#the posts on dash are literally just resources

[theorionissystem]

Im really not interested in syscourse related interactions, I’m here for my own mental health and recovery and internet discourse is not it.

No I will not give my opinions, no I will not elaborate, but if there’s a meme involved then bababooey.

[skyjynxart]

.

[emptyjunior]

I know that tumblr feels a bit of superiority over tiktok, twitter, instagram and like they Should, holding on to a dash that is directly designed by you and your fellow bloggers gets infinitely more valuable by the day and we should be proud of keeping that (cause it Is something that needs to be fought for constantly!) but can I say I don't like the attitude that everyone else on every other app is dumb and they're all normies and we're the smart ones.

Like there are people who enjoy making video content! And they should have a place where they are safely able to do that. People should be able to discuss topics that are close to them like grief, sex, gender, they should be able to review scary movies and silly horror without any of that being watered down so that the app can still sell itself to advertisers. Musicians should be able to share their music without two distant corporations making deals that silence them and destroy their income. People should be able to share tiktoks criticising their government without a bill passing instantly to silence them

People should be able to use an app that is extremely beneficial to artists and fans without a megalomaniac buying it and finding ways to paywall every feature of a website that was already functional. Minors should be able to comment on the tv show they're watching without the replies being flooded with a robot sending them pornographic images.

People should be able to use the search function on their app without it being a literal AI chatbot?? They should be able to post art they care about and build an audience without it being scraped for parts. You should be able to just find things you're interested in without the person you want to see having to participate in a tier based subscription service to be able to be seen by you.

The users of these apps aren't 'foolish' because they weren't smart enough to try tumblr. It isn't a win every time they take a hit and their app gets marginally worse. It's sad!!! And it isn't right! Yes maybe they would enjoy it if they just abandoned what they're on and came here but they shouldn't have to! We shouldn't want them to! We should never want anyone to cede any space or resources to the hungry bastards that want to take advantage of people's online communities.

Like I'm not asking every tumblr user to get up in arms and fight for influencers on tiktok, you've got your own battles here and they've got theirs there but just reminding people that if you gloat about someone else's website getting suck-ier you are applauding the person doing that to them

[sirfrogsworth]

Hi Froggy,

I hope you've been well! I wanted to reach out and first say that you inspired me many years ago to rescue a corgi! She was a grump, I think she may have taken her name (Elphaba) too literally. She recently crossed the rainbow bridge, but she was such fun and a joy. I hope our pups are playing together, somewhere peaceful.

I have a question unrelated to stumpy Corgis. I'm a veteran birth doula and an aspiring birth photographer! I've been trying to research cameras, lenses, and all sorts of technical stuff. I'm leaving towards purchasing the new Nikon ZF, because of the purported low-light capabilities.

Lenses are throwing me completely.

Do you have any guidance or resources to help a newbie like myself? Not really looking for an in-depth answer (I know how complicated things can get), but maybe a general push in the right direction?

If you don't want or can't answer, no hard feelings! I enjoy just seeing your posts on my dash and I hope the rest of your year is amazing and calm!-Steph

(continued...)

My budget is pretty flexible, since I am an independent contractor the expense would be tallied towards my taxes. But that being said, maybe $1-3k? I know it's important to invest more into lenses!

Usually, I am in a hospital, and lighting is extremely variable. I would be shooting mostly in low-light before baby is born. During delivery and after there is usually a spotlight or fluorescent lighting. The low lighting is exactly why I was looking at the new ZF, but if you have suggestions on that too I'm happy to hear them!

It's very cramped when the baby is born, most medical and support staff are clustered around the laboring person.

Warning! A lot of birth photos will have baby crowning or blood. It's a messy business, so I don't want to trigger you if you're sensitive to those sorts of images.

I will not be able to be directly next to the laboring parent, more than likely I'll be a few feet away, possibly behind the parents or standing on a stool.

After the baby is born, I'll be able to get closer to both parents and baby!

Here's a portfolio that is close to what I would like to provide (once again TW for blood and crowning):

https://www.sarahginderphotography.com/birth-photography-north-new-jersey

I cannot thank you enough for any help or advice, this whole endeavor is like learning a new language!

----------------------------

Note from Future Froggie...

I went way overboard on this response, as usual. I have decided I'm going to break it up into 3 parts.

First, an encyclopedia of lens terminology.

Second, a camera and lens buying guide.

Third, practical advice for shooting in cramped rooms with tricky lighting conditions.

While this will be geared towards the original ask, I think this could be helpful to a lot of people. So, let's learn about lenses!

--------------------------

Lenses throw everybody, just because there are so many options. It can be overwhelming to look at a picture like this and wonder what will suit you best.

It's a lot of pressure too, because lenses are more important than the camera in a lot of ways. Interchangeable lenses are probably the biggest advantage big cameras have over smartphones these days.

But I think I can help get you up to speed.

The following terms are photospeak you might hear in camera and lens reviews and if you aren't familiar with them, it can make it difficult to figure out what camera and lens to purchase.

I tried to put these in an order that makes sense, but some terms relate to other terms and you may have to read the list twice to make sure you understand how everything mushes together.

Froggie's Encyclopedia of Lens Terms

Lens Mount

Every camera has a specific lens mount. Sony calls theirs the E Mount. Nikon has the F Mount (older) and the Z Mount (mirrorless). So you need to make sure the lens you are looking at is compatible with the mount on your camera.

Mirrorless cameras all upgraded to a mount with a "short flange distance." Going without a mirror allows the lenses to be closer to the sensor.

Long story short... Short flange distance = easier lens design = sharper/lighter lenses.

However, if you want to use older DSLR lenses, there are adapters for Nikon and Canon that allow you to do that.

Aperture

"Aperture" is an opening at the front of the lens. It gets bigger to let in more light or smaller to restrict light.

Wider apertures have a shallower depth of field, causing blurry foregrounds and backgrounds outside the plane of focus. Smaller apertures expand the focus area to keep more stuff from being blurry, but they let in much less light and are difficult to use in dark environments.

Aperture can be a creative decision or it can be a technical decision or it can be a mix of both. If you need a blurry background, use a wider aperture. If you need everything in focus, use a smaller aperture. If you need more light in a dark scene, open it up.

F-stop

"F-stop" is a number representing how big the aperture is. A lower number is a bigger hole. Higher number is a smaller hole. It is helpful to memorize f-stops as they are not easily divisible. Cameras generally allow third stops, half stops, and full stops.

These are all a "full stop" apart.

Stop Down/Open Up

When someone says to "stop down" a lens, they are telling you to make the aperture smaller or use a higher f-stop number.

If they say to "open up" they are saying to make the hole bigger or lower the f-stop number.

Depth of Field (DoF)

Depth of field refers to how much of the photo is in focus. Things in front of the plane of focus will get blurrier and blurrier and things behind the plane of focus will get blurrier and blurrier. A shallow depth of field means only a tiny sliver of your image will be in focus. A deep depth of field means almost everything will be in focus.

The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field.

The smaller the aperture, the deeper the depth of field.

Focal Plane or Plane of Focus

The focal plane is the sharpest point within the depth of field. You can imagine an imaginary section of 3D space where things within the depth of field are sharp and things outside are blurry. The farther away from the focal plane, the blurrier they will get. But the focal plane is not always dead center of the depth of field.

Typically, at close distances, things will be sharp half in front of where you focused and half behind where you focused. As things get farther away, that changes to more 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind. The ratio changes even more at greater distances, but the 50-50 and 1/3-2/3 ratios are typically what photographers try to remember.

Shallow Depth of Field

The focal plane is something you need to be very aware of at close distances with a wide aperture—as the depth of field can end up as a tiny sliver.

Let's say you are only a few feet away from a baby and you have the aperture set at f/1.2. You focus on the nearest baby eye, and then you notice its ears and nose are out of focus.

The plane of focus and shallow depth of field are causing this issue. This might be a worthy compromise if you are in a dark room and your ISO is very high and you are worried about too much noise.

However, if you can use a flash or some kind of lighting, you can stop down your lens and increase that depth of field around the focal plane.

Bokeh

Bokeh is the quality of the blurriness. Some people are more obsessed with how good the blurry parts of the photo are more so than the in focus parts. Bokeh is typically judged by "bokeh balls" which are just out-of-focus lights in the background. While I like attractive bokeh balls as much as the next photographer, I will admit this is one of the sillier aspects of photography.

Field of View (FoV)/Angle of View

This is how much stuff you can fit in frame at a given distance. Wide angle lenses can fit more stuff in at a shorter distance and telephoto lenses can fill the frame with stuff that is farther away. The focal length of the lens determines the field of view. The focal length is designated by millimeters and the field of view by degrees.

Focal Length

Technically, this is "the distance between the lens's optical center and the camera's sensor."

In simpler terms, this is how you determine the field of view of a given lens.

