Elora Lunasea

Finished updating one of my older Alts. Decided to stay with the classic SL head as I liked what I did with it all those years ago. Took her shopping for a new skin (DeeTalez), new hair (Stealthic) and then off to The Ephiphany - she lucked out with some rares right off the bat 😊Kind of like her again now

Head: Genus, Strong Face Body: Maitreya, Lara Applier: L'Etre, Indigo, Buttermilk Applier: L'Etre, Face Glitter (Gift) Applier: Izzie's Wet Body Hair: Doux, BYOB Eyes: Euphoric, Becky (Powder Pack) Bikini: Empire, Summer Feels, Bikini 2, Blue Belly Ring: PKC, Foxy Belly button Piercing Earrings: Earthstones, Solitaire Stud Earrings, Diamond Lighting; LumiPro

Hanging out, camera in hand. Kitties in SL easier to pose than the ones in RL 😂

Push notice! Ghosty is spinning at the Hangout now for those in time zones other than the US. He'll be there again later for us USA peeps! 6pm SLT😉 Hope to see some of you later - I'm at work right now, listening in though!

Thanks Scylla. The neck seam is my nemesis. If there is going to be one thing I miss consistently it's that. It could be because I do tend to use SL later in the day, after work when I'm kind of tired combined with using the laptop monitor which is obviously smaller than a PC and not using it with a mouse. Ghosty can't even believe I'm able to manuever around without one on it lol. I'm sure if I went upstairs and logged on with my PC I'd have better control, and with the (much) larger monitor would catch such flaws quicker. The head is the Genus Strong Face. I LOVE this head. It's very versatile. I used to be a Lelutka person but this head is now my #1, even with the HUD glitches - it still has kinks they are working out but I'm patient. The nose on it is extremely different from any other head out there, much more natural looking and a bit unusual. I've used it for many different looks now and it works beautifully for all of them. The skin is one that Genus sells so it's a house brand, called Azalea which was available at Skin Fair but is now in the main store. I bought in in several tones because I like it so much. It's the same one I used for the photo I posted here and on my Flickr titled "Basic", also on Strong Face. It's one that can stand on it's own, no other makeup needed. I keep meaning to test it on the other 2 Genus heads to see the difference. I hear you about all the other photo mistakes. I make them too. The hair clipping one drives me batty but usually I can manage to fix it post processing. If I'm taking pix in a sim I'm constantly derendering people around me, even objects that get in the way of my framing/composition. There are times I have shot something and I'm like "BLAH" but I don't chuck it away, I sit on it for a day or so or more and then look at it again and I'm like "ok, maybe I can salvage it somehow" because there's an element of it I do like. Crop out the bad stuff etc, maybe tilt the photo in a strange way to shift the image, play with it. I have one right now that I decided I wasn't happy with but...I loved how portions of the face look so I'm working just on that one small part. Can you tell I spend a ridiculous amount of money here? I really should be blogging but I don't give enough f--ks to do so. Once I'm obligated to do something it takes the fun out of it

Yea, so far not a lot of people have jumped on the Vista head bandwagon. I have Zoe, Diana and Lia, I rather like them, particularly Zoe. Here are some creators that are making appliers for Vista: YS&YS The Skinnery DeeTalez Insol I'm almost positive Euphoric has eye appliers for Vista now. Of course there's always using Omega which will open up a world of makeup for you.

That was a raw shot.I didn't notice it until afterwards and I was just too tired to care at that point So yes, heads DO look that good. I was kind of bummed about the seam though once I noticed the next day - I have the same skin in a lighter tone for my main ava (that one above is an alt) and the seam never shows so I suppose it was due to the darker tone. I'll have to be a lot more careful with the lighting while shooting next time to avoid that!

Head

Thank you Sir ❤️

I can't be bothered to read through 5 pages of back and forth instructions etc. etc. etc. My time is limited for SL for a mere couple of hours if lucky weekdays to when I get home at night, once I'm done dealing w/dinner and before I pass out for the night to start it all over again at 5:15am the next day SO What is the due date for this months photo pretty please and I'll have it ready as needed. Or not 😛

Ditto to this

Yes, I am happy to be included anywhere you put me (have not resized to exact specs this time as I'm at work and posting this quickly, hoping nobody comes up behind me!)

Totally into this. Years and years ago in a land far away (ok, it's SL) many Cartelians got together to create a pin up calendar which may still be available for all I know at the Hangout. Quality is laughable to look at now - it was when I first met Ghosty and yikes but sure was a fun time. There was also another one done for a forum I belonged to, Second Citizen II, when the Official Forum here went kaput for some time. That worked out a LOT better! (see below). I remember doing a group shot of all the "girls" (ahemmm) naked at the end of the calendar also. Weee! Anyway I'm up for the challenge and fun. If I don't already own it - will give me a reason to go shopping as if I needed one 😄

Well done!

Great pose!

