Second Life Freeze Frame

Acceptance (Future Is Now Series)

2010-02-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Acceptance (Future Is Now Series)

Photographer's Name - Arcadia Nightfire (arcadianightfire@gmail.com)

Models Name - Arcadia Nightfire

Location used - The sky above MDR Photo Studio,http://slurl.com/secondlife/Glitter/202/211/23

Poses Used - /me Poses (/me is a firestarter)

Windlight settings used - Custom - see image below

Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra

Inworld photo tools used - Sculpture by Elros Tuominen called Creating This New Year To Come

outworld tools used - Photoshop - added black border, tagged, and added a small Gaussian Blur

Comments & Additional info
This photo was part of an entire series of photos. The rest can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdrstudio/

Emerging (Future Is Now Series)

2010-02-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Emerging (Future Is Now Series)

Photographer's Name - Arcadia Nightfire (arcadianightfire@gmail.com)

Models Name - Arcadia Nightfire

Location used - The sky above MDR Photo Studio,http://slurl.com/secondlife/Glitter/202/211/23

Poses Used - /me Poses (/me is a firestarter)

Windlight settings used - Default Setting with these modifications: max altitude 1605
distance multiplier 98.0 density multiplier 0.01
Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra

Inworld photo tools used - Sculpture by Elros Tuominen called Creating This New Year To Come

outworld tools used - Photoshop - cropped, tagged, and added a small Gaussian Blur

Comments & Additional info
This photo was part of an entire series of photos. The rest can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdrstudio/

Reverence (Future Is Now Series)

2010-02-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Reverence (Future Is Now Series)

Photographer's Name - Arcadia Nightfire

Models Name - Arcadia Nightfire

Location used - The sky above MDR Photo Studio,http://slurl.com/secondlife/Glitter/202/211/23

Poses Used - /me Poses (takes my stance)

Windlight settings used - Windlight - Default Setting with these modifications: max altitude 1605
distance multiplier 98.0 density multiplier 0.01
Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra

Inworld photo tools used - Sculpture by Elros Tuominen called Creating This New Year To Come

Outworld tools used - Photoshop - cropped, tagged, added a diffuse glow of 8 to the entire photo and a small gaussian blur

Comments & Additional info
This photo was part of an entire series of photos. The rest can be found at www.flickr.com/people/mdrstudio

There's a light in the darkness

2010-01-19T07:55:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - There's a light in the darkness

Photographer's Name - Chandni Khondji

Models Name - Chandni Khondji

Location used - MC Photostudio

Poses Used - Unknown (part of a pose stand)

Windlight settings used - Pre-loaded AnaLutetia AvatarOpt whiter

Second Life Graphics Settings - Custom: Lowest, view 64, with bump mapping and shiny, Mesh Details High, nearby local lights

Inworld photo tools used - Photostudio for pose and background

Details of inworld tools - NA

Outworld tools used - Photoshop CS2

Processes used in outworld tools -

Base has been the Avatar posing in front of the Background. First Processing has been to increase saturation and contrast to make it more vivid.

Since the lights of the background come from the front i made the area behind the Avatar darker and before it brighter with semi transparent layers of black and white in those areas.

Then I used another layer as overlay for the white highlights on the front of the avatar and the dress to show where the light hits it. With the dodge tool and a soft round brush I highlighted the areas of the front skirt.
The Sparkles are made with different sets of brushes, the long trails i copied and put a gaussian blur filter over the copy for some glow effect.

Next step has been to highlight the hand, arm, chest and face to show the light effect of the sparkles - done with an semi transparent layer with white brush strokes (soft round brush).
The Frame was added with a selection, invert and fill with black, added a blending mode drop shadow for more depth.

The last step has been to copy the foot and put it over the frame to make it look as if she steps out of it.
Done :)

Comments & Additional info

This picture was not planned. I actually played around with the photostudio while being bored and found the background interesting and had this pose from a picture i made before. I did not know what will come out once again the playing in Photoshop was more because i was bored. The first time i did this image with a different model (an alt of mine) but i wanted to have it with my main as well :) This is the second version.

