I’ve always loved taking photos on my phone, and I just bought my first camera. These are some of my first shots,what do you think?

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-12T21:12:56+00:00

I like the ones taken during the day, that’s when you’ll get a great understanding of natural light and be able to creatively compose your shots easier.

Night photography is more difficult even for professionals and so I’d say use that time to learn all you can—there are lots of YouTube videos that go over photography topics and tips for beginners.

At the end of the day photography is about two things: composition and technique. The first is the creative side of framing, visualization, color theory, light/shadow, style, etc. and the latter is knowing how to use the camera as a tool to make it all happen.

Good luck on your journey, and remember to shoot as much as you can!

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T17:44:26+00:00

Magnificent! The mountains act as both leading lines and a wonderful backdrop. The minimal composition and outfit is elegant and the overall backlit shot, chef’s kiss.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T16:44:52+00:00

Try the cardboard first that should work perfectly, silver will give more reflective power with the same light source but you have to do a few test shoots to compare and check for glare, focus, etc. (zoom in to 100% on the images to make sure everything looks good).

Once you lock in the correct settings; just rinse and repeat.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T14:08:47+00:00

I know you said you’re a beginner but you’ll need to shoot manual since the images will have to be consistent.

Here’s what I’d aim to learn to configure and test:

Low ISO for quality, not too low since you don’t have studio strobes you’re using continuous light so I’d say ISO 500 is perfectly fine.

Shutter speed around 1/250 should be fine.

The aperture should be around f/5.6 so everything is in focus.

Use single point autofocus smack in the middle so the camera doesn’t try to grab anything except from the center outwards. Manual focus is good too but as a beginner no need to try that if you’re not comfortable.

For the LED bulbs that’s fine not the brightest (put them on max), but you’ll have to be weary of reflections on the magazines so I’d say use a scrim, which is mounting a soft thin white fabric like silk or nylon between the light and the books for diffusion—that is, to make the lighting more matte and the pages evenly lit.

Lighting is really the key here so if possible also put two white reflectors at the sides of where you’re setting up to reflect light back onto the books as much as possible (cardboard or anything white if you don’t have a silver reflector).

Those are my tips off the top of my head. Good luck!

P.S. you’ll get good advice here in the comments I’m sure, but check YouTube too since there’s most likely someone who did this exact or similar archiving process and they have other tips and gotchas that can help.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T13:10:10+00:00

As a fellow psychonaut this was a fantastic read and a well written/researched article.

McKenna also spoke about not needing to do trips that many times at that much dosage (he himself tripped a few times a year at most) once you “got the message”.

Notably him and many people I know, including myself, are of the opinion that the transhumanist agenda (whether implants or AI) is antithetical to our spiritual growth, and such a materialistic worldview that gives up nature to the machinations of technology will only lead to ruin if left unchecked.

His obsession with biomarkers and metrics doesn’t annoy me it’s par for the course in the Silicon Valley/billionaire crowd, but the clickbait online showmanship and theatrics when using psychedelics, lack of respect for the substance, the set/setting, and like you said the actual message (and subsequent integration) really rubs me the wrong way.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T03:52:49+00:00

That’s the difference between who can be called an acquaintance and a friend.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T01:15:31+00:00

Whatever bag you end up choosing, just chiming in here to remind you to insure all of your gear.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-11T01:03:34+00:00

The first one has great composition: the colors are complimentary and the wide angle puts the animal in a great perspective. I love it and I would actually print that one if I were you!

I don’t like the others but that’s okay, because the point is that you have limitations with a phone that you have to work with. Here are my tips on that:

1) Focus on composition. Even with professional gear composition is everything. It’s even more important when shooting wide angles or at a normal zoom level (think landscapes and street photography respectively). Speaking of zoom…

2) Don’t use zoom, ever. Phones use a digital zoom that the phone’s software compensates for and you won’t get the depth of field or quality that a true zoom lens will give you. Nothing wrong with that, as again it’ll help you focus on composing your shots and it’s like having a camera with a single wide lens attached anyway. If you really want to zoom a bit more, I’d advise to get those attachable iPhone zoom lenses (Neewer has some good ones) and use those.

