I am often asked the question of, "OMG Ryker, where did your skin smoothing tutorial go?! I MUST SEE EET, GIMMEH!" So... for this week's tutorial, I thought it might be fun to redo that tutorial that I did over two years ago now, and repost it for the masses here... in my weekly tutorial post. Enjoy the video!

This is a Photoshop-only tutorial, however, I am sure with a little poking around, the technique can also be applied in GIMP rather easily!

I apologize in advance for this being a Photoshop-specific tutorial! I am still very much a GIMP newbie, but, as soon as I learn the lay of the land for how to do this process in GIMP, you bet I'll be posting another tute for it! For now, Photoshoppers, here we go!

Today, we'll be learning how to combine a depth snapshot with a color snapshot to create the illusion of "depth of field" in your Second Life snapshots!

Let me define the term "depth of field" quick, just to give a frame of reference for those of you scratching your heads right now! The term "depth of field" refers to the portion of a photograph (or in this case, snapshot) that will be in-focus (i.e. not blurry!). What we are going to do here is make an attempt at mimicing real life photography by combining a depth shot with a color snapshot to immitate depth.

An example of a real life depth shot (we will be trying to mimic this effect with this tutorial):

Some great minds have already submitted quite a few even greater captions for Lokum's snapshot of a n00b and a greyscale flower avatar at the Morris Welcome Hub. Yet, there is still time to submit your brilliant caption until Wednesday March 11th. Your chance to win 2000 L$, just for being funny! :) Some of the superb entries up to now:

Merry Christmas (or the equivalent in your religion, or just "may thy gifts be pleasant and thou family members not to embarrasing") to all! For those who aren't on a well-deserved ski trip, there's a huge consolation: neither is your Greenies' crew. This means we've got quite some activities and contests for you to enjoy! Tonight you can join us for a big party on the Greenies kitchen table from 12 noon to 3 pm SLT (TP), hosted by Angelina Rhode with DJ Krakov Letov. Winners of the Greenies Virtual Holiday Decoration Contest will be announced and fabulous prizes handed out.

Rezzable & Language Lab have come together to celebrate cultural diversity in SL by holding a Global Music Festival for the month of September. Throughout the festival, September 6-28th, Rezzable is sponsoring the 'Captured Proverbs' Second Life Photography Contest. This is not your typical photo contest; it is a celebration of the RL diversity that helps make SL special. This is your chance to showcase your Real Life Culture by taking the best photo in SL that represents something typical to your home country & culture: it's proverbs. Prizes are abundant, with 30,000L$ and lots of in world goodies for the first prize winner.