Low to Ultra Faceshots using Windlight

2010-01-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Low to High to Ultra Face Shots

Photographer's Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Location used - My Home Studio

Poses Used - MMP3 Stand Pose 5 by Serenade

Windlight settings used - Custom Windlight Settings by Caliah Lyon (see previous post)

Second Life Graphics Settings - Low to High to Ultra, left to right

Low Settings

High Graphic Settings

Ultra Graphic Settings

Inworld photo tools used - My Studio for white backgrounds

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Paint.net

Processes used in outworld tools - Just cutting and pasting 2 photos together, no processing done

Comments & Additional info

I know it has been said over and over, but I am going to repeat it anyway. The higher the resolution and graphics settings, the more detail you are going to be able to see, and will give you the best base to work from. But I wanted to demonstrate the differences in the graphic level settings, and that with a good tool like Photoshop, GIMP, even paint.net, you can get a good base from a lower graphic setting also, and then do your favorite processing from there.

I am going to see if I can put this custom windlight setting together into a file that I can send anybody that wants it. If you would like it, please either IM me inworld (Aldwyn Zanzibar) or email me (aldwynzanz@gmail.com).

Have a great day everybody!

The difference between Low and High Graphics?

2010-01-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - The Difference between Low and High Graphics

Photographer's Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name - Aldwyn Zanibar

Location used - My home studio

Poses Used - MMP3 Stand Pose 5 by Serenade

Windlight settings used - Custom WL by Caliah Lyon (See previous post)

Second Life Graphics Settings - Left Pic Low, Right Pic High
Lift Pic

High Settinngs

Inworld photo tools used - My Studio for white backgrounds

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Paint.net

Processes used in outworld tools - Just cutting and pasting 2 photos together, no processing done

Comments & Additional info

just wanted to highlight how the different graphic settings can make a difference.

The Windlight Difference even on Low Graphics

2010-01-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - The Windlight Difference even on Low Graphics

Photographer's Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Location used - My own custom Studio

Poses Used - MMP3 Standing Pose 5 from Serenade

Windlight settings used - For Left Pic, default, for right pic, Custom Windlight settings designed by Caliah Lyon, both set on midday

Second Life Graphics Settings - Low, with a few tweaks below:

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Paint.net

Processes used in outworld tools - Just a cut and paste to get the two photos side by side

Comments & Additional info

I asked a question regarding photographing skins inworld, and Barbara Nichols dropped me a notecard she had about some great windlight settings to use for skin photography. I wanted to do an experiment on using the lowest graphics settings to see the difference. Here is the notecard she sent me.

FACELIGHTS, LIGHTS AND WINDLIGHT SETTINGS

* The default light in second life generates some very annoying shadows, this results in a horizontal line for the blond straight hairstyles and dark puffy spots in your avatars face. We used to be able to deal with these issues by attaching (face)lights. But in the new (WL) viewer light-attachments are blinding us mostly and are no longer a solution to the shadow-issues anyway. The best way to deal with these shadows now is to adjust your light at the 'environmental settings' --> 'environment editor'. Caliah Lyon has shared some great settings she created by tweaking the default midday. It's a beautiful bright light, without loosing all contrast.
Thank you Caliah, for sharing these with us :)

The Atmosphere Tab:

Blue Horizon: R: 0.12, G: 0.12, B: 0.16, I: 0.16
Haze Horizon: 0.09
Blue Density: R: 0.32, G: 0.59, B: 1.00, I: 1:00
Haze Density: 0.65
Density Multiplier: 0.18
Distance Multiplier: 2.0
Max Altitude: 188

The Lighting Tab:

Sun/Moon Color: R, G, B and I at 0.86
Sun/Moon Position: 0.000
Ambient: R: 0.67, G: 0.64, B: 0.63, I: 0.67 (raise I up to 0.70 for outdoor settings)
East Angle: 0.16
Sun Glow: Focus: 0.10 Size 1.75
Scene Gamma: 1.08-1.15
Star Brightness: 0.00

The Clouds Tab:
Cloud Coverage: 0.13
(other setting in cloud tab can stay the way they are)

Save this under a "New" preset. (or any other name that you will be able to remember..:P )

Barbara Nicholls

Barbara Nichol

Relaxing a bit too much?

2010-01-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Title of picture -Relaxing a bit too much?

