I have a vendor spot in the “Boats” area at Busy Ben’s Vehicle Lot, and I’ve been working on a boat to sell there, hanging out in the Blake Sea – Azimuth rezzing area as a workspace for no particular reason. And every once in awhile a big empty boat would pass by.

The other day I sat on the boat to see what would happen, and found myself in the pilot’s seat, pretend-steering the ferry between various islands. I happened to be IMing nice friend Mallow at the time, and TPd her over to see. When she sat, she appeared in the pilothouse next to me, co-piloting away:

(Nice pale Windlight sky preset whose name I don’t remember.)

I know I’ve been sort of skeptical about Linden-run builds in SL, and that includes, directly or indirectly, alot of the stuff in the Blake Sea.

But I can’t deny that they can be fun, and also really lovely…

See you on the high seas!

LX Gallery  presents Explorations of the Virtual World by Sebcaen Ulysses

During Zombiefest I got some nice things from “Rotten Toe” and decided to visit Elsa Liebknecht’s store to check out the rest of her range. I left not only with a bunch of outfits, torn stockings and free skull rain boots, but also with this awesome avatar. She is called “Pigface Nelly” but I renamed her “Nelly Pigface” because everybody needs a proper surname.

I have written about the island “Las Arenas Rosadas” in the past and only realised recently that it is part of a whole island group. Therefore I decided to take Nelly on a summer holiday to Las Rocas.
I am constantly on the look-out for nice loungers to take pictures and these ones must be the best I have seen so far. They contain 23 different poses and some of them even change the lounger itself. You may be wondering why Nelly is wearing such an intriguing bathing costume – Nelly has a few more nipples than normal people have and therefore covering them all takes a bit more effort and fabric. I found out about those extra-nipples when putting her into one of Rotten Toe’s asymmetrical dresses *coughs*.

While strolling through the sim I was wondering about the pink particles and finally found a notecard with an explanation. They are part of an exhibition called “comet NAIMA Las Islas” by comet morigi, which was opened in October 2009 and stretches over 1030 m through the Las Islas sims. How fascinating! I spent about an hour just watching the long stretch of particles change shape and direction, taking lots and lots of pictures.

Changing the Windlight settings makes the whole scenery even more beautiful. You can download the pink sunset preset which I used in the photo below here: [Download Sunset Pink].

My recipe for a perfect SL afternoon: Silly avatar + ocean + jet ski + particles = YAY!

Teleport to Las Rocas here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Las%20Rocas/197/14/21
Teleport to Rotten Toe here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Baie%20St%20Anne/190/194/59
Pose in the first picture “HaaHaa” by Twosome: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Floyd/148/25/23

Whenever I feel in a fairytale mood, “Evie’s Closet” is my first stop. Evangeline Miles creates the most gorgeous gowns and fairy dresses and it is always hard to for me to choose from the huge selection. This time however I wanted something pink and when I saw the “Isabella” dresses, I knew immediately which one to go for. “Isabella” is available in two variations with a long formal gown and a more playful ballet skirt with flexible fairy wings. I bought the ballet skirt, which made my fairy sheep perfect (“Shy Sheep” avatar CSR 2009 gift by **DP**yumyum).

This picture was taken at Elven Forest, which I already blogged recently. Yesterday however I was feeling adventurous and decided to try and find a new and relatively undiscovered place via the search function.

Continue reading at “Who Let The Dorks Out“.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about experimenting with Windlight and now I have finally managed to upload the files for sharing them with you. With these settings it is possible to achieve very graphic and colourful effects, which fascinates me everytime I decide to use them. Just give it a go and also try to use them in different locations to see how they change your environment. Sometimes it might be necessary to adjust the Sun/Moon position or East Angle in the Advanced Sky Settings for optimal lighting of your avatar or object of interest. Also do play around with the other sliders and see what happens.

Click here to download the surreal Windlight presets at “Who Let The Dorks Out“.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about experimenting with Windlight and now I have finally managed to upload the files for sharing them with you. With these presets it is possible to achieve very graphic and colourful effects, which fascinates me everytime I decide to use them. Just give it a go and also try to use them in different locations to see how they change your environment. Sometimes it might be necessary to adjust the Sun/Moon position or East Angle in the Advanced Sky Settings for optimal lighting of your avatar or object of interest. Also do play around with the other sliders and see what happens.

