"I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user. " - Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft
If you take a look at what we have been able to create, because of technology in general, but specifically, using a computer, it's ridiculous how far we have actually come, as a race.
Think about the evolution of Second Life, and what we, as a community, have managed to turn it into. Gone are the days of horrid textures, slow loading times, blocky looking avatars. Now, we actually look, and act, pretty damned real.
Your window to this world of SL is accessed by your viewer. In your viewer, you have tools to build, and create anything you can imagine....but the viewer itself has limitations, and you are limited by your computer hardware.
When I was taking pictures before, my computer was decent, but the viewer (Emerald, at the time) was horrid. Every time I took an image, it wound up jagged around the edges, because of pixelation.
To the best of my knowledge (and please, feel free to correct me if I am wrong on this,) but the earliest viewer that could REALLY adjust graphics settings, and give a more "real" experience, was Phoenix.
My problem, though, was Phoenix didn't run well on my system. It was slow, and clunky. If I had ever tried to enable advanced graphics, my system would, literally, shut down. I was never able to turn on the option when taking pics to anti-alias them. Things, as a whole, looked better to me using Phoenix than Emerald, but I couldn't fine tune anything.
So when I took an image in SL, it would have the jagged edges, and to help the final image quality, I had a tendency to blur them in Photoshop.
Blur is a fantastic tool, when used properly, and sparingly. However, it can also enable you to become slightly sloppy, and becomes a crutch. I hate admitting this, but I had gotten to the point where blur was used, way, way, way too much in my photographs.
Mistake #4: Becoming too reliant on what worked to accomplish something, instead of looking for ways to improve, and go beyond the norm.
If you were to ask any famous guitar player how to get the purest tone from their guitars, they would answer you, "Guitar direct into the amplifier," and they would be correct. Sure, they can add a million effects to it, but each one of those effects color and change the tone, and slowly and surely, that tone becomes "less pure."
Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp, Corel, all the heavy hitters, are wonderful tools, but they suffer from the same "problem:" for each effect that you add, the less "pure" the shot becomes. A meaning or an idea that one might be trying to portray for an image might get completely lost in translation.
In short? More does not always equal "better," and "too much" usually results in crap. Garbage in, garbage out.
A standard image that I take goes through several cycles through several filters and corrections. Liquify this, clone that, select and adjust curves on this, burn this, but dodge that...etc. The more I did, the less pure my image became.
Too little and the image didn't look right, it looked like it had been simply glossed over and forgotten. Too much, and it removed all aspects and feeling of the original picture.
My style adapted, luckily, and I'm happy to say that I never once had someone pay for a picture they didn't truly enjoy. I've been told by multiple clients that my style of photos in Second Life are unlike anything they had ever seen before. For me, this is a good feeling, and I ALWAYS get a smile when someone tells me they like my shots.
I am happy to say that on Saturday, I spent quite a bit of time messing with graphics within Phoenix, again, with the help of the same woman who helped me re-do my avatar. Anti-aliasing is now turned on, max resolution, the works. Better starts, ultimately, lead to greater finishes.
Remember, the tools we have at our disposal are there to help us achieve something specific, but when we become too reliant upon them, our craft, and our desire to push the bar past our comfort zone suffers.
As I often say: a good photographer is someone who knows how to use Photoshop, but who doesn't. *grins* I've always been convinced that the biggest part for the work on a photo should take place _before_ the shooting, and not after… You kind of confirm that here. *smiles*
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