Whiskey Shots

After several requests to see my photo studio, I figured I’d post a few pics of a photo in process. I don’t leave my photo sets rezzed, as they’re usually  rather primmy. So as soon as a shot is finished, I clean up my mess like a good girl.

Today I took some pics before taking it all up, to show how I build a story.

A few things to note:

-I’m lousy with photoshop. I work hard to make my photos look right inworld. The finished product that I post here is generally what I did inworld. I tweak glaring problems in photoshop that I can’t fix inworld when I have to, but otherwise what you see is what I shot.

-I mod everything. I rarely use or wear anything the way it was rezzed. This includes poses. I wish more pose makers would make their poses less than high priority so that I can mod them using Animare or Anypose. I don’t use a pose the way it was intended. I want to be able to turn my head, or close a fist. But most static poses are high priority to make them, well, static. It’s frustrating.

This shot was taken in a skybox from Baffle. It’s still available at the Vintage Fair. I pulled off a couple of walls and moved back the roof, so that I could get light and shadows, and to open up my camera angle.

I opened the windows, and I knew I wanted some sort of dark monster coming through the window. I found a mesh avatar on the marketplace, the Smoke Monster, that worked great. This isn’t the first time I’ve rezzed a mesh avatar for a pic, they’re great props.

After these were set up, I moved my pose stand to place myself where I wanted, and then I attached my hair and scarf. Using the camera angle I wanted for the shot, I heavily modded them both. You can see they don’t look so great close up and head on.

You can also see that I’m wearing a face light. I found that I disappeared in the dark shots that I liked, so the face light kept me in the shot and added a great lighting effect.

After I’ve got everything set up and found my camera angle, I cycle through Windlight settings to find the one that looks right for my shot. I’m not ashamed to admit that I tend to try them all. I’ve collected all of the Windlight settings I can find, and I never know which one will be just perfect until I see it. I shoot my favorites as I go, and then pick the best one after logging out.

Here’s some of my other favorite shots from today, using different Windlight settings (most of these were discarded due to technical problems in the shots, like panels that didn’t rezz right or shadows that were wonky):

In the final version, I removed some lines from the infamous Photo Line Bug and used the clone stamp on my hair. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t messed with my hair, but it’s done now.

I’m sure there are easier ways to do what I do.  Everything I’ve learned in Second Life, I’ve  learned  by trial and error, and poking around online for tutorials. I would love to learn to build, but for now, I’ll just mod the hell out of everything to get what I see in my head.

Today’s shot is based on the feeling I have lately when everyone asks how things are going. Things are fine. It’s fine. We’re fine. It’ll be fine. I know, they know, everyone knows things aren’t fine- but it’s what you say. Everything’s fine. Even when they’re not.