Some Ps Tricks To Increase Quality Of Sl Photos!!!

I want to know of any techniques or tricks anyone might have to really enhance SL photos in photoshop.Also I want to know how to get smooth edges on pictures i take in SL.

Do a search for photoshop "edge mask" and you will find plenty of tutorials, techniques, and what-not. Most will be for sharpening, but certaintly applicable for blurring hard edges.

Although, there might be a setting in SL's Viewer to smooth edges without having to use post tricks. I honestly don't know about this option.

Go into your video card settings, and create a profile for SL that includes as much anti-aliasing as your system can handle. And make sure you're using an OpenGL-compatible AA mode; some of the modes on your list will be Direct3D-only. You'll be amazed at how much better the world looks when there are no jags on your diagonals. And of course, always take snapshots with as many SL graphics options turned on as your system will allow.

Also, always take screenshots in high resolution. If an image is too big, you can always downsize it later if you want, but you can't very well upsize if it's too small. The more pixels you have to work with in the beginning, the better off you'll be.

Beyond that, I'd recommend learning to use channel masks, so you can do things like isolate foreground elements, and then blur and/or desaturate the background a bit to give the illusion of camera focus and depth of field. Things like that can make a big difference in the quality of your photo.

Could go on all day with additional suggestions, but those are some good ones to start with.

Ty for the help guys
Chosen I have no idea how to get to my graphics card settings.

I'd like to know that too.
I've found that I can take really nice pics by making the snapshots very high res, like 4000x4000, then shrinking them down in Photoshop.

Gianna, Aree, if you have an nVidia graphics card, download a free program called nHancer, and follow the instructions. Alternatively, you can use the nVidia Control Panel, which should already be on your system, but there's a chance not all your card's options may be present in it. For some reason, nVidia has this silly habit of failing to open up their software interface to access everything their cards can do. nHancer does a great job of getting to every last feature. Either way, make sure you've got the latest drivers for your card. I'm pretty sure nVidia Control Panel comes with all new drivers these days if you don't have it already.

If you have an ATI card, I believe their GPU interface software is called Catalyst Control Center, and you probably already have it on your system. I've never used it, as I haven't had an ATI graphics card in years, but I'd imagine it's very similar to the nVidia Control Panel. You should be able to use it to assign profiles for every program you have, including SL, so that the card will know which options you want to enable for each application. If you don't have CCC, you can download it from http://ati.amd.com/products/catalystcontrolcenter/index.html . Make sure you get the right version for your specific card, along with the latest drivers.

If you don't have either nVidia or ATI for your graphics, then you've probably got integrated graphics on your motherboard. This is typical if you're on a low end to midrange laptop or a low end desktop. In either case, you SL does not officially support your hardware, and frankly, you're really lucky it's working at all. You may or may not have the ability with that integrated stuff to assign program-specific profiles. You'll have to research it yourself to find out. Start by right clicking on your desk top, and then go Properties -> Settings tab -> Advanced button, and then click the tab for your graphics card. See what's there.

Hope that helped.

(And for what it's worth, spend a little time under your computer's hood some time to see what it can do. There are a lot of things you'll discover about your video card, your sound card, and other devices you have that will greatly improve your user experience to make everything you do with your machine much more satisfying and enjoyable. Once you turn some of the options on, you'll wonder how you ever got along without them.)

Thanks, Chosen!

I use a clean and simple approach. I isolate the main subject on a fullbright white background with no antialiasing. A clean edge selection, even if it looks jagged at a high resolution, will look great at a lower resolution (1/4 the original) because it will get antialiased in the resampling process (if bicubic) and produce zero 'Halo' effect. Also, take note of the lighting dirction. I use either Force Sunset/Sunrise to stay consistant. Capture this way at a high resolution (3200x2400 or whatever your screen aspect ratio and final target image size is) and perform any background removal and alpha channel generation at this high resolution. Then, reduce the image size. The image will be ready for placement into any background. Always save out depth variation and object isolation snapshots too. you never know when they might come in handy.

There are plenty of other tricks that may be added to a layered image (layer effects, blurring, unsharp masking, filter effects, etc.), but I prefer a WYSIWYG image that remains true to the SL environment seen by the majority.

I've found that using a duplicate layer, set to soft light, with roughly 60% fill, will enhance the lighting and color of a snap, without interfering with the actual composition. It gets rid of the grey overtone in BMP and JPG formats, as well.
There is also a free Flaming Pear filter that can do the same thing with fewer steps, and a finer level of control. (Kyoto Color, set to soft light, with whatever other settings work for the individual shot.)
I use it on everything. SL Snaps, RL photos, and a lot of online art that's been saved in those formats. Most people won't notice the actual difference in a pic without a side by side to compare, but I find they still prefer the adjusted ones.


Another trick that might not be useful for snapshots, but that I notice people don't use for creating ad textures, is to sharpen twice when going down to a very small size. (For example, I use it for 100x100 icon files for Livejournal. It also works well for going from very high rez, to a more normal one.)
Sharpen once at the size you use to create the texture, shrink it to the size you want to use, then sharpen again. You get a much better result, and it's not a redundant as it seems. Details and edges will remain clearer than if you do it only once at either size.