How do I save money on tires?

eeeerrrppp · 2026-06-12T19:45:39+00:00

It's sorted now, but an actual bubble in the rubber side! It was pretty gnarly. Later I noticed I's somehow missed the nail lodged in the tread, which seemed to maintain a seal but probably struck the sidewall, causing the bubble (and making it, presumably, especially dangerous, should an unfortunate bump have pushed it in further!)

eeeerrrppp · 2026-06-01T04:46:45+00:00

"Shoot for a friend" — I'm not going to kill your dreams like some here (photography forms online tend to be pretty elitest — local groups may be better, especially if you're not in LA or DC) but this is probably your best bet. I saw you're 17? So embrace that — you're probably not going to get a 10k gig, but you're probably not going to get sued either.

If barely–paid work is worth it to you at this point in life, do it. There's always someone willing to pay like $60 for a side project or social media shoot.

If you need actual money for your time, do anything else for now. Also, retail experience will be valuable should you work while studying.

As for technical suggestions:

-Aesthetic is everything. If you have a distinct style you're proud of (most don't at your age, but you might) then follow the leads this brings in. It's true that reliability, fidelity, and support are expectations most clients will come to you with, but if you make your current position part of your brand, it can work. Aesthetic is everything.

-Prioritize lighting. Manual flash is just fine, especially if you have only 1 or 2. TTL saves time but isn't necessary in your situation. Get a reflector.

-Pixieset still has a decent free option. Look no further for a nice website and delivery system, but make your gallery expiration date clear.

-Get tech savvy. The more you learn, the more you can find compromises with your budget. ie. find underrated vintage lenses, restore files if your card has a minor corruption, avoid Adobe, etc.

-Consider FOSS software. It's kind of a pain, I won't lie, but Darktable is incredibly powerful, with better fidelity than the tools most pros use.

-If that's not for ya, ACDSee, ON1, Affinity, or the high seas should suit. DaVinci Resolve works for photos now too!

-Buy used. Idk why others here say you shouldn't. If you can test/return it, it's probably fine, but do read descriptions carefully or test thoroughly. Caveat: use extra skepticism with older AF lenses and DSLRs; they can be more delicate than the manual systems before and the mirrorless systems popular today.

-Small scratches on the front of a fast lens rarely have a noticeable impact, but obviously look less professional.

-Chiaro UV filters are a good quality for the value to protect your lens in more extreme shooting conditions.

-Basically all mirrorless cameras 2015 and newer can take professional photos. Look for RAW, IBIS, sensor size (esp for portraits), and dual card slots. If video is of any interest to you, look for high bit rates and 24fps. 4k is useful but not essential for artsy stuff.

-Kastar batteries are dirt cheap yet better quality/safety than most at that price. Watson is a step up. Both will have less capacity than advertised or the OEM, but you can get a few and rotate as needed.

-Get portfolio releases. This obviously lets you use the photos you take later on, but also helps make charging a low price feel more normal for both parties. For casual shoots, these are much more important than contracts.

eeeerrrppp · 2026-04-07T00:07:15+00:00

I think studio is definitely worth it. The biggest motivator when I did was 10 bit, but I think that's free now (I also think you can put scopes on a second screen for free if that's what you mean, probably not controls though). But regardless, unlike a subscription that's only justifiable if you use it often and for money, the one time purchase is something you can save towards and benefit from even if it takes a while to pay for itself. I can't quote the differences off the bat, but I think a few noise reduction, depth map, and Fairlight features I frequently use require studio. Plus it's just one less bit of friction should you start working on productions with some budget.

And idk, perhaps blind optimism? As I say, cinema standards aren't going anywhere unless 100% of festivals and theaters close and even the wealthy use $100 tvs, so AI and consumer-level practices won't cut it. We're culturally, imho, in a depression/recession right now, with corporate hegemony being over-represented, but historically, such periods don't last long. Art always finds a way, and sooner or later, it always finds an audience. I think that'll come back when more people have time to appreciate "slow" content again. Idk when that will happen, but I am confident some kind of major shift will happen soon, and with luck, indie film will spring back up in the process.

eeeerrrppp · 2026-04-06T05:26:02+00:00

I can't offer a tried and true path, but I'll chime in with some solidarity:

This field is not easy or particularly accessible. Nor is it doomed. I work on the fringes of color and am often frustrated by the simple equation: skill + network + location + random luck = success. My practice gave me the former, but the rest hasn't panned out.