A short focal length, like 10mm, will have a wider field of view. You have to be very close to your subject to fill the frame with them.

And a longer focal length, like 500mm, will allow you to fill the frame with your subject from farther distances.

Typically all lenses are designated by their focal length. If someone says, "Hand me the 50" they mean a 50mm lens.

35mm Equivalent

Not every camera has the same sized sensor. So when we talk about lenses, we need a reference to help us understand how a given lens will behave. A 50mm f/2.8 lens does not have the same field of view or depth of field when placed on different sensors. So, we need a standard for comparison.

The standard that is used is the "full frame" sensor which is roughly the same size as a 35mm piece of film.

Anything smaller is considered a "cropped sensor."

Those cropped sensor cameras have a "crop factor"—a simple multiplier that helps you understand how lenses compare. And when you use this multiplier it tells you the "35mm equivalent."

Confused yet? Yeah, sorry, it would be easier if camera manufacturers chose metrics that didn't change depending on the sensor, but this allows them to make their cameras and lenses seem more impressive in the marketing.

There are two main cropped sensors for ILCs. (Interchangeable lens cameras.) APS-C and Micro Four Thirds. They have a "crop factor" of 1.5x and 2x respectively. The Micro 4/3 sensor is half the size of Full Frame, therefore it has a 2x crop factor. And when you apply this crop factor to the aperture and focal length you can determine how a lens will behave.

For example, a 50mm f/2.8 lens on a micro 4/3 sensor would behave the same as a 100mm f/5.6 lens on a full frame—as 100mm is 2x 50mm and f/5.6 is 2 stops above f/2.8.

As you can see, the Micro 4/3 lens is not going to do as well in low light. The iPhone boasts an aperture of f/1.8 on its main lens, but when you figure out the 35mm equivalent, it's more like an f/8 lens.

I went to all the effort to explain this because it demonstrates that larger sensors allow you to work in cramped spaces with less light. If you want to use a 50mm in a hospital room, you probably can on a full frame. But on a Micro 4/3 you might need to be out in the hall because your lens is acting like it is 100mm. So the Zf would be a good choice in this regard.

Camera Shake

This is the bad kind of blurry. Humans are not tripods, so when you are handholding a lens, you need to make sure your shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the action of your image. Camera shake is very easy to control on wide angle lenses and very difficult to manage with telephoto lenses.

Reciprocal Rule

The reciprocal rule states that in order to get sharp photos without blurry camera shake, you must set your shutter speed to 1 over twice the focal length of your lens. So if you have a 100mm lens, you need to set your shutter speed at 1/200 to be safe.

This rule breaks down at a shutter speed of 1/50 if there is anything moving in your image. So if a dog is running or a car is driving by, it will have a motion trail, but at least it won't be due to your shaky hands.

Image Stabilization

This is a feature some lenses have that helps reduce camera shake. Image stabilization can counteract shaky hands and let you get sharp photos with a much slower shutter speed. Newer cameras have sensor stabilization which does the same thing. And if you pair up a stabilized sensor with a stabilized lens, it is almost as effective as using a tripod.

Stabilization is measured in stops. You might hear a lens has 4 stops of stabilization. That means you can handhold the lens and not get camera shake with a shutter speed 4 stops below the reciprocal rule. So for that 100mm lens, that 1/200 becomes roughly 1/12. And if your sensor has 4 stops, you could handhold a shot for nearly a second without any shake.

However, at shutter speeds that slow, if anything in the frame is moving, they will probably have motion blur. But for still life scenes, or maybe a sleeping baby, this can be very handy if you don't have a tripod with you.

If being able to handhold at lower shutter speeds seems important, then you might want to seek out a lens with stabilization and pair it to a camera with sensor stabilization for maximum stable-osity.

Lens Compression

Lens compression is kind of a myth, but I think we still call it compression because it is easier to explain to beginners than optical physics. The lens doesn't really compress anything, it's actually a matter of distance and the aforementioned physics. But I'm going to go with the easy explanation for now.

Lens compression is a phenomenon seen with different focal lengths. If you take a photo with a 500mm lens, the background will seem to compress with the foreground. Thus objects in the background will seem much larger in size.

This also happens with faces.

Wider lenses exaggerate distance. At 10mm, the lens would only be a few inches away from someone's face.

From the lens's point of view, the ears are several times farther away from the lens than the tip of the nose. So the lens is like, "Your ears are really far away! And far away things are really small, right?" So the lens gives us a big nose and small ears and makes us look a bit alien.

But at 100mm, the lens will be several yards away.

From this perspective, the lens feels like your ears and your nose are nearly the same distance away. And the lens is now like, "Things that are the same distance away do not get bigger or smaller." The lens seems to compress or flatten the face, causing a more flattering appearance in the image.

Minimum focus distance

This is sometimes called the working distance. This is how close you can get to your subject while maintaining focus. If you get too close, your camera will just hunt and freak out perpetually until you back up and it can lock on again. This isn't always advertised prominently for lenses, so you need to make sure the lens will be able to focus in the space you plan to use it.

Extension Tubes

Sometimes called "macro extension tubes." These are spacers you put between your camera and lens to decrease the minimum focus distance. In some cases you can even turn a normal lens into a macro lens. These tubes are able to stack and the more you put on, the more into the macro realm you can go. They come in smart and dumb versions. The dumb ones require you to manual focus whereas the smart ones can still use the autofocus system. I highly recommend the smart ones, as they are not too much more expensive.

Lens Imperfections

There are a few imperfections that can plague all lenses and their quality is sometimes judged by how well they mitigate those imperfections. Here are some of those attributes.

Lens Distortion

As lenses get wider, they allow a larger field of view by accepting light rays that are coming from the side of your lens. Let's look at this image again.

Your lens then has to correct those rays and send them to a square, flat sensor. If you look at the 180 degree fisheye, that entire arc has to be flattened and made square. And as good as optical engineering has become, the wider the lens, the harder it is to keep the image from distorting.

This is typically called "barrel distortion." Minor distortion can actually be corrected in editing software. Every lens has correction algorithms. Though sometimes it is best to embrace the distortion, like on a fisheye lens. Make the distortion a feature and not a bug.

Chromatic Aberration

This is the fancy name for color fringing. This is a defect in the lens that cause false colors to contaminate certain objects in a photo. Typically this happens around dark skinny things against a bright background, such as tree branches.

Modern lenses have nearly eliminated this, except for the super cheap models, but if you do end up with fringing, this can be easily corrected in Lightroom or Photoshop. And many lenses even have that correction built in and all you have to do is check a box.

Sharpness

You might not think of sharpness as an optical flaw, but no lens is perfectly sharp. And the quest to make a perfectly sharp lens involves engineering those optical flaws to a minimum.

A "sharp lens" is one with incredible fidelity. Even zoomed in beyond 100%, sharp lenses will show great detail. If you can't get close to the subject and need to crop your photo later, having a sharp lens can make up for the loss in resolution—as you can upscale without much loss in quality. If you plan to make large high quality prints, a sharp lens will help more than tons of megapixels.

That said, if you truly want to get the most out of a high megapixel camera, a sharp lens comes in handy here too. A smartphone may boast in the marketing as having 200 megapixels, but it has a tiny plastic lens. So even though it technically has 200 megapixels on the sensor, the lens will give it the equivalent of maybe 8-10 megapixels worth of detail. People forget, the lens has a resolution as well, and if the lens cannot resolve 200 megapixels, you aren't going to get a 200 megapixel image.

A sharp lens will allow for more detail than higher megapixels. In some cases you need to double or triple the number of pixels to see an increase in detail. Whereas you can put a super sharp lens on a 12 megapixel camera and blow any smartphone out of the water.

And if you put a sharp lens on a 50 megapixel camera, you can almost see into skin pores.

So... sharp = more detail. And more detail gives you greater cropping power for when you can't get close to babies.

Now, I am obligated to say that some photo nerds chase sharpness as if it is some holy grail. They need the sharpest lens so all of their pixels are perfect at 100% zoom even though no one ever looks at an image that close. There are amazing photos that have been blurry. There are amazing photos taken with 50 year old vintage glass. Sharpness is just another tool. If you need to crop. If you need to upscale. If you need to print large... it is a great help. But nearly every lens made for a modern mirrorless camera is "sharp" to some degree.

So, if you need extra sharpness for certain situations, do your research and find a lens that is sharp as can be. But sharpness should be like 8th on the list of priorities.

Soft Lens

A "soft" lens is how a non-sharp lens is referred to. Most modern optics for mirrorless cameras have some degree of sharposity.

Sharpitude.

Sharp...ness.

So you don't need to worry too much about getting a detrimentally soft lens unless you go super duper budget. This is why I usually recommend people skip the "kit lens" unless they absolutely can't afford anything better.

Though sometimes people purposely get vintage lenses because they don't like sharpness and prefer the "character" of older lenses. The imperfections can achieve a different artistic goal. Though this can also be achieved through lens filters... or Vaseline.