Photographer's Name -Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Location used - My back deck

Poses Used - Built in sitting pose in my deck chair

Windlight settings used - Incongruent Truth - Sunset

Second Life Graphics Settings - HIGH with all options at max

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Paint.net

Processes used in outworld tools - First thing I did, was run the sharpen tool on the pic. Then I adjusted the Brightness to 30, and the Contrast to 30. I then ran the "soften portrait" tool, setting Softness to 10, lighting to 10, and warmth to 20. Then I ran the "Zoom Blur" tool on it, with my face as the center of the focus.

Comments & Additional info
I was just playing around, to see what I could do in Paint.net some more. I am really enjoying this program. It's not quite as thorough as Photoshop obviously, but it has enough tools to really have some fun!

Strike A Pose!

2010-01-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with a friend last night about an idea she had for a picture in Second Life. We determined the hardest parts of these "ideas" is finding the right location, and the right pose. I posted a question to my friends about their favorite pose shops, and below is the initial list we came up with, with SLURLS!

ImpEle

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Holland/98/93/26

Glitterati

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Glitterati/128/174/23

Long Awkward Pose (LAP)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Festivale/98/92/29

ANA_mations

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Summerland/103/128/32

LostAngel

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jiknyeo/99/176/601

ME-YA

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Remix/132/56/251

Reel Expression

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lalique/71/176/28

Striking Poses

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Harlow/75/188/34

Diesel Works

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Brooklyn/131/178/503

Slash Me poses

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Existence/184/83/21

CnS

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ooot%20Ooot/192/123/27

Penny Dreadful Arcade (PDA)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Harold/85/91/23

Strike a Pose

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Enigma/37/95/23

Essential Soul

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Essential%20Soul%20Studio/134/154/37

Virtual Elements

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sunset%20Cove%20Beach/25/240/24

Added 01/07/10

Flowey Poses

http://slurl.com/secondlife/PopFuzz/24/157/22

Posemaster

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LVS%20Drive/169/12/25

I will have a notecard inworld available with the above links for anybody that wants it.

Also, if you know of a great pose store that is not on this list, just let me know and I will add it!

Happy Posing!

Tutorial links!

2010-01-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with all of you some fantastic tutorials for photo editing. These tutorials are courtesy of Riker Beck. Her blog can be found at http://www.rykerbeck.com/.

Ryker is really an amazing talent, for so many things. I hope you thank her personally for all the information she has shared with us over the years.

Here are her links. They can also be found on her site!

Tutorial: Removing a Green Screen with Photoshop or GIMP

Tutorial: Adding a Background and Creating Drop Shadows

Tutorial: Depth of Field From Second Life Snapshots

Tutorial: Simple Wrinkle Creation for Photoshop and GIMP Users

Tutorial: Skin Smoothing in Photoshop

Tutorial: Painting onto the Avatar Mesh Using Photoshop CS4 Extended

Tutorial: Optimizing Windlight for Second Life Photography

Tutorial: How to Take High-Res Snapshots

Tutorial: Creating a Tattoo in Photoshop and/or GIMP

Tutorial: Creating Static Poses for Second Life Using Qavimator

Tutorial: Getting the Most Out of Freeze Frame

Tutorial: The Advanced Menu

Tutorial: FilterCam – Using Photoshop to Make Your Own Filters

Tutorial: Seeing Creatively, Photo Composition and The Rule of Thirds

Tutorial: Virtual World Photography – Tips and Tricks

Have Fun!

Flying Trapeze

2010-01-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Flying Trapeze

Photographer's Name - Cajsa Lilliehook

Models Name - Cajsa Lilliehook

Location used - My Photosphere

Windlight settings used - Default

Second Life Graphics Settings - Medium, 2:50am

Inworld photo tools used - Photosphere

Details of inworld tools - See notes below

outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools - I shot this photo in my photosphere using the Default setting at 2:50 AM and shifting the angle of the sun/moon. I have my sphere on the ocean bottom and find the water softens the skin - similar to the blizzard filter but without losing shadows as you do in blizzard.

