Okay normally I'm on the side of "words mean whatever we need them to mean".
but guys, I donāt like the suggestion that itās what is happening here. Being unfamiliar with the term, and guessing its meaning based on vibes, doesnāt mean you have equal authority on whether itās ācorrectā with the community who actively use this word in a technical sense.
please do consider that if you haven't been exposed to the word in the context it's used in, "both are correct" and "you can interpret it differently" and āthere is no right or wrong answerā and āit feels like it SHOULD be Xā cannot be a fully realised take. Sure, linguistics recognises there are rules in which meaning changes - but ālaypeople being unfamiliar with the word, and liking vibes betterā isnāt one of them.
You can do that with most words, especially slang, and shape them to the needs of the majority, but this isn't like... a fanfiction word, invented for fanfic and, like, solely used for injured hockey players where it doesnāt matter if the injured limb swaps sides 4 times in a sex scene and phases through a stomach. It is, in its context, a bit more load-bearing (ha) than that.
It's fine to be unfamiliar with the context, and it's fine for words to change, but do just take a quick second to hear it in a native sentence!
One of the most common ways of using this word is to assess four-legged animals. "Favouring" is a specific grouping of behaviour - a hesitancy in gait, stiffness, reluctance to put weight on a limb. Itās often inconsistent, as the animal tries to compensate or conceal the pain. It may not be a full limp or obvious lameness, since prey animals especially will actively try to conceal this; favouring is a subtle reluctance, and a useful word for a very specific recognisable behaviour that the animal is usually trying to lie about. (Thatās probably why itās used in romance fiction, as itās an interestingly romantic and stoic way to react to pain, and doesnāt mean the limb is inconveniently disabled. A fictional character favouring a wounded leg can wince attractively when itās jostled, but it doesnāt matter too much if the author forgets and has them run to the door suddenly - āfavouringā isnāt incompatible with ārunningā in horses either.)
The sentence āFavouring the off hindā is equestrian jargon: it means āpain behaviour on the back right leg.ā It does not mean āopposite-pain in the not-on deerā and is not confusing in its professional register.
If you've only vaguely heard of "myeloma", and most people in a poll are guessing it's a skin cancer, that doesn't mean that myeloma and melanoma can now readily collapse into the same word - they're under active use in their native contexts, where the people frequently using them do need to communicate the difference between skin and blood cancer.
A poll of laypeople misunderstanding āmyeloma,ā or non-horse-people misunderstanding āfavouring,ā isnāt quite enough to indicate a full semantic shift and change of meaning of the term. The community that uses the term āfavouringā in the context of ālimb injuryā - vets, farriers, farmers, commentators, equestrians - knows what it means and uses it consistently in the same way. Theyāre not confused. because to them, it isnāt a vibesy, sex-scene-hand waving word. Itās a cluster of pain signals.
If you arenāt familiar with that usage, then thatās really more about your own lack of familiarity. Not all interpretations DO carry equal authority, especially when one is just confusion/unfamiliarity. You just havenāt met it before, and thatās fine.
Tl;dr: Iām all for words changing meanings, but we shouldnāt be too quick to declare that when itās based entirely on unfamiliarity and vibes-based readings.
*gathers all of the people in the world who write the number 7 with a little dash in the center of it so I can study them like little critters and find out what makes them do that*
Thereās actually a lot of history regarding the development writing systems and why there are different visual representations of numerals,
but the short answer is: itās regional, and you probably picked up how to make your numbers look based on your parents or your primary school teachers
I do it out of spite because in grade school a kids detective story identified the culprit by saying NO American wrote their sevens with a line and I thought that was super flimsy evidence and it made me so mad I started putting a line through my sevens so the fictional detective would be wrong and then kept doing it for several decades since.
I first made this comic in 2018. It was the first time I felt brave enough to share my story about body image and my experiences with disordered eating as a teen. Seven years later, my new book MY PERFECTLY IMPERFECT BODY is now out in the world, and itās one of the most personal and vulnerable things Iāve chosen to share š.
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.
went to my best friendās house last night and saw a little plushie dog and plushie cat that had been sewn together down the middle into a two-headed chimera. I said, ādid you do that?ā she said, āyes, I saved them.ā
turns out at her old job when the last two plushies hadnāt sold and became deadstock, her boss told her to cut them up and throw them out. so she cut them each in half, preserved their heads, and then rebuilt them together.
cannot stop thinking about the way these little plushies were approached with the instinct of a Vampire or some sort of ancient god. āLet me save you [turn you into a monster].ā
The fact that the beheading was at the order of a superior, and the solution was to create some sort of monster of disobediance to the letter of the law instead of just lying and saving them adds a certain mythological resonance.
Someday your hands will be old and wrinkled, the skin spotted and bunching over your knuckles. And a child will watch you make something. It's a simple task, you'll have done it a thousand times before. But to that child, the smooth, confident way your hands move will seem like impossible magic. You have to keep living.
One day when I was in elementary school my class took a field trip to a local nature preserve. We got to see the animals they kept there, we got taught about the various fauna and flora, and we got to have snacks. I remember it being really fun and educational. When we were all in a line filing out of the room where we had a presentation, an old man came up to me. He had a kind face. I remember him smiling at me. He held a perfectly folded origami crane out in front of me and showed me how it flapped when he pulled on its tail. To me, it was magic. He was magic. He offered it to me, asking if I wanted to keep it. I said yes, and he gave it to me. I delicately held it and pulled on its tail like he showed me. I stared in wonder as it flapped.
When I got home from the field trip I set the crane on my desk and asked my mother if I could learn how to fold a crane like that. She pulled out a book on origami that my father had bought many years ago and handed me a stack of origami paper. That evening, I opened the book and learned how to fold a crane.
I can still fold a crane from memory, even if I no longer have the one the old man gave me. I think about him every time I fold something new, and I still feel a bit of that wonder I felt on that day long ago.
Watching movies with small children is an EXPERIENCE, like tiny human, you have NO sense of story progression
Which is to say we put on the first How to Train Your Dragon
And at the dramatic "first flight" scene, two-year-old shouted "HIM FALL" and started SOBBING. She straight up thought that movie had murdered Hiccup and Toothless halfway through. Had to get double parental hugs and a constant stream of reassurances until they figured that whole flying thing out
All movies could be horror movies if your brain hasn't equipped Plot Armor to the protagonists
Anyway five-year-old is pleased to report that he "liked the part where the big dragon exploded"
#Welcome to the action adventure genre my children#Five year old was VIBRATING through the climax like straight up legs kicking fists clenched#Had to be held by Spouse until we figured out he wasn't afraid#He was experiencing baby's first blood lust#Kid wanted that dragon DEAD and it HAPPENED and he was VIOLENTLY SATISFIED
it needs an iron, masking tape, a pencil, and see-through paper. you don't need the pins if you're careful about keeping it lined up. you could do that on your floor and hand-sew it after that if you wanted to. the most specialised piece of equipment they used in the video, apart from the sewing machine, was a clear ruler.
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