I had a plan. I had a shopping list of stuff I had seen that I loved and had an idea for a picture. The dress, the hair, the flowery arm wraps. The birdie, perched on my hand. A blooming garden and soft light. It should have been a cinch.

Instead, I fought the depth of shadows caused by the ruffles and pleats of this dress. Don’t get me wrong; I love it. It is everything I adore – romantic and feminine and delicate, the textures and construction are impeccable. But all of those folds played havoc with getting a photo that didn’t end up looking like the dress had been shot through with holes.

This is also a dress that is designed for standing still. The way the skirt puddles and flares is lovely when posed for a portrait, but when I walked it reminded me of a duck. I laughed when I waddled across the garden to find a position for this shoot. The designer had the right idea; the limitations of mesh make anything created static and flexi-prims just wouldn’t work, either. I am hopeful for the day that there is the capability in Second Life for mesh to have movement.

I had another picture I was going to add to this post, showing the front, but after spending almost an hour trying to soften the SL-rendered hard edges to the ruffles and shadows, I had enough. You’ll have to either imagine how it looks or go get it yourself.

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

Dress: =Zenith=(Begie)Lana Long Dress by Miffyhoi Rosco (available at FaMESHed May 2014)
Arm wraps: Lark – Briar Arm Wrap by Sienia Trevellion (for Enchantment)
Necklace/earrings: ::: Krystal ::: Eden – Jewelry Set – Gold by Krystal Jenkins (available at OneWord May 2014)
Hair: *ARGRACE* KOTO – True Red [headband] by rika Oyen (New release)
Skin: [PXL] Creations [PXL] JADE NAT PetalPink MEB C2 (FR) by Hart Larsson
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Hand appliers:[PXL] Creations – [ PXL ] Slink Hand Appliers NAT by Hart Larsson

1st pose: Bounce This Poses – Birdy Pose 1 by Bouncer Criss (gacha prize)

Photo taken using the LumiPro HUD