Clara Hollyberry

Love those lighthouse shots!

45 seconds sounds about right for the time a cluster of avatars will wait for a scheduled land-tract in a game called Tiny Empires. It would be a daily occurrence if that's true. Formerly-abandoned land is useful for TE players to quickly en-masse log in, wait for their prize, and log out again. If that's what's happening then there's nothing dark-web nefarious going on just a bit of a nuisance if it's now your land, but disabling their scripts will make them seek different pastures. Again, *if* that's what they're doing.

Can confirm. Also, 351 divided by 2. The old Linden homes offer half the land impact allowance of the new homes. And yeah that WAS a great little boost from 117 to 175! Good times. And yeah great job RaeLeeh! Comprehensive omg.

While you wait for an answer, incidentally I have a question for you. Of what value is a prim-or-mesh advert in a land where de-rendering is an option to Residents? Hasn't group-based blog-based banner-based advertising replaced the need for signs along the road? My friends spend a lot of money on digital advertising and zero money on signage, so that's why I am interested.

Wow 💐 The subject is as haunting as the execution of it.

That was most intriguing! I have some new words to study. Enhancements as all work of the same mind -- I share your opinion.

That was most entertaining 🍾

Welcome home, Mainlander! One nice thing about SL is you can make choices and changes like these every once in a while.

That's a good warning. I mean the warning itself is nicely done; it satisfies the curiosity of what's really in those things as well as serves the cautionary reminder that scams are out there.

Oh, I dunno... a full third of that great shot is landscape (left side), so I'd allow it 🤟

What a thoughtful comment; I enjoy contemplating it, as I enjoy Alyona's too. There is one thing I feel like picking apart and it is this idea of virtual versus non-virtual (?) realities in snapshot. Nothing we photograph has a real existence outside of Second Life, you say. Alyona said above, also, that this is snapshotting and not photographing "by definition", and these two ideas put together call into question the very nature of the reality we're capturing in images. (I like chiselling away at this idea in general as I inhabit SL, at the risk of derailing everything. It's an ongoing conversation, not an argument. Just thinking out loud.) I like to call it "photograph" because it is an image composed of, revealed by, and determined by light. Whether in the virtual world of Second Life or outside my livingroom window, everything comes down to light, the spectrum of light, visible light, manipulating how light reflects or shadows, manipulating the intensity or distance of the vantage point... it's all about light. Virtual worlds are made of light; our world is made of light; I am happy to call these captures of light a photograph or a snapshot either way because, in the way I understand the words, the words fit. The computer and the human head are both locked rooms busy interpreting and controlling and to varying degrees processing light. Reality is virtual anyway so it's all real, or it's all virtual, and I like that. I take a lot of existential shortcuts in that kind of rationale, of course. You can poke holes everywhere. But I think it's the kind of thinking that takes me back on point, to be able to say there are as many ways to view and capture an edifice surrounded by trees as there are computers attempting to capture it -- as you say, it's impossible to say "this is exactly how something looks in SL," because of the variety of strengths and limitations of the light-interpreters out there trying to capture it. I wonder how much enjoyment photographers would get out of a monthly challenge such as this: "Here is an edifice; photograph how you see it; let's see everybody's perspective of this same edifice."

Question though: do Bellisseria lots forbid you from restricting sounds to your parcel? I know there isn't the full complement of options available but is that sound restriction one of them?

I absolutely agree that there's no right or wrong way to do it. And that's a great shot! I think you have enhanced the scene with a subtle touch rather than change the character of its natural state, with those treatments you describe. It looks serene and lovely.

C'est magnifique❤️ Why not use this as a perfect excuse to begin a thread devoted to blanc et noir. The black and white thread 🤗

Personally I think this is a good point; keeping interest alive is part of what blogs can achieve and maybe a weekly update with pictures or fun facts might help do that. Who doesn't love fresh pictures in the blog-roll 👍

That is a really dark picture; but the house is lit in a very pretty way and I adore the silhouette of the trees in the upper half of the image. The lower third of the image is missing something absolutely essential to this picture to make it *perfect* and that is moooooooon light draped lazily along the full length of the waterway. Moonlit ripples beginning at the right side and extending all the way from right to left, fading out at the left side... ahhhhhhhh 🤟 Dark images are good; but the way to make them "legible" is to find some way to insert contrast. The house has good contrast. Tree silhouettes, good contrast. But my eyes beg for moonlight on the water to finish the bottom.

I'm glad you asked this; it needed asking I think.

I started another thread asking about what kind of treatment photographers give their landscapes versus the treatments they give portraits, so I was very interested in your analysis of these shots. I agree that it feels so unnecessary to further process a landscape shot and we tend to just let those shots be in all their windlit glory ❤️

Thanks for this!

I wish we had birds. Someone keeps burying baby rabbits for safekeeping in our yard instead. They go along their merry way in good time but it makes it difficult to actively garden when I see the mounds of fresh-pulled grasses hither and yon in all the places I had intended to clean out 🙃

Ok but what do you REALLY think about Socks up there? Because that is adorable.

"The road to getting there" -- couldn't agree more. I think that seals it. I do enjoy the process more with Mac. Affinity is fantastic, I went in at the beta. On1 is new to me, I will investigate. Gimp is what it is; my PC runs it efficiently and reliably, but it's not my very favourite way to spend time.

Alyona Su, how do you think your images compare vis a vis PC or Mac? Beyond the scope of the original question of course but I am still interested. It's time to replace one or the other of my machines, creativity is my bent, I am leaning towards a new 🍎pro, etc... I find I like the Mac photo editors more but the PC raw snapshots more. It's a conundrum, albeit a nice one.

Photographers, do you feel personally artistically compelled to add treatments to your images, or are you satisfied with your ability to position and capture your image with the Second Life camera and graphics? And if you do feel compelled to add treatments to your work, do you find that you treat your landscapes differently from your portraits? Or do you employ the same processes? I find that I never feel like retouching my landscapes, but I always feel creatively itchy if I haven't done something extra to a portrait... even cropping if nothing else. (But usually much more.)

Agreed about the bridges! And the vast distances under big skies. Love these 🤗🤗🤗🤗