In PhotoShop I adjusted for levels, simply dragging the right point to the beginning of content. I then used render Lighting Effect - the spotlight to make the spotlight effect - again dragging it around to get what I wanted. I increased the exposure of the photo outside the spotlight so that it was not completely dark.

Then I saved the pic as you see in the png.

I then opened the overlay texture from Distressed Textures - (Treasure Textures package), resized it to the size of the picture, copied and pasted on the png, reduced opacity to 31% and saved.

That's it
Comments & Additional info

The Sketch

2010-01-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - The sketch

Photographer's Name - Rylan Carling

Models Name - Cole Kaestner (sneak attack)

Location used - Some random store

Poses Used - None, outside of models AO

Windlight settings used - Basic default, played with lighting to get best shadow reduction

Second Life Graphics Settings - Medium

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools - I cleaned up the picture using liquify and some shading before I started to play around with texture options.

1. The "sketch effect"...When the basic picture was to my liking, I went into the filter gallery. Using Charcoal, I played with the sidebars to get the exact effect I liked. Depending on your basic picture, my numbers were: thickness 5, detail 5, balance 60.

2. Border: This one is simple. When you have achieved the look that you want, double click on the most recent layer (the one farthest up.) This will take you into the Layer Style. Here, I use inner glow. I switch blend mode to NORMAL, 100% opacity. I cange the color to black, you can use whatever color best suits your needs! Choke to 100% and then play with the size to achieve the thickness that best suits your needs!

I hope all that makes sense!!!

Comments & Additional info

Lighthouse

2010-01-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Lighthouse

Photographer's Name - Peter Stindberg (peter.stindberg@googlemail.com)

Models Name - Nissa Nightfire

Poses Used - Custom Pose made by Peter Stindberg

Location used - Cataclysm (not really important for this photo, but can recommend the vistas in Cataclysm)

Windlight setting used - Default

Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra, 2x antialiasing, anisotropic filtering on

Inworld photo tools used - None

Out of world tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools - The photo consists of 5 seperate photographed layers. The clothing conists of two outfits that would eliminate each other layerwise, so that the two shots per outfit were necessary. Those 4 shots were then combined into the final outfit. Seperate layers of the final outfit were enhanced with drop shadows to add depth to the photo. Hard edges, especially were prim clothing meets texture clothing, where smoothed with the various tools: traditional smoothing, cloning, repair brushes but also liquify. Jerky geometry triangles (for example around the breasts) were subtly smoothed using liquify as well. The background of the shot was seperated using a depth shot mask. The texture of the lighthouse (thus the name of the photo) looked too photorealistic, so I made it more cartoon-like. The last touch was a small dropshadow of the person on the lighthouse wall.

Comments & Additional info
I made a custom pose for this photo in QAvimator. The pose took 3 iterations before it worked as intended with the model. The selection of the outfit took Nissa a great deal of time. All in all this photo took 3 weeks from first idea to completion. Post-processing took a day. Flickr-Link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterstindberg/4229540356/

Into the Abyss

2010-01-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Into the Abyss

Photographer's Name - Arcadia Nightfire

Models Name - Arcadia Nightfire

Location used - theAbyss (http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Abyss/78/141/237)

Poses Used - Striking Poses - Girls With Guns 8

Windlight settings used - Default Windlight Setting, 8:10 p.m

Second Life Graphics Settings - High

Inworld photo tools used - PosePad Pro by Nyterave Studio, Facelight by Star FairyMeadow

outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools - I cropped the photo, adjusted the lighting levels, and added a small diffused glow to make the clouds appear brighter and thicker. I also added a slight gaussian blur to soften the edges.

Comments & Additional info

Even when the sky is falling down

2009-12-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - "Even when the sky is falling down"

Photographer's Name - Tess Falworth (tessfalworth@gmail.com)

Models Name - Tess Falworth

Location used - Taken at Rez

Windlight settings used - Coastal Sunset

Second Life Graphics Settings - High

Inworld photo tools used - Just a facelight

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Photoshop CS3

Processes used in outworld tools -

1) did my usual cropping to make the image tighter

2) took a copy and overlayed it on itself, using soft light setting in photoshop

3) desaturated the bottom layer a bit, enough to tone down the colors but still keep some

4) used the blur tool to smooth out rough edges

5) added the butterflies from Deviant Art, from Unholy Stock, sort of my signature butterflies now, I've used them over and over..I like them becuase they are individual and their background is transparent, so I can crop them use them singly anywhere I want.

