"It's possible," I recently mused to a technology journalist, "that Second Life may become an immersive Photoshop, and even if its user base remains smaller than many other virtual worlds, it'll go on to become a content creation platform that everyone on the Internet benefits from-- just like Photoshop." Or words to that effect.
Latest illustration of that point is this painterly image of Second Life's Straylight island, first found on Panteleimon Aeon's Koinup account, as lush and dream-inspiring as a classic 19th century landscape portrait. Creation began in SL with WindLight settings, then went through several iterations in post-processing. ("I should note that the haze in the distance was created by WindLight," Aeon tells me, "and not post-processed.") He took it as a very high-res image, 3000x1900 pixels, "to keep things nice and crisp, and avoid the jaggies."
Outside SL, he filtered the image file through Photoshop's render light filter, "adding light up top in the sky section, while darkening the foreground...I've been using this filter more and more recently, it gives me nice results." In Photoshop,he copied the image into 3 to 4 separate layers. I proceeded to play with levels, colors, hues, contrast and so on, on each layer individually, giving them different shades, which looked pleasing to me... then I piled the layers together, and adjusted opacities and so on, 'till I came to a satisfying result. He also added a colored gradient, to give it the reddish-brown hue, and once finished in Photoshop, used the free editing program Photofiltre to save the final result "'cause it's quick and easy."
See more of Panteleimon Aeon's equally fine works on his Koinup profile; view the entire Tableau album here, and read on for guidelines to submitting one of your own.
Submitting to New World Tableau:
New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.
- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place
here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail ([email protected]) me the
link. Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.)
-
Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the
case, and what effects were added. (On rare occasions when the
post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are
also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I
have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been
appropriately CC licensed. The original creator retains all their
rights to it, in any case.
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