Download “Surreal – Brazil”.

Download “Surreal – Flirt”.

Download “Surreal – Summer”.

Download “Surreal – Night”.

Download “Surreal – Fire”.

And this is the same picture using the default sky settings.

I would be more than happy if you would link back to this blog if you use any of these settings– mainly so that other people can download them too and because I am very curious on how others might use them. But I do know how difficult it can be to remember which settings were used during a photo shoot and that it isn’t always feasible. Therefore it isn’t a requirement for use. Click here for a tutorial by Torley Linden on how to install Windlight presets.

Credits:
Pictures were taken at Las Arenas Rosadas.

Skin: Belle Pale Smokey Kisses by Belleza
Eyes by Miriel (no longer available)
Hair: Janae by EDT
Swimsuit “Sabrina” by Artilleri
Pose: Hi-Fi OR037 standing on one leg balancing by Eri Helendale

For a while now I have been playing with the thought to offer some of the Windlight settings used in my pictures as downloads. Finally I got organised and remembered to actually save some of the settings while taking photos for this post in Elvenforest . This is the first time I am trying this so please let me know if the downloads or anything else does not work. For a guide on how to install Windlight settings, please take a look at this tutorial written by Torley Linden. I would be more than happy if you would link back to this blog if you use any of them – mainly so that other people can download them too and because I am very curious on how others might use them. But I do know how difficult it can be to remember which settings were used during a photo shoot and that it isn’t always feasible. Therefore it isn’t a requirement for use.

Click here to view and download the four Fairy Windlight settings.

For a while now I have been playing with the thought to offer some of the Windlight settings used in my pictures as downloads. Finally I got organised and remembered to actually save some of the settings while taking photos for this post in Elvenforest . This is the first time I am trying this so please let me know if the downloads or anything else does not work. For a guide on how to install Windlight settings, please take a look at this tutorial written by Torley Linden. I would be more than happy if you would link back to this blog if you use any of them – mainly so that other people can download them too and because I am very curious on how others might use them. But I do know how difficult it can be to remember which settings were used during a photo shoot and that it isn’t always feasible. Therefore it isn’t a requirement for use.

Divshare: Fairy blue
Box.net: Fairy blue

Divshare: Fairy dark blue
Box.net: Fairy dark blue

Divshare: Fairy light pink
Box.net: Fairy light pink

Divshare: Fairy warm pinks
Box.net: Fairy warm pinks

And this is how this photo looks like with a Second Life default sky.

Have fun!

Oggi vorrei presentarvi una land che ho scoperto alcuni giorni fa grazie agli stream di alcuni bravissimi fotografi di Second Life, quali Seb Ulysses, Liquer Felix e Alia. Invogliato dalle loro splendide realizzazioni, ho deciso di andare a visionare questo luogo.

Dopo pochi secondi di attesa, mi sono trovato davanti una sterminata distesa di grano, con una casetta ed un albero solitari in mezzo a tanta tranquillità.

Tranquillità, questa è stata la prima sensazione che ho avvertito una volta che tutti gli elementi di questa suggestiva land erano caricati e visibili.

Nella mia permanenza ho incontrato un’altra bravissima fotografa di SL, Clorinda Boucher, con la quale ho avuto una cordialissima chiacchierata. Anche lei ha realizzato un’immagine molto bella di Dark Sin, potete visionarla cliccando sul suo nome.

Per quanto mi riguarda, stavolta un’unica immagine, ho provato a ritrarre lo stesso soggetto con quattro diversi preset del windlight e poi ho lavorato su quello che mi piaceva di più, magari tornerò a visitare questa land nei prossimi giorni, alla ricerca di qualche nuovo angolo di ripresa, oppure per ambientarci uno dei ritratti su cui sto lavorando ormai da alcuni mesi

Questa volta vorrei anche proporvi un accompagnamento musicale in tema con la foto: Sting – Fields of Gold

Location: Dark Sin

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dark+Sin/139/249/24

Immagine realizzata il 11 Settembre 2009

]]> http://harperganesvoort.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/lighthouse/ Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:33:49 +0000 Harper http://harperganesvoort.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/lighthouse/

The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
and on its outer point, some miles away,
the lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
…
And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright,
through the deep purple of the twilight air,
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light,
with strange, unearthly splendor in the glare!