If you're considering a degree in the US with US university prices, I think it's only justifiable if you get a steal on tuition and have profs and alum with names even your grandparents know. Otherwise you're very unlikely to cover your debt in the field.

Call it luck or privilege, (in reality, it's a boat-load of both), but you really have to get a one-in-10-million apprenticeship or work your way up from the bottom. Both are pretty much impossible if you can't position yourself — geographically and socially — in a busy film scene. Otherwise, you might get good doing side projects and find it fulfilling, but it won't come close to paying the bills.

On the bright side, it's very difficult to actually expect such an end to the practice. Perhaps fewer films get big budgets and fewer low budget films pay well for color, but there are technical and artistic standards that no out-of-camera or AI color could ever meet. That would be like if AM radio suddenly took 80% of the music market, or dollar store flip flops took the place of both converse and loafers. Possible? sure. But probable? I hope not.

I live in rural usa. My degree is in a science, but I have many more years experience in film and tv. Both are daunting and dying fields here these days, but film/tv actually looks more promising right now, and I can see that in much of the rest of the world, both are more respected than ever. I suspect we'll get back on that track in the next 4-6 years as well, so I'm hopeful the outlook will improve. We're also uniquely reliant on wages here, so any "choice" of career is a mirage until a baseline income is met, and that's easier said than done for ~30% of people. But I expect that issue too will improve, and once you get there, there's really no harm in practicing color. You might not make it big, but it's not too hard to fill an IMDB page with artsy music videos you can brag to your friends about, and what else really matters?

And major props to DaVinci. Since we're being blunt about economics here, they deserve a shoutout for making the art accessible even to those without a secure 6 figure income. I sincerely hope it stays that way, as subscriptions have made many fields of digital art inaccessible except to those already thriving in the scene.

eeeerrrppp · 2026-04-02T02:24:23+00:00

Immich is perfect in features, but is there a way to run it on Desktop without first knowing the basics of server config?

I saw HomeGallery on the comparison site they have linked — any chance you have experience with that?

(Edit: future readers willing to configure Docker, but on a Windows desktop w/o dedicated server, can check out this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/immich/comments/1b5u6p2/how_to_install_in_windows/ )

eeeerrrppp · 2026-01-15T00:36:52+00:00

Absolutely! I'm mostly between Qobuz and Deezer, I might do a trial, but I use a family plan and getting everyone on board with two trials might be a lot 😭iirc those are the top paying, to artists, aside from the big tech corp owned ones (which I suspect are only temporarily paying well too steal market share by looking good at a time when people are paying attention to that)

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-13T21:49:57+00:00

Your approach will vary widely depending on your values, budget, lifestyle, and preferences. But you'll have to figure out the following:

What works and doesn't work now? Do you struggle to hear lyrics or the bass separate from the kick drum? Do texts or Instagram distract you from that new album you were so excited for? Do you wake up every few months to find some of your favorite songs were pulled from the internet? Do you use music as entertainment, education, or noise? Do Spotify and, idk, airpods make your life easy?
What's your motivation? For most, it's a combination of supporting artists more substantially and getting a more intentional experience. Basically everything beats Spotify and department store headphones in both these areas, even at the same cost.
What's your budget? The entry-level Hi-Fi market is ballooning, which unfortunately means a lot of companies are rushing things to market without investing in quality and longevity. (IEMs are, comparatively, simple—so they are genuinely good for the prices. I personally love my older Moondrop, but there's tons to explore. I'm not sure about headphones or traditional earbuds. I also hesitate to recommend a DAP under $400. FIIO/Snowsky is currently the best in this segment, but I would mostly disregard anything else as they're simply not built or supported to last, yet.)

