.

Almost all shaders do not scale their properties with screen resolution, the properties (settings) are all fixed and set by you the user, this means that you are taking a snapshot with a 8K resolution with settings meant for 1080p. If you are taking a snapshot at any resolution different from that of your window you will have to use the preview (Black Dragon has a big preview button that pops out the preview and allows you to scale it bigger) to see how the final image looks like. Your picture shows that the preview already shows that Depth of Field will be weaker, that is because the preview shows you how the actual final image will look like (in Black Dragon at least).

The explanation for this weird shader behavior is quite simple, think of this example: You draw a circle, the circle according to your settings should have a 100x100 pixel size. Regardless of your chosen resolution, said circle will always be 100x100 pixel, 100 pixel on a 1000 pixel image is 10% thus quite huge. 100 pixel on a 10000 pixel image is just 1% thus 10 times smaller. This means you will have to pre-emptively compensate for the resolution you are going for, a rule of thumb is usually multiplying certain settings by the amount of times your chosen resolution is bigger. 2000x1000 to 4000x2000 = ~2x and so on. Black Dragon also offers an Autoscale Rendering option which does exactly that to help with this, it is by far not perfect and is only meant as a quick and dirty help in case you can't be bothered to due it manually (or don't know how).

Edited December 28, 2021 by NiranV Dean

[Eliza Mint]

Thank you NiranV.  That helps a lot!

[Aiyumei]

No one can give better explanation about shades and DOF than the Black Dragon's creator himself! ⭐

I also tend to take all my photos at around 6k resolution and I experience the same as you. As NiranV already mentioned, you can easily test this by switching between different resolutions while keeping the same DOF and shadows settings. I usually handle that "issue" during my editing work by enhancing the shades via applying more contrast, brushes or burning them. As for the DOF I discovered that applying Gaussian Blur with mask on top does wonders for the DOF effect.