Sometimes I feel like somebody's watching me...

It was one of those days. My body was tired, my brain was fried, and all I really wanted to do was come home and slip into a hot bath for a while to unwind. But you know, the bath wasn't nearly as relaxing as I would have liked. Maybe it's just the season for being spooked, but I had the strangest feeling that someone was watching me...




Do you have a FilterCam from MechanizedLife? If you take photos in SL, you really should have one! I blogged about FilterCam back in 2009 and it still remains one of my favorite gadgets. But it just got even better with the new Expansion Pack! There are 5 new Preset banks for a total of 90 new presets! I'm using the Scopes bank with the Binoculars preset for this photo. If you're not particularly skilled in Photoshop but you are looking to make your photos more fancy, you owe it to yourself to head over to MechanizedLife and pick up the new FilterCam Expansion Pack! Remember, you need the FilterCam to use it, so if you don't have one, get one!!

As for me...I think it's time I invest in some curtains.

In this post:

Photo taken with FilterCam 2.0 and the new Expansion Pack by MechanizedLife -CodeBastard Redgrave-
Furniture: Seville Bathroom Set by Mudhoney -Rayvn Hines-
Hair: Cate in Swedish by Truth -Truth Hawks-
Pose by Long Awkward Pose -Dove Swanson-

FilterCam Contest!!

You guys have heard me rave about FilterCam by MechanizedLife before, but I'm giving you all the best reason in the world to buy one now or pull yours out! There's a contest!!

What do you have to do? Take pictures using FilterCam! I snapped this one earlier tonight using the Keyhole filter and a windlight setting. The only post-processing I did was crop it and put a thin black frame around it.




Using FilterCam allows you to take some great photos without the need for a lot of Photoshop/Gimp work afterwards. I love love love mine!

Oh, the contest? Well, check out all the details! I snagged it from the gorgeous Gabby's blog.

What: FilterCam Photo Contest

When: 6 February through 28 February 2010, Winners announced 1 March 2010

Prizes

1st Prize – L$5000 + Avimote PoseMaker Personal Edition (L$2450 value)

2nd Prize – L$2500 + Avimote PoseMaker Personal Edition (L$2450 value)

3rd Prize – L$1000 + Avimote PoseMaker Personal Edition (L$2450 value)

Rules

All entries must originate in Second Life and must be created using the FilterCam HUD by MechanizedLife

Entries must be submitted to the FilterCam Flickr Group

Entries must include the tag “FILTERCAM CONTEST”

Post-processing is permitted, but should be used sparingly as the idea behind the FilterCam HUD is to create beautiful in-world snapshots that do not require extensive post work.

A descripton of the filter/mask used and any post-processing applied should be included in the photo description.

You may use any of the filters/masks included with the FilterCam HUD or you may create and use filters/masks of your own design.

You may submit up to 3 entries.

Entries can be submitted through 12:00am SLT on Sunday, 28 February 2010, at which time judging will begin. Late entries will not be considered.

Winners will be announced on Monday, 1 March 2010 at 5pm SLT and prizes will be distributed at that time.

Judges

The following individuals have agreed to participate as judges for this competition.

CodeBastard Redgrave – Owner, MechanizedLife and Creator of the FilterCam HUD

Gabby Panacek – PR Manager, MechanizedLife

Ryker Beck – Second Life artist and designer, creator of many of the filters/masks included with the FilterCam HUD

Stephen Venkman – Second Life Artist and Photographer

Tillie Ariantho – Second Life Photographer and Creator of Tillie’s Posing Stand with HUD

Jori Watler – Second Life Photographer and Jewelry Designer


I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to try to be a winner! If you haven't bought your own FilterCam yet - hurry over to MechanizedLife and do it now!

FilterCam available as the SL Daily Deal!

As most people know, I absolutely ADORE FilterCam from MechanizedLife, the wonderful CodeBastard Redgrave's awesome store. I use mine quite often for in world photos and if you've never heard of it before, you can read up on my review of it here in this blog.

Today for SL Daily Deals, you can get your own FilterCam for the AWESOME price of just $399L!! Incredible!! If you take a lot of photos in world and maybe your Photoshop/Gimp skills aren't completely wonderful, I highly highly suggest you pick this up. But go quickly! There are only 100 available. Watch the Daily Deals website to see when it's available, but it should be up at 12am SLT.

And yeah, I've used this frame from FilterCam in here before, but I love it. :) The only thing done to this photo was cropping, everything else is exactly as I took it in world. Don't miss out on getting your own FilterCam at MechanizedLife!!

FilterCam 2.0 is ready!!

Do you ever look at the blogs and feeds and think, "Wow, how can I get my photos to look better in Second Life?" Me too! For a long time, I thought everyone was just a Photoshop genius. And while there are some exceptional Photoshoppers out there, not everyone is. Some of them were using a nifty little HUD called FilterCam from MechanizedLife!

A few months ago, the fabulous brain behind MechanizedLife, CodeBastard Redgrave [or Codie, as she's known to her friends], passed out FilterCams at one of the blogger meet-ups as a gift. Awesome gift, because you know...we're bloggers, we take umpteen pics of ourselves! But I admit - I didn't use it for ages. I'm not particularly gadgety, and a quick glance at the instructions made me believe it was much too hard.

I was SO wrong.

FilterCam is incredibly easy to use! Wear it, click it fast to pull it up, click and hold for a second on it to pull up the menu, choose your filter, take a snapshot [make sure you have it marked to show HUDs!], and boom! Cute cute picture! My banner for this blog was taken using it!

I was working with an older version, but Codie has come up with a very awesome updated version, FilterCam 2.0!! Now with little submenus so you can find your favorite presets even easier! And 86 presets to choose from. 86!! All kinds of tints, patterns, and frames to make your pictures AWESOME.



This is just one of 86 that you can choose from! And not only can you choose presets, but you can customize them to your liking. Codie, bless her, sat the other night and showed me how to do it. I'm not sure if I truly understood, but I think I did. And you can also use a tutorial by Ryker Beck to learn how to make your very own FilterCam presets! So so cool!

If you have an old version of FilterCam, just wear it and the new one should be delivered to you shortly. If you don't already have it, you can pick it up at the MechanizedLife shop on the Rouge sim or onXStreet for $1000L. Believe me, it is WORTH this price. You will adore it!