Picture Experiment, Take Two

Image Source: http://www.ms-ds.com

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!

Picture Experiment

Image Source: http://www.ms-ds.com

A few months ago, I signed up for a subscription for SL Go by OnLive.  My computer is okay, but not top-of-the-line, so I thought I’d try out SL Go and see how it works.

It’s supposed to turn any tablet or PC into a machine capable of running SL at Ultra settings.  So you can have all the fancy shadows and lighting to take pretty pictures and have less lag, even at Ultra.

I haven’t really used SL Go much, although my husband has played around with it on his iPad.  He had a little trouble getting used to the controls (it took him a good 5 minutes to ‘sit’ on something the other day).

Then I saw a video by Iris over at New World Notes about taking fancy-schmancy pictures using SL Go.  So I thought I’d try it myself.

I’ve been debating for several months whether to get a Flickr account, and hadn’t yet.  Partly because I detest Yahoo and I have to sign up for an account with them in order to use Flickr.  But also partly because I didn’t think I could take pictures that would be able to compete with what I see on Flickr.

I don’t run SL on Ultra on my computer, and I rarely have shadows enabled, because it causes too much lag.

However, to take some pictures, like landscapes or portraits, maybe I could make it work.

If I can take awesome pictures with SL Go, even better!

So I decided to do a little experiment.

I logged in to SL with my computer and went to two different winter sims to take some photos.  I didn’t bump up my graphics to Ultra, but I did turn on shadows.  I found a quiet spot on each sim and spent a few minutes playing around with the windlight presets to get something I thought was pretty.

Then, I logged into SL Go and went to the same two sims to take photos at the same spots.

SL Go does take some getting used to – I use the Firestorm viewer, and SL Go is a scaled-down version of the official LL viewer.  So it took me a little bit to get used to where all the controls were.

(Side note – I use the FS built-in AO, so since I don’t wear an AO attachment, I was doing the newbie dork-walk everywhere I went.  Ugh.)

I also had a bit of trouble, because I couldn’t find all the snapshot options to play with, like I have in FS.

There were only about 10 total different windlight presets to choose from using SL Go, so then I had to figure out how to adjust the settings myself, to try and get as close as possible to the windlights I had used with FS.

(I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to turn on the ‘advanced menu’ in SL Go, only to be told later that I couldn’t, because it uses a scaled down version of the viewer.)

So after finally getting the pictures taken with SL Go, I needed to resize them.  I am going to post them below, and I would love your feedback on which ones you think are better.  Just click on the poll underneath each set of photos to vote on which one you like.

For the first set of photos, my windlight settings are not close.  For both sets, the angles are a bit different.  In retrospect, I probably should have had the first set of photos open to use as reference, but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.  I was just trying to duck-walk to the site as quickly as possible.  😀

After I get the results, I will post additional information about the original photos.  All I have to done these photos is to resize them down to 1024X576 or 1024X548.  I did not do any other post-processing of them.

Winter Wonderland:

Photo 1 A

 

Photo 2 A

 

 

 

 

Frisland:

Photo 1 B

Photo 2 B

Please vote and send the link to your friends and ask them to weigh in as well.

I’m curious to see which photos people like better!

(Just FYI – you find some weird shizz when you do a search on Google for ‘photo experiment.’ 😛 )

Dance Experiment – Video #5

Things continue to move along at light speed, and I am running around like a maniac trying to keep up!  The dancers who volunteered for the dance experiment I proposed have gone above and beyond to help.  The latest video offering I have for you is Winnie’s contribution to the experiment.

Broken Ones – Winnie

The creativity of these dancers is just amazing.

Once again, if there are any flaws in the video, the fault is mine, not those of the dancer.

The dance experiment is fast drawing to a close, so if you have enjoyed these videos, please make sure you tell the dancers when you see them around the grid!

Dance Experiment – Video #4

The dance experiment continues!  This latest video is from Red Queen (queenie.acacia).

As always, any flaws in the video are my fault, not the dancer’s.  Enjoy!

Broken Ones – Red Queen

There are still a few more videos left for this experiment, so stay tuned. 🙂

Dance Experiment – Video #2

Despite the holiday busy-ness and my full schedule, I managed to find some time to finish up work on one of the dance videos for my little experiment.

This offering is from Lotta Difference (from the Paramount Playhouse – check out their blog here).  I gave all the dancer victims, erm, volunteers a song.  They were to create a routine using that song.  No other limits – they could build a set or not, use emotes or not, etc.

If there are any mistakes in the videos, they are my fault (or my computer’s, or my ISP’s), not those of any of the dancers.

I want to again say a great big Thank You! to those dancers who volunteered their time and energy for this project.

I do have another video in the works.  I will be posting it in the next few days as well.  I still have several other volunteers who are close to being finished, so once I hear from them and film their routines, those videos will be posted.

I have embedded the video, but if it doesn’t show for you, just click the link below.

Lotta Difference – Broken Ones

Enjoy!

 

News and Stuff

Image Source: http://www.darrickbynum.com

I almost didn’t get a chance to write a post today, I’ve been so busy.

I’m still recovering from my post-Thanksgiving tryptophan-induced coma, but I did manage to get a few things done today. 🙂

I took down all the Thanksgiving decorations and put up all the Christmas decorations, including the tree, so woohoo!  I don’t have a fireplace anymore, so I’m still debating where to hang our stockings.  The Christmas music playing may now commence. 😛

I am still working on learning the new Artiste HUD, but I will be blogging about my learning experiences on here shortly.  I think I’m driving Yummy slightly crazy with all my questions, but she hasn’t killed me yet, so I’m taking that as a good sign. 🙂

I have now finished filming two more videos for the dance experiment (a big thank you to Lotta and Baby, who graciously volunteered).  I will be getting those posted as soon as possible so that you can see them – they’re pretty amazing!  I can’t wait to see what the other participants have come up with – I’m blown away by the creativity of these dancers.

I hope you all had a terrific holiday (if you celebrated) and I hope you enjoyed the plethora of Black Friday sales – both in RL and SL.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Experiment – Volunteers Needed

Image Source: http://www.lissyonok-wookiee.ru

One of the things I love about writing a blog is the conversations and discussions that spring from it.  I’ve been discussing the question of whether dance in SL should be considered ‘art.’

My resounding answer is YES.  Yes, we all use the same basic tools.  Yes, we use animations that don’t change.  But the way in which we use the tools and create a dance is unique to each performer and is most definitely ‘art.’

In discussing the issue with others, I made the statement that if you gave 4 dancers the same song, odds are you’d end up with 4 very different routines. Now, I don’t think you could do this in a dance performance.  What audience will want to hear the same song 4 times in a row?  BUT – it would be possible to video the dances and then let people view them at their leisure.

So, if you are a dancer, and you’re interested in participating in my little experiment, let me know.  I haven’t settled on a song yet, but I have a few ideas in mind.

This will be interesting. 🙂