Randomness XVI: Brains versus Bleach - an Epic Rap Battle in Iambic Pentameter.

[Glitterwolf]

[Chaoswolf]

[Unruly]

3 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

Don't tour the place where they make Vienna sausages if you ever have eaten or plan to eat one.  Making processed meat is not pretty.  It's one of the reasons I will pay the outlandish price for bologna and salami from a deli in Portland when I'm there.  I can see it being made and the process is not horrifying.  

 

Mechanically separated meat is a term that does not need to be in my food,  though, if pressed (no pun intended) I can be talked into eating most things, preferably if I try them before I know what they are.  Crickets and ants are tastier than they have any right to be!  Termites, however, still taste like a cardboard box gone soggy.

 

I'm a big proponent of people knowing what goes into making their food. We've become very disassociated with the process as a generality. A large part of that is because it's been so heavily industrialized, but I think there's also a lot to be said for people just choosing to remain ignorant.

 

And I don't expect people seeing the "horror" of butchery to get scared into being vegan or something. I know all that goes into making that cut of beef, or that pack of chicken, that I buy at the store and it doesn't make me want to go vegan. It does make me want to improve the way that certain things get done, though. Like I don't want my broiler chickens to be fully grown and harvested at 30 days. Not because I think it's inhumane, but because it has direct consequences to the quality of the meat. I'd rather spend an extra 50 cents a pound to have the slower growing breeds brought back so that incidences of things like wooden breast and spaghetti meat, which are direct results of an explosive growth rate, are much lower.

 

Slowly trying out the new stuff on my phone. The stylus is much better on this than on my old Note 4. I can use it to draw almost imperceptible lines, while the Note 4's could only do about as thin as a 0.5mm mechanical pencil in my fat hands. Also, it doubles as a sort of remote control for all sorts of stuff. 

 

And I'm still figuring out the camera. It has your normal auto settings, but it also has a pro mode where you can control everything. White balance, "film speed," shutter speed, focus, and choosing which lens you want to use(there's an f/1.5 and an f/2.4). There's even sliders to set contrast, saturation, color temp, and a couple other things. Which means I need to learn what all these things mean and how to use them to take pretty pictures. It probably wouldn't hurt to learn them so I can put them to use with my relatively ancient Finepix S8100, too. I'm pretty sure it has the ability to adjust most of those things as well, and it should have a much better lens. I know it has a better zoom, since its 18x optical, and I know it does macro shots pretty well.

 

But with my untrained eye I can't really complain about this phone camera shot either...

[paintybeard]

6 minutes ago, Unruly said:

 

I'm a big proponent of people knowing what goes into making their food. We've become very disassociated with the process as a generality. A large part of that is because it's been so heavily industrialized, but I think there's also a lot to be said for people just choosing to remain ignorant.

 

And I don't expect people seeing the "horror" of butchery to get scared into being vegan or something. I know all that goes into making that cut of beef, or that pack of chicken, that I buy at the store and it doesn't make me want to go vegan. It does make me want to improve the way that certain things get done, though. Like I don't want my broiler chickens to be fully grown and harvested at 30 days. Not because I think it's inhumane, but because it has direct consequences to the quality of the meat. I'd rather spend an extra 50 cents a pound to have the slower growing breeds brought back so that incidences of things like wooden breast and spaghetti meat, which are direct results of an explosive growth rate, are much lower.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I've got to admit that a guided tour of the local abattoir where most of the meat we buy is slaughtered was one of the most interesting and worthwhile days out I have ever spent. Wife and I got to see the whole process from bringing the animals onto the farm to the inspection of the carcasses by the Department of Health. Fascinating.

 

 The actual killing? Blink and you miss it. I wish by every power that my end could be so clean.

 

 As a bonus we got to buy half a pig and were then taught how to cut it up and dress it into joints, chops etc.   

[Unruly]

25 minutes ago, paintybeard said:

The actual killing? Blink and you miss it. I wish by every power that my end could be so clean.

 

Was it the penetrating captive bolt pistol? I'd definitely take that as my way out if I had the choice. All the speed of a bullet to the head without the extra mess of an exit wound.

[Doug Sundseth]

1 hour ago, Unruly said:

And I'm still figuring out the camera. It has your normal auto settings, but it also has a pro mode where you can control everything. White balance, "film speed," shutter speed, focus, and choosing which lens you want to use(there's an f/1.5 and an f/2.4). There's even sliders to set contrast, saturation, color temp, and a couple other things. Which means I need to learn what all these things mean and how to use them to take pretty pictures. It probably wouldn't hurt to learn them so I can put them to use with my relatively ancient Finepix S8100, too. I'm pretty sure it has the ability to adjust most of those things as well, and it should have a much better lens. I know it has a better zoom, since its 18x optical, and I know it does macro shots pretty well.

 

Feel free to ask questions if you have any. The quick and dirty version for minis is:

• ISO ("film speed") to as low a number as you have.
• Autofocus on the nearer eye of the figure.
• Aperture to the bigger number (smaller opening) for better depth of field).
• Shutter speed set for a good exposure.
• White balance to match your lights.

And you'll probably want to use a support like a tripod or bag of dried peas or rice so the camera doesn't move during the shot, because the shutter speed can be very long with those settings.

 

1 hour ago, Unruly said:

But with my untrained eye I can't really complain about this phone camera shot either...