The Lighthouse, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The lighthouse here is in Isla Menorca, and I discovered it from the opening wallpaper on Emerald Viewer.  Emerald has this nifty ability to visit the place that the wallpaper picture was taken at.  And Isla is an excellent place:  a series of islands — not the ones set up as house lots, but far more like something on the New England or Canadian east coast of North America.  A lighthouse on one of the outcroppings here would be appropriate indeed….

Fashion details:

Standard shape/skin type 1, except:  Redgrave Moon Pale 07 skin

• Hair: Goldie Locks Regina (white/blue tips)
• Lashes: Detour Edge
• Shirt: SAS Bibi top (the bodice from an evening gown; not available separately)
• Pants: SLink Skinny Leather Pants (silver)
• Shoes: Style metallic snakeskin boots
• Jewelry: Imagen Triangulos suite

Photographed with WindLight settings by Torley Linden, Chinese Legacy

Las Rocas

Ciao a tutti, causa mancanza di tempo il blog è stato un po’ messo in disparte nell’ultimo mese e mezzo, probabilmente ne rivedrò l’impostazione per il futuro in modo da poterlo seguire un po’ di più…

La land che voglio presentarvi oggi si estende su due sim: Pathfinder Hilands e Pathfinder Lowlands, le costruzioni sono ben realizzate e si inseriscono armonicamente nel paesaggio, che offre ottimi spunti per gli amanti della fotografia virtuale.

Consiglio una visita anche ai semplici turisti virtuali, alla ricerca di qualche posto interessante e particolare

Location: Pathfinder Islands

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pathfinder Lowlands/111/127/24

Immagini realizzate il 6 Luglio 2009

Windlight (aka advanced sky settings) is one of the main reasons I love Second Life so much. In virtual reality we can put together any motive and scenery our imagination (and SL resources) allow. With Windlight we can paint the sky, move the clouds and create unique moods. Even more interesting is the possibility to go beyond realistic and natural settings and push Windlight to its extremes – with alien skies, dark gloomy cities or fairytale forests. Playing around with the settings one day I found that it was even possible to produce very graphic, almost expressionistic images, with very clear lines and a few bright colours. “Solitude” (shown below) is one of my favourite pictures, created purely in SL. I am still fascinated by this effect and therefore decided to write a small tutorial on how to achieve it.

Continue reading at “Who Let The Dorks Out“.

Windlight (aka advanced sky settings) is one of the main reasons I love Second Life so much. In virtual reality we can put together any motive and scenery our imagination (and SL resources) allow. With Windlight we can paint the sky, move the clouds and create unique moods. Even more interesting is the possibility to go beyond realistic and natural settings and push Windlight to its extremes – with alien skies, dark gloomy cities or fairytale forests. Playing around with the settings one day I found that it was even possible to produce very graphic, almost expressionistic images, with very clear lines and a few bright colours. “Solitude” (shown below) is one of my favourite pictures, created purely in SL. I am still fascinated by this effect and therefore decided to write a small tutorial on how to achieve it.

If you haven’t used your advanced sky settings before, you have to give it a go. You can find them under “World – Environment Settings – Environment Editor”. The whole atmosphere of a sim depends on the right setting and often creators provide a specific skysetting to enhance the experience. But not only landscapes and skies benefit from a lower or higher sun angle and improved lighting. It is amazing how your avatar looks can change with the right Windlight setting. My own “default” sky is Caliah Lyon’s “Optimised Windlight Setting”, which is described and can be downloaded on her website.

