The Fish Eye Lens : Composite Layering

"Usagi and the Ephemera"

Perhaps one of the things I most use with photoshop is layers. 

I like to experiment with creating composite images that I make in SL and often play with different windlights and shadows with a little of that " How to make a 3D image look even more 3D?" vibe to it - applying fabricated DOF and so on.

Final Composite

The Layers
As you can see, the final image consists of many component "bits"

Background Image (Original)

Layer 1 (Original) applied over background with Color properties
(This layer has also been blurred for the composite)

Layer 2 (Original) applied over Background and Layer 1 with Color Dodge properties

Credits :

Little Branch "Wildforest" from Shiny Shabby (out now) 
www.flickr.com/photos/129494941@N05/23136999026/in/pool-2... 

Cotton Bunny and Ephemera by anc 
www.flickr.com/photos/88035880@N04/19467097288/

The Art fish : Portraits

"Nouveau Scissors II"

Of late I have been creating my images based around the idea of a typical studio portraiture set up. Some cliches apply such as the signature abstract all purpose photographer's background; the "spot" light and fall off. What I find interesting about the idea of portraiture from an SL perspective is the shorthand in trying to capture the essence of a character in one frame.

"Surreal Sorbet"

Who are these characters that look back at you from the print frame? What are their stories and what was happening when the camera flashed...

"Theia"

Do we like our SL portraits to look hyper realistic?

Production Notes

"Nouveau Scissors II"

From Shiny Shabby

NOMAD Nouveau Scissors Set (Frame + Chair)

Essenz Missouri Boots (size S - still big on COCO FD)

Everythingelse

Outfit:

COCO RuffleSkirt (Lace-Black) + PDD Black Ballet Tutu (Flexi Prim Part) +

AZUL CHIC (from With <3) Sleeve Parts (L+R) + Zibska - LaVie En Deux Collar

+ DRD Chain Necklace (Mono)

Accessories :

Scrub - Like a nun collar (xxs)

Lark - Rose Veil Black

Swallow - Septum Ring (Copper)

Remarkable Oblivion - Scissorhand

Elua Hollis2 in OmbreA

"Surreal Sorbet"

From Shiny Shabby

Style:

Azoury Kate Cap

Elisa Collar

Coffera Ringset (For Maitreya)

Kibitz Renata Earrings

Claw Fringe Cuff (Metalic)

Body :

Clef de Peau - Astrid (for Lelutka)

White Widow - DeadMan Tattoo (Comes in Layers and Appliers for various mesh bodies including Lara)

Else:

ieQED Octobra

ieQED chanel pearl panties

Lelutka Aria 1.3 + Maitreya Lara (Full)

Genesis Lab Tongue

Dura 3rd Anniversary Hair (Free)

"Theia"

Theia by Calico Hair

together with partial from Lyrical B!zzare Templates (New Releases) Spanish III

The Fashion Fish : Urban Pirate & Other LOTD's

Playing virtual dress-up is fun!

Production Notes :

The Glad Rags 

Ascend Fringed Out Cardigan  - Ascend are debuting at Shiny Shabby in this upcoming November Round (Starts 20th Nov.) I absolutely adore this piece for its texturing, model and attention to detail. Also as a boon, it fits well over Maitreya Lara (seen here)

Wanderlust  Tugged Panties (Noir)

JD Boho Vintage (Brick) - There's a quirk with this model of boots from Just Design. When wearing with high socks, the Maitreya Model boots don't actually fit with the socks. You need to wear the Belleza ones (also included in package) as far as I can tell , this is a glitch that hasn't been fixed and later updates simply include a notecard explaining this match-up.

The Blinnnng 
B@R Geargun Halster (Free Gift) from Bare Rose Tokyo. Occasionally I'll go browsing June Dion's amazing creations, They have a random prize giver in store and this is one of those gifts that you get just for being there!
ieQED pirate doubloon hoop earrings and necklace - Very lovely textures and attention to detail here - Gacha
Alchemy Pirate Hat (Forest) also a Gacha Prize although this one I got as a gift from Luly Soup who is a fellow gachaholic
MINIMAL Captain, Red & Green Pirate rings + Indian Pirate bracelet all Gacha Prizes available at Shiny Shabby 
Bliesen + MaiTai NousSommesUnis - B + M created this as a simple gesture in the aftermath of 13/11/2015 Paris. This is available for free at their flagship store.
Remarkable Oblivion Photographer's Eye

The Pets
Mesh Parrot (Marketplace Cheapie - Probably a free model if you trawl the web and are clever enough to upload it yourself)
[Black Bantam] Baby Monkey - Peanut (Squeeeeeeee! This primate is really adorable and one model of a few as Gacha from Kustom 9) If you missed this Gacha I suggest trawling MP or  the Gacha Yard sales to pick a copy up for yourself!

The Urban Pirate(s)
Nebraska Oddfish (Maitreya Lara, Lelutka Head - Aria)
Angel Leitner (TMP-ness and Model's own stuff)
Calico Hair - Larya (Old school flexi prim hair but it works!)

