Angle and windlight

Today I will show you almost twice the same picture but I was not happy with the first one I had taken (the one here under) and I will explain why.

At first I had not really planned on lighting the picture this way but as I was testing and trying in Photoshop, the idea came it was the perfect pose for this kind of light coming from one side. After my usual editing, I have simply used a soft light layer with a basic gradient to do it.

Unfortunately, the windlight settings I had chosen in Second Life were not appropriate as you can see the shadow of my avatar screened on the background, showing the angle used. The colors are more neutral and that is why I had gone with it first. But the more I look at the picture, the more I feel there is something weird with the shadows.

I have then decided to try again in Second Life and use windlight settings with an angle more appropriate. It actualy is an angle for dawn or dusk so the picture has a lot more orange in it.

Next time, I guess I should better plan my picture and what I want to do in the end. In this case, I should have probably used lamps in Second Life rather than playing with windlight setting.

Credits:

Mesh Head: LOGO Alex v3.0
Hair: [elikatira] Fiona
Skin: *YS&YS* Beatrix Tone02 Skin Applier LOGO ALEX Mesh Head @ My Attic
Dress: :Valentina e. Empress Embellished Dress S Cerulean
Leggings:Mimikri – Leather Leggings / Niki gold_XS @ My Attic
Earring: [MANDALA]SHIPPOAH Jewelry set -GOLD&SILVER
Pose: Diesel Works

Ivory and New Windlight Setting

I have added a new windlight setting to my Windlight Settings page. This one is rather neutral, even greyish but I have made it to ease my work in photoshop. In the picture above, you can see a before / after postprocessing. It allows me to stay closer to the colors from Second Life while still adding contrast to make the avatar pop out. This setting is made for studio photography, unless you like to see a purple sky.

About the styling, I have chosen to wear one of the new dresses from coldLogic which has very nice cut out sleeves to show your sexy elbows.

Details:

Skin: –Belleza– Ava Med BL 0
Eyes: IKON Vanity Eyes – Denim (S)
Hair: coldLogic dress – capriati.ivory (XS)
Hair: >TRUTH< Swift w/Roots – seasand
Jewels: Zaara : Atiriya stone necklace (chest) *aquamarine-silver*
Mesh hands: Slink
Pose: LAP (no longer available)

Windlight Settings Page

I have added a page with windlight settings on the blog. I am usualy using them as a basis for the pictures I then edit for my posts. Those are to be used mainly in a studio but as you can see, they are also pretty good to use as is.

Shadows Variation 2

Shadows Variation 5

Shadows Variation 8

The three above settings are not very different. Like the title says it, they are variations, the last one being brighter while the others will render better skins without altering too much the skins shadows.

The pictures are not edited, just cropped.

Outfit details:

Skin: –Belleza– Mya SK BBB R 1
Eyes: IKON Ardent Eyes – Feldgrau (S)
Hair: Magika [Hair L] Please
Top: Tee*fy Skyla Ruffle Sleeve Tank Antique S
Shorts: (fashionably dead) Scallop Shorts – S Light Denim
Pose: Manifeste

Who Cares ?

I am pretty depressed when I am looking at the above picture. At the beginning, I only wanted to make a quick picture of a new hair release from Milana. This Jayna style is cute yet sexy at the same time. So, to show my Plurk time line, I have taken a quick shot, gone to Photoshop, cropped, dodged and burned in tenty seconds top, hit auto tone, auto contrast, resized it down to a 1024×1280 and posted it on Flickr and Plurk.

Five minutes later, I had comments saying it is gorgeous, blabla. Yeah, thanks,… I like it too. So why am I depressed? It took me two minutes to make that picture! Lately, I have been wasting a lot of time trying to improve my pictures by postprocessing them. You just have no idea how much I can clean a picture before doing anything. Then, I am playing with dodge and burn, curves (I am actualy abusing of curves) and in the end, I am never happy with the result. For sure, I am adding some dimension to the picture and it is shiny but I am loosing so much more details. The skins are awful, way too bright, too pale. I try and I try and I try to no avail.