6) overlayed a texture by Max F. Williams from Flickr, using soft light setting in photoshop. This is my absolute FAVE texture. I thik 90% of my textured pics have this texture in one form or another.

Comments & Additional info

The thing about pics in SL.. it all starts with a good capture. After that what you do to enhance it just makes it all the more lovely. :)

Shape : my own..*smiles*

Skin: League

Eyes: Redgrave, Neverforget in Cyan

Hair: Zero Style

Tattoo: Garden of Ku

Bracers, collar, and boots: CatNip

Ears and Tail: K&L

Top: Immerschoen

Jeans: WoW

My own two cents: Redgrave eyes photograph amazingly well, as do their skins. But, lately, I've been partial to Curio and League. Zero Style hair is incredibly realistic in pics and has amazing flowiness :) While I didn't before, now when I shop for clothes, hair, skins, etc, I ask ":will this look good in a pic?" if so then I get it.. if not, then.. no. Generally speaking, the better the textures and the more detailed, the better it will look in an SL pic. Just my own opinion *grins*

Come, come dance with me..

2009-12-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - "Come, come dance with me..." (title is inspired from "butterfly" by Crazy Town)

Photographer's Name - Tess Falworth

Models Name - Tess Falworth

Location used - My Studio

Windlight settings used - Ana Lu studio 5 (it's my personal favorite)

Second Life Graphics Settings - Medium

Inworld photo tools used - N30 studio with a background purchased from Xstreet

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Photoshop CS3

Processes used in outworld tools -
Background is from Xstreet

brushes from Deviant art
butterflies from Unholy Stock from Deviant Art
used one texture overlayed over the picture...from pareerica in Flickr

1)First, took the background, copied it, overlayed it to richen the colors, used gaussian blur to about 7 or so
2)Then, took my pic and used the cropping tool and placed it in the backgroud.
2)copied and overlayed the image of me, using soft light setting in photshop, gaussian blurred the top layer, using about 7.5 or so
3)once I got the right color saturation, I added the butterflies, copying each one, overlaying them, and then used gaussian blur at about 7 or so..just played with the slider til it looked good
4) used the blurr tool to smudge the edges a bit
5) then rendered a flash on photoshop, right behind my face betweemy cheek and my arm to make a nice glow
6)then took the texture and overlayed it.. using gaussian blur to aboutt 20 to make it smooth

Comments & Additional info

Skin by Curio, June in Acorn

Hair by 69

eyes from Redgrave, Neverforget

Shape by me...original

lingerie by blacklisted, badthings

arm bracers by CatNip

After

2009-12-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - After

Photographer's Name - Tess Falworth - (tessfalworth@gmail.com)

Models Name - Tess Falworth

Location used - my own studio

Windlight settings used - Ana Lu's studio 5

Second Life Graphics Settings - medium, with a facelight

Inworld photo tools used - N30 photostudio

outworld tools used - Photoshop CS3

Processes used in outworld tools - took the image and duped it.. overlayed it. Then took a texture, the purply one, and overlayed it but made it "soft light" setting. Then, used gaussian blur setting on the topmost copy of the image itself.. about 8.0 or so. Then, smoothed out edges. Then used some brushes from Deviant art to create the "bubbles"..then used the sharpen tool to sharpen the edges. The overall effect was a watercolor with the pencil sketch outline still visible.

Comments & Additional info
Shape: my own
Skin: Curio..Winter in moonglow
hair: Exile.. Jenna in browns
Eyes: Redgrave..Neverforget
armbracers: CatNip

Liquify (before/after)

2009-12-29T05:26:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Liquify

Photographer's Name - Rylan Carling

Models Name - Rylan Carling

Windlight settings used - Basic default, played with lighting to get best shadow reduction

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools - This is a basic photo, before any other processing is done. One of the first things that I work on is using the liquify tool in PS. Again, this is a very basic before/after shot...but, even with this, you can see the differences in specific areas that are a bit "off." (Specifically check out the wrist and the front of the dress)