The Fashion Fish : Art in Hats 2015 (The Loot)

As I write this, Art in Hats has already come to a close (hope you got yours!) but I thought I would share my purchases and styling ideas with you.

Annabel Lee
Hat by BamPu Legacies " Poe's Reflection" Art Hat

Peacock Peahen
Hat by Spyralle "Jeu d'esprit"

Jazz
Hat by Cica Ghost "Cica's Hat2"

Production Notes :

Annabel Lee

I think the hat itself has a very strong narrative and this inspired me to shoot a set-up based on Poe's Annabel Lee.

Clothes

{Junbug} Vintage Prom Dress in Ivory

ieQED hand spike (platinum)

Maitreya Vintage Collar (Ivory)

Body

[INK] Hair - Surrealism in Blonde

Chelle (lipgloss) Sheen 2

Zibska - Frost - Smoke

The Annex - Snow Queen Lashes

Props:

Arbres Obscurs 2013 Hallowseve Tree (Dark with Bats) Sept. 2013

DRD Haunted Piano 

Shai - Murder of Crows Mystery Rare (From TAG Gatcha - Haunted Mortuary Ed.)

Peacock Peahen

It's easy to have the hat wear you rather than your wearing the hat. To offset the vibrance of the hat, yet draw equal attention to it, I kept the model in monotone and played with the idea of  the hat itself being its own creature.

Clothes

Parts from "Wild Thing" by Boudoir

Body

Glam Affair (Luria Skin) worn with Maitreya Lara 

For a long while the only way to wear Luria was with the default system avie as it's an old Gacha prize from one of the first few round of the Arcade. However as Glam Affair have designed the default skins for Maitreya Lara, voila! A close mesh match!

No. 7 Ballroom Lashes

Jazz

I created this image post Nov. 14th  in the wake of the Bataclan massacre. I was in Paris myself earlier this year and have a dearly loved one there. Jazz is one of my favourite genres of music and as a treat while out there, we were ourselves at a Jazz club in the 10th arrondissement. It fills me with much sadness that such an incomprehensible tragedy should scar these streets of Paris.

Clothes

Dead Dollz  Juliet Prize (In Black)

Props

Double Bass by Causality

The Sad Fish : Nitro Fireguard Passes (7th November)

Saturday, 7 November at 2.10 pm Paris time my beloved Partner Nitro Fireguard passed away.Although I knew this was inevitable, it still was a shock. After all nobody wants to loose a loved one. The only redeeming thought is Nitro doesn't have to suffer these horrible pains anymore. For those who don't know: after almost a year of fighting, the cancer won and Nitro had to give up.
Dear Nitro you will always be in my heart.I thank you for the four awesome years we shared in Second Life as partners, in which we had lots of fun and joy working together to make Nitroglobus the gallery it is nowadays. We both had our own part in this: you Nitro, the artist who 'fitted' the main hall of our gallery for each exhibition with matching new mesh sculptures. I the curator, marketeer and host at our opening parties.   We almost always had the same taste which was soo cool to experience time after time.  
We made many friends among the artists exhibiting in our main hall as well as the guests who visited the gallery and our Sunday Cafe. Yes, our Second Life together was filled with lots of love for each other, our gallery and for the arts in general.
We communicated every day: hours of intense conversations about many many topics here in Second Life but also during the day in WhatsApp. We even met in Real Life Paris two times.  I am so glad we all met: you, me and both our RL partners. 
I will miss you terribly sweetie because YOU are/were my Second Life.Je t'aime mon cheriGros bisous and may you rest in peace

Dido

Joa sent me a song which expresses my present  feelings very well:
https://youtu.be/jOIAi2XwuWo

(The above is being distributed to all who visit the Nitroglobus at this time)

I heard this news via Bryn Oh's Immersivia on Wednesday 11th so this is a retrospective entry that I am writing in regard.

My memory is as together as a broken colander but I do not believe that Nitro Fireguard and I have ever met or exchanged words; or if we have then it would have only been in passing at some art exhibition opening or other in the Nitroglobus Gallery; run by the pair of Dido and Nitro.

Whilst I do not hold a memory of the man, I am acquainted with some of his art and consider myself fortunate to have known of him in this way. This entry is about sharing with you, gentle reader, a little of his art.

S.V and myself curate a motley collection of art things that we love and have a small gallery for no-one other than ourselves and close friends (at this point in time)

I remember the first time S.V put out a piece by Nitro and thinking it had such presence and depth of feeling which brings to mind again what Gormley had said about the power of sculpture. Each of the pieces we have on the homestead (Isle of Fatima- IOF) all own their places and in such a way that it is hard for me now to think of the Isle without them and vice versa... just as it saddens me to think of the world without the creative spirit of Nitro himself.

In a universe of universes, this was a man who had a unique voice that he shared through these slow animating giant forms; Pairs that vibrated with symbiotic tension as they grappled each other and floated in impossible space.

Changing Space Time Origin by Nitro Fireguard
Set to Deep Love by Mandalay (Nitin Sawhney Remix)

This was my first go at making a cliplet for the purpose of this tribute.

I highly recommend visiting the Nitroglobus Gallery if you get the chance; There you will encounter and experience these works for yourself.