I'm looking at you, Barbara Walters.

Sharpness at the Corners

When I read that in my head just now I said it the same way I do "Panic! at the Disco."

Engineers will prioritize sharpness at the center of the lens since that is where most of the interesting stuff tends to be. But also, the light rays at the center tend to be the most parallel as they head to the sensor, so they don't need as much correction. The rays coming from the sides have to be bent and manipulated to correct for distortion, so keeping things sharp at the corners can be a challenge.

Now, knowing that, and knowing how the aperture works, you can infer that when you stop down your lens and make the hole smaller, all of the light rays are constricted to a smaller area. This makes them easier for your lens to deal with, so if a lens has problems with corner sharpness, you can usually stop down to improve this. So if a lens is soft at the corners at f/1.8, you might be able to go to f/2 or f/4 to get better results.

Vignetting

Vignetting is a circular area of darkness at the perimeter of your photo. This is another side effect caused by the same things as soft corners. When correcting those non-parallel light rays, it causes them to travel an ever so slightly farther distance getting to your sensor. And the inverse square law tells us that light becomes dimmer as it travels longer distances.

This is very easy to correct. Usually your camera has a setting to correct vignetting if you are outputting JPEG files. And if you are shooting RAW photos, your editing software should have a check box to fix the vignetting—usually the same one that fixes chromatic aberration. This is usually called "lens correction" in most menus.

Also, same as with corner sharpness, stopping down your lens will usually fix this optically rather than with software algorithms.

Contrast

Contrast is probably the most important attribute to determine lens quality. Good contrast can make a soft lens look good. But lens contrast is not always consistent. It can get better or worse depending on the lighting in your scene.

The best way to test the contrast of a lens is to take a picture of something that is backlit. A person with the sun behind them is a great indicator. If they have no light on them, the person should fall into inky darkness. But if a lens has poor contrast, they will seem like a faded gray.

Focus Breathing

Focus breathing is a phenomenon where your focal length changes depending on how far away your subject is. It's usually not a big deal and most people don't even notice it, but if you ever do video, it can cause a few headaches. Some people can get annoyed because they feel they aren't getting the advertised focal length on the lens they bought. Like, if you get a 300mm lens and it only goes to 250mm for things super far away, that can be annoying.

This video explains it in detail.

Lens Types

Prime Lens

A "prime lens" has a fixed focal length and cannot be zoomed. Typically prime lenses are "faster" (wider max aperture) and sharper. Weirdly they can be very inexpensive or the most expensive. They can be extremely lightweight or weigh a ton. And if you want the sharpest lens possible or the fastest lens possible or both, it will be expensive and heavy.

Having at least one fast prime is usually recommended for any professional photographer.

Zoom Lens

A "zoom lens" allows you to zoom. Obviously. But there are few that go below an aperture of f/2.8, so less light gathering and you sacrifice a bit of sharpness. However, if you don't know how much space you will have to work with, the flexibility of a zoom can be invaluable.

Be warned, while a cheap prime lens can still take fairly good photos, cheap zooms are usually pretty terrible. There are plenty of reasonably priced zoom lenses to choose from, but if the price seems too good to be true, I would trust that intinct.

Wide Angle Lens

A "wide angle lens" is any focal length below 35mm. Wider focal lengths allow you to get more stuff in the photo at shorter distances. A theme you might notice with photography is that every benefit has a compromise or consequence to go with it. Wide angle lenses are wonderful if you are in a cramped space. They also make it easy to keep everything in focus. But as you go wider, distances become exaggerated and barrel distortion becomes more pronounced and harder to correct.

Things that are close to the lens seem huge and things farther away seem tiny. One trick to remember is things in the center of the frame will be less affected by distortion. Something to take into account when taking those smartphone selfies.

If you look, the ball looks huge in frame because it was only a few inches from the lens. Otis was literally smaller in frame than the ball despite only being about 2 feet away. However, he doesn't look all stretchy like the ball because he is centered.

Standard Lens

A "standard" or "normal lens" represents about the same field of view as the human eye. Generally around 40mm to 55mm on a full frame camera (there is some debate on this, but close enough). This is right about where you can take pictures of faces without the unflattering side effects of wide angle.

Telephoto Lens

A "telephoto lens" allows you to stand farther away and still fill the frame with your subject. Usually lenses 200mm and above are considered telephoto. These are often heavy and expensive.

Specialty Lenses

Ultrawide

This is just an extremely wide angle lens. At this point, you just except the massive amounts of distortion and embrace it. These lenses are extremely fun.

Medium Telephoto

These are sometimes called "portrait" lenses as well. They are a little more tele than standard and not quite tele enough for long distance photography. Usually in the 70-200mm range. This is the focal range that allows you to still be close to your subject but you are far enough away to get extra flattering lens compression on faces.

Superzoom Lens

A "superzoom" has an extremely large focal range. It can go from very wide to very telephoto. These are usually not wonderful lenses, although they have improved on mirrorless cameras in recent years. There are a few that could even be used professionally now. But most are just a huge mediocre compromise for vacation pix.

The cheap ones aren't fast, they aren't sharp, and every time you zoom people think your camera is having an erection.

If you are traveling and you have no idea what you might be photographing and carrying around a bunch of lenses is impractical, these have utility. But the larger the focal range, the more mediocre they get. Typically if the zoom range exceeds ~150mm you will start noticing that mediocrity. So a 70-200mm can be fantastic. But an 18-300mm will be very mid.

Macro

A macro lens is any lens that has 1x or more magnification. 1x magnification is a designation that relates the sensor size to how much of the subject fills the frame of your image. For 1x, that ratio should be 1:1.

So if you imagine a quarter lying on top of an image sensor, that's how big the quarter should be in your photo. 2x magnification would be like if a quarter doubled in size and you laid it on top of the image sensor. And so on.

Beware of lenses claiming to be macro and really only having a short working distance. 0.5x is not macro, but is sometimes advertised as so.

Tilt Shift Lens

This is a very niche lens. Most people know of it from the photos that make everyone look like they are in a miniature land.

For every other lens, the focal plane is perpendicular. If you move the camera at an angle, the focal plane will match that movement. So what the tilt shift lens allows you to do is angle the focal plane so your depth of field goes in bonkers directions.

Product photographers love this because you can take a photo of an array of products from a 45 degree angle and keep everything in focus.

This image would be impossible to maintain complete focus of all the objects without a tilt shift lens.

In this example, without tilting the lens, the tip of the multitool is out of focus.

And now you can see the camera hasn't moved, but the lens is at a steeper angle. And you'll also notice the entire tool is in focus.

But wait, there's more! Did you forget about the shifting? Architectual photographers can use the shift function of the lens to correct perspective distortion and keep buildings looking straight.

Will this lens help in the photographing of infants?

Probably not.

But I bet you thought it was cool and are glad I included it.

Recommended Essential Lenses

I didn't know what to call this section. These are just the collection of lenses most photographers will try to acquire as they build out their kit.

Nifty Fifty

This is probably the first lens everyone should buy. Almost every brand has their own version. It is an inexpensive 50mm lens with a sub f/2 aperture. Canon's Nifty Fifty or "Plastic Fantastic" is probably the most famous example. It is only $125 and has an f/1.8 aperture.

This lens may not be the sharpest and it might have a lot of plastic-y, cheap feeling parts, but it is a wonderful way to get started with photography. You can use the wide aperture to experiment with bokeh and shallow depth of field. And the 50mm focal length is probably one of the most versatile. Not too wide, so people look normal, and not too tele, so you aren't a mile away from your subjects.

The Holy Trinity

The "Holy Trinity" is meant to describe the 3 lenses that can handle nearly every photographic task while maintaining professional quality results. Typically these lenses are all f/2.8 and are high quality zoom lenses. The 16-35mm, the 24-70mm, and the 70-200mm.

Most photographers can accomplish just about any task with these lenses in their bag.

Froggie's Holy Hexagon

That said, if I had an unlimited budget I would actually have 6 lenses to cover everything. Beyond the Holy Trinity, I would get a fast prime, an ultrawide, and a macro lens.

A fast prime can see in the dark and has more background blur. The nifty fifty would work great for this.

An ultrawide is one of the most fun lenses you will ever use, even if it distorts everything to a crazy degree and isn't useful very often. It is great for breaking you out of photographic ruts and can really get the creative juices flowing.

And a macro lens is not just useful for making tiny things big. It also allows you to focus at any distance. Sometimes you just need to get a tad bit closer than your other lenses will allow. Macro lenses are also pretty great portrait lenses and can serve multiple functions.

And if anyone is interested in sports or wildlife photos, a nice telephoto lens might be a seventh lens to consider.

I think that is the end of part 1.

I hope this was helpful. And I look forward to posting part 2 soon.