Christmas Eve

2009-12-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Christmas Eve (Not A Creature Was Stirring)

Photographer's Name - Rai Blaylock

Location used - My Home

Windlight settings used - This was done with the Emerald Client using the advance setting in sky of [AnaLu] Outdoor night. For those that may not have this setting the sky details needed are as follows:

Second Life Graphics Settings - High

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

Outworld tools used - None

Processes used in outworld tools - None

Comments & Additional info
I believe in capturing Second Life tools available. I love doing touch ups in Photoshop but really it's just fun to see a scene and capture it with what you got. I mess with advance sky settings all the time. I make several of my own just because sometimes a moment calls for it. Thanks Al for setting up this site ♥

Custom Gift Card

2009-12-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Secret Santa Gift Card

Photographer's Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Location used - NA

Windlight settings used - Analu. outdoor city midday

Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra

Inworld photo tools used - A little Studio I built myself, to create a greenscreen behind me

Details of inworld tools - Used a pose lent to me by a friend and held the gifts, with the greenscreen behind me

outworld tools used - Paint.net
cooltext.com
Photoshop (just a tiny bit)

Processes used in outworld tools -
I used cooltext.com to create the 3D text for the card. Cooltext is great, because the images it creates already have a transparent background. I found the gift card image using image search on google. Using Paint.net, I created a different layer for each item, then imported the text, and the inworld SL picture of me into different layers. I didn't get tooo fancy, Paint.net really does make using layers super easy.

Comments & Additional info
I only used Photoshop to help me remove the greenscreen for my inworld shot. I need to learn to do this in Paint.net, but I already knew how to do it in PS, so I quickly did it there. Everything else was done in Paint.net. One thing about Paint.net, is that it cannot open multiple images at once, so I had to load up the text images for example, cut them out, then load up my project, and paste them in a layer. This was pretty easy to do, especially for a free program.

"A Picture is worth a thousand words"

2009-12-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words"

Photographer's Name - Strawberry Singh
strawberrysingh@gmail.com

Models Name - Strawberry Singh

Location used - My Home

Windlight settings used - Default Midday with Scene Gamma increased to 2.09

Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

Outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools - Liquify, blur, burn, dodge, sharpen - I really didn't do much to this picture.

Comments & Additional info
The most important part of my pictures comes from the quality of the raw shot. I always take my pics on ultra graphics and try to find the most suitable windlight preset for the skin, clothes and background I am shooting. For up close face shots I usually use the midday with increased gamma and then play around with brightness and contrast in photoshop to get the best result. I also usually reduce saturation often, although I did not do that here. Liquify is also usually the first and most important thing I do. Liquifying really makes a huge difference. For a great liquify tutorial see this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkYEZD1sbn8

The burn tool was used to create the shadows under the legs.

Winter Cabin

2009-12-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Winter Cabin

Photographer's Name - Rylan Carling

Models Name - NA

Location used - somewhere in sl

Windlight settings used - Funky, Funky, Funky

Second Life Graphics Settings - High setting, All shaders on

Inworld photo tools used - none

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools -
Curves
Glaussian Blur (masked)
Dodge/Burn

Comments & Additional info

Who Says

2009-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Flickr Link - http://www.flickr.com/photos/felicityblumenthal/4151243959

Title of picture - Who Says

Photographer's Name - Felicity Blumenthal

Models Name - Felicity Blumenthal

Pose used - Olive Juice - The ASS in Class

Location used - My Private home in SL

Windlight settings used - NONE! Srsly. My WL doesn't work

Second Life Graphics Settings - Lowest of the Lowest settings

Inworld photo toolsd used - Serenade Photo Studio Pro V2.0

Details of inworld tools - White background on the Studio, as well as ALL lights on.

Outworld tools used - I'ma Photoshop girl

Processes used in outworld tools -
Alrighty, lets see if I can splain... So, I removed the white background from the image first, then I use the blur tool to smooth any rough edges and any left over pixelating I can see.

Then I adjust the brightness and contrast, generally about a -10 on brightness and +10 on contrast. Followed by adjusting the shadow/highlight, this is usually a 10% or so on the shadows and 1 or 2% on highlighting.

