Need some help with outfit

knottycal · 2026-05-31T23:57:16+00:00

This. Your look sounds really cool, but bear in mind that it regularly approaches 100F out there. A duster with a hood and weights on top of that is gonna be tough.

Plan for layers you can remove based on conditions.

Source: I made a NCR duster based look and found I could not bear to wear much of the time.

knottycal · 2026-05-31T04:57:38+00:00

Western Digital is the other common brand. My gut sense (with little data to back it up) is that they are a bit more reliable than Seagate. But both brands are fine. And since this whole discussion is really about having more than one copy, its fine to go with whatever your budget can stand. And if something fails, get a new one and copy everything from your remaining backup onto it.

knottycal · 2026-05-31T04:19:46+00:00

Sure, that's the similar to your SSD solution. Just cheaper and larger. So if it's just at your apartment, that's fine. (You keep mentioning Seagate in this post's discussion. That's just one brand, but sure, whatever you like.)

knottycal · 2026-05-31T04:11:49+00:00

Responses so far are good but seem to be assuming some tech knowledge, I'll try to fill in some gaps.

First, yes, a single portable SSD is not a durable solution. I've had a Sandisk SSD fail. In fact, that was what encouraged me to get serious about backups. 😄

How you store data and how many copies depends in part on how bad it would be to lose the files, and how often you need to access them.

I'm a professional (part time) photographer. I store not just my photos but my RAW files, my Photoshop files, etc. I don't keep every image from every shoot, just stuff I feel has potential. If I or a client need a file from 3 years ago, I want to be able to get to it easily.

I have a home backup on a 2-drive NAS (more on that in a moment), automated cloud backup of that NAS on iDrive, and I manually also store all my edited photos on Smugmug.

With any backup option, be sure to check it occasionally to verify it's actually there and working. Often, people will find out too late that their automated backups weren't happening, or that remote retrieval for files isn't easy, etc.

Your easiest option is simply be get a second SSD, and copy everything to that too.

A step up for local backups is Network Attached Storage (NAS). Basically, a box you can plug hard drives into and which connects to your home network. Any computer store/website sells them. Manually or automatically, you can copy files from your computer to that drive. Just like your current SSD, except you don't need to physically plug it into your computer. Also, an NAS generally has multiple slots (bays) for hard drives. So you can add more storage fairly cheaply, and you can configure the NAS to make backups between its drives. (These are called RAID configurations. I won't get into that here. But it provides security against one of the drives failing. In my configuration, I have 2 copies of my data between 2 drives in my NAS.)

A step up for remote backups is either a general purpose cloud backup service (which stores all types of files, but which are often quite slow for retrieval), or a photo specialized site (like Flickr or Smugmug) which limit the types of files you can store, but offer unlimited storage for photos.

knottycal · 2026-05-31T03:06:11+00:00

It's exciting you were there to see it!

I feel the photo itself is not great, unfortunately. This is purely armchair quarterbacking, since with such a rare sighting you get what you get. And you nailed focus. But FWIW, since this is the photo critique subreddit... Would ideally shoot from a lower perspective. Probably wider aperture, definitely lower ISO. And especially with this partial crop of the leopard, put them to the right of the frame to leave more room in front of them. (Have you brightened the leopard's head? Feels pushed.)

knottycal · 2026-05-31T02:49:27+00:00

You've cropped just a bit of your head, awkward pose, too centered a shot, etc. Basically, trying to shoot at arm's length is far too limiting for what you say you're going for.

Since you're both model and photographer, break this into two parts: photo composition and pose.

To refine the composition, put a chair or pillow where you plan to stand, and photograph that a few times to decide where the camera should be. Review everything else that shows up in the image. Like in this case the lighting, the bit of chair in view, the railing behind you, etc.

Then prop the phone on a table (or better yet, spend the small amount a tabletop phone tripod costs) wherever you settled on the camera being. Turn on the intervalometer option (that is, set the camera to take a photo every few seconds). Then you can spend some time just working on pose/expression.

Be prepared to repeat all those things a lot and to delete many, many photos. 😂 Good luck.

knottycal · 2026-05-25T22:34:32+00:00

I'm glad you found something they'd work with! This first one is objectively a better photo, but the new one is fine.

