These outtakes where the flash didn't go off are also AI generated.
I like this spooky dutch angle one.
I was just starting to learn flash and I didn't have all the equipment I needed. Since corgis are quite short, I had to put the lighting on the ground. The off camera flash was on a tipped over lightstand with a shoot-through umbrella to diffuse the light.
But I had no wireless triggers. And the only other way to trigger a flash, is with another flash. So I used the on-camera pop up flash to trigger the main flash.
But I had two issues.
First, I did not want that dinky on camera flash affecting my picture.
Second, triggering a flash with a flash is best done indoors. The flash will bounce all around the room and eventually hit the sensor so the main flash triggers. When you are outdoors, there is no bouncing.
SO... I took a little handheld makeup mirror and angled it toward my main flash. This blocked the dinky pop up flash and sent the beam of light towards the main flash to trigger it.
I was lying on the wet morning grass, holding a camera in one hand, a mirror in the other, trying to aim the mirror exactly toward the main flash, making crazy noises to get Otis's attention, and trying to get the focus point on his face so I didn't get a blurry photo. Also, Otis was much more interested in sniffing things than posing for a photo.
Here is an overhead view that might help explain.
I await all of your comments saying my amazing drawring is clearly AI generated.
Only 30% of the time did the flash actually go off. Aiming the mirror was tricky and I was doing like 8 things at once. I wasn't even sure I got the photo I wanted. But when I came back to the computer there was one that stood out and it is one of my favorites I've ever taken.
It was the best combination of monumental effort, great discomfort, perfect foggy sunrise light, and just pure luck.
Unfortunately, people like me who use advanced sculpting light techniques are getting accused of using AI more and more. Not really sure what to do about itāother than show the 30 awful photos it took to get the good one.
My 80s sunglasses photo and spoon photo get called out the most.
But it's just good old fashioned gradient lighting which has been used in product photography since the days of film.
Most of my photos with artificial light added would be considered "unmotivated lighting." I think that is the term you were looking for.
The short explanation is that motivated lighting always has a logical source. Like the sun or a window or a lamp off to the side.
That doesn't mean there are no lighting shenanigans used.
The overhead office-style fluorescent lights depicted in this scene were actually powerful diffused light bars that were much closer to the actors. They replaced the ceiling in post with more traiditioinal looking lights. So the lighting was still very craftedābut it has a logic and realism that doesn't set off alarm bells in your brain saying, "Where is the light coming from?"
Unmotivated lighting is the opposite. It's crafted, artificial light that doesn't need to make sense. It just has to achieve the aesthetic goal of the artist.
All studio lighting is unmotivated. I just re-edited this old photo of my dad.
There is no room in the world where he could have sat down and had perfectly sculpted light hitting his face. I intentionally directed the light to accentuate his features and capture the best, most idealized version of what he looked like.
Coincidentally I just wrote a post about motivated lighting in films.
š¬ 20Ā Ā š 208Ā Ā ā¤ļø 349Ā Ā·Ā First, thank you to everyone who is nerding out with me about motivated lighting. I love that I can have these convers
Weirdly, I expressed a preference for motivated lighting in movies with a realism-based aesthetic and a lot of people disagreed. They said that the lighting comes from the same place as the music and that you just have to suspend your disbelief.
(Personally I think that is a bad analogy because music is *very* motivated by the emotional vibe. I would say unmotivated lighting in movies comes from the same place as women's apocalypse makeup.)
But I *love* unmotivated lighting in still photography. I love crafting an image and creating it in a fantasy realm where perfect, beautiful, sculpting light can come from anywhere. I want the most idyllic lighting possible.
It's the only way I could make fingernail clippers look beautiful.
And now people are saying unmotivated lighting looks like AI or CGI and isn't authentic. Even though this aesthetic was created before computers were invented and the tools of post-capture manipulation were done in a darkroom.
I'm fairly certain this is because AI does not have a great understanding of motivated lighting. It never thinks about where the light is coming from so it almost always creates images where the lighting comes from a fantasy realm. And now people are heavily associating unmotivated lighting with AI, even if it is a subconscious observation.
I think at this point in time, people are yearning for authenticity. We know so much of our imagery is heavily manipulated for nefarious purposes. Beauty advertising with retouched skin like porcelain dolls and liquified torsos that don't leave space for vital organs. Every fast food ad shows the perfect juicy hamburger because they paid a food stylist $500/hour to perfectly cook and arrange things.
But fast food workers are not food stylists and your burger isn't going to have perfect lettuce and a non-smooshed bun.
(Before you reply with urban legends about food styling, they don't use fake materials. They are required to use the actual ingredients. Those myths came from movie prop masters who needed to maintain the look of food during hours of shooting.)
