#i think you can rly see how different the color styling looks. more contrasts now compared to before

[jakkenpoy]

[commajade]

idk how to word this question properly, but what differences do you see in the way korean lesbians/bi women dress in comparison to american ones? i can’t speak for neither but i can see a difference between how they dress in my country x in the US so i was curious

well to put it simply they dress like korean people? i only have my own experiences as a gyopo butch dyke and my historical knowledge to draw from so this info is gonna be specific to what i've noticed and not at all a comprehensive overview of the entire korean lesbian scene.

south korea has its own clothing trends and accessible clothing items with sizing and cuts that r specific to the country so that's what queer women have to choose from basically. korean clothing tends to be a little bit more gender neutral than american clothing as of the last 10 years and a little bit more formal. a lot of young korean people wear blazers and slacks and formal shoes just to hang out with friends regardless of gender, mix and matched with like jeans and t-shirts and sneakers to dress it down for casual occasions. most korean lesbians dress like korean women and the large breadth of personal styles that that entails. this is very much colored by upbringing, class, hobbies, whether they take part in subcultures, etc. korean lesbians/bi women often gravitate to subcultures such as the underground music scene or tattooist scene. the tattooist scene is inherently countercultural because giving tattoos without a medical license is illegal so people who cannot have standard jobs due to social hierarchies but have artistic inclinations tend to be drawn there.

there was a large south korean feminist movement in the last 10 years that has led to a lot of feminist and/or lesbian/bi women dressing casually and androgynously with no make up as a response to constant objectification and inhumane beauty standards in society and the workplace. i would say that this is analogous to the US lesbian feminist movement in the 60s-80s toward androgyny as a response to objectification. this is in historical contrast with butch/femme culture which cares more about actively attracting other women and signaling that they are a part of the lesbian subculture rather than dressing in a way to signal rebellion from patriarchy and wanting to deter the attraction and attention of men.

i think one significant difference to mention here would be that butch women in america and other western countries have the 1940s-onward classic butch image as the base for what female masculinity looks like while korean butch women in the 1970s-1980s typically dressed in a hippie style with long hair, denim, and prints. this isn't rly reflected in today's butch women's dress sense tho there's not a lot of cultural continuity from the older generation to now because of violent repression and other historical reasons.

the butch women i saw around hongdae going to bars and clubs dressed smart and formal and a little bit edgy but in a way similar to well-groomed and dressed korean men or even korean actors and kpop idols. the trend seemed to be female masculinity that looks like a feminine man the way that is popularized in korean media. the femmes i saw with them dressed similarly to other korean women going out for the night.

and there are of course many older butch women still around and they have varying styles but many tend to do a western style classic working class butch look. very few of these women r in the middle or upper class from what i've seen. these are women who are single or partnered with women and have worked in jobs such as manual labor work, taxi driving, food service, and bartending. their attire reflects their lives.

[scenics]

do you have any tips for making high quality gifs? the ones you make always look soooo smooth.

this is very long i’m sorry i ramble, buts its all the things i could think of that could be helpful!! i’m always experimenting with new methods to gif, and these are my tips!!!

Find the most HQ videos possible if not try just try your best. Lately i’ve been fixated on turning 480p videos into 1080p it’s frustrating 0_o

Avisynth/vapoursynth! It resizes and does topaz’s work without killing my computer. Everyone has their own settings for KNLM and finesharp so play around with them. I rec adjusting the settings for the type of video you’re doing bcuz one setting does not fit all (performances, vlogs, magazine shoots are all different in my opinion). I will still use topaz sometimes afterwards if I want to finetune something for detail.

Always check your gif on mobile before posting! It may look good in ps/desktop but tumblr processes things very differently so learn to work around it. Check for graininess (I absolutely hate the patchy squares and it just means that over time when tumblr updates, your gif quality will degrade even faster, I want my gifs to still look good after 4 years!). In addition, almost everyone’s on mobile nowadays, making gifs extra big will make ppl stop and notice your gifs and interact. But that means they’ll also notice your gif quality up close and personal on their hd phone screens and ignore it if it’s laggy or patchy.

For layers, 7 or 8 layers are the same as 20 or 30 layers in the end. Having more layers just makes gifs bigger and harder to process and tumblr eats the quality of bigger gifs (especially over time). I’d also rec keeping layers minimal (no more than 15 or so). Giffing with minimal layers takes practice and knowing your routine (start out with as many to practice as you want, cut down as you go.)