[tau1tvec]

Tumblr’s discovery options are absolute garbage, I swear it’s just straight up excluding blogs from tags and suggestions, I need more variety on my dash

Pls if you post/reblog

Elder Scrolls ( any )

Fallout ( any )

Starfield

Animal Crossing ( any )

Stardew Valley

Black Desert Online

The Sims 3

Y2K/Nostalgia

Movie/TV gifs/stills

Writing/Memes/Resources

Literally anything funny

Cats

Like/reblog this so I can follow.

You’re also welcome to @ me if you feel like I would like to see something you posted, and possibly reblog it.

EDIT: adding The Sims 3, bc even though I check the tag daily, I refuse to believe there’s only like 30 of us and a gum wrapper actively posting this damn game. 😭

[berglietz]

Seasons Greasons: A Meta Analysis based on Caspar's Culinary Palate + Return Gift For Shez's Whistle

AKA: no one should ever 'jokingly' challenge me to write a meta to my irl face. take these 1k words now

THE BACKSTORY:

May 6th, Baltimore Inner Harbor. It was a lovely day—by which I mean the sky was grey and gloomy and decided to start spitting a fine mist down from the clouds as soon as Lucius and I stepped out of the light rail and started our trek toward our destination. Our destination being a birthday celebration for Erica, which obviously made the day lovely regardless of the weather. At this point we had already gotten past the 'hello's and reciprocal 'oh god you really are shorter than i remember's, and had settled into our table at the cafe. Inevitably, the conversation quickly turned to Fire Emblem. We are who we are.

Playthroughs of Warriors: Three Hopes entered the scene, and then discussions of the Merc Whistle mechanic. "I haven't given mine away yet." I said. "Don't they give you a return gift that you can wear as an accessory to use their special ability?"

I pulled out my phone. I learned that Caspar's return gift to Shez was called Seasoning Set. Across the table, past the strangely shaped flasks of hot water and growing number of drained shirley temple glasses, N "Njamin" Von TOAmod smiled at me and said "I expect a meta post about Caspar's seasoning set on the dash by [due date]*" *I do not remember the exact phrasing, nor the initial due date. I am going to say it was 'next month', that way I don't get any of my extremely real roleplayer points docked for tardiness.

And thus, I was committed to the bit. Straight up married to it. Welcome to the wedding. The reception is catered, obviously, and we'll be serving—

Well. I'm getting to that.

THE SEASONING SET

(This is a crunchy screenshot that I cropped myself from my own Switch. Forgive me)

The details of note to me are:

Clarifying that you have matched your bestie/S-support equivalent's sentimental gift with something you "don't need" is so rude LMFAO. I'm glad he is keeping up the same behavior from his story about a girl trying to ask him out to the Goddess Tower in Three Houses where he seems to totally misread a situation and make an ass of himself by dismissing the person/not matching their energy. Really beautiful stuff.

Multiple spices, you say? Looks like I have to come up with more than one. It's not just salt in there.

CASPAR'S COOKING SKILLS

They are bad. He has a big red downward-facing arrow next to his face in the list of candidates for cooking together in Three Houses. If you choose to let him cook anyway, he tells you his pitfalls himself:

"All right! Leave it to me! I'll fry it, grill it, and try not to burn it!" / "Sorry for making you do all the work, Professor. I mess up the ingredients every time!"

With this info, I am taking the text saying "he forgets to use spices" very literally. The impression I get is he gets so overwhelmed by multi-step cooking processes that he loses track of ingredients. He does like some spices in his food and drink, though, so I will presume that the spices in his seasoning set are ones that he would enjoy putting in his food if he ever remembered to toss them in.

THE FAVORED FLAVORS

The easiest spice choice comes directly from his favorite type of tea.

Ginger Tea: "The sharp spiciness of ginger laces the body of this tea, unforgettable and brightening."

Bam. Right there. We can put ginger on the list. For the rest, I'll take a look at the dining hall dishes he likes that fall under the Spicy category.

Sauteed Jerky: "Jerky aged in the monastery and sautéed for a delightfully salty flavor. A perfect snack to go with your favorite drink."

The description doesn't give me any seasoning beyond salt, but according to the resources on serenesforest this dish is counted as a spicy one! When I think of spicy jerky (and look up a few recipes to confirm my memories) I think of a peppery sort of sensation on the tongue—black pepper and cayenne (or other hot peppers).

Sauteed Pheasant and Eggs: "Thin slices of bird meat and shredded cabbage, mixed with scrambled eggs and sautéed with spices. Invention of a certain noble."

This one gave me no hints as to what types of spices. RIP. I relied much more heavily on googling for this one, and settled on interpreting this dish as a take on anda bhurji, maybe?? (literally 'scrambled egg'. it's an Indian scrambled egg dish). Online recipes for this one gave me spices such as turmeric, coriander, red chili, and ginger.

THE SEASONING LIST

Just to have it all in one place, here's all the hypothetical seasonings I've thrown out all put together:

Salt

Black Pepper

Ginger (mentioned x2!!)

Cayenne/Red Chili (or whatever Fodlan equivalent capsacin-haver there might be)

Turmeric

Coriander

Go forth, Shez. Make a delicious spicy scrambled egg dish. Perhaps you can share it with friends for brunch. That'd be a beautiful way to bring things full circle, don't you think?

BONUS: MY BOY HATES FISH

I just think it's so fucking funny that he hates every seafood dish. Look at this list of foods he hates.

Grilled Herring, Fish and Bean Soup, Small Fish Skewers, Spicy Fish and Turnip Stew, Onion Gratin Soup, Sweet and Salty Whitefish Sauté, Fruit and Herring Tart, Cheesy Verona Stew, Fish Sandwich, Super-Spicy Fish Dango, Pickled Seafood and Vegetables, Two-Fish Sauté, Gautier Cheese Gratin, Cabbage and Herring Stew, Bourgeois Pike, Fried Crayfish

Only three out of this list don't have something referencing fish/seafood right in the name, and two out of those three do have fish in the ingredients if you go looking:

Onion Gratin Soup: "Onions stewed with white trout and baked with a layer of cheese on top. Will warm you up from the inside out." Cheesy Verona Stew: "A rich dish consisting of verona and sautéed Teutates loach. These ingredients are boiled and served with two kinds of melted cheese."

Maybe there is something he dislikes about gratin, though, since he dislikes Gautier Cheese Gratin as well. A texture problem, perhaps? Either way, it doesn't feel as prominent a dislike as his thing with fish—the guy also hates the Fishing Float gift. Caspar is a certified fish hater. This makes his participation in the fishing tournament even funnier to me: he will straight up make an exception for his seeming disdain for fishing if it's turned into a competition he can try to win. Definitely no way he was eating his catch though. Maybe he fed it to his cat friend from his supports with Ashe, lmfao

Anyhow, I'll leave off with this silly indulgent little meta here. Thanks for playing along! ilu toa ❤

[esthermika]

So as part of a deal with @cheriepleasantries I promised that if she posted about hacking I would post about some advanced Celeste movement tech. She did, so here's that post.

Minor spoilers for Celeste here. Nothing about the story will be discussed but I will go over some more complex movement from chapters 8 (specifically the C Side) and 9 (Farewell) which are technically optional content.

Also I used a screenshot from AverageImposter's amazing Mechanics YOU Need to Speedrun Celeste (Beginner's Guide) video. Check him out if you are serious about speedrunning this game, his videos are some of the best on this subject! Also the Celeste fandom wiki is great resource to check out as well!

Basics of Celeste

Celeste is a precision platformer where you control Madeline over a series of 9 chapters in a journey of self-discovery, anxiety attacks, pink hair and a lot of strawberries.

Madeline is your typical platformer protagonist. She can jump and climb walls, but she also has a special ability to dash in all 8 directions, regardless of whether she's in the air or on the ground.

These are your basic movement options and are the foundational building blocks for more advanced techniques. In this particular post we will take an in-depth look at how exactly dashes work, down to the frames.

The Stuff You Learn Normally

Now let's get into the good stuff. Specifically hypers and wavedashes. You learn about these in chapter 8 The Core's C Side and in chapter 9 Farewell.

Hypers

Hypers (also called hyper dashes) are introduced at the beginning of chapter 9's C-Side and are preformed by dashing down-diagonally while on the ground and pressing jump soon after. This technique gives you the vertical momentum of the jump and the horizontal momentum of the dash at the cost of consuming your dash. On top of all that Madeline gets a 1.25x speed boost when she hypers.

Hypers are super useful for moving horizontal distances quickly and crossing gaps efficiently.

There's also supers (aka super dashes) which are the exact same concept as a hyper (dash + jump) but you instead dash horizontally instead of down-diagonally. This gives you less distance, but earns you more height.