 

 

Cell phones are really a good choice for miniatures photography, because the short focal length means a very deep depth of field.

[Arc 724]

Hello one and all! 

 

My amazing dnd group and I are going to a brewery tonight! Apparently local fire dancers - yes you read that right - practices on the thirds Wednesday of every month. We will see how it goes but I'm hoping this becomes a thing. The group is all bringing their gaming stuff just in case we want to play. :) BEER AND DICE! Yes please and FIRE!

[Cranky Dog]

54 minutes ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

Feel free to ask questions if you have any. The quick and dirty version for minis is:

• ISO ("film speed") to as low a number as you have.
• Autofocus on the nearer eye of the figure.
• Aperture to the bigger number (smaller opening) for better depth of field).
• Shutter speed set for a good exposure.
• White balance to match your lights.

And you'll probably want to use a support like a tripod or bag of dried peas or rice so the camera doesn't move during the shot, because the shutter speed can be very long with those settings.

 

 

Cell phones are really a good choice for miniatures photography, because the short focal length means a very deep depth of field.

I'll chip in my own tips on top of Doug's:

• ISO ("film speed") to as low a number as you have. For digital cameras, this is the light sensitivity of the sensor. Normally, the lower ISO requires more light (so more exposure time), but generally results in better colours. The lower the ISO, the more steadiness you need. Higher ISOs are very sensitive to light, used in poor lighting conditions, have very short exposure time, but can be very grainy. Note that modern digital cameras have a sweet spot where a particular ISO gives the best result (not automatically the lowest ISO)
• Autofocus on the nearer eye of the figure. Indeed, our brains focus on faces first, so the eyes are the default focusing point. Can get tricky with multiple figures.
• Aperture to the bigger number (smaller opening) for better depth of field). Aperture is the "F" settings (F/2, F/5.6, F/22, etc.) Depth of field is how fuzzy or sharp the picture is in front and behind the subject, and also helps in exposure times (bigger opening = more light = shorter exposure time). Helps you decide if you want to focus on the "big picture" or keep it more intimate like a head shots (with the foreground/background being out of focus). Small numbers (F/1.2, F/2, F/5.6, etc.) have short depth of fields, short exposure time. Big numbers (F/16, F/22, etc.) have deep depth of fields, but require longer exposure. As Doug said, with cell phones, the compact nature of their lenses and sensors make it that they have deep depth of fields no matter what you choose.
• Shutter speed set for a good exposure. ISO and aperture affects these. If you have a steady hand, base or tripod, a low shutter speed can work as well as a high one.
• White balance to match your lights. This takes into account the yellowish<->bluish tints of your bulbs so the colours look as natural as they should. If you have a white sheet of paper, or anything neutral gray, you can set your own white balance.

 

Contrast, saturation, colour temp, sharpness, etc. are all in-camera post-processing that is done after you take your picture. How effective these settings are vary from camera to camera, as are your own preferences.

 

P.S. Be warned that the best pictures will reveal how bad we really are at painting as every little defect will jump out at you.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Cranky Dog

[Unruly]

25 minutes ago, Cranky Dog said:

 

P.S. Be warned that the best pictures will reveal how bad we really are at painting as every little defect will jump out at you.

 

Did you see the picture I posted? Did you see how much of the metal still wasn't coated in primer? That's after I hit it with 2 coats through an airbrush. I'm gonna have to spray it again just for the inside of the cloak. But look at it with the naked eye and it looks like it's fully primed...

 

And thanks for the tips, guys. I'm definitely going to need some kind of stand for taking pictures with a low shutter speed. But man, I'm amazed at this camera so far. I gotta see how low light shots look, because on my old phone they were pretty trash. I know this one isn't rated as the best low light phone camera(that belongs to the Google Pixel 4, I think) but its gotta be better than my old phone.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Unruly

[Doug Sundseth]

11 minutes ago, Unruly said:

I'm definitely going to need some kind of stand for taking pictures with a low shutter speed.

 

FWIW, I use a cell phone mount from Square Jellyfish on a standard tripod, which is convenient because I have ... enough tripods. 

 

I've been happy enough with it and it's not too expensive, but there are many choices.

[Inarah]

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (with walnuts) got made last night:

 

[Arc 724]

1 minute ago, Inarah said:

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (with walnuts) got made last night:

 

 

OMGosh! That looks amazing.

[Morihalda]

1 hour ago, Cranky Dog said:

P.S. Be warned that the best pictures will reveal how bad we really are at painting as every little defect will jump out at you.

 

I remember sculpting or painting minis and BEING SO PROUD OF IT.

 

I would snap a photo to show y'all and I have literally screamed at the resulting images. 

 

"What happened, poor mini??? What have they done to you?!"

[paintybeard]

3 hours ago, Unruly said:

 

Was it the penetrating captive bolt pistol? I'd definitely take that as my way out if I had the choice. All the speed of a bullet to the head without the extra mess of an exit wound.

 

Yes, that's the one. Dead before they hit the ground.

[PaganMegan]

Got a call from Grump at the doctor's.

 

He can go back to work, but won't see much out of that eye for a month.

 

Everything is healing well, but he will need cataract surgery in March.

 

He's allowed booze again, so I am buying a new dice bag to celebrate.

 

Sick Grumps are NOT good company. He hid his worry by being morose.

Edited December 18, 2019 by PaganMegan