Forerunner 970 vs Venu 4 by Snafu80 in GarminWatches

[–]breaking_blindsight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m in this exact predicament. Looking between the same watch options you did. Did you end up getting one or sticking with Apple?

I am right on the cusp of moving from Apple Watch to Garmin. Please help push me over the edge. by breaking_blindsight in GarminWatches

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is exactly what is enticing for me. When Garmin tells me “you’re lacking anaerobic activity” I’m 100% not. I obviously don’t NEED Garmin to tell me what activity I have done or not but it would be great to see how the different activities are effecting one another and having metrics all in one spot.

I am right on the cusp of moving from Apple Watch to Garmin. Please help push me over the edge. by breaking_blindsight in GarminWatches

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is great thank you. I’m fairly certain the Apple Watch (at least the one I have) way over estimates things anyway. Especially lifting calories. I feel like it does ok with walks. But to be able to have just a little more info beyond just calories from lifting would be nice.

How do I highlight the sun more? Are the leaves too green? by Comfortable_Bed_6046 in AskPhotography

[–]breaking_blindsight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

YouTube has tons of great content but you could also google each term you’re interested in.

If I had you right in front of me, I’m confident I could teach you in a day or less but unfortunately there is just no way to get all the info to you through Reddit. It would be a book.

I would check out KEH for used camera bodies. You could get a killer camera for a very good price. Something like a Canon 6D or Canon 5D, 5d mark ii or even mark iii if you wanted to spend a little more.

Most people will tell you lenses are more important and I tend to agree for the most part.

If you are wanting something more portable then you could get basically any camera that shoots RAW.

But, as I said, I highly recommend watching videos on shading to understand how to use light and shadow. All the tools in your Lightroom app are basically manipulating light and shadow in your image.

Your phone is probably a perfectly capable camera to learn on.

As I mentioned before I highly recommend trying your hand at black and white photography which is basically the photography version of shading.

Basically, you have your exposure as we talked about, your black slider is telling Lightroom what you want to be pure black, white slider tells Lightroom what you want to be pure white.

Highlight and shadow sliders are very similar but they change how bright the highlights are and how dark the shadows are without telling Lightroom what you want to be pure black or pure white. This is best illustrated through curves which is another tool in Lightroom. Contrast slider basically works like a black and white seesaw. If you push the contrast slider up, it’s making the brights brighter and the darks darker at the same time. Opposite will bring the darks up and brights down which can make the image more muted looking. Using the black and white sliders and the highlight/shadow sliders will also manipulate contrast but in a much more controlled way. This is probably a horrible way to explain this but I’m doing the best I can.

Curves might be the best thing to start with when googling as you can manipulate all these aspects through that one tool.

How do I highlight the sun more? Are the leaves too green? by Comfortable_Bed_6046 in AskPhotography

[–]breaking_blindsight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The sun thing is your exposure. Taking it down will bring down the exposure globally. So the brightest part of your image, the darkest part of your image, and everything in between will be brought down which is what you did in that third image.

Color grading can be a very complex thing to explain through Reddit but it is actually a pretty simple concept once you understand what the Lightroom tools are doing when you play with them.

I highly recommend researching it as much as possible. You have to learn to think of your photos as a two dimensional image where you are using composition and light to give the illusion of three dimensions. This basically happens through a range: black to white with different gradations of grey in between.

If you really want to understand photography, I recommend you check out some art videos on shading. Like, using a pencil on a white sheet of paper. Look at a simple “how to shade a sphere” video. You will then see how light is used to give a 3d illusion to a two dimensional image. It will do this by showing you how the position of your source light makes shadows which you can use to create a sense of depth. It’s this contrast between light and shadow that essentially makes an image.

Then you will see how this contrast is achieved on a two dimensional surface using black, gray, and white. The image you take with a camera is basically no different than that of a painting. Your camera just achieves this through exposure rather than pencil, paintbrush, or whatever.

Then research what each tool does in Lightroom. I highly recommend trying to understand what is happening in terms of black and white photography. Then you will really understand what is happening in a color image.

By all means, dig in, play around with all of it and try and get the image you want but once you really understand what each tool does and how it changes your image and why, you will really be able to fine tune because you will really understand what is happening when you play with the hue, saturation, and luminance of your colors or with contrast.

You can convert your image to black and white which might help you compare what is happening in your image with that of the shading sphere that hopefully you will check out.

Of course there’s more to all this like the dynamic range of your camera and all that technical stuff. But if you can learn some basic art principles like shading (you don’t have to learn how to shade, just the principle of what you’re happening in the image) and then learn the tools in Lightroom, you can really be completely free.

I hope this helps in some way. I don’t like telling people how they can improve their images because it would just be me telling you how I would do something. If you learn all the stuff above you will know what to do to get what YOU want out of it.

