Alaska Metropolitan told me to check out the Glam World SL magazine last night. I went to the website and browsed through the flashy thingy.
Gosh the Photoshop work sure is pretty and artistic, but it doesn't reflect the real SL, which I think is a bad thing.
We hate it when designers excessively photohop their ads to make their stuff look better, and I think it's a bad idea for the SL magazines to do similar. It also prevents those not familiar with SL from getting an overly rosy picture of how it looks.
I went to download the PDF version of the magzine today and got a surprise... it's 81MB. That's right, it's 81MB. No, it doesn't have as many pages as Second Style, it's rather short. I don't know what they're doing but 81MB for a PDF is outrageous. Optimize for screen, people, not printer. No one prints these things. it doesn't need mega high resolution/quality.
The unofficial, unauthorized, fansite blog of CronoCloud Creeggan, an avatar in the game/playtoy/virtual world, Second Life®. Since I consider myself a fashionista, guess what I'm going to talk about...mostly...Fashion! Second Life® and Linden Lab® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. All rights reserved. No infringement is intended.
4 comments:
Mind telling me exactly which pictures are photoshopped? Because I can assure most of those pictures had little to no Photoshop work done to them and most of it was done with windlight, yes, windlight makes things on SL look pretty and realistic.
I'd also like to point out that real life magazines do a lot of PS work to their pictures, why should we expect less from one on SL?
I love it, it's a great magazine and even if I didn't work for GW I'd still say the same thing. :)
Great pictures, great articles, great team of people putting it together. There's nothing but love coming from me.
Aradia Dielli :)
Actually, Cronocloud, Minnu and I do not heavily photoshop our pictures, unlike some of the images you might find on Flickr. We mainly utilise the tools available to everyone with access to Windlight - presets and lighting. Just like the majority of the photos on Second Style, our images have a little post-processing (such as removing alpha glitches, invisiprims, and prim seams, or changing hue/saturation) but I can vouch for myself and Minnu that we do not apply as much post-processing as might be thought at first glance (and certainly not as much as the majority of Flickrites do). I've seen plenty of Photoshopping on various publications in SL, but the basic premise for getting a good result is simply setting up for a good photo, which we take great pains to do. Minnu is trained in photography, and her work is just as stunning without photoshop, that much I can say.
As for myself, I can probably rely on the testimonials from people that prior to Windlight my photos were just like anyone else's. Windlight has given me the chance to push my limits with SL photography, and I will say I have had no formal training, but playing with the lighting and using certain methods within SL itself has given me enough with which to endeavour to be better.
Lastly, the aim of Glam SL is to be like a real fashion glossy, not look as if the photos had been shot in SL. We want to bring the best visuals we are able to the magazine with the intention of pushing the envelope on what can be done. If it looks better than SL, then we know we've done our job. Thanks for the thought on the PDF size, and though I've had no complaints from anyone else on it, I'll take that into consideration for our next issue :)
It was the editorial photography that that looked heavily processed to me, and others. But if it's the Windlight that's making it look that way, it sure looks gorgeous. I don't use Windlight myself yet, because it wouldn't work well with my machine and thus would be pretty much "off" anyway. I take my pictures very simply, and tend to crop only. I am no photographer, as my pictures show.
I should also mention that I'm not a fan of heavy photoshopping in RL fashion magazines either.
I'm also a picky geek, which is why I noticed the large size of the PDF download, that others might not. It's probably the embedded fonts.
I was fortunate enough to work with Caliah Lyon on the recent photo shoot for Glam magazine. I can attest to the length of time she spend setting up the shots, evaluating the composition and even calling the models back for a re-shoot, as she wasn't entirely satisfied with the photographs.
That level of dedication shows a commitment to create a fashion spread similar to what is found in RL upscale fashion magazines.
Upscale fashion magazines don't present "snapshots" of real life people looking just like you'd see them in real life, the aim is to inspire, to present an image. It's pure theatre and the clothes are the actors.
Glam magazine is attempting to emulate the same theatre of fashion here in SL and to show the "best of SL design and raise the bar with cutting-edge photography"
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