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~lucidiot · 4mo
Migration PSA
Once Retrospring.net shuts down, I plan to migrate to Fragsturztaube.
If you're moving there too, feel free to follow me, but don't expect me to answer questions in a timely manner yet. I do not intend to be fully active on here until the OG Retrospring shuts down. My limit for how much social media I can handle is low so I don't intend to be on two instances at once!
I might put up a page somewhere on one of my websites to include some of the long answers I posted on Retrospring.net, so they don't disappear after it dies.
You · 14h
I take photos with my smartphone and they are awful.
See if you can use an app that lets you have more control over the camera, like forcing a lower ISO which will reduce electronic noise. It's the main issue with smartphones at night.
Also, all cameras can do RAW, the software just doesn't let you and converts to JPEG directly, but some apps might allow you to bypass that and shoot in RAW anyway.
And if your camera app has it (it very likely does), use the 3×3 grid overlay, which will let you apply one of the most basic tricks of photography, the rule of thirds.
You · 17h
Do the various Christmas lights that people put up in the city create good opportunities for photos or are they rather a hindrance?
Everything is a good photo opportunity, but not necessarily for every photographer, depending on their style, their equipment, their knowledge, and the time they have.
There are a lot of things about Christmas that annoy me, like the Christmas markets and the hordes of people they bring when I usually try to avoid photos of people. But Christmas lights are not much of a problem to me. I see them as part of an ongoing transformation of a city. Cities evolve around the seasons, they change as buildings are built, demolished, rebuilt, renovated, they change with festivities, etc. If I am photographing in my local area and think I don't like the Christmas lights here, I could save my current position and remind myself to come back here in January. And if I am traveling, well, I try to make the best of my time there. If I traveled specifically for photography, I would be timing my trip depending on what conditions I want in the city, so I wouldn't have any issues.
And on the technical side of things, Christmas lights are no more of an issue than any other artificial light source. Night photography really requires you to know your gear well, know how to use manual or semi-automatic modes, and know how to use post processing software, so it certainly is more complicated than daytime photography, but it can be very interesting. It also gives you good arguments when someone says you could just take photos with a smartphone.
You · 1d
Have you ever seen the Moon?
You · 1d
Here's the word count for each day from my digital journal: https://litter.catbox.moe/ez9ivo.svg I don't know why, I just realized I could easily make this and then did but I don't have anyone to show it to.
I saw the graph before while checking the inbox in bed, but typing on a touchscreen is annoying so I waited to get to a proper keyboard, and now the link is a 404. Interesting anyway, the count got wild from 2023 on!
I can't easily make a word count from my analog journal, but I know that I wrote over 1400 notebook pages this year. Filling a page completely with text without decorations or spacing (as I might do when journaling furiously) yields 200 to 250 words. There are decorations on most pages now though, so I'm just going to guesstimate 200K words were written this year.
You · 1d
Do you read some webcomics? If so, any recommendations?
I follow XKCD, webcomic name, SMBC, Sarah's Scribbles, Foxes in Love, and COOELST CAT COMCIX. Indexed is also in the Comics category in my feed reader, but whether it is really a comic is debatable.
You · 3d
What do you do when you are chronicling your day in your journal and suddenly remember that you left out an important part?
If the rest of the day does not make any sense without this part, I will try to write it in immediately, starting with writing that I forgot to mention something, and maybe summarizing in what sentence the correct order of things so that it stays in order in my head. If I need to or want to write it only later, I write a sticky note and put it on the next page so I don't forget to do that. I sometimes end up keeping the sticky notes and sticking them more permanently into the journal to decorate a bit.
You · 4d
Have you ever thought of becoming a hermit?
I have. I don't have that much of an effort to do to get there since I have less and less opportunities to form any kind of relationship with people. I expect to live my entire life mostly alone. But I still have to interact with people to survive even if I can't get close to them at all, so I couldn't ever be completely isolated from anyone even if I tried.
Flufyf · 4d
Do you sometimes feel the need for a better Internet connection to upload data than VDSL, with the selfhosting you do ?
You · 5d
Do you ever take pictures of people? Have you ever been asked to?
I initially got my camera to get me to explore my city more and notice the little details that can make a walk much more interesting than just ignoring everything all the way to my destination. I go out with my camera usually to explore a urban area, having researched the architecture and urbanism beforehand, and my subjects are not human beings: buildings, vehicles, infrastructure, litter, plants, clouds, etc. I don't shoot for money or fame, just for my own fun. I don't do photo shoots with models, and if I was asked to take photos of people for their own benefit and felt comfortable saying no, I would say no.
However, following the tips I got from various photography books I read, if there are people in front of the camera, if they are not identifiable and if they add an interesting component to my photo, then I will take the photo. If I'm not sure, I take the photo and decide what to do with it later at home. I might also consider waiting for someone to walk by if I feel a photo needs it, but that has yet to happen.
I remember taking photos of people five times out of my own will:
- two with a friend who was okay with starring in some photos if I felt like it
- one with a relative who I asked to turn their back to me to look at a sunset
- one of a stranger standing in front of two rivers with their back to me
And one day, there was some shady looking person who wanted me to shoot them. I was alone in an area I didn't know well with 2000€ of camera gear on me and didn't feel comfortable saying no, so I took a few photos. They gave me their contact info and left, as they wanted the photos to show off on social media or something. I deleted those photos when I sorted through them at home and never got in touch.
You · 5d
How often do you piss?
You · 6d
Do you think some people were just meant to be lovely?
Depends on what you mean by meant. I don't think anyone is completely predestined to be anything when they are born, because it isn't all about genetics. Their childhood will define how they are; whether they are raised as a gifted child, a spoiled brat, abandoned, abused, etc. will have a lasting impact. This is why I think most neurotypicals cannot be good parents: they simply do not understand this and will believe they still can live their own lives while parenting.
Flufyf · 6d
Have you ever been on an aerial way of transport (plane, hot air ballon, giant eagle catching you in their claws…) ?
I did one flight on a Cessna with my grandfather, who used to be a pilot, and a friend of his who flew the plane. It was a while ago and I forgot most of it. I'm fairly sure I was really scared, and it probably lasted for an hour or so. I also went on a flight of probably just a few minutes in the front passenger seat of a helicopter during a fair organized by the local military base. I did not get captured by any birb yet!