I think AI just turned our uncomfortable relationship with unrealistic imagery up to 11.
It's a little depressing for me because I love to use light as my artistic medium. I say I am a photographer, but my passion is more focused on lighting.
And I often incorporate my other passion, which is image manipulation. I sometimes add another layer of unreality to my images by artistically editing them.
This is days of work.
I worked very hard for the in-camera image. Dragging a heavy chair and lighting equipment into a field on a hot summer day was not easy for me.
But I also worked very hard on the edit. The RAW file is overexposed, but once I corrected that, the lighting on him and the grass is actually what I captured. I hid a flash in the lampshade and lit him with my big 7 foot umbrella off to the right.
I could have shot this at night, but my area has so much light pollution, I would never have achieved the sky I wanted in my head. So I took the photo knowing I'd replace the sky later.
I like crafting images. I like picturing something in my head and then trying to manifest it in a photo.
I get why people are starting to prefer more natural looking images. I understand why they are currently preferring everything to be captured as it was in the moment. I know why they disparage the amazing work of CG artists and demand that every movie use only practical effects.
When everything is fake, a small dose of reality feels special.
But I see my photography more like a drawing or a painting. Light is my paintbrush and I am just trying to manifest my imagination into an image. I don't claim I don't use artificial light. I never say anything is "straight out of camera." I am very open about my use of Photoshop. If I were able to leave my house and go to more beautiful places, perhaps I would take a more motivated approach.
I mean, I love when the world is just beautiful all on its own and all I have to do is competently pick settings on my camera.
But I enjoy my artistic process and while some of my images may not be realistic, I think my artistry is always authentic.
I don't need every person to like every one of my photos. But when I work hard on a photo and there is clear talent and skill involved, I'm hoping people will still acknowledge that. I hope they will respect the effort and artistry involved.
I didn't enjoy the show Breaking Bad. I disliked all of the characters and the story just depressed me more and more as I watched it. But I still think it is an amazing show created by talented artists. I can acknowledge the monumental artistic achievement even if it wasn't my cup of tea.
I was working on a history paper today and found a book from 1826 that seemed promising (though dull) for my topic, on an English Catholic familyās experience moving to France.
And it ended up not really being suitable for my purposes, as it goes. But part of the book is actually devoted to Kenelm, the authorās oldest sonā¦and man, his dad loved him.
Kenelm seems to have had a fairly typical upbringing for a young English gentleman, although he is a bit slow to read. At twelve heās sent to board at Stoneyhurst Collegeāoften the big step towards independence in a boyās life, as heāll most likely only see his parents sporadically from now on, and then leave for university.
When heās sixteen, however, his father moves the whole family to France, so Kenelm gets pulled out of school to be with them again. Shortly after the move, his dad notices that he seems depressed. Kenelm confides in him that heās been suffering from āscruplesā for the last eighteen monthsāmost likely what weād now call an anxiety disorder.
And his dad is pissedāat the school, because apparently Kenelm had been seeking help there and received none, despite obviously struggling with mental health issues. So his dad takes it seriously. He sets him up to be counseled by a priestāthere were no therapists back thenāand doesnāt send him away to be boarded again, instead teaching him at home himself.
And his mental health does improve. His dad describes him as well-liked, gentle, pious, kind and eager to please others; at twenty heās thinking about a career in diplomacy or going into the militaryāwhich his dad thinks he is not particularly suited for, considering his favorite pastimes are drawing and reading. Heās excited about his familyās upcoming move to Italy, and heās been busy learning Italian and teaching it to his siblings.
Henry Kenelm Beste dies of typhus at twenty years, four months, and twenty-five days. Thatās how his dad records it. Thatās why his dad is telling this story. Itās not an extraordinary storyāKenelmās story struck me because he sounds soā¦ordinary, like so many kids today. And he was so, so loved. His dad tried hard to help him compassionately with his mental health at a time where our current knowledge and support systems didnāt exist. You can feel how badly he wanted his son to be remembered and loved, to impress how dearly beloved he was to the people who knew him in life.
I hope heād be glad to know someone is still thinking of Kenelm over 200 years later.