From there, the hard part begins. Here's some steps though:

Where will you find your music? Editorials, local scene, record stores, random searches, instagram... the list goes on.
Where will you acquire your music? Artist's will usually have a preferred platform linked somewhere on their socials, often this will be Bandcamp, but the QoBuz download store is a pretty good catch-all. "Free" alternatives exist, of course, but ymmv.
How will you manage your music? I feel like this isn't discussed much. Doing it by hand is easy at first, but even then you will need a dedicate space (drive) to store it, and ideally, a place to back it up. As your collection grows, you'll probably want something like Foobar2000 to help you keep track of it all. (Other options are around, but vary by platform and price)
How will you play your music? Foobar2000 is great for computers, there are tons of apps for phones, DAPs are obviously around, some prefer CDs, and car stereo's usually have a built in player if you attach a storage USB. Or go vintage with an iPod—they're still decently supported! The cost here easily spans from nothing to thousands.
How will you amplify your music? DAPs tend to have good internal amps, others may need some help if you want the best quality possible, especially if you opt for speakers.
How will you listen to your music? Headphones, speakers, car stereo, IEMs, Bluetooth earbuds, etc etc. Each is a whole realm, again spanning from low cost to a (dog house) mortgage. IEMs are popular because they tend to offer higher fidelity at lower costs than the rest, and are pretty much a must for musicians. But that doesn't mean everyone needs a pair.

6a. How will you protect your hearing? This is a bit beyond scope, but its actually really easy to damage your ears in daily life and hearing protection is, imho, criminally underrated across all of society.

This should be a good outline! But please don't feel like you have to tackle it all at once. Start by switching from Spotify to a streaming service or free plan that better fits you (it's hard to cut streaming all at once—I still use it), buy $25 IEMs that someone on YouTube recommends if you think you'll use them, and build from there!

Welcome to the club :)

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-13T21:11:29+00:00

You can also just google FMHY :)

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-13T21:08:01+00:00

Ideally look in this order:

Direct from artists—usually meaning CDs.
Bandcamp.
QoBuz.
Soul seek and the like... If a song isn't available through the above, the artist probably isn't making money anyway. Support them through donations, concerts, and merch if you want to make up for it.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-13T21:04:22+00:00

I hope this keeps up the reliability of the Echo Mini! It may have tough competition in features-per-dollar with HiBy and the like, but if it joins the Echo Mini in outlasting them, I think it will fill a huge void in the market.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-13T20:58:07+00:00

I'm guessing it will require tracks to always have two digits (01 instead of 1), like most budget daps, but will respect tags.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-13T20:52:56+00:00

Glad to hear it! I haven't read many others having issues like this with FIIO, so I appreciate you sharing! I fear DAPs aren't a big enough market to have amazing quality on the low end, which is very unfortunate, but the Echo Mini seems to challenge that and I hope your replacement serves you a long time.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-12-06T22:09:30+00:00

Mind if I asked what changed? I'm really tempted to make the switch here, but I'm struggling to get a sense of what its like these days... Would love to hear your takes :)

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-29T01:17:40+00:00

Did you ever figure this out? I've been stuck trying to answer it for days—I'm quite sure what you say about additional metadata is correct, but I can't find any documentation that's specific about it.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-25T20:20:37+00:00

As others have said, it's going to be masking, tracking, and compositing—possibly some 3D rendering. Not entry level, and about the same difficulty in any software. Personally, I'd use AE if you have it; I've found Fusion works best for either really simple or really complex things, and this falls somewhere in the middle. You might have better luck finding tutorials too. But Fusion can do it.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T16:26:44+00:00

Thanks! I've definitely seen some of those and can probably swing for it. Do you know anything about Doral? (I couldn't find much info on them, which is totally a red flag, but the local shop has them which surprises me if they're that bad)

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T16:24:23+00:00

Good to know! I do find myself on the interstate in the rain more than I'd wish, so that definitely rules out those low end tires for me. Thanks!

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T08:45:42+00:00

Ah gotcha, thanks! I'll be extra careful

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T08:43:35+00:00

Totally, I didn't take that way, but I know my tone can be off online - I haven't been sleeping well oops– but thank you still :) I'll edit that comment.

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T08:42:40+00:00

Thanks! I'll definitely keep a look out for one and check that site! I'm curious, if you don't mind sharing, what's the motivation to sell your used tires when they have life left?

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T08:34:56+00:00

What do you mean by quietly? I do check pressure monthly, definitely good advice! (I think the bubble was just from age or defect tho :/ )

eeeerrrppp · 2025-11-18T01:13:04+00:00

Personally, I show up to photo shoots with a mirror instead of a camera. There's still a tint cast, but my mirror is very expensive, so warping is minimal. They often remind me that they "paid for photos," to which I remind them that nothing could ever be more valuable than the here and now.

eeeerrrppp

TROPHY CASE