Tip Jar 10: Shutter speed

So, shutter speed. What is it? Should we fear it? Was it bestowed upon us by aliens? The answer to two of these is, “No,” so let’s look at the remaining one, and add in how to avoid the stumbling blocks.


Basic answer: shutter speed is how long the camera is admitting light to the sensor or film. Except not really – it’s how long it can read more

Rehab x 8

It’s that time of the year, the time when the critters are getting more active and birthing their bebbies and all that, so we revisit our now-annual post on the topic of wildlife rehabilitation, in the hopes that it helps someone out there handle their unexpected situation a little bit better. Below begins the content first written in 2013 and still quite topical.

I used to work in this field read more

Tip Jar 9: Curves, part 2

And now we get into the second aspect of using the ‘Curves’ function for image editing, and that’s color management. I’m being my usual long-winded self here, so bear with me – if you can’t handle the length, there are TikTok morons that you could probably relate to.

Something that I didn’t go into within the video is, what constitutes excessive editing, read more

Tip Jar 8: Curves, part 1

I’ve been meaning to get to this for a while, and finally tackled it this past week. Herewith, a tutorial on using the ‘Curves’ function in many image editing programs to adjust brightness and contrast within an image, selectively as needed.

As noted therein, this won’t work very well if your monitor is poorly calibrated for brightness, contrast, and gamma, so it’s recommended read more

But is it really?

We once again find ourselves at Freethinkers Day, and I’ve featured it a couple of times before, so you can also check those out for my perspective and recommendations. Frankly, I’m more in favor of calling it “Thinker’s Day” instead, or perhaps, “Are You Sure? Day,” because read more

Tip Jar 2: Custom settings


One of the things that I tell my students when they’re first learning how to use a camera is, don’t let yourself get confused by all of the options. Camera manufacturers now try to accommodate as many different photography types and styles as possible, meaning that many of the options on modern camera bodies may never see use by any individual photographer read more

Errors of omission

Recently, I came across a link to an article on Aeon, which may be titled either “Incredible testimonies” or “The short, dramatic history of alien abductions in the US,” depending on whether you go with the title in the opening graphic or in the meta tag for the page read more

But how? Part 31: What game is this?

First off, we’re not really answering any religious questions with this one, but asking a lot of them instead. Second, while I have tried (with varying success) to avoid going on the offensive with posts within this topic, this one is disregarding that restriction entirely, because we’re going hard on the offensive now. I’ve broached aspects of this in one form or another several read more

Rehab x 7

It’s time to talk about wildlife rehabilitation, since this has now become an annual thing, and with good reason: we’re entering the season where this has the most relevance, and the highest likelihood of being beneficial to someone out there. This was all written years ago, but still applies quite well, so without further introduction, let’s talk about injured read more

Chaos, revisited, part one

I almost felt obligated to do this follow-up, considering how badly I lambasted the book that purported to explain the concept, because it seems that it was, at least to a degree, more the author’s dismal attempt to explain it than the concept itself.

We’re talking about chaos theory, and it does not bode well that I sought out multiple sources to try and get a grip on it and failed read more

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