PhotoPro Lights/Effects

Want to give your AMS photo system a more professional appearance? Grab PhotoPro Lights/Effects and rez a set of realistic looking photographic lamps and effect generators. These carefully detailed and fully functional instruments are offered as an add-on to PhotoLite, PhotoSpin and PhotoStage. 

The sophisticated scripting of the PhotoPro Lights/Effects also allows you to switch between the original low prim set of lights and generators or the higher prim, detailed set. Now you can have the best of both worlds!

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PhotoPro Control Panels

These nifty panels give you quick access to all the key menus and controls for your AMS photo system.  A simple but powerful tool, the PhotoPro Control Panels come with three options for maximum versatility: a floor stand, a floating panel, and a HUD attachment.

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Designed by Serenity Mercier, and scripted by Desdemona Enfield, one of the most advanced scripters in Second Life (co-creator with Douglas Story of Ripple, Dynafleur and StormEye), Ananke Media Systems is dedicated to creating powerful photo systems and tools for serious SL photography.

Drop by the  AMS Store @ Smaug (Smaug 220,232, 33) today to check out the new PhotoPro line, as well as the exceptional photo systems, PhotoLite, PhotoStage and PhotoSpin.

The sale ends at midnight on Sunday, April 18, so don’t miss out! Visit  AMS @ LeeZu! this weekend, and save!

If you’ve been looking to buy PhotoStage, PhotoLite or PhotoTools Pro, this is your chance to get these highly praised products at exceptional savings, over 30% off the regular prices. But you’ll have to act quickly. The sale starts on Friday, April 16 at midnight SLT, and ends 48 hours later at midnight on Sunday, April 18, 2010.

This kind of sale happens rarely, so don’t miss out! Visit  AMS @ LeeZu! this weekend, and save!

the rez-a-prim photo backdrop

Do you need a studio? Perhaps not. But is this the right question to ask? You don’t need an AO or a face light either, but few would deny that these items make your SL experience more convenient and enjoyable. After all, you could just open a raft of animations on your screen and click between them to change your stands, walks and sits. Need more illumination for your face? Why not just light up a sphere and attach it to your eyeball? You see my point. It’s not so much an issue of need as it is of usefulness. Surely the more productive question to ask is: in what ways can a photo studio facilitate and enhance photography in SL, and what features does it need to have to achieve this? 

the easy AO and facelight

As the owner of Ananke Media Systems, I’ve spent many hours, together with my partners, Anna Tretiak and Desdemona Enfield, crafting products that we believe help people meet the challenges and opportunities of virtual photography. If all you need to do is rez a prim and slap a texture on it, why go to all the trouble to design, build and script a photo studio in the first place? Well, let me share with you how I got here.

When I started writing about fashion in Second Life, I soon discovered I needed lots of photographs to accompany articles and blog posts. Many of my fashion photos were self-portraits, and I found myself endlessly frustrated by two major limitations.  First, the endless fiddling with the environment editor or with local prim lights trying to get the lighting right. Second, lining up a shot perfectly, only to realize the background wasn’t what I wanted, or the lighting needed to be adjusted. Result: cam out, fix this or that, cam back in, still not right, out again, fix whatever, in again, arggh!, out, fix, in, but now I can’t find that #%*! perfect angle I had before … and I’m not sure I like this hair anymore either … and on and on …

"working it" with the rez-a-prim takes on a whole new meaning

I’ve done professional lighting for theatre, fashion shows, and film in real life, so lighting is a medium I know a little bit about. Ask any good photographer and they will tell you: lighting is key to taking great photographs. The physics of how light functions in a virtual environment may be different than RL, but the aesthetic principles of composing with light remain the same. Look at photos you admire from Second Life and in most cases (if not all), the photographer’s ability to work with light is a key component in what makes the photograph so strong.

When looking for a photo studio, the single most important feature to focus on is not the backdrop, but the lighting system. The use of local lights (illuminated prims) to enhance the tone, shading and highlights of your subject is an invaluable tool for creating a strong, compelling photograph. Too often photographers settle for a flat overall illumination that makes their avatars look like two-dimensional cardboard cutouts. Such a shame, given the 3D graphical environment we inhabit in Second Life.

