Second Life

Intimate Moments

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Intimate Moments is not just the name of the ballroom on the sim where my showroom is located, it’s also those photos of couples who want to show their love for one another. I was honestly surprised when the first three “official” couples I did shoots for requested nudes.

I’m not a prude; but I wanted the photos to be erotic – not pornographic. I wanted to show the love and commitment between the pair without showing all of the “bits.” I had to find the right poses, settings and lighting to allow them to “speak to me” so I could produce the types of photographs that created a mood of intimacy between two people in love.

For Tylar and Kaos, I chose a setting with sunlight streaming through the windows, and processed this photo to give it a shadowy, ethereal mood. Their faces aren’t the focal point, but I can sense their feelings for one another in this photo.

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Hope and Shane’s photos were probably the most challenging for me because their skin tones are so different. I knew right away which setting and poses I wanted to use, but the lighting was especially important for balance. But again, the processing is what allowed me to capture the glow of their new love.

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My most recent couples shoot was of Country and Weather. I don’t know them as well as the other two couples, but I had them show me their home to get a feel for who they are. These two are different from the others in that they are a couple in real life, as well as Second Life. I wanted to give them a setting that was a bit exotic and with a mysterious feel.

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Being allowed to capture these intimate moments shows a trust in me that I cherish. These six people allowed me to photograph moments normally only shared in private. To be allowed into their lives in this fashion gives me an opportunity to show the world a glimpse of their love.

Thank you, Tylar & K, Hopers & Shane and Country & Weather for letting me express for you what is in your hearts for one another.

Even Kittens Blink

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Ah…how many otherwise perfect photographs have been ruined by the simple act of blinking? You’ve framed the shot, gotten the lighting and angle just right, and at the instant you snap the shot…your subject blinks!

Sometimes it works out. The closed eyes suit the mood and style you are wanting to capture. Although usually if you want a photo of someone with their eyes closed, you simply ask them to do so.

That doesn’t work in Second Life. Unless you have a pose, such as some sleep poses, that override the standard animations of the avatar and closes the eyes, you have to wait until the subject blinks, then freeze the frame and hope you didn’t capture them with lids half closed. If so…you wait again until they blink and hope you are a bit faster on the mouse button.

But this post isn’t about those instances of trying to capture closed eyes. It’s about those accidental “oopsies” where closed eyes either work…or they don’t.

This one, I think did.

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When I was scrolling through my raw shots to find one or two to finish, I almost went past this one. This was cropped from a full-length shot. And while I don’t think the “blink” would have worked in a full-frame shot, I liked how it turned out for a close-up.

This one, on the other hand, didn’t.

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I thought I could pull off a dreamy look when I saw this one. Instead, to me, it just looked like…I blinked.

Sometimes those droopy eyelids will allow me to show a different mood by happy accident. But most of the time, it’s just one more shot for the rubbish bin.

As for the title of this post? Yes, it’s true…sometimes even kittens blink 🙂

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And The Sunlight Plays In the Shadows

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Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.
~ Carl Sandburg

Shadows. The play of darkness on light. It gives a realism to Second Life photography that isn’t always – or easily – captured.

Because I work in a two-dimensional medium (a game or graphic representation of life), shadows are created artificially. Sometimes they are a texture that is added to a building or a setting. In other cases, they are created by the Windlight settings we select. For those unfamiliar with Second Life (or even those who are, but live in the standard Second Life day/night cycle), Windlight is the ability to create lighting and atmosphere settings. You can change the sky, the position of the sun, the clouds, and even the water. This is not a tutorial on how to create or even use Windlight; but it is a tool that allows the inhabitants of Second Life to create a mood for a particular setting.

When I am doing a photo shoot, I will cycle through a variety of Windlight settings, often taking multiple shots of the same pose, in the same position, just to derive a different quality in the picture. Sometimes they work; sometimes they don’t. As any photographer knows, often what you envision in your mind’s eye doesn’t translate to the image that is produced.

This photo is one that I took utilising the artificial shadows incorporated into the build. The play of the light and dark gives this shot a different feel than if it was taken without the shadows.

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And this photo, using the same pose but adding a Windlight setting that incorporates shadows, gives the image more realism (well, except for the duck on my shoulder 😉 )

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And the sun comes out, with lightness balancing the dark, to play hide and seek with shadows.