One image says more than a thousand words, so just take a look at these two pictures. The first image was taken at Las Arenas Rosadas using default sky settings, the second one using Caliah’s setting. The optimised setting is brighter and more colourful and is a great “neutral” setting to start off adventures at unknown places or for taking general pics. If you want to extend your collection of custom sky settings, a “must-have” are Torley’s 240 Windlight settings, which I often use as starting point for further adjustments and modifications.

To achieve the graphic effects I was describing earlier, the two most important sliders are the “Scene Gamma” slider and the “Sun/Moon position” slider under “Lighting”. Starting with the Optimised Windlight setting, I take the “Scene Gamma” back as far as possible, for example to a value of 0.07 or 0.14. Then I move the “Sun/Moon Position” slightly towards the middle and voilà – your surroundings will suddenly appear very surreal. It is very hard to put in words what effect the different sliders have in this setting. Some atmospheric ones will determine whether your avatar is more filled with colour or more outlined, others influence the horizon shape or the colours of the picture. “East Angle” has quite an effect as well and if your picture is very dark, try the “Ambient” slider to make it lighter. Just play a bit with them and you will start to get a feel for it. Or take a look at the screenshots to see how changing sliders can effect the result.

(Unfortunately I crashed after taking this picture and was not able to make screenshots of the settings. I included it however to show you how much the atmosphere can be changed).

For this image I used Torley’s “Arakissed” setting and adjusted only a few sliders in the “Lighting” menu to achieve a beautiful sunset silhouette effect.

These are just some examples of pictures I took at AM Radio’s “The Red and the Wild” some time ago. The first one is a fairly normal setting, whereas the second one was taken with an “expressionistic” setting. In pictures three and four I ended up with a more subtle effect.

Finally, if you would like to share your Windlight experiments, I can only recommend these two Flickr groups: “Second Life Windlight” and “Second Life Windlight – extreme settings“.

Have fun with Windlight!

beautifull machinima by Spyvspy Aeon

La land che voglio mostrarvi oggi appartiene a quella categoria di luoghi in cui, senza nessun motivo apparente, è possibile trascorrere molto tempo senza rendersene conto.

Mentre pensavo a cosa scrivere in proposito mi sono imbattuto nel blog della mia cara amica Micalita ed ho scoperto che anche lei ha recentemente dedicato un po’ del suo tempo (ed un post) a questa land.

Detto questo, preferisco rimandarvi al suo ottimo post per leggere una descrizione della land e lasciare subito spazio alle immagini, non prima però di averle “rubato” la frase di chiusura del pezzo: “E’ bello perdersi per questo luogo, dove ci sono molti dettagli da scoprire.“

Location: Drowsy

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Drowsy/187/48/37

Immagini realizzate il 21 ed il 22 Giugno 2009

Fim-de-semana à porta! Maravilha!

Das aulas que a Winter Wardhani deu no mini-curso sobre Fotografia, especialização Windlight, na terceira semana de Abril, surgiram trabalhos tão bons que merecem uma exposição (esquecendo o meu lol Não tenho jeitinho nenhum para esta arte!). Esse evento está agendado para este sábado dia 9 de Maio, pelas 22h (GMT), 2.00 pm (PDT).

Aqui fica o cartaz que a Mestra Winter compôs e editou com o convite para a exposição. Ora digam lá se a Winter não é uma especialista?

A Exposição vai decorrer em Owl’s Bay e………….. estão todos convidados! (quer tenham estado nas aulas quer não!).

Post escrito com urgência, pois a primeira aula é já amanhã, dia 4 de Maio, 2ªfeira! [Não se fiquem por ler apenas este post. Vejam o anterior da Tary e os deste fim-de-semana!]

Como podem reparar, a agenda está cheia, e com novidades!

Vamos ter três mini-cursos (adoptámos esta designação para referir um conjunto de duas aulas), uma exposição de trabalhos de alunos e o início de um Curso. O primeiro mini-curso é sobre Fotografia, mas agora direccionado para os estúdios e sua utilização. O Imso Obscure vai começar por ensinar a construir um estúdio rezzable e unrezzable, na 1ª aula que é já amanhã, dia 4, para depois no dia 6, se centrar em fotos tiradas em estúdio.