"I asked chat gpt" yeah well I asked my husband how I could build a Halloween arch and now he's on the porch with a glass of red wine and a measuring tape at 10:30 pm on August 2nd
So apparently last year the National Park Service in the US dropped an over 1200 page study of LGBTQ American History as part of their Who We Are program which includes studies on African-American history, Latino history, and Indigenous history.Ā
Like. This is awesome. But also it feels very surreal that maybe one of the most comprehensive examinations of LGBTQ history in America (it covers sports! art! race! historical sites! health! cities!) was just casually done by the parks service.Ā
Chapter 1: Prologue: Why LGBTQ Historic Sites Matter by Mark Meinke
Chapter 2: Introduction to the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative Theme Study by Megan E. Springate
Chapter 3: Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History in the United States by Leisa Meyer and Helis Sikk
Chapter 4: The History of Queer History: One Hundred Years of the Search for Shared Heritage by Gerard Koskovich
Chapter 5: The Preservation of LGBTQ Heritage by Gail Dubrow
Chapter 6: LGBTQ Archeological Context by Megan E. Springate
Chapter 7: A Note about Intersectionality by Megan E. Springate
Chapter 8: Making Bisexuals Visible by Loraine Hutchins
Chapter 9: Sexual and Gender Diversity in Native America and the Pacific Islands by Will Roscoe
Chapter 10: Transgender History in the US and the Places that Matter by Susan Stryker
Chapter 11: Breathing Fire: Remembering Asian Pacific American Activism in Queer History by Amy Sueyoshi
Chapter 12: Latina/o Gender and Sexuality by Deena J. GonzƔlez and Ellie D. Hernandez
Chapter 13: āWhere We Could Be Ourselvesā: African American LGBTQ Historic Places and Why They Matter by Jeffrey A. Harris
Chapter 14: LGBTQ Spaces and Places by Jen Jack Gieseking
Chapter 15: Making Community: The Places and Spaces of LGBTQ Collective Identity Formation by Christina B. Hanhardt
Chapter 16: LGBTQ Business and Commerce by David K. Johnson
Chapter 17: Sex, Love, and Relationships by Tracy Baim
Chapter 18: LGBTQ Civil Rights in America by Megan E. Springate
Chapter 19: Historical Landmarks and Landscapes of LGBTQ Law by Marc Stein
Chapter 20: LGBTQ Military Service by Steve Estes
Chapter 21: Struggles in Body and Spirit: Religion and LGBTQ People in US History by Drew Bourn
Chapter 22: LGBTQ and Health by Katie Batza
Chapter 23: LGBTQ Art and Artists by Tara Burk
Chapter 24: LGBTQ Sport and Leisure by Katherine Schweighofer
Chapter 25: San Francisco: Placing LGBTQ Histories in the City by the Bay by Donna J. Graves and Shayne E. Watson
Chapter 26: Preservation of LGBTQ Historic & Cultural Sites ā A New York City Perspective by Jay Shockley
Chapter 27: Locating Miamiās Queer History by Julio CapĆ³, Jr.
Chapter 28: Queerest Little City in the World: LGBTQ Reno by John Jeffrey Auer IV
Chapter 29: Chicago: Queer Histories at the Crossroads of America by Jessica Herczeg-Konecny
Chapter 30: Nominating LGBTQ Places to the National Register of Historic Places and as National Historic Landmarks: An Introduction by Megan E. Springate and Caridad de la Vega
Chapter 31: Interpreting LGBTQ Historic Sites by Susan Ferentinos
Chapter 32: Teaching LGBTQ History and Heritage by Leila J. Rupp
Let me explain what is happening here, because I donāt think that this post is very representative of why this matters.
The purpose of the theme studies, this one included, is to locate the physical remnants of the past, so that they can be properly preserved by governmental and nonprofit entities. They are not just descriptions of history, they are documents that can be used for grant work, for preventing places from being destroyed, or for promoting the restoration of those places. This theme study is a statement from the federal government that the preservation of these places is important, and that can be translated by the states into these places being legally required to be protected.
The theme studies are also really important because they recontextualized what it means to locate history in a place. This started before the LGBT theme study, thereās a lot of this in the Latino theme study, but they present a reconsideration of what you can call historic when the actions of a group left no physical traces on the spaces that they used. We are now seeing the possibility of considering places like cruising areas as historic properties because they represent the patterns of a culture.
This is the Park Serviceās job. This is what you should be expecting from them. There are theme studies and special resource studies on dozens of things. A really important Civil Rights one dropped like last week. The Park Service is charged with running our national parks, sure, but the bulk of their work is like this. This is the type of shit that you can and should expect out of your National Park Service. Nobody else is gonna do it.
lol i hate todayās era of absolutely zero nuance takes. a friend didnāt behave exactly as youād wanted them to? cut them off. a guy didnāt text you back instantly bc he has his own life? heās just giving you breadcrumbs. doing something makes you uncomfortable? donāt do it anymore. someone isnāt instantly available for you? disinterest. just absolutist statements that often donāt apply to the multilayer situations of everyday life. like. stop. literally just stop it
It's incredible how much pop psychology and therapyspeak boils down to treating individualism as the phenomenological norm for human beings and any form of human communication or relationship based on negotiation, compromise, self-sacrifice and trust as an act of violence against the individual
ellievsbear
stormborns
kianamaiart
baratheonpilled
