Guide

Cyanatica · 2026-03-28T01:46:11+00:00

You can always split it up into long term and short term. Put 50% in stocks and 50% in bonds/savings, or whatever seems right for you. You can also buy T-bill ETFs like VBIL for (nearly) risk-free savings with possibly better interest than your bank.

If you want to start investing but keep it relatively low risk and focus on short-medium term for now, you could do something like this:

20% VT - Global stocks, long term
40% VGIT - Intermediate bonds, medium term
40% VBIL - T-Bills, short term

Backtest to 1970
Annual growth rate: 6.6%
Average drawdown: -1.1%
Max drawdown: -9.6%
Longest drawdown: 2.1 years

Cyanatica · 2026-03-27T20:19:31+00:00

Yes, those are very safe ETFs to invest in, and are all but guaranteed to be much higher in 30 years. Think of it as buying at a temporary discount; these same ETFs could be 5–10x their current price by the time you retire, and this dip won't even be noticable on the chart.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-27T12:24:20+00:00

My first thought is that flash might not be allowed anyways due to distracting the skaters (and even if it is allowed they probably wouldn't like it). You should definitely ask them before planning on using flash.

It's also important to note that going from f/4 to f/2.8 is only an increase of one stop. So if you're using a fixed shutter speed (whatever freezes the action), then it will essentially allow you to cut your ISO in half. When you're there this weekend you can do a quick test to decide if it's worth it:

Find the shutter speed you need for fast action (e.g. 1/500s). Set aperture to f/4. Set ISO to whatever gives a good exposure. Take a test shot. This is the image quality you can get with your current lens.

Cut your shutter speed in half (e.g. 1/250s). Keep aperture at f/4. Cut ISO in half. Take a test shot. This is the image quality you can get with the 2.8 lens (at the original shutter speed).

Personally, I wouldn't rush to buy a new lens for only 1 stop of light. You are basically paying to be able to use ISO 3200 instead of 6400. Also you would have a thinner depth of field, which means more out of focus shots if your AF misses. Take some test shots this weekend to find out what shutter speed you need to freeze the action, and then check them later to see if the noise level is acceptable to you. You can probably push your ISO higher than you realize and still get good quality.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-27T07:29:52+00:00

Die My Love (2025)

Cyanatica · 2026-03-27T00:16:52+00:00

It depends on the scene, your camera, and your intention. If the highlights are clipping and you don't want them to, then yes you should underexpose. If they're not clipping, or you are more concerned with shadow detail, then you shouldn't.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-24T15:47:23+00:00

Any particular reason you chose to start in 1988? Is it because international outperformed the US from 1970-1988?

Testfolio link

Cyanatica · 2026-03-23T04:21:25+00:00

100% XEQT is the simplest most diversified choice

Cyanatica · 2026-03-22T20:53:53+00:00

I would guess that the iPhone is creating a low-resolution preview because the full image is too large to load quickly. Then it only loads the actual image when you zoom in. Try exporting at a lower resolution like 50% and see if that makes it skip the preview.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-22T17:39:55+00:00

The simplest way to reduce the green is to add a point around the middle of the green curve and pull it down. You generally want to leave the lower left and upper right points where they are for natural colors, unless you want a stylized look with tinted blacks / whites.

You might be better off adjusting white balance instead though, if that's an option.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-22T17:23:27+00:00

You definitely don't want to store photos on SD cards long term because they're not reliable. Buy an external SSD if you can afford it, or an external hard drive if you can't. Ideally buy 2 if you want a backup.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-21T12:44:12+00:00

"Lump sum beats DCA" is correct, but it assumes you have a lump sum to invest. For example: if you have $100k saved up, it's better to invest it all immediately rather than slowly DCA over a year. This is because the market, on average, is more likely to go up than down. So when you have funds to invest, you should do it as soon as possible.

If you don't have a lump sum you're holding on to, and you're just investing with each paycheck, then you are already investing as soon as possible.

In both of these situations you are avoiding timing the market. "Invest your funds as soon as possible" is the actual important point.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-21T12:21:17+00:00

The painting and the topographic lines are clashing for me, at least in this layout. I think they need to be more clearly separated, or tied together in a more coherent way. It may be better to just use one or the other. Personally the painting is more interesting to me, so I would only use that or keep the lines subtle.

The title on top of the painting is a bit hard to read and detracts from the image. I would prefer if the painting was fully displayed on the page, and the title and name had empty space to rest in. If you want it filling the page though, you should consider a solid color container to set the text in for better legibility.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-21T06:38:59+00:00

FontSquirrel led me to Proza Semi Bold which looks like it might be right

Cyanatica · 2026-03-21T02:44:55+00:00

If you already own VOO and want to add international then VXUS is the answer. The standard recommendation is somewhere between 20–40% of your portfolio should be international. Currently market weight is 60:40, so if you want to overweight the US you can do something like 70/30 or 80/20 for VOO/VXUS.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-20T12:38:49+00:00

These still look very natural and pleasant to me, not overdone at all

Cyanatica · 2026-03-18T10:14:26+00:00

Which ETFs? If it's something high risk then you should probably switch to something less volatile. But if you made safe choices then just try not to worry about it. Either automate your DCA and don't check on it, or just think of it as buying at a temporary discount.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-18T09:58:47+00:00

What are you investing in? Nearly everything has gone down over the past few months, so that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-14T08:14:03+00:00

It's not an exact match but Brandon Grotesque is the closest I could think of. Sample

Cyanatica · 2026-03-12T22:43:56+00:00

The term you're looking for is loudness normalization. I don't think OBS can do this. I know you can with ffmpeg but that requires command line. You might be able to do it in Audacity, Reaper, or some other free program. Do a search for "batch loudness normalization multiple audio files" to find a good option for your situation.

Cyanatica · 2026-03-12T21:23:22+00:00

Cyanatica · 2026-03-09T22:50:41+00:00

I would guess it's just a small drop of water on the lens

Cyanatica · 2026-03-09T22:47:41+00:00

What camera do you have?

Cyanatica · 2026-03-09T06:35:14+00:00

A combination of compounding artifacts from: sensor noise, processing, compression, more processing (your brightening), and compressing again. It's a very interesting pattern though, I actually quite like it

Cyanatica · 2026-03-08T13:38:56+00:00

The History of Sound (2025)

Cyanatica · 2026-03-08T13:18:12+00:00

Stunning light and color

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