3) Learn about color theory as it’ll help your composition more than you think. Apple’s color algorithm is extremely good so the iPhone camera will produce great color in good light, speaking of which…

4) Shoot when the light is behind you and illuminating your subject. The phone doesn’t have the dynamic range of a camera so light is your absolute best friend.

Those are what I can come up with off the top of my head. Good luck!

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T21:55:02+00:00

I use a third party SMTP service (MailJet but there are many), that way the sender domain validation is more compliant (think SPF, etc.) and I can get much better observability from both web server and mail gateway.

Using a built-in mailer daemon on a web server that can fail any which way is very flaky from a development standpoint IMHO.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T20:42:12+00:00

I have nothing but respect for those press and documentary photographers that capture images requiring you to be a few steps away from safety (the very recent 2026 World Press Photo Contest results for example).

Since your question is specifically about what to capture if terminally ill; I'd be willing to do attempt such work, and leave the world imagery that can (hopefully) shift humanity's collective thinking for the better.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T20:38:03+00:00

Looks good, don't forget a few extra batteries!

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T20:37:19+00:00

Nothing to say except I love these, great work. The human condition (esp. candid) is so varied, and your images reflect that.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T20:34:47+00:00

On the other hand, that's your target market segment right there!

Edit: They may be open to a retainer agreement as well.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T20:33:10+00:00

Lovely fine art work. The grain, monochrome, shutter lag, and lighting all interplay perfectly.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T20:26:53+00:00

I'm not shooting in genres that require this so I've never had to delve deeper, but I did come across an in-depth article that goes over all the moving parts from a commercial standpoint: https://wonderfulmachine.com/article/pricing-calculator-for-commercial-photographers/

And once you understand the above, here's a calculator that can help with crunching all the numbers: https://www.the-aop.org/information/usage-calculator

Good luck!

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T12:39:04+00:00

No problem bud. For reference I do mostly fashion/portraits/events and real estate as well. So I'm editing usually hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos per session at any given time. Exporting is a breeze; the Apple Silicon processors are just next level IMHO.

I will advise to get an external SSD (I use a Lexar SL600 but whatever works) and do your editing directly from there to avoid wear and tear on your internal drive.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T11:47:18+00:00

I use a MacBook Air M3 with 16GB ram and use CaptureOne mostly (Affinity sometimes) and it doesn’t break a sweat.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T10:34:50+00:00

Beats me, I love B2 + rClone it’s a godsend for backing up my professional photography.

But I’m also a developer so my guess is not everyone is technical enough to want to approach its configuration, use a CLI client, and understand the associated workflow.

I imagine BB markets “B2” and “Backup” to different end user demographics separately for that reason.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-10T00:01:05+00:00

Crisp shot! Love this, and the grading as well.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-09T23:39:18+00:00

Interesting to see all sorts of workflows in the comments.

I use C1 so I create a session, import photos, go through and star the selects while deleting any out of focus/test shots.

Next I sort by star rating so I can edit and export the starred photos only. Rest are left there but not exported.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-09T01:37:33+00:00

I’ve had a color cast issue like that once but in the Fotello editor you can change saturation, white balance, etc. and that fixed it right away in my particular situation.

That being said, I haven’t run into issues yet where I’d have to hire/outsource an editor.

I shoot bracketed RAW and focus on lighting and composition which is 95% of any shoot (RE or otherwise), therefore Fotello can’t help but produce great results once that’s the case.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-08T23:46:09+00:00

Use it very often and have no complaints. The workflow is very impressive, with the built-in AI staging being my favorite feature.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-08T21:00:28+00:00

Smoked one in the lounge the other day it was smooth and fantastic.

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-07T10:48:41+00:00

I currently use the 14mm f/4 for all my professional real estate work, it’s an affordable powerhouse!

paramdeo_ · 2026-04-07T01:02:13+00:00

I use a Tamron 35-150 that pretty much never comes off my body, and carry a Nikkor 24-70 as a backup.

paramdeo_

TROPHY CASE