Make blacks blacker and whites whiter (creates good contrast and graininess is less likely to show). Intensify and enhance colors by adding colors in their range (i.e. enhance purples by turning up reds or blues). Play w selective color and hue/saturation.

Tone down or completely eliminate any colors that could directly oppose the dominant colors of your gif (i.e. eliminate any greens in yellow/orange dominant gifs). I also rec avoiding coloring gifs super bright (the neon rainbow trend of 2015 gifs) if it’s not already their natural color from the original source (over time the coloring degrades very very quickly).

Eliminate blues if you can (especially in the background, just turn it to black or white). It’s an absolutely terrible color to make high quality without graininess (next to red) and it’s quality always degrades faster too. In addition, degray gifs bcuz gray gifs have bad quality and patchy squares always show.

After vapoursynth, experiment with sharpening and then adding a layer of gaussian blur or grain (or a mix of both). I don’t prefer a lot of blur bcuz it also succumbs to graininess but it’s good for softening and dithering (I like to use this on vlog type videos or interviews). I also add grain like some film gifmakers and I find that it distributes and dithers color much more nicely and it enhances quality on mobile by 10000%. If you’ve noticed, film gifsets on mobile are super crisp HQ (mostly from 4k dvd rips they’re the cream of the crop) but also bcuz of adding grain to redistribute color. It ensures that their gifs can still be reblogged years after they’re published (I’ve personally noticed that film gifs always outlast every other fandom’s gifs in terms of longevity and quality from experience). Adding grain has the natural detailed quality I like and it helps eliminate the need for tons of layers. It makes 5 or 6 layers possible and my gifs smaller to upload.

In addition, decide if you like the completely smooth, muted look. Lately it’s been rly popular among kpop editors and it’s becoming the standard trend in kpop. I like how it makes things really HQ w/out graininess but I also dislike how it mutes colors with the added layers of selective color and exposure (it’s the gray white cast you see on most HQ kpop gifs now). I think some features and colors lose detail and their overall natural quality from the video. I’ve been experimenting w a style that combines both grain/blur and selective color techniques to make gifs rly HQ but I’m not sure I actually like it yet. I want the original colors to be enhanced w/out losing all the detail.

Finally, in relation to coloring and skintone (because it’s a big part of HQ gifs i believe). I’ve noticed over the past few years some editors solution to unwhitewashing is making idols overwhelmingly yellow or even orange and I dislike it very much. It’s reminiscent of the awful yellow gifs of 2012 tumblr that resulted from the overuse of topaz + it’s kind of racist in the assumption that all asians are yellow (an absolutely wonderful novelty of western colonization and imperialism). Learn to color based on the idol’s actual skin tone and I recommend trying to match actual skintone from unedited fansite photos or my preference is airport videos. Fan photos (not from fansites) are another good place and if you’ve seen them live in person, even better! Unwhitewash and enhance skintone based on this, and also learn the idol’s undertones to help you color. Undertones can be determined based on hair colors they’ve had or drastically avoid all the time (did blonde, blue or green hair make them look gray and drained? it’s probably bcuz they have mostly warm undertones; some idols have a good mix of both so they’ll look good in any hair color). If you noticed on my most recent yukhei gifset, I follow this technique to unwhitewash him in the the original video (which was very gray and whitewashed) . He looks darker, but not overwhelming brown or yellow yellow, and also his warm undertones are emphasized.

[hcbgoblin]

ok i wanted to watch the full day4 of mma but its only being uploaded at 4am for me and i caved in and watched the lq bts performance and i just

why   do you enjoy making me C RY 

so stream of crying consciousness first impression...... stuff 

a black swan intro A BLACK SWAN INTRO i mean i kinda wanted them to perform the whole song too but hey

it was way too fucking beautiful to be REAL i am LIVING i love love LOVE how much they leaned into classical and contemporary for black swan its more than i ever expected and i just cry every night into my pillow- 

first off i love tae and hoseok as a pairing it doesnt happen often and of the dances black swan could parallel i did not think dna would be one of them but it fucking works and it looks breathtaking 

the HEIGHT of taehyungs jump

swan namjin is just majestic and their postures were rly good, jins port de bras was a+; they over prepared a little for the pirouette but it somehow looks rly cute im whippedajfldkf

ok so. OK. oh   . jungkook,   jimin,    oh wow. oh WOW. jikook has had a lot of dance duos over the years and not to be dramatic but it was all leading up to this MOMENT ksdjn. no but ok the water dance was gorgeous and how delicate and yet midly terrifying they manage to look when theyre being carried (amazing sound direction too ) by the backup dancers is so entrancing, and when they finally come together to dance their FREAKING PAS DE DEUX. (bts danced a straight up pas de deux i cant get over it they really did THAT im losing it) anyway when they dance together you can see it even better!!