Wavedashes

So remember hypers? You should, you literally just read about them. I'm concerned for you. Well here is a very similar technique. Introducing wavedashes!!!! The game straight up has a pointpoint explaining this so here:

Now you might notice that this very similar to a hyper! It's just done in mid air. Why is that important? Well, it let's you regain your dash. (notice the red hair meaning Madeline can still dash)

THIS IS A MASSIVE DEAL!!!

This essentially gives you 2 dashes and let's go super fast! Crucial technique for speedrunners.

The game also explains why you can't seem to do it. The actual explanation is more complex than this... but we'll get into that later on...

And that's basically it... or rather it would be... if we played by the rules >:3.

Extending On What We've Learned

Now we are getting into the stuff the game doesn't teach you. We've officially entered the world of dark Celeste speed tech. I promise it's not as intimidating as it seems ;p

So you know how hypers/supers don't give Madeline her dash back? Well... what if they did?

Extending hypers and supers

Back when we learned about wavedashes, I said the reason you got your dash back is because the wavedash is preformed midair while hypers/supers are done on the ground. I lied. That's not the real reason why. To understand what is really happening we need to delve deeper into how Madeline's dash really works.

Here's a quote from the developers:

The way it works is pretty straightforward. When you hit the dash button, she flips into a separate ‘dash’ state. A timer is set, her hair turns blue, and she’s given a set velocity in the direction you were holding when you hit the button. The timer then starts counting. For .15 seconds you have no control over Madeline, but then the game gradually gives control back while also decreasing her velocity until you have full control again and her normal state is reinstated. It’s all over in well under a second.

Let's break this down. They mention a timer is set when Madeline dashes. This timer has several functions but the most important one is that it prevents you from regaining your dash if less then 5 frames have passed since it started. 5 frames is about 0.08 seconds since Celeste runs at a constant 60 fps. This is the real reason hypers/supers don't give you your dash back but wavedashes do! We'll comeback to this in a bit.

Next they mention that you don't have control of Madeline for .15 seconds after dashing. This is only half true. You don't have control over her movement, but you can still jump and grab! If you jump mid dash, you perform a hyper/super and Madeline's dash ends immediately. This is also the time period when she's unaffected by gravity. The rest of the information is all correct and unambiguous.

But wait! The only thing preventing us from getting our dash back after a hyper/super is a timer? Can't we just wait it out?

Yes we can!

This is called an extended hyper. It's called "extended" because we have to wait out the 5 frame timer before pressing jump. The same concept also applies to supers, in this case called extended supers!

This is, mechanically speaking, the same exact thing as a wavedash!

Some extra notes on extending hypers/supers:

The jump can be performed at any point after the 5 frame timer expires and before the dash ends (a dash ends around when Madeline starts getting affected by gravity again).

You can use coyote time (a small time frame after Madeline leaves the ground when she can still jump) to extend hypers/supers! Just make sure to still be on the ground for the 5 frames!

An extended hyper/super can also be performed by touching the ground mid dash or even in mid air (like a wavedash!)

Extending hypers/supers let's you chain them together. So you can extended hyper into another extended hyper! Just like with wave dashes!

Again wavedashes are just fancy extended hypers!

Also did you notice the pun in this section's title? :3

Phew! That was a lot! Feel free to take a break because we are about the get into the weird stuff!

Bunny Hop Hypers and Cornerboosts

We are in the final stretch don't worry! I know those words sound scary but it's ok. I'll hold your hand so you don't feel afraid :)

Bunny Hop Hypers

So to explain bunny hop hypers we need to learn to bunny hop first. It's a term you probably heard before from other games, but in Celeste it simply means 'jumping as soon as possible and for as short of a time as possible' usually being a 1-frame jump, where you press the jump button then release it on the next frame.

Why is this useful? So, remember how dashes start out really fast and get slower as the dash comes to an end? Well, jumps preserve some of Madeline's horizontal momentum. Letting us keep top-hyper speeds for longer! This is important because normally when you extended hyper you only get hyper speed after you jump. With a bunny hop hyper, you get hyper speed the entire time!

Now let's finally see a bunny hop hyper in action:

See that wasn't so bad!

All joking aside, if you are having trouble replicating the tricks I discuss, don't worry! This stuff will just get better with practice! A few months ago I couldn't do bunny hop hypers and now I can manage them pretty consistently. It's all about practice and determination!

Before moving on, I wanna say that bunny hop hypers are rare in Celeste speedrunning, at least not as common as extended hypers. They require a lot of specific conditions to be optimal, where as extended hypers can be done just about anywhere! You'll most often see bunny hop hypers in mods rather than normal gameplay.

Now, on to the last trick I wanna show off!

Cornerboosts

This one is a doozy and also the only grab related trick I'll discuss here. Maybe in the future I can talk about overclocking and neutral climb jumps :3

So what's a corner boost? It's a super difficult way to either build up speed or skip entire sections of gameplay of course :D and unlike bunny hop hypers, cornerboosts are used all over speedrunning! So you better get used to them :)

Explaining how exactly they work is difficult and this post is long enough as is, so let's just see how to perform one:

The most important part here is step 1. Madeline needs to be at a very precise position vertically relative to the wall for this trick to work. Try aiming for Madeline's chin to match the top of the wall. Also you might notice the green bar. That's Madeline's stamina (the stuff you consume when climbing). I'm using a mod to demonstrate that doing this trick costs some stamina.

Cornerboosts don't have to be preformed with a horizontal dash, they can also be done with diagonal dashes, but the timing is more strict.

As I said cornerboosts are used all over the speedrun, both to build up a lot of speed in combination with other tech and to skip certain sections. If you wanna see the real power cornerboosts can provide, check out this video of the last checkpoint in chapter 2 and try to count how many cornerboosts are performed. Good luck ;3

Putting All That Into Practice

So. That was a lot. But I have one small challenge for you left. Watch the following clip and try to figure out which strategies where used.

Pause and rewind as many times as needed before reading the next section. Try and play along ok ;p

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no cheating >:(

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Did you guess: bunny hop hyper into an up-diagonal dash into a cornerboost? If so then you're a massive nerd and I love you!

By the way, this is the (to my knowledge) fastest strat to clear this room in chapter 1.

Hope you had fun reading all that and that you ended up learning something :) If anything is unclear then just read it again cause I don't make mistakes.

If this gets me the attention I so desperately crave I might do another one of these things! No promises tho ;3

Also have strawb for reading all that <3

[kingscholar-archive]

an analysis of leona kingscholar and ruggie bucchi’s relationship | twisted wonderland

disclaimer: this analysis is a take on my own interpretation of the characters and their lore. if you agree and want to add on, feel free to do so! if you’re just going to argue without factual proof, i’d rather you save it for your own post instead. this is a safe space for both Leona and Ruggie lovers.

first, let’s start off with Leona Kingscholar. the second-born prince of Sunset Savanna, the one whose dreams are all dashed. Leona is clearly a very intelligent character; there’s tons of proof of this. i can go off on how mischaracterized Leona is, but i’ll save it for another post.

but in any case, Leona is smart. and that’s why he has Ruggie by his side.

to me, Ruggie Bucchi’s main goal is survival. and if he can get the easy life in addition to surviving, then why would he ever say no? Leona and Ruggie’s relationship is very much like a symbiotic relationship, where they both benefit off of each other. to Leona, Ruggie is a helping hand that can do a lot of the work he doesn’t actually want to execute himself, all for the price of a few thaumarks or a deluxe sandwich from the cafeteria or whatever Ruggie desires (that’s within reason, of course). meanwhile to Ruggie, Leona is someone who’s willing to provide for him as long as he puts in the work.

and it works for them! with Ruggie’s resourcefulness and Leona’s huge wallet, they both mutually benefit from their deal.

now i’m going to move on to book 2 and Leona’s Overblot. there’s quite a lot of arguments and hate directed towards Leona because “he almost killed Ruggie! he injured him! he’s a monster!”.

here’s the thing though: Ruggie quite literally kept badgering Leona. i’m not saying that Leona’s response was justifiable, but even Lilia says it; how Leona could never compare to Malleus (in terms of being king-like) because the way the latter reacted was like that of a child. he was acting like a spoiled kid because his dreams and scheme of taking down Malleus got exposed and ruined. and Ruggie, who probably didn’t think Leona would hurt him or even realized he was so close to Overblotting, was the closest person to Leona. so on top of him arguing with Leona about giving up, Leona’s already riled up about other matters. and again, while Ruggie didn’t deserve what happened, he’s also not innocent in the grand scheme of things. he was a willing participant in the plot to take down Malleus pre-comp.

and as i said before, i really think that Ruggie’s ultimate goal is always survival, even if it means he has to work a bit harder. he’s not stupid; Ruggie made it into NRC of his own volition and hard work. he didn’t even know Leona personally before NRC. it’s just that being at Leona’s side helps him a lot in many ways. if Leona was truly a danger to Ruggie, he’d scram. he wouldn’t put his life in jeopardy if he knew his chances of surviving were slim to none.