Well placed local lights are one of the most effective ways to sculpt your model and add more dimension to your images. A good studio will give you the ability to use HUD, menu or chat commands to rez  lights, position them where you need them, and then change their color, intensity and radius remotely. Scripted lights greatly facilitate the process of lighting your scene because you can keep your camera focused on the subject when making adjustments. No more need to cam in and out to reposition lights or change their colors.

prim lights sculpt the model

Scripted backdrops provide a way of quickly loading textures and colors for the background of your scene. When looking at backdrops, the important things to consider are: How easily can you cam around through the entire shooting area? How much of the background area does the backdrop cover from a wide range of angles? Can you change the position, rotation or size of the backdrop to meet your shooting requirements? Can you add your own textures? How easily can you select and change the background textures, colors and appearance settings (brightness and glow)? Are the HUD, menu or chat controls clear and easy to use?

the AMS PhotoSpin lets you resize and rotate the backdrop

A good studio will also give you a set of gaze points, or gazers. These simple devices allow you to control the direction your model’s eyes are looking. Once again, a good system lets you reposition the gazers remotely using HUD, menu or chat commands, so you can keep your camera focused on the model.

Particle effects provide a nice addition to any photo studio. Look for a good range of effects, plus the ability to adjust color, density and position remotely. Another invaluabe tool that should be included in a high quality studio package is an easy to use modeling stand, preferably one that allows you to rotate an avatar when posing on it.

There are a fair number of photo studios available on the SL market. With some, the designers have put a lot of thought and hard work into making a scripted studio that really does something useful for you as a photographer. Yet it’s also true that other studios are little more that overpriced devices for applying textures or colors to a prim. So if you are considering a photo studio, shop carefully. There are significant differences, and if you choose wisely, you’ll have a powerful photographic instrument that makes the ol’ rez-a-prim method look as quaint as system skirts and watermelon hats.

Albrecht Duerer wishes he'd got that photo studio instead

For more about using prim lights see my posts Photo Lighting in Windlight and On-Location Fashion Photography  as well as Torley Linden’s wiki on SL photography.

For more about using gazers, see my post Making Eyes.

To see the AMS line of photo studio products, please visit the AMS website, or swing by one of our stores: AMS @ Smaug (Smaug 220,232, 33),  AMS @ Lady Vale (Lady Vale 124, 228, 301),  or  AMS @ LeeZu! (To The Nines 149, 48, 35).

This nifty little pose stand allows you to pose and then rotate the stand using spin and turn controls to obtain the best camera angles. PhotoStand II Basic also comes with three preloaded poses, and allows you to add as many poses as you want.

You can purchase the optional PhotoStand II HUD for just 119L. This equally nifty device puts all the PhotoStand II’s controls at your mouse-tips. Quickly select poses, and spin, turn or pin your stand without having to navigate through menus.

What’s not to like? Drop into any one of the AMS stores to pick up your FREE PhotoStand II Basic today!

AMS @ Smaug

AMS @ [LeeZu!]

AMS @ Lady Vale

Credits:
In the Three Poses photo, Serenity wears:

[LeeZu!] NOiR Bon Voyage

Courtisane Devoue Sandals in Grayblack

Miel Lun Necklace and Earrings

LionSkins Cana Sunkiss 1

Truth Cyndi Hair in Treacle

PhotoSpin

Now Available at the new AMS PhotoSpin store!

Ananke  Media Systems introduces PhotoSpin. Using a backdrop you can resize to virtually any dimension, and rotate on any of the XYZ axes, PhotoSpin reinvents SL studio photography.

Offering unparalleled versatility and functionality, PhotoSpin marks a revolutionary advance in SL studio photography.

To try out a demo model of PhotoSpin, or purchase one of your own, visit the new AMS PhotoSpin store in Smaug (220, 232, 33), right next door to LionSkins.

Credits:

• LeeZu! Vienna Dress in Black (shirt layer and dress part 4)
• LeeZu! Lea Pants in Black (pants and jacket layers)
• Courtisane Devoue Sandal in Black
• Balderdash Strange as Angels Necklace and Earrings in Verdant
• LionSkins Cana Sunkiss 1
• Truth Melissa Hair in Espresso (black and whites pack)
• Detour Nails in Lacquer Vamp

PhotoStage, the acclaimed photo studio from AMS, will be one of the grand prizes in the Flickr Photo Contest for SL FootWear Expo 2009.

Anyone may enter the Flickr Photo Contest, with as many pictures as they like, wearing any shoes that they like. To be eligible, shoes must be the focus of photo, and the image should reflect the Footwear Expo’s overall theme of Winter Wonderland. You can find all the DETAILS HERE ! 

Get ready to stuff your stockings with shoes, shoes and more shoes! This year’s Expo is the biggest shoe fair ever, with two full sims featuring all the best shoe designers in SL, plus much more.

The Footwear Expo gets underway at 10 am slt on November 22, and runs through to December 6.

