I looked at the results of the picture experiment polls today, and I have to say, once again I am surprised.
Personally, I liked photos 1A and 2B the best. (If you need to refresh your memory about the photos, see here.)
My attempt with photo 1A to recreate the windlights in 2A was not successful, but the photo ended up being better in the end. Poor choice of windlights for 2A, I suppose. And 1A was the hands-down favorite in the polls.
For the second set of photos, I thought I did a much better job of getting the windlights close. I prefer the shadows in photo 2B, although it does sort of look like the rocks in the foreground are floating a bit. However, the overwhelming majority of you thought that photo 1B was better.
The photos 1A and 1B were taken using SL Go. Since these were the favorites, I suppose it will be worth keeping up my subscription and using it to take photos.
However, the down side for me is that I have a LOT less options when taking photos with SL Go. I am limited to about 10 preset windlights, and although I can play around with the windlight settings manually, it is not a quick process.
Also, when using Firestorm, I have the option to take the photos at a much higher resolution. For example, photos 2A and 2B were taken at 5848X3128 and resized down to 1024X548 for the blog. I personally thought the details were a bit clearer on those photos, with less rough edges than 1A and 1B.
1A and 1B were taken with SL Go and the highest resolution you can set (the only resolution I could use, as I couldn’t locate a way to change it) is 1280X720, which I resized down to 1024X576. I thought that 1B had the same issue as 2B with the rocks seeming to float a bit, and I thought the snowman in 1A was a little jagged.
So, I will continue to experiment with my photos. I saw recently that Builder’s Brewery has added some photography classes, so I am hoping to catch one of those and maybe learn some tips and tricks to help improve my photos.
I haven’t yet tried taking photos at a show with SL Go. My husband has gone to several shows, but again, some of the controls are difficult to master. So, it may take some experimenting to see if it’s worth trying to use SL Go at a show for pictures.
If you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share about photography in SL, please let me know!
A Kat and A Mouse 
I guess part of the reason for the success of photo 1B was the over all composition of the photo, the way you had cropped it. When the house is not in the photo in its entirety, it becomes more interesting. Also the position of the house in the photo is more eye-catching since the doorway is pretty much in the golden ratio. And the pond forms a nicer arch in 1B than in 2B. And since the windlights aren’t that different to each other, it was easy to pick the first pic. Well… I don’t know about others but that’s why I chose 1B over 2B.
I’m not sure if you wanted us to choose the photo based on the windlights and sharpness of the photo… but I couldn’t leave other factors unconsidered when choosing between the photos, hehe…
Okay, when it comes to the A photos, there’s not as drastic difference composition-wise. So I ended up voting 2A purely because I like how sunsets look on snow :p When I look at the photos now, 1A is probably a bit more interesting composition-wise, since it’s a tighter shot and you can see the penguins better. But with the A’s, I let the windlight guide my decision completely. Err… I’m so incoherent.
And pardon my crappy language, I just woke from an accidental nap…
Ok, I see what you’re saying on the house photos. I was distracted by the floating rocks, and wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to the rule of thirds. But yes, totally get it after looking again. I need to work on that – composition is NOT my strong suit with photos.
I liked the sunset on the snow better as well, but since the mound of snow on the pond looks like it’s full bright, it seems a little odd. Plus, I’m not sure why the little well has a light on it?
But thanks for the comments – I will certainly keep them in mind when taking photos in the future!
As Nancy said, it’s not easy to compare 2A and 2B because they are so different composition-wise and one is much closer so details are more obvious.
Yes, high resolution photos are a must and lots of Windlight choices too. Many of my faves I have uploaded myself to FS or some I have tweaked myself and saved.
I find a lot of useful information for SL photography given by various bloggers in tutorials and do keep a list of links. Most of the photography courses given are very basic although I have never taken those at Builders Brewery but will look into that.
One of the best scenic photographers in SL is Honour MacMillan, who uses shadows brilliantly and also windlights very creatively. She told me once she has over 800 WLs loaded and she uses the SL viewer so she must have added most of them herself! https://honourmcmillan.wordpress.com/ It’s really worth perusing her blog. Two others who are worth looking at are Slatan Dryke who is wonderful with WL (https://www.flickr.com/photos/22453297@N02/) and Fingol who has been doing a series of unedited photos using only WL changes which are extremely interesting to see (https://www.flickr.com/photos/fingolgreyhaven/sets/72157632572038772/) besides other photos.
Sorry, I got carried away. LOL.
JMB Balogh
No, I love it! I already follow Honour’s blog, but will definitely be looking into the other 2. I love the pretty pics and would love to learn how to take them myself!