This week, the lesson was about the Phototools Depth of Field and Glow settings. Our assignment was to take a photo using a technique or concept we learned in the class. Last week, the critique Koko had for my photo was that it might look a little better if the fire and beach were a little more blurry (you have to understand, in landscapes, I mostly like everything to be razor sharp!) so I decided to go back to the same location and duplicate the picture with some blur in the fire and beach.
I adjusted, adjusted some more, and readjusted the Phototool sliders until I had achieved what I considered to be a pleasingly blurry look. I saved the picture, went to my computer to look at it, and was completely dismayed! Oh, NO! What?! Lol. What I saw was a completely clear picture, no discernible blur at all!
Very luckily, Wren was on Second Life and I could ask her what had happened. She explained that it was because of my good computer, which took it upon itself to make a very clear image. I paid 4,000.00 to have a super fast and powerful computer made, and NOW it is giving me trouble! Lol. The remedy for the problem? Go back into SL and adjust, adjust, adjust until I saw on my computer the look I wanted to have in my photo.
I am sure all this gets easier and quicker with practice. I think this is akin to learning how to ride a bicycle. Lol.
So, here are the settings I used to get this week's homework:
Preferences settings (I kept the particles because I wanted the roaring fire to be included as part of the photo, and for Hardware Settings, I had anti-aliasing set at 16x):
The Windlight Settings:
The Edit Sky Preset, with the sun rising very nearly in the west:
The Light settings (I wanted to keep Local Lights, because I wanted to keep the firelight):
And, the Depth of Field and Glow settings:
So, I decided to take a simple, quick screen capture of the view I had in Second Life, the view I had to have in order to achieve the desired look in the actual photo on my computer. It is amazingly out of focus! This is it:
And here is what that very same view looked like on my computer, giving me the photo I decided to use for class. This is a RAW shot with some crop:
And, just for fun, here is the similar photo I used for class 2, without any blur at all. In comparing the two, the fire and beach are more blurry, as well as the trees behind the sail, and certainly the sea, sky, and horizon. For what I was trying to attain, I am pleased with the overall effect.
The pictures were taken at Kaleidoscope sim: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kaleidoscope/185/144/29
Thank you so much for looking!
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