After that I duplicate the layer, and give the lower layer a gaussian blur, and then make the upper layer semi transparent (usually some where around 40%). I merge both these layers, so there is only one (in addition to the background)
.
To create the shadow I duplicated the layer again, and then selected the lower layer and filled it with black, gave it a gaussian blur, and again, made it semi transparent. For the background glow, I used a spotlight lighting effect. Then I added a line, and created a drop shadow to give it the look that the avie is leaning against the floor.

Finally, I used the marquee tool to select the lower portion of the hair, and skewed it to the right, to give it the effect that her hair is laying on the floor.

Comments & Additional info
I always minimize my image to 50% for the final, the max resolution I can manage out of my laptop is about 2000 x 1200, so resizing the image to 50% really cuts down on the pixelated edges and such

Waiting for Santa

2009-12-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Waiting for Santa

Photographer's Name - barbie winslett, barbie_carebear@yahoo.com.ar

Models Name - barbie winslett

Location used - My home at bdsm school (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hymule/128/242/69 SLURL)

Windlight settings used - Default

Second Life Graphics Settings - Ultra - Midday

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Photoshop

Processes used in outworld tools -
Here is the recipe:
3 layers: main figure, window and glass

MAIN FIGURE:

pelicula granulada 1, intensidad 0
Pastels: trace lenght 26 trace detail 1 scale 50% relieve 2
Difuse glow: granulado 0 glow amount 7 lightness amount 15

WINDOW
any window, just cutted the glasses inside and i letted empty and i applied plastified

GLASS
a square and you apply fusion opacity 26%

AGAIN SELECT LAYER FIGURE
cristal: distorsion 2 smooth 6 scale 115%

FILTER PARTICLES
(snow) density 801 size 11 variance 39 body 2 opacity 45

Comments & Additional info -

is easy to make, if you have questions, ask me.

barbie xoxo

No Title - Yet

2009-12-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

Flickr Link - No Title - Yet

Title of picture - No Title - Yet

Photographer's Name - Kitina Celt

Models Name - Kitina Celt

Location used - My home in SL

Windlight settings used - * Starley * Setting 2

Second Life Graphics Settings - Medium

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Processes used in outworld tools -
my process is 2 layer pics, the first one start off with smoothing the edges some, using a smudge smear tool to move around some and then creating a 2nd layer duplicate on top of it - then I sheer that layer some and on the bottom layer add Gausian Blur to the then messing with a fliter on the pic called Time machine which has several settings in it. I also used different lighting effects on the layers to create it.

Comments & Additional info
Basically I just take pictures I get a idea about all sudden and then it inspries me to get in my creative mode.

In The Grass

2009-12-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

Flickr Link - In The Grass

Title of picture - In The Grass

Photographer's Name - Kitina Celt

Models Name - Kitina Celt

Location used - My home in SL

Windlight settings used - * Starley * Setting 2

Second Life Graphics Settings - Medium

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Processes used in outworld tools -
my process is 2 layer pics, the first one start off with smoothing the edges some, using a smudge smear tool to move around some and then creating a 2nd layer duplicate on top of it - then I sheer that layer some and on the bottom layer add Gausian Blur to the then messing with a fliter on the pic called Time machine which has several settings in it. I also used different lighting effects on the layers to create it.

Comments & Additional info
Basically I just take pictures I get a idea about all sudden and then it inspries me to get in my creative mode.

Mochi Pile Up

2009-12-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Mochi Pile Up
Flickr Entry

Photographer's Name - Morgana Hilra

Models Name - Mochi Milena

Location used - Posed for inworld

Windlight settings used - Default

Second Life Graphics Settings - High

Inworld photo tools used - Photolife Studio

Details of inworld tools - Photolife used for pose and generic background

outworld tools used - Photoshop, and lots of it

Processes used in outworld tools:

Filters used - Render, lighting, high shine, mid plastic/metal

Many layers..

Cloud rendering, layer setting lighten.

One duplicate layer, set to noir, and eraser to bring mild color thru.