and in any case, as per book 6, those who Overblotted at NRC have all been checked and verified by magical professionals that ensured that they were okay, that their lives weren’t still in danger, etc etc. as such, Leona isn’t a danger to anyone anymore (at least, not any more than he was before). and Ruggie knows this. that’s why he still stays by Leona’s side, why he still chastises him without fear, why he still works for him.

additionally, Ruggie was well enough to play in Spelldrive matches during the tournament and was even after. he also continues to joke at Leona (especially laughing over Cheka’s “Unca!” entrance). so clearly, he’s not too fussed over what happened. he probably milked his injury to get stuff from Leona. and after book 2, they’re still seen together. i wish the writers for the game delved into this more (which leads me to another issue i have: how poorly written book 2 is. but that’s another issue for another post).

i know people will always have their difference in opinions on Leona and Ruggie’s relationship, but seeing Leona get so blatantly mischaracterized just never sat right with me. of course he’s not the only character to be mischaracterized, but i find that when it comes to the subject, his name often appears. you can accuse me of being biased because i love Leona, but honestly i could go on a rant about so many TWST characters and how mischaracterized they are by the fandom, because it’s not just Leona. i love Ruggie but even he isn’t the perfect angel compared to Leona. he also actively injured students to achieve his dreams alongside Leona.

these characters are all portrayed after villains, so they’re all going to do evil things!! so like,, please don’t act like certain characters are better than others morally when they’re not :,)

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

"Has anyone been paying attention to [atrocity or other legitimately horrible thing] going on in [country], or [veiled accusations of bigotry for not knowing]? [insert a post with news but absolutely zero calls to action or suggestions of how someone outside the country might help]"

love that this kind of post is still going around on tumblr. /s this post i'm making is a complaint of every one of that kind of guilt trip post I've ever seen, prompted by one that crossed my dash recently.

first of all, i can barely keep up with the news of what atrocities are happening in my own country, i have literally no idea what's happening in the rest of the world right now. it's not just you. i couldn't tell you what's happening in canada or mexico or half the time even the next state over. Get mad at international news for not covering it, but don't bring that guilt trip down on me.

second of all, if you ARE going to try to bring that guilt trip down on me, the least you could fucking do is tell me how i can fucking help. If you're talking about widespread awareness, the people you want to be pissed at are NEWS OUTLETS for not reporting on it. If you have actual concrete ways the average non-citizen of that country can help, then we're getting somewhere at least.

third of all yes it's a horrible thing. Like, holy shit I read that and was appalled. But all that's going to do is... make me appalled. and feeling worse about the world. Because I can't *help*, apparently, you just want me to be AWARE, okay fine but i'm busy being AWARE of how my own country is trying to kill me right now so you'll forgive me if i have limited resources to focus on a situation i can't change or do anything about other than bear witness to it, apparently. Or that's the sense you gave me by guilt tripping me and then providing zero resources.

But yeah. If something's going down in your country and you want to make a post saying "guys please I just need to make sure people know what's happening" without having any resources for whatever reason, that's fine. I'm supportive. I may even reblog it, though I prefer posts with any sort of indication for how I can help or change the situation.

But making that post, with no resources for how people can help, but also PREFACING it with a snide guilt-tripping accusation of our own bigotry being the reason none of us know about what's happening, rather than a lack of international news coverage and possibly our own preoccupations with stuff happening in our own country? fuck you. I hope the bad shit stops happening and I hope you stay safe, but I think you specifically are a fucking asshole.

[auxiliarydetective]

End-of-Year Appreciation Post

Let's see if I can get this done before midnight - I have 36 minutes! But I really wanted to get this posted, so... time for a speedrun! This post won't nearly be able to say everything I wanna say, so, first and foremost: I love and appreciate all of my mutuals and people I've gotten to talk to this year, so thanks for coming to my corner of the internet and gifting me a little (or a lot - because lord knows I don't shut up if someone mentions one of my favourite fandoms) of your time!

With that being said, time for some special thanks!

@wheresmybloodynauglamir The encyclopedia of Star Trek and one of my closest friends on this hellsite. Thanks so much for literally everything you've done for me this year and all the lovely conversations. Let's have a lot more of those next year! Live long and prosper <3

@littlemervie Thank you for indulging my very nichest of niche interests like The Little Prince and for always sending me a kind message when I least expected it.

@fluffle-system My favourite bnuy in the whole world and a fellow FNAF enjoyer. I hope I always get to be the auxiliary to your detective (yes, this is actually sort of an accurate aitiology of how my url came to be - if you know you know). Let's solve more mysteries and riddles together.

@supermarine-silvally You may have only very recently stumbled into my corner of the internet but I adore every conversation we've had and I hope that many more are to come. If I had to make a choice to pass on my OCs to anyone, the great Donna Aurelia would be yours, and that's a great honor, so I hope you know how much I appreciate our conversations!

@carriagelamp We didn't talk too much this year and that's frankly a crime, but I still stare lovingly at every piece of art you've created for me, with me, or simply for the fandoms I'm in - and the ones for fandoms I don't know I stare at from afar. Just letting you know that I smile everytime I see you on my dash :)

@faerieroyal Dolly my beloved! I hereby sincerely apologize for all the times I've hopped into our Discord chat to ramble about my OCs or whine about my hour-long adventures of looking for faceclaims and/or names, but I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon. The amount of positivity and support you bring into my life is immesurable and I absolutely adore you for supporting each of my OCs, even if you don't know their fandom, and how you let me introduce you to my newest hyperfixations when the brainrot strikes. - To many more rambling sessions!

@come-along-pond who allowed me to participate in the fyeahonepieceocs blog and gave me a platform to launch my own little project of a OP resources blog from. - Through anon hate and plot bunnies, you've helped me and supported me through so much and I'm really, really thankful for that!

@oneirataxia-girl @endless-oc-creations and everyone else in the Discord Server, thank you so much for suffering through my countless pings and appearing when I need you most to offer your advice and help. You've saved many of my OCs in the past and I'm certain you'll keep doing so in the future.

@starcrossedjedis @bravelittleflower and @ninjasawakenedmystar aka the angels who made Cora's creation possible - and by extention then also that of Lily and La Donna! Thanks so much, my fellow One Piece girlies!

@thehedgehogat221b who has been keeping me tethered to the A-Team fandom, making sure that I never forget how happy it makes me, and who always has time to spare to hear me ramble about Kit Kelley and her conman boyfriend

@daughterofhecata @bistdueinbaum and the entire Die Drei ??? fandom. You brought me onto Tumblr and though I may not be as active in the fandom anymore, Tumblr still considers my blog a Die Drei ??? blog and I don't plan on forgetting my roots anytime soon, so I promise you more detective content in the year 2024 - featuring my beloved Jelena, of course! My token adopted side character... Maybe I'll also hop into the Tatort fandom, who knows? Also, can we make Rosenheim Cops a fandom? I feel kinda lonely and silly over here lol

@claramurphyqueenoffandoms the VoicePlay supporter. Man, was I happy to find someone who loves these dorks as much as I do. We haven't talked much, but thanks so much for enabling the hyperfixation that triggered my character development into a happier person and letting me relive those memories.

@cody-helix02 @thoughpoppiesblow @footprintsinthesxnd @kafka-ohdear and the entire Band of Brothers fandom. You've been so nice to me from day one when I first stumbled into the fandom and you still are incredibly lovely people! I'd like to give something back, so, if you ever need any research done for your fic and you can't find anything, let me know and I'll traverse my resources and my university's library to see what I can find <3 Also, I shall present to you more Anita content in the future! There's one fic featuring Luz and one featuring Bull curently in my projects list!

@maxwellshimbo @asaturnerofficial and all the other lurkers and people I constantly find in my notes - you always brighten my day. I'll have had an awful no good time but then I see you and I go: "Ah yes, my friends are still here" and I feel so much better!

Thanks to much to everyone on and off the list, and have a very lovely new year!