Prior to making these two clips ; have had near zilch experience in making or producing machinima so do forgive its quality as I was learning on the fly. What I do hope comes across, is sentiment and suitable kudos for someone I shall no less miss. Through his art, I have found Nitro to be great, witty, human... He is celebrated, wonderful and ultimately -  unforgettable.

Don't let me go by Nitro Fireguard

Set to Ágúst by Ólafur Arnalds

This is probably my favourite piece and when I first set eyes on it I was quite quite moved.
This is also my second piece of Machinima and I hope it will give you a sense of the work from my POV.

ad perpetuam memoriam

The Art Fish : Sparkling lights and champagne seas

Lately I've been summer dreaming with:

Beach Dream I - ビーチの夢 1.

  and

Beach Dream II - ビーチの夢 2.

I often complete my image making in Photoshop. It's essentially play for me and I like to experiment with creating effects on my original screen captures as part of my artistic expression.

I'm on Photoshop CC2014 currently and every version adds to my learning curve.

I've been trying out ways to fix the idea of a view point defining that third space ie. as seen from the narrative point of view; wanting to convey a sense of the frame itself through experiments in depth of field.

Feesh Wallpaper

Kingyo 金魚

Production Notes :

For Beach Dream I & II 

Monso - My Hair - Minju (Brown)

ieQED chanel. pearl. Harness + Panties (Black)

All the above is available at Shiny Shabby's current round.

Additionally

Dead Dolls  - Juliet Bra (Black) fits Maitreya Lara 

Props

{anc} I'm Planet - Fish Puddle + Fish School in Pastel and Blue

{anc} Keybirds Y + R

tres blah - Bon Voyage - Vintage Camera

We're closed - Lounge Pillow Blue Stripe (also for pose)

Body

Genesis Mesh Head (Julia in Milk - Sleep)

+ Maitreya Lara (Full)

For Kingyo and Feesh Wallpaper

From Calico Hair for  Fair Play (Magli)

Also :

The Art Fish : Antony Gormley

Watched a really good documentary the night before on this artist and wanted to write a few things down about it for my own memory's sake. I find his work very compelling and the film quite inspiring as it spans a lifetimes' exploration on the idea of how a body and a body's sentience occupies a space. Gormley has in his latest works, moved into an abstraction of this interpretation from the figurative object; to the figurative translated into a space that makes the occupier the object.

The documentary brought up some really great quotables that have stuck in my mind with regards to context of work and how one informs the other. A segment (≈ 37:30) sees Gormley installing a new work on Lundy island for the Landmark Trust, where he says quite poignantly

" This bit of headlands has been here hundreds of thousands of years and now it's got a foreign object on it..."
" It's got to have that sense of it being, in a way, an irritation - but then at the same time , it's got to own its place" 

and most notably :

"... The test of a well sited work is, during the time that it's there you can't think of the place without the object or the object without the place"

The world of SL is on one level a sculptural landscape in which everything that exists within its "space" is hewn from the mathematics of 1's and 0's and yet its physicality is only "felt" in a visual way. For me, this is where the idea of how this visual space may in theory be ported into tactile reality via printing, is an intriguing and worthy notation for further exploration.

What is virtual also sits in that uncomfortable space of ephemerality. I think as humans we take comfort in constants and mark making that it is hard to grapple with the transient. In this, the world of words, images and digitized information is the strange frontier; yet how human is it to still be asking the same questions today that still echo those questions asked before...

New Scientist (What is reality)

Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am)

The Big Fish : Art In Hats 2015

For Art In Hats. I've designed 3 exclusive noggin decorators. Get yours now!

I do apologise for my absenteeism.
The more interesting news is not the why I left but the now I'm back!

What I'm currently doing :
I'm participating in Art in Hats (4th till 14th November) and have created the above three pieces as event exclusives for which a portion of the proceeds shall go straight into the coffers of the American Diabetes Association.
You can read more information about this on Art In Hats - 2015

I think with blogs and flickr and life in general , you experiment as you figure things out for yourself. What you want to do, what you don't want to do and so on. I've been having an interesting year that's been in pursuit of other adventures outside of the realm of the virtual aesthetic and as serendipity would have it - find myself currently tangled with an other whose passion for art (amongst other things) inspires me to examine my own.

I'd like to take this opportunity too to thank both Lyrical B!zarre and Shortcake Sugarplum. These ladies have always faithfully sent their creations my way - despite my long absence from blogging.
I'm full of admiration for them as their own creative spirit seems tireless! Lyrical is also participating in the same event with the following offerings :

Hat Ballet
(featuring Danette Hat by Lyrical B!zarre)

Taste The Rainbow
(featuring Adele Hat by Lyrical B!zarre as well as Butterfly eyes by no.7)

Moodlight Sonatta
(featuring Trey Dress and Chloe Hat both by Lyrical B!zarre)

On a side note , all the above have been taken with my donning a completely mesh avatar which is all the rage in the virtual photography world because of how 'materials' and advanced lighting works in SL. (Will broach more on this subject at a later date)

Meanwhile 

Thank you for reading.