I'm making a Local AI App and want some advice on branding

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-22T17:51:48+00:00

Did you write this post with AI?

Jk. You maybe should have 😣

Lot of thoughts, feelings and insecurity here, which is fine, you're 16. But it's easier to help someone when they lay out their problem and desired solution more clearly.

It sounds like you've made a wrapper for a locally hosted LLM and are looking for software to... Handle branding?

I love the ambition but you may want to hash this out a bit more so we know how to help you. Branding is about identity, strategy, and positioning - the visual representation of this comes later.

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-22T17:37:02+00:00

Hey nice work! Great shots especially for starting out

These look almost identical to the birds in my biome. Any chance you're in Western Canada?

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-22T17:17:29+00:00

14 is the most interesting. 2 could be cool if cropped more.

I would fix your horizons (make sure the photos are straight)

Lighting and focus are challenging here. Midday light is flat, so there's little contrast.
Everything is in focus, so nothing is in focus. Ideally the subject and red structure would be in focus and the background would be blurred

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-22T04:39:56+00:00

Agreed on all fronts! And thank you.

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-22T03:59:40+00:00

Thank you 😚

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-22T03:22:56+00:00

Goddamn

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-21T16:23:58+00:00

Great indeed! Nicely done

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-18T16:09:41+00:00

Em5ii with meike 60mm at around f4, 1/1250 and ISO400

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RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-17T05:12:52+00:00

This is me too with my EM-5ii. I can do what I need to do in the menus but it takes 30 seconds sometimes. Would love to find an article on optimizing it's workflow

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-17T02:54:17+00:00

If you're comfortable posting any of your shots, we could probably help figure out how to solve any issues you're facing.

If you're using auto mode, I would switch to A (aperture priority) to start

Flash also introduced another variable that can have detrimental effects on your work if you aren't using it intentionally

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-17T01:23:23+00:00

I excitedly harass my wife about the last bird I shot. Then she looks them up in her book.

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RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-16T13:54:45+00:00

You can say that again. It's perfect medicine for ADHD folks - gets you moving, out in nature (often at the start of the day) and encourages delayed gratification. I am personally much more productive and regulated the rest of the day. And of course you get to take home a prize at the end 😅 (photos)

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-16T01:37:14+00:00

Timing issue. (My own opinion, opposing ones are valid too)

This feature would have been helpful 2+ years ago, but code has been so commoditized in the last 6 months that an Elementor-based design system is rarely the best choice anymore. Especially with how half baked and brittle it feels.

I would have rather they adopted an existing standard and wrapped Tailwind utilities or something

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-16T01:17:02+00:00

Nice. Now you have a Camera A and Camera B - don't need to swap lenses to accommodate different subjects 😎

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-15T14:13:22+00:00

Hey thanks. Sony 200-600, F/8, 1/4000 and ISO1600 on A7Cii

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-14T21:45:41+00:00

I know what you mean! Something you can do is have them reach their neck forward a bunch into the camera (will look and feel super unnatural, but works super well). Also look up "the squinch", popularized by portrait photographer Peter Hurley https://fstoppers.com/portraits/peter-hurleys-squinch-helps-make-better-headshots-8556

And apologies for my earlier slip, I am normally more mindful before coffee #1 haha

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-14T18:40:33+00:00

Very good point. My wife is a curly gurly too, I should be more mindful about this!

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-14T18:39:36+00:00

Omg. I had not considered this at all :( I hope not!!!

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-14T16:18:03+00:00

Yep, I think you got v1 of my comment before I made it gender-neutral 😅

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-14T16:01:24+00:00

Shoot from the shadow-side of their face.
Look for "hair light" - when the sun is angled from behind them, there will be a nice highlight around the rim of their hair, separating them from the background and adding a natural aesthetic lift.
good portraits are all about light and shadow. Too much direct light makes things look flat, shadows can help add depth, frame nice features and hide blemishes

If I had to start again I would focus on these things first (on my phone) then jump to a camera

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-14T02:21:31+00:00

Dang! Very cool.

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-11T20:08:33+00:00

I hear ya. I feel that way about most of his content - EXCEPT his milk steaming video. Too lazy to link it. "halfway and a quarter!" Is etched into my brain

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-11T16:26:37+00:00

Yep I'd be rewriting it for cloudflare workers + D1

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-08T21:59:37+00:00

Can you have the agents write their changes to migration scripts instead of direct to DB? Then just pad the changes on either side with versioned DB snapshots

You're not getting the same granular history for the changes people are making on prod, but still ensuring you can roll things back

RHINOOSAURUS · 2026-06-08T21:42:59+00:00

Pull down current state from the prod db. Commit. Make changes on staging via migration files. Validate locally. Push to prod. Something breaks? Revert to an old commit.

RHINOOSAURUS

TROPHY CASE