[mikelogan]

hello. i really enjoy your content, but i have to say i'm kinda disappointed on you still being a ts fan. this woman knows what disney does and yet she still gave them the rights, meaning she either doesn't care or actively supports the genocide. or maybe she decided to turn her morals off because money is more important. not to mention how she consistently associates herself with questionable people and how a person literally died in one of her shows on brazil and she gave zero fucks. this woman is not a good person and there are no excuses to being her fan anymore.

no, i fully understand what you're saying and where you're coming from. over the last like. idk year and a half? ive been pretty vocal about my disappointment, distaste, and disagreement with a multitude of the choices she's made lately. i 100% agree that her silence on the subject of palestinian genocide (as well as many other human rights/social causes) is at best a sign of apathy and at worst a sign of support. especially when miss americana was all about her wanting to be more outspoken and be an activist. that all feels so incredibly performative now -- and has for a while. a lot of things that she's said and done since midnights, which is when i became more active in the tumblr swiftie community, have left a bad taste in my mouth for her as a person.

like i said, i genuinely agree with what you're saying. the only thing i take issue with is that she didn't care that a fan died at her show. she donated money to the fan's family and took time to meet them. regardless of my many issues with her, i do think she can be an empathetic person and i don't think that she just straight up didn't care that someone died before her show. it's one of those things (of which there are many) where we'll never know her true thoughts bc she doesn't talk about things. which is frustrating in itself.

now that's not the point of your message, so feel free to write that off as a digression. i strongly disagree with her making yet another version of the eras tour movie and hosting it on disney+. I'm personally boycotting disney+ and have been for a while. I don't even intend on watching the new version and like the vast majority of everything I gif, that shit is pirated -- that's how I watched the original release of the movie. obviously my consumption/boycotting is just one person compared to blondie, who has influence over millions, who could make real change if she spoke out against genocide.

at this point, im not supporting her financially either apart from listening to her music. which i love. im sorry, but I do. if I didn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation. i think her constant churning out different exclusive versions of the same albums are a transparent money grab and maybe an effort to set more records as far as sales or streams or however that all works. and I'm not just saying that bc I literally couldn't even afford to buy a digital copy of an album right now.

so yeah. I appreciate that you enjoy my content and thank you for saying so, but if you need to unfollow or block, i understand. I've definitely toned down/completely stopped sharing posts about her as a person bc I'd much rather focus on just the music. and maybe that makes me a bad person for continuing to listen to and enjoy her music. im not saying i necessarily feel good about it, but i think the fact of the matter is that a lot of the celebrities, actors, musicians, etc. we like or whose content we enjoy hold views we disagree with and have different values or priorities. nuance exists. right now, im someone who is vocal about the palestinian genocide and I try to share resources/posts about it when they come across my dash and im also someone who is a fan of Taylor's music.

Idk, I hope what I'm saying makes sense at least on some level. I've done my best to word things coherently, but brain fog fucks w me a lot. and like. it's probably whatever, but I do plan on changing my url after ttpd releases. That probably upsets you more and I can see how people might think im a hypocrite or something and yeah, I get it. Idk, I just want to enjoy someone's music without endorsing them as a person, but that's extra difficult when the person in question is the biggest singer in the industry. but you'll never see me making excuses for her on things like this or the m*tty situation or numerous other things she's said and done that gross me out. im not so far up her ass that I think she's perfect or that I feel the need to defend her at every turn. like I said, nuance. anyway, if you feel the need to respond, i welcome you to do so as long as we both remain respectful, which I think we've done. this is a difficult topic, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss it. I appreciate your point of view and I'm sorry that I've disappointed you!

[swaggypsyduck]

u dont know how much it means to me to find everyone on here posting about the ongoing genocide of the people in palestine, sudan, and the congo.

it feels like one-sided fighting irl since i literally just got a dm from someone i thought was my friend going "hey can you not post about that stuff it's ruining the vibes on my feed lol". i dont think ive ever been so angry. after i cussed them out they just went "so are you still coming to the halloween party or nah?". like wtf kind of sick human being do u have to be in order to turn a blind eye on GENOCIDE just so u can protect ur "vibes". while the people of sudan, congo, and palestine are being killed in mass numbers.

especially in vancouver like it feels like no one cares about bds boycotts or even just sharing the current events of what's happening.

i do have hope tho since many ppl near me have been emailing their schools/profs, asking me for resources to learn, and sharing posts as often as they can.

ik this is a bunch of incoherent rambling w no structure but tbh im so tired of having to be eloquent in order to get ppl to care.

again thank you all for the support on the dash it means so much and gives me hope.

[runjumpkauf]

The Amazing Candy Canyon Kingdom (Super After)

(Of Course, Spoiler Alert! Watch This V.D.O.(Virtual, Dynamic, adventurOus.) And If You Know Me And Gooseworx Well, You Can Understand This Lolli-Post.)

Howdy, Everyone! I Told You Before, I've Been Waiting For This For A Long, Long Time, So I'm Going To Be Watch This For The Next Three Days. But I Couldn't Waitin' Three Days. (Cuz I Like Caine And Pomni)

This Digital Amastic (Amazing And Fantastic) Show Is Goin' To Have Episode 9. Because Jax's Voice Actor, Michael Kovach Wanted Episode Featuring The Sea.

Also, I Found 6.4 Another-Advanced-Adventurous-Advantages In This Eclair-Pisode.

1. It Was Revealed Why Caine Sent Pomni The Nervous Clown, Jax The Dreaded Hare, Ragatha The Jax Caller, Kinger The All-Possible King, Gangle The Smiley-Misery-Saddery-Tear Master. (Zooble Did Not Join This Adventure. Because She Hated It.) Because Candy Canyon Kingdom's Most Valuable Resource, Maple Syrup Been Robbed! (I Was Shock-Prised Again, I Like Maple Syrup. Personally, I Like Chocolate Maple Syrup The Best.)

2. Brand New Goofy Characters. They're So Geeky As A Gloinks! Gummigoo Is Leader Of "The Syrup Bandits". They're Tryin' To Steal The Maple Syrup Truck. Princess Loolilalu Is The Queen-Shaped Princess. She Is Cheered By The Mannequins Of The Candy Canyon Kingdom. And My Favorite Character In This Kingdom Is "Fudge Monster", "Fudge"! He Can Doin' Too Acrobatic Fudge-Moves! With Melting Voice, Interesting Design, Ravenous Mouth, Blobby-Spits. And Totally Greatest Dinner END!!! (I'm Not Jax. Just, Whatever.)

3. Dashing Mad-Maxing Truck Scene. Rollcake Truck VS Snack Truck! It Was Such A Cool Scene! Jax's Waffle-Zooka Shot The Max. Gummigoo Shift The Engine To "Rocky Road". Max's Continuity Poses To Follow The Snack Truck. Gummigoo's Western Tough-Voices. Pomni's Double Swearing With Ugly Faces. (Jax, You Booty...! (Yes, I 'Hear'ded.) Are You Guys Trying To (Small Boink Sound)UCKING KILL ME?!) Kinger's Life Buoy And Anchor With Ropes. Drift-Fallout! And Fudge-Splorch!

4. Gummigoo And Pomni In Literally Digital World Scene. There, Gummigoo Realized That His, His Family, His Memory, And His Life Were All Just A Fake. I Thought This Sounded Weirdo-Noncence. But I Understood His Felling Feelings A Little. And The Scene Where Pomni Was By His Side Persuading And Comforting Him Felt Quite Fainting Paint. Kaufmo's Funeral Too.

5. Jax Seems To Have Become Twice Or Thrice As Evil Genius! He Wants More Violence. He Blamed Gangle. Hate Wholesome. He Think Bad Point Is A Great Point. He Hope Most Among The Worlds Caine Creates Is, "One Big, Final Battle. Bloodshed. Death. CHAOS!" And Unbelievably Disappointed By Fudge Monster's Death. He Didn't Even Attend Kaufmo's Funeral. And Fudge Monster Revived, Kingdom Doors Opened, And Candy Canyon Kingdom Was Turn Into CANDY CANYON KILLDOM!! What Can I Say, I Think He's Becoming More And More Like Me. (Not A Joke) Except For Blaming. I Have No Complaints There.

6. Do You Watch The "POMNI WAKE UP TIME TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE"? In This V.D.O.(i said, Virtual, Dynamic, adventurOus.) Showing Kinger With A ShotGun! Jax's Minimum Wage Labor! Orbsman! Recorder! Ghosts! But Episode 2, There Were No ShotGun And Minimum Wage Labor And Orbsman, Recorder, And Ghosts. Well, I Understand Because I Gets Complicated If Glitchworx Put All Of This At Once. I Hope Episode 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, And 9.

6.1. Zooble Always Replaces Its Zooble-Parts Every Hour And Day, And Stores The Parts In The "Zooble Box".

6.2. Who Knew Gangle Could Drive A Truck? I Guessed Jax.

6.3. Do You Know About "Fudge"? Fudge Is A Soft Sweet Candy Made From Sugarly Sugar, Buttery Butter, And Milk. It Resembles Caramel, They're So Brown Like A Thick Mud.

6.4. JAX!!

And That's All I Know About The Amazing Candy Canyon Kingdom And Other Things I Found.

Episode 3 Is Said To Be Zooble's Episode, And Since I Find Out Zooble Was A Tattoo Artist Before Joins The Amazing Digital Circus. There's A Possibility That The Amazing Digital Zooblore Will Be Based On This Past.

And It Looks Like Episode 3 Will Come Out Around August Or September.

SO LOOK FORWARD TO IT!

[TO BE CONTINUED IN THE AMAZING DREAM ABOUT EPISODE 3!]

P.S. https://www.glitchprod.com/thewackywatch

P.S.2 (Not A Playstation2)

P.S.3 (Not A Playstation3)

P.S.4 (Not A Playstation4)

This Is The Triumph.