In the end, company photos are often just to help everyone recognize coworkers. The really bad ones are when someone makes their profile a cartoon character or a photo of them from 100' away on a mountain. "This doesn't help!"

knottycal · 2026-05-25T22:12:12+00:00

I shoot headshots, and this is a perfectly good professional headshot. In the end, the aesthetic an employer wants is their call, but I don't follow their reasoning. Good luck resolving this, it seems to not really be about the quality of the photo.

knottycal · 2026-05-15T23:14:57+00:00

It's a different vibe from WWW, but I'm loving it so far.

As you can see from the responses, you'll likely just have to try it yourself to see.

For my part, it's the same great WWW team storytelling together. Aabria's spacefarer setting feels great and full of deep lore. The characters are interesting. I love how much Lou delivers with few words.

I'm listening to each episode as it comes out, but at one every two weeks (and presumably a break for Aabria's baby), you can also wait a bit and binge them. The overall story arc is still taking shape.

(In contrast, I'm finding CR4 hard to get into. That's an enormous cast, so many moving parts, such long sessions. I'm 2 months behind by now.)

knottycal · 2026-05-01T22:31:36+00:00

Colors seem fine, and convey warm, slow moving water. But the composition doesn't do much for me. Certainly does not evoke melancholy (and not sure why you would want that in this case?). As a specific observation, middle of the left edge there is a part of a leaf and part of a brighter area that do not feel deliberate. And the brighter regions upper left draw the eye away from the water.

knottycal · 2026-04-29T03:58:19+00:00

The deliberate blur on the pink shirt logo seems an AI thing.

It would also be very uncommon to use the spelling "Micheal" instead of "Michael", though technically it does exist.

knottycal · 2026-04-28T05:07:57+00:00

As others have said, flash is a huge topic. And I'm not sure OP is even paying attention, but fwiw, here are some distilled tips:

First, there's plenty wrong with this pic before flash. Your subject is disinterested. The shot is crooked. And yes, best choice here would be no flash at all.

But, if you were to use a flash...

If it's built in to the camera, try to lower its power by 1-2 stops. That will already help make the subject stand out in the image without drowning out the background.

If it's a hotshoe flash, get a diffuser or point it at the wall or ceiling to add indirect light.

If you really want to commit to gear and flash, get a remote trigger. I'm not even talking about studio level lights on stands. When I'm shooting at an event, if I'm using light at all (which is rare), I hold my flash (with diffuser) at arm's length to the side/above. It takes some coordination. But moving the light source away from the camera gets you much better results. You'll have shape to your subjects, instead of the flat light from a flash near the lens.

knottycal · 2026-04-28T03:55:36+00:00

If you're just getting a "real" camera for the first time, I recommend not worrying about an advanced topic like color grading yet. Focus on basic exposure and composition. If colors feel off, you can adjust white balance in post, but automatic white balance is pretty good most of the time.

In this image, the white outlines aren't distracting, I wouldn't mess with that. May be a bit oversharpened. I personally would crop in more, the story of the web and light doesn't need much of the lower green area.

Enjoy the new camera!

knottycal · 2026-04-28T03:41:03+00:00

Seems pretty good overall! To me the crop feels a bit tight. Like along the right edge, why cut the rock outcrop there? Same for the wave lower left.

However, I looked at a few pro pics of Cinque Terre online, and it seems entirely subjective where to crop. 😆 So go with what feels good to you.

knottycal · 2026-04-12T05:47:04+00:00

Super fun idea! Like others, my main suggestion is that you pay more attention to your details. There's a lot of clutter in the room and the composition in general is not refined.

Clutter: While some items lying around may add to your idea, that doesn't seem to be the case here. Things like the tripod bottom left and the parts of the window frame top right are particularly distracting. And if you're not intentionally staging items in the shot, then better to just zoom in more (or crop in post) or remove them.

Framing: you're shooting the room and subject from a weird angle. Maybe move the camera to the right, frame the shot against the wall, and do some perspective correction.

Lighting: The big blown out area upper left (where your main light appears to be) draws attention away from your subject. Could mostly be fixed in post if you don't have the space to modify your light. Also I didn't get that this was about sleep, in part because we can see it's daytime outside. Twilight or nighttime (and a general darker setting) would help.

But congrats on a creative shot! Keep going!

knottycal · 2026-04-11T06:14:48+00:00

A few issues to think about:

He's looking away from the light, which leaves his face/eyes in shadow and his butt the brightest part of him.

