Zoe's Quick Pick - Madi's Secrets

Ah I love shopping and coming across a new store to me - I am impressed by the collection over at Madi's Secrets.  I was happy to find the time and effort that Madilyn Ling has put into her lingerie.  The shine in the satin and detailing in the lace had me fall in love.  In another piece that I picked up called Coffee Brocade, she has the seams in the pattern matching perfectly!  Trying my own hands at designing, this area is a nightmare and I congratulate Madilyn for doing what many won't.  I look forward to seeing more pieces to come!

Enjoy!

Love, Zoe

Quick Credits:

Madi's Secrets' Satin & Lace Corset Set in Black

Truth's Mena in Night

Glam Affair's Jadis in MedTan 11a

Tres Blah's Blue Eyes

LAP aka Long Awkward Pose's DQ-Cam Hor 

A Little Bit of Photography by Zoe Demar - Depth of Field

Sometimes persistence pays off.  I named this photo after that word for the fact of how much time it took to grab a snapshot.  It is strange that I have a more difficult time with my new computer to pull off high res images than it was with my old computer - but I am tossing more technical things at it now.  A picture that looks simple can be much more technically challenging.  Something to remember when checking out photos.

The image shown here was taken with Kristens Viewer S20 with the settings at ultra which allows for both shadows and a new feature called Depth of Field aka DOF.

What is Depth of Field?
This is the short Wikipedia definition: 
In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, the depth of field (DOF) is the portion of a scene that appears sharp in the image. Although a lens can precisely focus at only one distance, the decrease in sharpness is gradual on each side of the focused distance, so that within the DOF, the unsharpness is imperceptible under normal viewing conditions. Eyes have DOF naturally, when you focus on your finger in front of your face the rest of the scene behind the focus becomes blurry.

The effects work very smoothly on my machine but as soon as I try to save a snap - forget it!  Even doing a typical print screen wasn't working at the time to I went to my Fraps program to grab a screenshot and post-editing in some shadows (I was 100% out of sunlight in this shot) and highlights this is the result.

Can I do pictures like this?
Yes, but you do have to have the machine to do it on first and foremost.  With my old video card I didn't have near enough technical power to get shadows let alone this new feature - so prepare to be disappointed.  Otherwise if you have a decent computer and video card, prepare to have patience and persistence when SL crashes or other random things seem to come up in the process.  And if you have an ultra computer - good for you!  Hopefully you don't have near the problems as I have had in order to snap 1 photograph.

I will say however, it was worth it - I do enjoy the potential of having more time to snap some pictures with the DOF options in Kristens Viewer.  I hope that playing around with settings will allow me less time to grab a shot in the long run.  It brings another element of reality to the Second Life world as well as saving me time in photoshop.

I don't spend a lot of time on my blog to talk about SL photography because I like to keep it mainly focused on SL fashion.  Here and there I'll bring up snippets but that's about it.  I guess I've decided to change up my format a little bit more for the new year.  I do wish I had more time to spend in Second Life for photography and other things but time is limited.

Enjoy!

Love, Zoe

Quick Credits: 
Hair by Lamb
Necklace by Paper Couture 
Skin by Glam Affair
Dress by Icing

A Little Bit of Style by Zoe Demar - Keep It Casual

New years brings a lot of thoughts of goals and ambitions to the mind.  Sometimes I can't wait for the year to be over...other times I wouldn't mind the year sticking around.  2010 involved a lot of bad health stories in my family, but some other major positives out of it all.  I'm hoping for a good start to 2011 but don't want to look too far ahead into the future and just keep it casual.  Which is what I did for this first look of the year.

Make sure you go check out the dressing room, if you haven't had a chance yet.  They're doing, "best of's" sale which has a good selection of items out from designers.  I'm showing off one of my buys with the Glam Affair skins called Jadis.  I'm typically mixed on the skins that Glam Affair puts out, but when you can get one for 70L typically you'll see me pick it up!

Exile also has released this new hair called Nikki and has a New Years Eve version out for free for awhile underneath the tree in his store.  I'm really impressed at how much Exile has put out over the past year and really feel like the quality matches.  Sometimes he can be a bit wild, but that's what I love about it too!

The top is from a store that is new to me called, LouLou&Co.  They have a few clothing pieces that I really liked as well as some jewelry and shoes.  I spotted the brand when out shopping at a SL, "mall" for lack of a better word.  I like the Jelly Pop top that comes already in a combo top.  Which saves time when I'm putting together looks.  Also sometimes layering doesn't quite work the way I want it to so I appreciate designers that take the initiative to do so.

Mon Tissu, I believe should mean love, because that is what it says to me when I first heard of them and they definitely delivered.  Congrats on their opening with imaginative and creative styles that I gaga'd over for days.  These Balcon Lounge Pants are part of their second release and though some might think they should stay in the bedroom, I say shout it to the world!  

Who knew elikatira would be back again releasing hair and now shoes?!  These Flair Flats are part of her brand new collection featuring many new styles.  I may be a Elika hair fanatic but will gladly accept anything she designs into my inventory.

Ah some tattoos to bring a new dimension into my look.  I decided to pull out an oldie from my GoK aka Garden of Ku collection called YlangYlang - we all need some of that this new year!

Manna's Victoria bracelet was another piece I picked up in the SL, "mall" and another store new to me!  Best thing about going to satellite store locations - shopping around!  I hope to show off another one of the pieces that I picked up from Manna later.

And since I have talked about these Ibanez eyes before - my brief - good eyes, pick them up if you want something new to add to your collection.

Happy New Year!!!

Love, Zoe

Quick Credits:

Shirt: LOULOU&CO - Jelly Pop in Pink/Cream

Pants: Mon Tissu - Balcon Lounge Pants in Goldenrod

Shoes: elikatira - Flair Flats in Cocoa/Brick

Bracelet: Manna - Victoria Bracelet

Tattoo: Garden of Ku (GoK) - YlangYlang in Medium Dark

Hair: Exile - Nikki in Whiskey

Skin: Glam Affair - Jadis Dark in TDR Special A

Eyes: Ibanez - Ltd Edition Natural Eyes in Grey