[aspd-culture]

One time a "friend" tried to make me feel guilty about following you because me + them have a specific opposing opinion to one of yours. After I said I didn't really care enough because you're literally still a helpful resource and were never disrespectful, they threatened to break off from me.

Which is all really funny given the blog. I just blocked them.

Thanks for the resources and guidance, you're great.

Thank you for understanding that we can have disagreements in opinion without changing the fact that there’s education here. I’m not going to agree with everything all 1000+ people following us think, and that’s ok! You don’t have to agree with me on everything.

If you find my blog helpful, I’m glad! If there are some things that don’t click with you, that’s valid and I hope you can still get some mileage out of the things that I say that you do agree with or that are based purely on the science.

That said, I also encourage people to use the block button liberally, to curate their experience and control their engagements online. So if I’m upsetting anyone when I roll across your dash, please by all means block me. If you want to see my posts only on will and not on your dash, feel free to unfollow me. I won’t take it personally, because it’s not a personal issue. Everyone deserves to have control over the content they consume.

I appreciate every one of you AND I agree with your right to choose the spaces you engage with.

What bothers me is when people refuse others that choice. If you choose to engage in this space, I think your friend should have respected that. Wild to know I’m worth breaking off a friendship in their eyes over though.

All /gen

Plain text below the cut:

Thank you for understanding that we can have disagreements in opinion without changing the fact that there’s education here. I’m not going to agree with everything all 1000+ people following us think, and that’s ok! You don’t have to agree with me on everything.

If you find my blog helpful, I’m glad! If there are some things that don’t click with you, that’s valid and I hope you can still get some mileage out of the things that I say that you do agree with or that are based purely on the science.

That said, I also encourage people to use the block button liberally, to curate their experience and control their engagements online. So if I’m upsetting anyone when I roll across your dash, please by all means block me. If you want to see my posts only on will and not on your dash, feel free to unfollow me. I won’t take it personally, because it’s not a personal issue. Everyone deserves to have control over the content they consume.

I appreciate every one of you AND I agree with your right to choose the spaces you engage with.

What bothers me is when people refuse others that choice. If you choose to engage in this space, I think your friend should have respected that. Wild to know I’m worth breaking off a friendship in their eyes over though.

All /gen

[olderthannetfic]

"B sounds cold and creepy to a lot of people instead of… you know… being a sign of having boundaries and not taking on other people’s emotions to a disabling degree."

( Re this post https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/715060100649369600 )

Stop me if I'm reaching, but I've seen two unrelated contexts recently that ring of "taking on other people's emotions to a disabling degree"

"If an artist posts art and requests you do not tag it with [specific things they hate, be it kin or OC or a NOTP], you're being disrespectful and bad even if you're just tagging it because you like the thing and are using the tag feature for its benefits

"If a fic writer deletes fic, maybe they deleted it for personal reasons and you're being entitled and disrespectful if you go looking for it, such as on deleted fic archives, or even share deleted fic-finding services with no specific fic or author in mind"

I've been involved in both kinds of arguments and in both cases "It's not my job to care or think about a stranger's feelings to the extent that a close friend would, and neither tagging posts for your own convenience nor accessing deleted resources is seen as generally discourteous" was a significant part of my reasoning.

But anyway, I feel like there's a strong overlap here. Especially since artists from 1. tend to also be laundry list of DNIs anti types.

--

Those can seem entitled or not depending on how much they're being shoved in the requester's face, I think.

The cases I was thinking of with that particular post were something slightly different:

Often, people will make the argument that many children don't have a responsible authority figure in their lives, so saying "X is the parents' job!" is cruel. Or they'll say that lots of people have mental illness that makes it hard not to look at content that upsets them, so saying it's their own job to monitor their own internet use and mental health is, again, cruel. It all boils down to:

My Mental Health is Your Job

I do think that expecting internet randos to tag how you want them to tag is an exercise in futility, but it's only sometimes about thinking others owe you the therapy or love the rest of your life hasn't provided. Sometimes, it boils down to "I will be mad if..." and not "My well-being is literally your responsibility".

Sometimes, it's just a request made in the body of an art post where you know rebloggers saw it. It can be a little entitled since people use tags to organize their own blogs, sure, but not necessarily super entitled in the same way as assuming that people will click through to your tumblr and read your whole header/DNI/Carrd before interacting with something on their dash.

"It's disrespectful to me that any deleted fic sharing exists" is pretty entitled. "Can you stop posting requests for a public DL link to this thing I deleted?" is a lot more reasonable. Neither is the same as "It causes me psychological harm that people still like my deleted fic that I now hate, and my mental health is your problem, internet rando."

[thespacelizard]

Hi! I saw your post about Obsidian (for note taking) and I was wondering how you added custom fonts? Or if there's some resources you could point me to that would help figuring out some tips and how to use it

hello!

so, the simplest method for custom fonts is to first make sure it’s installed on your computer (if you download a new font, right-click and hit ‘install’).

Then if you just want to change the base font in obsidian for either all of the interface, or for editing/reading mode, you can go into settings, then under ‘Font’, you select the ‘manage’ option, and there’ll be a text box/dropdown you can type in to find the font you want. Click ‘add’ and then that’s done!

If you want to do custom fonts for headings, or for specific pages/cssclasses (like I’ve done for Obedience and claws in my notes), then you will have to do a little bit of css, but it’s not as scary as it sounds i promise!

To make a cssclass, all you really need is a text editor. You can use notepad if you’re just doing a few little things, but if you want to start doing a lot I recommend getting one that’s more designed for it. I use brackets because it’s free and easy, but a lot of people use VSCode which is. too intimidating for me. and too much for my usecase anyway.

im getting offtopic. FONTS!

now, i am. out of date with all the new variables and also i write bad css, but the way I do it if I want specific header fonts is like this:

.markdown-preview-view h1 { font-family: COOL FONT; }

OR apparently, as I just learned in checking to write this, you can use ‘.markdown-rendered h1’ as the class. either seems to work…my css is very old.

now there is a way to do this for all headings at once without copy-pasting it for h1, h2, h3 etc but i don’t know how to do it right and at this point my css works and so i Leave It Alone

this only does it for Reading Mode, because i like having more ‘text-y’ fonts for writing and then pretty ones for reading when I’m done. to change things for live preview/source view, you need to do

.markdown-source-view.mod-cm6 .cm-header { font-family: COOL FONT; }

And if you want different fonts for different headers, change the ‘.cm-header’ part to ‘.cm-header-1’ (or whatever number of heading size you want.)

You can add things other than fonts in there as well, like font-size, text-transform, and other css classes. (this is why i like brackets, it suggests classes and property fills as you’re typing which is good because i. forget what the options are)

If you want to go poking around in obsidian to figure out which selector is doing what, hit Ctrl+shift+i on windows (for mac, I believe it's command+option+i), and it’ll bring up the developer console, so you can use inspect element to track down selectors. (selectors are the thing you put after the period (.) and tell the css which element to target)

I like to make custom css classes for things, and to make one of those, you just type ‘.classname’ before the variable you want to change. E.g. for claws it looks like:

.claws.markdown-rendered h1 { font-family: LEVIBRUSH; }

then to add that to a note, you need to add the ‘cssclasses’ property in the frontmatter. you can make the frontmatter with three dashes like this:

--- cssclasses: claws ---

or you can use the properties side panel and hit ‘add property’ and then make cssclasses. this then means that all the css wizardry you do prefixed with that class will only apply to pages with that class, which I really like for making unique workspaces for different projects.

adding your snippet

so now you've made your snippet, you just need to load it in. the simplest way is to head to Settings -> Appearance, and scroll down to where it says 'CSS Snippets'. Hit the folder icon, and that'll open the folder you need to save the snippet.

make sure you save your notepad or brackets or whatever document as '.css' first. you can literally just do this by right clicking a saved notepad document and changing the name to 'name.css' if you need to.

save that css document into the snippets folder, go back to settings and hit the 'reload' snippets button to get it to show up, toggle it on, and voila!

now what you can do is edit that snippet live in obsidian just by. editing it. and hitting save. it'll live update and you can tinker. that's all i do: have brackets and obsidian open at the same time and just. fuck about till things work. i like problem solving, so it's usually fun for me :)

resources!

Obsidian CSS Quick Guide - Share & showcase - Obsidian Forum → a quick guide to poking around and how to find css classes in obsidian

Headings - Developer Documentation → full list of css variables you can play with. this gives you an idea of just how many things you can customise in obsidian which is to say. all of it.

i also just recommend googling around about CSS and how to use it. W3 schools is usually my go-to, it’s pretty good. Or searching ‘how to do x with css’ and usually either reddit or stackexchange will have decent answers.

you can find fonts all over, and i know google is a bitch, but google fonts has a bunch of good fonts. that's where most of mine are from, honestly