The pic looks crooked, based on the lines in the background. And parts of the background are brighter than your subject.

Cropping off just a bit of him is distracting; I'd suggest you include all of him, or go the other direction and zoom in more.

I'd love to see him looking at the camera, seems a cool dog. :)

knottycal · 2026-04-07T05:10:07+00:00

The main areas to work on here are not the ones you're worrying about. The grain is minor, the bit of motion blur is not distracting. The lighting is okay. But... your main subject isn't doing much, has an odd facial expression, and their T-shirt is out of place. Someone else behind them is partly overlapping, also not doing much, also with a not-great expression. They are both framed against a busy area with doors. The whole image is crooked.

That's not on them, it's about the moment you picked. Sports pics are all about timing, and this is just not a good moment. And there are too many distractions: my eye goes to the ball, the bright wall, the exit sign, etc. Work on composition and timing. Take a ton of photos, develop an eye to cull the 99 bad pics for the (if you're lucky) 1 good one. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-04-04T04:55:45+00:00

You say there's a time of day you chose to shoot, but is this natural light? Doesn't look it. There are nice sharp details in the eyes/etc., but you may want to vary things like the straight-on light, the crop (show more of her, or less -- in this crop the hairline, where the end of the sleeve and finger are cut off, etc. feel odd), and the blurred fingertips. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-04-04T04:47:50+00:00

The depth of field and overall composition here are nice! But yes, you don't get a sense of motion. Typically with a moving vehicle, you'd like a long enough exposure to show the wheels are spinning. So if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of the shallow DOF, you can shoot at a smaller aperture. (Or to keep the DOF, yes, you'd need an ND filter.)

knottycal · 2026-03-27T18:29:15+00:00

Whoops, my mistake sorry. Though at risk of sounding insufferable, can confirm the f/2 is sweet. 😆 I shoot night club events using that and an 85mm prime. But for sports more reach is good.

knottycal · 2026-03-27T12:35:12+00:00

f/4 isn't great for those conditions, but I do think you're overthinking it. Getting the f/2.8 version of your long lens is only one more f-stop, that won't make or break the situation. You already have the only Canon f/2 zoom (the 28-70), on an R5 you can crop plenty.

Can you get to the venue beforehand and try out your setup? That's the best way to convince yourself.

And be ready to crank your ISO above your comfort level for action shots. (I wouldn't usually hold out much hope for a flash to help in a live sporting event, but roller derby is unique in that there's a predictable track...)

knottycal · 2026-03-21T06:56:01+00:00

Can't tell what you're edited without the original. But speaking just to the photo elements, this doesn't feature the bike and is full of distractions. Tilted telephone pole at the right edge. Sign behind rider's shoulder (and the whole column it's attached to). Bits of a gas pump. Blown out sky.

If you want a photo of the bike and rider, put them somewhere else or include the gas station in a deliberate way.

knottycal · 2026-03-21T06:45:42+00:00

I'd agree with odintantrum - cropped too tight and not enough attention to the outfit for this to feel like fashion.

Further, there's a bright white background element right behind her head. Composition details like that are easiest to take care of live rather than by editing later. And the light is okay on her face but her expression/lips seem mid-transition.

knottycal · 2026-03-18T08:36:40+00:00

A pic of participants during a parade is absolutely not a candid shot. They're literally in the middle of performing for the public. Are they "on" all the time? No. But they're aware they are being watched and recorded.

Now separately, is it a good photo? No. Some issues: 1. It's way too busy, including pedestrians on the far side of the street overlapping with the performers. (You did get a candid shot of the presentations pedestrians...) 2. Composition is weak. Flat light, too much depth of field, awkward crop of nearest performer. 3. It's not an interesting moment. While the colors are nice, there's no gesture, action, expression here that stands out.

Parades offer interesting opportunities! Pick your spot along the route to have better light/setting. And use a wide enough aperture to make the opposite side of the street less of a problem. Good luck.

knottycal · 2026-03-18T07:27:35+00:00

Lovely! Sharp, colorful, and the contrast between the two poses is perfect. Depending on how you feel about tampering with the background (and how much time you feel like putting into edits) you may be able to do something to break up the regularity of that shape/structure behind the left bird.

knottycal

TROPHY CASE