Today, at work, I have done something I usualy avoid as I do not like to mix lives :I have watched my blog. Now, ok, the screen at my work is probably of pretty bad quality but are all my pictures looking that red for a lot of people? It is ugly. Not what I see when I am at home, but still. I do not want anyone to see that.

There are a lot of bad things in this picture. Tiny jagged edges I should have smudged, contour I should have liquified, black lines I should have blent. But who cares? Noone seems to see that.

If you want to take that kind of picture, here are my super secrets:
1. Windlight: I have used the same basic windlight setting I always do. You can download it here. Modify it for the face to be in the shadows instead of in the light.
2. Take huge size PNG snapshots you save on your computer. Original was 4000*6000 pixels. Yes, I can make you crash. I am using Firestorm viewer. I actualy think it takes crappy shots with splotches of green and pink light everywhere but at least I don’t crash.
3. Crop the pic to frame it better.
4. Quick dodge and burn on a overlayed 50% grey layer
5. Hit auto tone, auto contrast
Done!

But yeah… the hair style is cool!

Credits:

Skin: –Belleza– Ava Med Red 0
Eyes: IKON Ardent Eyes – Parchment (S)
Hair: (Milana) Jayna – Dark Blondes
Jacket: (TokiD) Haru Jacket_Large (black)

Deep

For today’s post, I did a bit more styling than in my last posts. Mesh is making us lazy as it is not as easy to layer up though some great pieces like this Celoe corset are perfect to wear aswell as a very sexy single top or with a blouse under it for a wiser effect.

One of my fun with pictures is to enhance them and to play with photoshop to add depth. Strawberry Singh is inviting us to share some of our secrets in one of her last articles. I have learned taking pictures and editing them mainly through tutorials made by others bloggers. I can hardly give any secrets as I actualy don’t have any but trusting my own eye.

So here are some of the things i do with my pictures:

1. Use good windlight settings. It is easier to edit a picture which is already good than make something pretty with an ugly lighting. You can download the new WL setting I have used for these pictures. It is a bit pinkish.
2. Use a pose which works fine with the outfit, complements it, ads expressivity.
3. Basics things like high resolution png files are always a good start as the simple fact of reducing the picture later removes a lot of imperfections. I also use anti-aliasing as high as i can without crashing. Some don’t bother about that, I do as I don’t blur the pictures most of the time. It irks me when I see the jagged edges while working on photoshop.
4. Next step is to clean the picture using a photo edition application: remove the black lines, liquify the bad angles, smudge, clone stamp the holes.
5. I enhance the shadows from Second Life with dodge and burn. I basicly emphasize the light and dark parts.
6. I am playing with the colors: curves, vibrance, contrast, saturation. While doing that, try to preserve the details.
7. I add a layer an overlayed gray layer with a default render light filter. I play with the intensity so it adds to the shadows, giving even more depth.
8. Each picture is different. I have some settings I can apply directly with some windlight settings but it is not a guarantee it is going to look nice as each color reacts differently. Each pictures receives a different treatment, with different values.
9. Crop, searching for better framing. Rule of thirds is your friend.

As a conclusion, it is only through practice that you can learn. Nothing replaces your eye for what is good or not. You may learn technical tricks but your pictures will only be valuable if you develop your own style and your own edition settings through time, adding a personnal touch. Try new things, play. Sometimes the result is not what you would like but maybe next time, you will be able to fine tune the settings to get the right colors, the right lighting. Practice, practice, practice !

Credits:

Skin: *League* Jen Medium Feline
Eyes: IKON ‘Sunrise’ Eyes – Light Sand (M)
Hair: ::Exile:: In The Meantime:Fawn
Eyelashes: Slink Mesh Lashes
Shirt: Izzie’s – Bow Tie Blouse white
Corset: [celoe.clara.corset.deep.M]
Skirt: [celoe.nikka.snow.snow.S]
Tighs: Shiny Things Solid thigh-highs – teal
Earrings: Paper Couture P.C; Tulle Wrapped Earring
Bangles: Zaara : Pallav clear bracelets
Ring: Zaara : Raga oyster ring *pearl*
Nails: Leverocci – Round Nails_1FA_RosyManicure
Shoes: [LeLutka]-REN/Pearl
Hat: LaGyo_Bow hat baja blue
Poses: (pda)