Reader and blogger Isabelli Anatine asked for a tutorial on how to get a chiaroscuro effect in Second Life photos and so here goes. First I started out the making myself a projector as I already explained how to do in an earlier tutorial Lighting, Shadows and Projectors, Oh My!.
For me and all the others who worked on the Donna Flora A to Z project, this third new dress in the last month is an encouraging sign on growing strength. I always looked forward to Squinternet Larnia’s weekly notecard of new releases because she is a designer that produces new, fun and different designs. Though sometimes I wondered if she ever slept when I looked at how many releases she used to do each week. It’s exciting that she’s back to producing new things for all of us – even if at a slower pace. This new Harlow dress has all the hallmarks of a Donna Flora design, elegant, feminine and romantic with a special Damn Fine detail that shows it’s hers. In this case, the ombre skirt that takes the pastel dress from sunshine to shadow. It comes in three colors, blue, pink and yellow. I chose the yellow because it was the most literal sunshine to shadow.
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Having received some wonderful lingerie recently, I decided to pull out my old Debutante Chaise Lounge from Diesel Works. I am sure there are newer ones around, but I don’t care. That old lounge is still one of the best pose props ever made. I started out with the fabulous new lingerie from Iota Ultsch. She’s not done lingerie before, but you wouldn’t know from this. She’s made a double rainbow of colors, so check it out. It’s pretty sexy and it took some careful posing to keep it PG. Luckily with 25 poses built in, that’s not an issue.
I have been shooting some pictures for Gidge – vendor photos for her new releases for the upcoming Culture Shock 2012 event benefitting Médecins Sans Frontières. She’s still working away busily on even more pose prop options, but I got her permission to give you little peeks. For the vendor ad and this post, I wore the incredibly hot Cigarette Pants from One Bad Pixel. I chose the peach because it’s one of my favorite colors and a color that looks flattering on nearly everyone.
In case you slept through yesterday, a new collaboration has launched featuring high quality mesh clothing from two established designers who are working together to develop a line of mesh clothing that is naughty and nice. One Bad Pixel is naughtily sexy, with figure-hugging styles that lay so beautifully against the skin and it’s nicely done, made with attention to detail, flawless texturing and fabulous colors. This is the Pearl dress in Aubergine – just one in a double rainbow of colors.
Nyu is a brand new store in Second Life featuring classic ready to wear separates from NyuNyu Kimono in beautifully textured mesh. I love the elegant minimalism of her clothing that focuses on quality and clean aesthetics. You can hide lots of mistakes with embellishments, but not with these simple classics. The Vintage Blouse is from her shop while the skirt is one you have seen a few times before – the Westbury mini from Mon Tissu. I fatpacked the Westbury mini because it’s one that will stand the test of time.
NyuNyu also made a stunning coat that I am in love with. It comes in 4 colors and it was so hard to choose just one, though I settled for this one because I loved how its color worked with the blouse and I thought they would work beautifully together – which comes to one of my quibbles, not with the store, but with the properties of mesh overall.
This gorgeous jacket from Swansong is called Serendipity. Serendipity is one of my favorite words as well as a lovely concept. While I don’t believe in fate or karma or other supernatural interventions in our lives, I do believe in serendipity. Serendipity is making desirable discoveries by accident, finding fortunate or agreeable things while you’re not looking for them, the happy coincidences of life. It’s that charming coincidence of deciding to wear a bright, colorful jacket like this one from Swansong and teleporting to Collbora88 and finding the fabulously florescent colored shoes from R2 that are a perfect complement, without even intending to look for them.
I love prints and colors. I am a veritable magpie in my love of bright colors and prints. So when the new release of fun little jumpsuits from Baiastice came out in five luscious wild and colorful prints, I was all over it.
I spent far too much shopping this weekend with so many new releases and events that I decided to take a break and go for a walk at the fabulous Noweeto Grasslands. I thought the lizard tote from Celoe would love to go for a walk with me.
So I went looking for a lovely place to shoot and found Misali – a gorgeous water sim with small islands that hold lovely little set pieces perfect for the SL photographer. Since I was wearing the purple and sapphire dress and jacket outfit from Baiastice I decided to use the lovely Purple Moonlight windlight setting from Elysium Elide. I love the dress and the jacket and like them together, though this does highlight one of the reasons I have not become a 100% supporter of mesh. I would love to have them as separate pieces, but unlike system clothing, mesh separates can be difficult to fit together. Some strategies I have used to make mesh separates work is to wear a M under and an L on top, though that does not always work. That’s why designers like Baiastice’ Sissy Pessoa make the outfits in one unified mesh instead of separates. It makes them work together perfectly, adjusting to your poses and preventing all intersections, but it does reduce our opportunity to make individualist styling choices.
Or maybe we just have to dig a little deeper to come up with new ways to add our own quirks and options. Here, I added the collar and sleeve fur pieces from a Bliss Couture jacket. I decided to tie the jacket more directly to the dress, adding the accents in the sapphire color of the dress.