Na segunda semana do mês, teremos outro mini-curso dado pelo M2life Paravane para recordarmos novamente a importância das texturas na qualidade dos objectos que construímos.

Na terceira semana do mês, o mini-curso é dado pela Winter Wardhani subordinado à temática “Entrei em SL! E agora?” Sim, há muitas pessoas novas a entrar em SL e, da sessão de Storytells que tivemos anteriormente, foi possivel identificar problemas comuns nesta fase da vida sliana. Não vou agora discriminá-los. A Winter irá abordá-los!

Na última semana, M2life Paravane inicia novo curso sobre Sculpties, com prolongamento para o mês de Junho.

Em complemento e extensão de aulas já dadas, dia 9 de Maio, sábado, todos os alunos que participaram no mini-curso de Fotografia, especialização WindLight, dado pela Winter, estão convidados a exporem os trabalhos desenvolvidos. A exposição vai decorrer em Owls’ Bay. A seu tempo, todos serão contactados para pormos esta exposição de pé!

Como sempre fazemos notar, o calendário pode estar sujeito a alterações que, a haver, serão anunciadas em tempo útil. Todas as aulas têm início previsto para as 22h30m (GMT), 2.30 pm (PDT).

Marquem nas agendas e até lá (neste caso, é até amanhã!)

Questa sera, al posto di una singola land, vorrei presentare alcune immagini di luoghi differenti, ma con un unico comune denominatore: l’artista che le ha create.

Il nome AM Radio, per chi non è pratico del mondo di Second Life, ricorderà unicamente l’omonimo sistema di trasmissione, sostituito negli anni dalla più famosa FM.

Su Second Life AM Radio è il nome di un artista molto conosciuto e famoso per le sue installazioni, che sono continuamente meta di visite da parte degli appassionati di fotografia virtuale e anche di semplici curiosi

Alcune di queste installazioni oggi non sono purtroppo più visitabili, sostituite da altre più recenti, personalmente l’ho scoperto con un po’ di ritardo e quindi le primissime ho potuto solo ammirarle tramite le foto ed i blog di altre persone.

Vi riporto qui di seguito le immagini che ho potuto realizzare nelle sue più recenti installazioni, come sempre corredate dal relativo slurl, così potrete andare a visionare di persona queste piccole perle

Location: NMC Arts Lab

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC Arts Lab/154/121/21

Immagine realizzata il 2 Gennaio 2009

Location: Welsh Lakes

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Welsh Lakes/92/133/37

Immagine realizzata il 22 Febbraio 2009

Location: The Far Away by AM Radio

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Welsh Cove/71/171/23

Immagini realizzate il 18 e 19 Marzo 2009

Location: AM Radio’s The Red and The Wild

Slurl: slurl.com/secondlife/IDIA Laboratories/15/156/21

Immagini realizzate il 28/04/2009

Oggi vorrei mostrarvi alcune immagini di “Bord Du Lac”. una land molto bella ambientata in un contesto lacustre realizzato con cura.

In questa land sono presenti alcune case che possono essere affittate, sinceramente non ho guardato a quali condizioni contrattuali, dato che ero lì unicamente per fare foto

Considerato che una immagine spesso vale molto più di mille parole, lascio subito spazio alle foto realizzate negli ultimi due giorni

Location: Bord Du Lac

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bord Du Lac/128/128/0

Immagini realizzate il 26 ed il 27 Aprile 2009

Ho scoperto oggi questa land tramite un articolo del New World Notes, relativo alla sim preferita per il primo trimestre 2009, scelta operata congiuntamente dagli utenti di Koinup e dai lettori di NWN.

La land nasce con scopi commerciali, infatti è il quartier generale di un’agenzia di cambio in Linden$, ma è stata terraformata e buildata con un occhio di riguardo all’estetica. Non si può infatti fare a meno di notare la bellissima costruzione ad opera dell’architetto / designer Scope Cleaver, che vi mostrerò nelle immagini qui di seguito.

Location: MaxMoney

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/MaxMoney/60/45/53

Immagini realizzate il 22 Aprile 2009