GADGETS & “KNOW HOW” WORK IT! WORK IT!
Growing up, I loved photography. I played with cameras all the time. Unfortunately, the cost to develop pictures was more than my allowance could bear, so I was limited in how many photos I could take. Also, I got a bit tired of always carrying a camera around, because they were NOT small back then. Always having to be careful with it, making sure I didn’t lose it, was more of a pain then a joy. That was when I stopped doing a lot of photography. By Aldwyn Zanzibar
Even with the digital cameras out now, I still find myself not wanting to carry a good camera around all the time. Granted, I have a 3 megapixel camera in my phone, and it takes pretty damned good pictures, it’s not quite the same as having a high-quality digital camera at your disposal all the time.
take pictures because the amazing talents of people in Second Life can make one feel very intimidated with regards to your own photos. For a long time I feared that anything I might do would pale in comparison so why even try? I am so impressed with what other people were doing that I was content to just be a “patron of the art” instead of contributing to it.
I used to dream about having a camera in my eye. If I saw something I wanted a picture of, I could just blink and PRESTO! The moment I wanted to capture is caught! My dream has finally been realized, and wouldn’t you know it, my dream came true in Second Life®?
Then one day, I was talking to one of my great friends, and was commenting on a picture she had done. I decided to ask what she had done to create it. She told me, then showed me a few tricks that she had learned, and I began to realize something. Creating a good picture was not as hard as I led myself to believe. It just took a little patience, maybe some help from a friend or two, and a vision.
Photography is VERY popular in Second Life. One reason is that it is pretty darned easy to take photos in here. You can bring up the “Snapshot” HUD or even save a high-resolution photo directly to your hard drive with a Hot-Key…no fuss, no muss! This makes taking your favorite photos very easy!
I started to play around with more pictures. I happen to have a copy of Photoshop, which is by far the most popular photo editing software on the market. I also happen to have Gimp, which is what I started using to edit my photos. While Photoshop is absolutely an amazing program, Gimp can do just about everything Photoshop can, for absolutely free. I wanted to see
After you play with photography in Second Life for a while you find yourself joining “Flickr” to share your photographs with your friends and start to see some of the absolutely amazing work other people are creating. It is almost enough to make you NOT want to 86