Comments & Additional info

My Son & I

2009-12-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Title - My Son & I

Photographer's Name - Morgana Hilra

Models Names - Morgana Hilra & Zipben Aeon

Location used - My SL Home

Windlight settings used - "Mid Day"

Second Life Graphics Settings - High

Inworld photo tools used - Photolife Photo Studio

Details of inworld tools - Posed for using Photolife

outworld tools used - PhotoShop & Mystical Lighting

Processes used in outworld tools -
Family RL vacationing photos used for background, photos were taken panoramic style.. best for that 3d effect.

Also, in Photoshop, made several layers, and used the render, lighting effects, as well as blur, lens blur set at 22, then layer option lighten.

Lol, done over and over again, til you get the style that you prefer.

(need to stress, render lighting effects MUST be high shiney, and metal for a glossy effect).

Comments & Additional info

Zip has been my son, for over two years now.. he adopted me, and I stuck by him.

Windlight Preset - Ana Lutetia's Studio

2009-12-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Day 24. No, really. LOL I don't title things, but
I took it for the 365 day blog project.

Photographer & Model: Alicia Chenaux

Location used: Above my house on Bluebonnet

Windlight settings used: I started with Ana Lutetia's Studio preset
[from the Emerald viewer presets] and then adjusted just slightly.)

Second Life Graphics Settings: High

Inworld photo tools used (photostudio, filtercam, etc): I'm using the
Sci-Fi Hallway from Glitterati and the Tryptic filter from FilterCam

outworld tools used (Photoshop, Paint.net, etc): Photoshop CS2 & PhotoScape

Processes used in outworld tools (source of textures, brushes, other
items used, etc): In Photoshop I used liquify to smooth out any jagged
edges and used the clone stamp to remove hair that was sticking out
through my arm. I also used a tutorial by Ryker Beck
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZlFhly-7Zc) to smooth out my face. I
also used a very light brush to paint in a slight shadow, but I'm not
very good at that, so it's not much. After that, I moved the photo to
PhotoScape and used the Cinema filter and a light vignette on the
sides, and finished it with a thin black frame.

Thank you Alicia for sharing!

Windlight Preset - Starley Settings 2

2009-12-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - Morning Coffee

Photographer's Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Location - My Island Home, Again..:)

Windlight settings used

Second Life Graphics Settings

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - None

Processes used in outworld tools - NA

Comments & Additional info

Just working through the Windlight Settings, one by one.

Example Submission

2009-12-03T21:55:00.000-08:00

Title of picture - First Picture!

Photographer's Name - Aldwyn Zanzibar

Models Name (if any) - none

Location used - My Island Home

Windlight settings used - *Canimod - Noon

Second Life Graphics Settings - Medium

Inworld photo tools used - None

Details of inworld tools - NA

outworld tools used - None

Processes used in outworld tools - NA

Comments & Additional info

This is an example of a post. My goal is to have pics posted of all the windlight presets. Please send in your favorites.

Any additional information can be added here also. If you have a model, and want to talk abut the outfit, or something else significant about the picture, this is where you would put it.

Keep those pictures coming!

First Post!

2009-12-03T21:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Second Life Freeze Frame Blog!

I have been working on this idea for quite some time and it finally came together.

The goal of this blog is to have a place where Second Life residence can share their pictures, and the tools and techniques they use to create those pictures.

So please share what you have learned! And hopefully someone will post something that will help you learn how to improve or give you new ideas for your photography!,

Here is the information that will be posted with each submission to this blog:

Title of picture -

Photographer's Name (inworld name required, email or additional methods of contact optional)

Models Name (if any)

Pose used (name of pose, and store/creator of the pose) -

Location used (general, but SLURL would be nice if possible)
Example: Location - My Home or My sim at SURL or Sim Name (SLURL)

Windlight settings used (name of predefined settings, time of day, or details of custom windlight settings)

Second Life Graphics Settings ( Low, Med, High, ultra, custom etc) or send a screen shot of your graphics tab

Inworld photo tools used (photostudio, filtercam, etc)

Details of inworld tools (settings used, textures used, etc)

Outworld tools used (Photoshop, Paint.net, etc)

Processes used in outworld tools (source of textures, brushes, other items used, etc)

Comments & Additional info

Please email all submissions to aldwynzanz@gmail.com

Also, email with any quesitions, or IM me inworld!

I hope you enjoy this site!