The LionSkins/PhotoStage Take a Walk on the Wild Side Contest ends at midnight SLT tonight! Get your wild on, and send us your best photo to win cool, fresh prizes!

Where’s your photo? We’re looking for images that convey something savage, mysterious, tantalizing, dangerous. See if you can capture the wild, untamed beauty of LionSkins.

Prizes for the winning photo:

• 5000L cash
• AMS PhotoTools Pro (includes PhotoStage, PhotoLite and PhotoStand II)
• Photo featured in advertising material for LionSkins

Details:

• Images should be seductive, enticing, mysterious, and tasteful. Nothing lewd or pornographic, please.
• Models must be wearing LionSkins.
• Photos must be taken using the AMS PhotoStage studio. Your background must display one of the textures that come preloaded with the PhotoStage (including 15 exclusive textures by LeeZu Baxter of LeeZu!).
• You may use the poses in the AMS PhotoStand II pose stand, or bring your own poses.
• Photos may be lightly photoshopped, but the original image should remain clearly recognizable. Heavily photoshopped images will be disqualified.
• Photos will be judged for effective use of poses, composition, colour, camera angle and lighting. The winning photo will capture the exceptional quality of LionSkins, as well as project a clear idea, mood or emotion about how one feels taking a walk on the wild side when wearing LionSkins.
• Completed photos should be submitted with full perms to Devine Hunt, LionSkins Assistant Manager. Please note that by submitting a photo to the contest, you give LionSkins and/or Ananke Media Systems full rights to use the photo for display and/or advertising purposes.

CONTEST CLOSES TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT! All photos must be received by 11:59 pm SLT on September 15, 2009.

Judges:

• dancer dallagio - Manager / Customer Service Rep / PR / Legal / Marketing, Stiletto Moody Shoes
• Frolic Mills – CEO, BOSL & CO
• Barbara Nicholls – Chief Operating Officer, [LeeZu!]; Co-Owner & Manager, Spork; Store Manager, Courtisane Shoes and Boots
• Jackson Vantelli – CEO, Q Media

LionSkins and AMS PhotoStage have teamed up once more to offer a new Photo Contest! The theme: Take a Walk on the Wild Side

We’re looking for photos that convey something savage, mysterious, tantalizing, dangerous. Go beyond the ordinary to find camera angles, poses, and looks that dazzle, startle or mesmerize the eye. See if you can capture the wild, untamed beauty of LionSkins.

Photos must be taken using the PhotoStage studio. Your background must display one of the PhotoStage textures, not just plain colours. You can use the PhotoStage upstairs at the LionSkins Main Store. Or set up your own PhotoStage and go wild whenever the mood strikes ,-)

Prizes for the winning photo:

• 5000L cash
• AMS PhotoTools Pro (includes PhotoStage, PhotoLite and PhotoStand II)
• Photo featured in advertising material for LionSkins

*Note: if your photo wins, and you purchased PhotoStage or PhotoTools Pro during the period of the contest (15 August to 15 September), you will receive a full refund (and upgrade to PhotoTools Pro if applicable).

Details:

• Images should be seductive, enticing, mysterious, and tasteful. Nothing lewd or pornographic, please.
• Models must be wearing LionSkins.
• Photos must be taken using the AMS PhotoStage studio. Your background must display one of the textures that come preloaded with the PhotoStage (including 15 exclusive textures by LeeZu Baxter of LeeZu!).
• You may use the poses in the AMS PhotoStand II pose stand, or bring your own poses.
• Photos may be lightly photoshopped, but the original image should remain clearly recognizable. Heavily photoshopped images will be disqualified.
• Photos will be judged for effective use of poses, composition, colour, camera angle and lighting. The winning photo will capture the exceptional quality of LionSkins, as well as project a clear idea, mood or emotion about how one feels taking a walk on the wild side when wearing LionSkins.
• Completed photos should be submitted with full perms to Devine Hunt, LionSkins Assistant Manager. Please note that by submitting a photo to the contest, you give LionSkins and/or Ananke Media Systems full rights to use the photo for display and/or advertising purposes.

Contest closes on September 15th. All photos must be received by 11:59 pm SLT on September 15, 2009.

Judges:

• dancer dallagio - Manager / Customer Service Rep / PR / Legal / Marketing, Stiletto Moody Shoes
• Frolic Mills – CEO, BOSL & CO
• Barbara Nicholls – Chief Operating Officer, [LeeZu!]; Co-Owner & Manager, Spork; Store Manager, Courtisane Shoes and Boots
• Jackson Vantelli – CEO, Q Media