that bullet was getting too long so, ok, pas de deux is usually danced by a man and a woman (its more common for this to switch it up in contemporary, but still) , and even though it takes a lot (like a fucking lot) of strenght to maintain the various poses and steps while youre being lifted(usually women), in ballet  its a Thing to not let it show and appear as delicate and effortless as possible. so a lot of people who dont dance get the impression that whoever is lifting is doing the most work, but! thats not true, aND. jimin somehow manages to portray all that strenght while still being tear inducingly delicate. the sequence is sharp, delicated, jagged and desperate and jikook are PERFECT for it, bc their individual dance styles have always been so good at balancing sharp/delicate and intense. 

jimins extensions are, as usual, absolutely thight and in full display. their position for the lift turn was perfect. it was so gorgeous

the final swan pose was so so so so beautiful i loved that formation. bts rly has some of the best designed (like, idk how to say this in english, but literally ‘desenhada’ ‘drawn’) transitions formations and poses. their choreographies are so teatrical, every stop is a painting and i love it. jin just delivers the final blow w the final arms and releasing the bird... mercy

speaking of which the stage design here.................. exquisite

and last but suddenly not least, the backup dancers did the MOST, mad mad props. that bridge drop before jimin first appears might genuinely war with ot7s dancing for most beautiful part of the intro

so. like.      i really love black swan idk if it is noticeable. 

THE STAIRS FOR ON THE NO STAIRS AAAA AND THE N;O  STAIRS AND POSES AND INSTRUMENTALSSSSS 

their STYLING. insane.

ON you beautiful bitch i missed you . you deserved to have been so BIG UGHSJDFN

is it just me or does on feel simultaneously shorter and more INTENSE 

the purple mappp :((( and armys making up bts photo oh my GOD:((( ;;o;;

since its very unlikely they would have released anything outside of mots7 this year were it not for covid, their final performances would probably be n.o, black swan and on, maybe with wabte. im kinda sad now 

but now for long, quarantine savior life goes on is here 🥺🥺🥺

life goes on is so good live its ... ugh 

how SOFT their faces went in yoongis verso tho

its a bangtanarmy world

they did the PAH

dynamite quarantine bop lets go

uhHHHhhHh hoseok?? this VELVET FIT. JHSRKDKJS 

taejoons talk the talk that was SO CUTE. ILLEGAL

they look so happy and energetic i love to see it

dynamite has such a fun choreo. its their simplest one since.... just one day, probably, but they make it SO engaging 

also the way their suits change color is MAGICAL

jin air kisses into the dance break? yEs

THIS DANCE BREAK. ITS PURE DISCO OH MY GOD OH My GoD DISCO QUEEN DYNAMITE!!! U DID THAT . the vibez are absolutely exquisite , dare i say........ GROOVY

super fast footwork and their delivery is so suave and cool holy shit im hypnotized ; that little HEAD BOP on the suspended kick - . like this dance is brimming with personality i love it so much 

hoseoks subtle roboting just adds that Something to it , 

his style is so interesting to me bc like, usually street styles use a lower posture, heavier/sharper finishes, and are visually bolder styles of dancing, highlighting the impact of the steps (i wish i could explain what i mean better but im not super familiar with street styles ughfgfd ) . as opposed to contemporary/jazz/ballet etc but hoseoks style is like a hybrid lately, its very light, almost like hes floating across the stage (voguings a street style that has that lighter higher disposition, but hoseok doesnt rly vogue afaik.... someone once noted, that, interestingly, thats also the core logic of classical dancing and that creates such an interesting contrast in a way that is different but parallel to the way jimin also likes to create that type of contrast in his dancing?? ugh yes.) 

 and anyway, he manages to be so fluid and light and still so sharp and this choreography highlights that soooo well. his footwork and his extensions when hes leading the dance line- chefs kiss . also that hat and that suit   . thank you bh

their linesssssss cries

jimins high kick tumble cries the 70s just kicked me in the face + the synced jump the others do just as he kicks a+++++

they are so synchronized . like they usually are, but it looks even more satisfying here

this dance break..... i didnt think dynamite would do this for us, but its among my favorites 

taehyung is made for This

2seoks suits are driving me feral

was just talking to a friend today abt how i thought back in 2016 that no one could top that mama performance, not even bts themselves......... ha . hahahah ha. 

bangtan. never. disapoints.