Fashion Blog Pics, a Diatribe Against Windlight and This Week's Photo Mariko

When planning a photo shoot for my fashion blog, I travel to a number of sims looking for interesting background for the fashions. I also experiment with poses and angles. When shooting the picture above, I was sampling the atmospheric effects available using windlight. As a rule, I don't use windlight principally because it makes avatars look crappy. Under windlight, avatars tend to be waxy in appearance and look as artificial as department store manikins. There are windlight settings that undo this effect on avatars. But they essentially remove windlight, so why use it in the first place. Windlight is great for taking pictures of landscapes with marvelous clouds.  However, unless you are a skilled Second Life photographer or use a setting that removes the its lighting effect on avatars, I think it is best to not use windlight to photograph avatars. As for people who walk around Second Life with windlight always set, don't set me off on this subject.

For an extensive examination of windlight and avatar appearance, see my post Walking With Windlight Again - Windlight is Not Avatar Friendly:

http://mariko-nightfire.blogspot.com/2011/01/walking-with-windlight-again-windlight.html

I am planning a fashion blog posting of this gorgeous jacket from MEB Fashions. I want an autumn background and one of the sims that I am considering is Japanese Tempura, pictured here. I love this sim; but, perhaps the background is a little too busy to highlight the jacket. However, I do like this picture. Click on the pictures to enlarge them for better viewing. Oh, by the way, the delicate facial features and the translucent quality of the skin seen here would be hard to capture and probably lost using windlight. Windlight can remove up to 50% of the details of a finely crafted skin. That is why many avatars look like cartoons in photos using windlight. After seeing this picture, the details of the skin lost in the previous picture should be obvious.

Pictured here is a location that I considered when planning my fashion post for New Yippie  by Baiastice (posted on June 12). The picture was taken at a magnificent Patch Thibaud designed estate in Costa Rica. I didn't use this location for the blog post. I decided on The Forbidden City in Beijing. But I liked the realism affected in this pic. A picture like this would probably not be possible using windlight without using settings that effectively remove windlight.

A lovely Japanese silk screen provided the background for this outfit called Indiana Boho by SySy.

This is another outfit which I am considering for a future fashion post. Rather then using a sim as background, I experimented with effects achieved in a photo studio.

My sister Victoria is developing an interest in fashion photograpy. This is one of her pictures. She shows great talent doesn't she?  And, I must admit, she worked well with windlight in this picture.

One of Victoria's fashion pictures was a winner in the monthy photo contest held by Nyte N Day. I am so proud of my sister. The kid has star power.

It was Fall Fashion Week in Second Life, and I attended a number of fashion shows. This picture was taken at a fantastic show of fairy themed fashions put on at the Patch Thibaut Auditorium. Lovely, but quite impractical. Can you imagine wearing that on a date, even one in Second Life?

Lulubelle and I wearing 'lion mane' hair in the new flower display

created by Jaysun at my Hallelujah garden.

Lulubelle looks fantastic in this pic.

Where's Waldo?

Jaysun and I at La Cafe Poulard in Mount Saint Michael. I will be writing a blog post on this magnificent sim.

Just a picture to close this post.