A little guide to SL photography…

As mentioned previously, I ran across some striking portraits on Pinterest, under photography ideas, that I wanted to challenge myself to try with SL digital photography.  I attached my trusty LUMIPro lighting HUD and began to experiment.  Although it is expensive, if you’re into photography or blogging SL pictures, I think this awesome HUD is well worth the cost and can do some amazing things.  Warning, this is going to have a lot of pictures because I wanted to showcase the different colors and how you can achieve incredibly different looks via angles.  All were taken with the midnight windlight.  Please also note that I used the stylist with my Truth hair to move the hair so that colors could be emphasized, etc.  (How in the world did we make do with the old fashioned hair?!  Truth spoiled me for other brands by being one of the first to offer the stylist options.  lol)

First, I started with the original soft lighting it provides utilizing the butterfly lighting selection.

I then customized the color of the lighting balls (think of poseballs but emit light instead) and moved their positions a bit, to cast the light across the body slightly differently than it usually does with the butterfly lighting option.  Instead of utilizing the RGB default that creates the natural soft hue, I changed one to blue, one to pink, and another to purple.  I also adjusted the intensity and falloff of the lighting (seriously, this thing is so customizable it’s insane).  At first I made pink the dominant right color and a softer blue to the left side, with a hint of purple from lower behind (it actually just pumped up the color of the other two instead of changing the effect).

I wanted to provide a closeup of the first pose to show the difference between the color falloff I had set.  If you notice in the first picture, her legs are closer to the normal soft RGB hue, whereas the emphasis of color is focused on her face.  Not only did I customize that setting, but I also positioned the blue and pink attached lighting balls on the sides of her face  (I always leave them attached and just hide them when taking pictures or not in use, since they don’t have much complexity impact at all).  I think the second pose shows how a slightly different angle made the hands and left cheek really pretty.

I then moved the purple lighting ball higher, so it cast a slightly different hue to the pictures and I thought they turned out really gorgeous, so I had to include them.  🙂  Plus, that crouched position shows off the lighting SO well in my opinion.  Note how the pink is more of a kiss of color instead of being so dominant, since I brought the darker tones to the forefront.

For the next set I tried one with the pink still at the left side, but then I made the blue and purple lighting balls more dominant, which I think gives a whole different feel to the pictures, despite being repeats of the same poses as previous ones.  I also moved the balls around between shots, so some pictures are darker and more striking to me.

I then couldn’t resist a more active shot that shows off how the three colors light different areas of the body and I think color gives it even more impact, but that could just be me and my being proud of my experiment while I had a lot of fun.  *grin*

Hubba hubba does that hint of skin pop with the color! And a tattoo with lace never worked so well together. 😉

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little lighting color experiment and maybe sparked a little creativity in you.  Also, I really hope that if you’re into SL photography that you consider the investment into LUMIPro (not sponsored, just really impressed by it), after seeing some of the options it offers.  It offers so many options without using harsh WLs or face lights/projectors, and I seriously love that I can share it with others, so when Luke and I take pictures together, like in the apocalyptic Ohm shoot, I can gently light both of us with just a couple clicks.

Have a great day and enjoy your SL travels! 🙂

Pose Credits:

All but the last were from West End Poses Spring Daisy Pose Collection, although I didn’t use the flower and let my AO shift my hands and head for some pictures.  (Note: they moved recently, and I’m having trouble logging in, so I may have the old SLurl.  I’m sorry if I do!)

The last pose is the Luanes World pose named Be Fearless.