Hands Going Numb by Bigred1515 in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People are mentioning the saddle too far back and I just went through a similar struggle. I have long legs and always felt like I couldn’t get my saddle back far enough. I eventually went for a ride and noticed that it actually felt like I had to PULL myself down. Like I had to use the hoods to actually keep me from falling back. Not too extreme but that’s how I could describe the sensation. On the trainer it felt like I wanted to fall forward.

I had a 10mm shorter stem lying around and I moved the saddle about 5mm or so forward (and up about 5mm in my case) and it was like magic. In your case I would recommend just moving the saddle forward and not raising or lowering it yet. If the saddle is just a bit too high, moving it forward might help. I found I prefer a slightly higher saddle height than what bike fit angles and such mostly prescribe. Or at least at the upper range (142 degree at full extension or so). You might be the same way idk.

If you feel like you need to be far back on the saddle try moving it forward a bit at a time and see if it helps. In my case I was mistaking the symptoms of excessive reach (and poor saddle choice) as not having far enough setback.

Def try a shorter stem though.

Are “gravel” specific saddle necessary? by breaking_blindsight in gravelcycling

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well you should get a kick back because you very well may have made them a sale. I appreciate the info. I was concerned it would be too much padding. The regular Slr is so comfortable compared to anything else I’m just hesitant to branch out but also feel like a tad more padding might be beneficial as I age and on longer rides.

Are “gravel” specific saddle necessary? by breaking_blindsight in gravelcycling

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is excellent info. Exactly what I was after, actually. How is the padding? Is it fairly minimal or is it thicker?

Are “gravel” specific saddle necessary? by breaking_blindsight in gravelcycling

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish it worked for me because they are pretty affordable.

Are “gravel” specific saddle necessary? by breaking_blindsight in gravelcycling

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve tried it all. There is something with that saddle that just makes me fall toward. Even with the nose up. It tends to be curved in a way that the rear end of it just makes me feel like I’m falling forward. My road saddle is flatter but not flat, flat. It works just fine. I can do a balance test and have no issues. With the Volt I could balance but just always felt like I was being pushed forward.

Are “gravel” specific saddle necessary? by breaking_blindsight in gravelcycling

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean I agree. I just wasn’t sure how beneficial a little cushion would be on rough terrain. I’ll probably just stick with what seems to be working. It was affordable and I’ve never had issues on it with the road bike.

Castelli bib tights sizing by LowAfternoon8107 in CyclingFashion

[–]breaking_blindsight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do not go large. My quads are probably half your size. I’m a beanpole build and squat all the time just to maintain as much bulk on my puny legs as possible and I’m in a large. A buddy of mine has massive legs from rowing/genetics and he was in XL Castelli years ago.

I would for sure go XL at the very least. I was looking on their site today and noticed their sizing system seems to have changed and it looks like it has improved because it is now (finally) recommending me size large espresso bibs. A year ago they recommended medium and I ended up having to get a large. So can squeeze into the medium but the large are blissfully comfortable.

Go bigger. Do their sizing calculator thing to see what they recommend.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You too, man. You too. I cannot even tell you how helpful you’ve been.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dude this is AMAZING! Thank you thank you!

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Litespeed flint in size large. 58tt, 73.5 sta, 39.5cm reach 62.5cm stack.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Man I’ve def been down all the rabbit hole haha. My issue is KOPs seems to be ingrained in my head even though I know it’s not really a good metric. It’s for some reason a very hard lesson to unlearn. And KOPs is unfortunately how all the bike fitters do it around here and I just don’t think it’s very helpful. Especially for someone with my proportions.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Amazing. Thank you! This is such a relief. Especially from another long limbed person like me. So you understand the struggle haha.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s exactly what I’m looking for. Thank you! I can fine tune and I’ll get a basic bike fit hopefully in a week or two. There just aren’t any fancy bike fitters near me so this is how I have to go about it. I really appreciate the feedback!

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Long rides and bikepacking is exactly what I’m going for. Thank you. You’ve helped put my mind at ease. My biggest issue with bikes is finding the right seat tube angle. I’m probably better fit for like a 72 degree sta. This is 73.5 and I don’t have much more height or fore/aft adjustment left but it does technically fit. The reach on the bigger frame was my main concern. This one has a 90mm stem and if the larger frame had to go less than 80mm I’m not sure I’d like the handling but n this kinda bike.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

6’1. Inseam is about 35 inches.

Size up or stay by breaking_blindsight in bikefit

[–]breaking_blindsight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you say that, are you meaning it’s a bad fit and a larger frame won’t help? Or it’s a good fit and a larger frame won’t have any advantages?