❤️AWESOME ❤️

I have little llamas that trot around moving lighting umbrellas for me Seriously though, in this one, I used a photographic umbrella light for additional lighting on the left side (my right side) as fill in light for my legs. Many ago, I was married to a photographer and used to assist him on tabletop shots he'd do in the studio so while that didn't work out I did pick up a thing or two about how to properly light a subject. It's tough in SL sometimes though, I'm by no means a professional and like I've written before I prefer the quick and easy solution; I'm sure there are very elaborate ones out there. but this worked good enough for my purposes. FYI No llamas were over worked in the making of this picture 😊

I should be sleeping but... Bunny

Not a bunny. I realized, what I like photographing the most in SL are head shots. Much as I like clothing and such ( and it's fun setting up a detailed scene) I spend way more on appliers and hair. I'm really in awe of the creators who are able to bring life to us virtual pixels. This skin is by L'Etre - "Indigo" and the hair is the partner company Doux called Allison. It reminds me of what my hair looked like when I was 19 years old. I had a similar perm and my friends called me "Puff" because of it. And other reasons 🤣 Seriously this look gives me such memories of my late teen years. All I need to find is a maroon velvet dress and I'll be dressed just like I was at my brothers Bar Mitzvah 😂

Finally full spring at my home. Always a work in progress!

Here's another photo of all of us, not a formal portrait

New animesh horse from Teegle is teh awesome! I bought two - this one is an American Paint Horse pre-named Ginger Cookie. The other was a limited edition, similar but gray and white. I kind of like the name of this one so I may keep it.

Did you join the group to get the skin? You probably have the group tag on. Just switch over to another group. And, you can also turn off the hoover text above your head in Preferences so that nothing shows up or just your name if you like that to be shown. Go to the "Avatar" pull down menu. Then "Preferences". Then "General". In that area look for the "Name Tags" You can pick and choose from there what hoovertext over your head you want shown to others and for how long. That should take care of the problem.

First, I like this shot quite a bit, the lighting is good, your eyes are looking at the camera and the pose is sweet. Cropping a bit tigher would pull the focus on your avatar instead of the scenery but in this instance I like the overall shot because it reads like you're on vacation, in which case the background matters. My process is more intuitive than technical. I just read through several of the others and I'm like steps behind. I can't be bothered to spend too much time post processing so I've learned to streamline to the bare bones. I always shoot at 4000x2000. Never change that. Always shoot at the highest graphics setting my laptop can handle which is luckily, the highest Firestorm has. My laptop does a great job, although my PC is better but that's upstairs and I just prefer being where the TV is in the room too :P. Drives Ghosty nuts as he'd rather I was in the room with him. But I digress. I can easily shot at Ultra and log in an Alt at Ultra no problem. LOD is 4000. Always use Windlight - various settings although I do have my preferences. Resolution is set to Life Like. Sometimes I use Depth Perception, sometimes not. Anti-aliasing at 16. Draw distance depends on what I'm trying to achieve - I bring it way down for portraits. I rarely mess with any of the other settings unless I'm changing cloud, water or sky appearance. I like turning the Gamma way down for portraits to black out the background. I always wear a facelight - still. Lelutka's has a nice soft glow, it's the only one I use. I use LumiPro lighting system for some shoots mostly portraits but not always. While shooting, I take a lot of variations when doing portraits; different facial expressions, switching eye angles, etc. Really important when using pets in the shots that move because you never know when they will move into just the right position that works. I change lighting around, move the camera. Try unusual angles too because sometimes something works that you never considered if you just throw the camera around somewhere unexpected. If it's an elaborate set up, I will be rezzing out objects as needed, repositioning, reconsidering, changing clothing whatever. I use the Lelutka Axis HUD to minimally change facial movements. I rarely use the built in filters. I prefer to shoot what is seen and if I need to color correct I do it on my own afterwards. Post processing is a joke for me. I only use Ribbet. I have never learned to use Photoshop well enough to trust myself with it. Considering all the RL photography I do one would think I'd have learned by now but nope.I'm only now just learning how to use the processing software for my RL Olympus PenF lol. I have a good understanding of what everything does in it but IDK, the interface is just too bulky. Ribbet is simple, easy to maneuver through and and gets the job done especially now that they have completely revamped it. I just want to have fun with my photos, not stress over the process, not get bogged down in details. Since I have a good natural sense of composition, color and subject - what I use to get the end result really doesn't seem to matter much. PS: If I have one actual piece of advice is light everything well. Biggest problem with most SL photos is poor lighting. It totally ruins a photo. I administer the Flickr group Explore Second Life and it's one of the main reasons I deny photographs. If I can't see what you shot, why am I going to visit? I'll pass over all photos that are underlit. Terrible terrible mistake (and yes, I mean you. And, you)

I'll give a thumbs up to all the above mentioned but Stealthic's textures are my favorite. Extremely realistic looking especially under the right lighting.