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00:00 - 22:0022:00 - 00:00

12:30 AM
Ok, time to replace my webpage. $200 budget. Recommendations?
 
Anonymous
@AndyML i'm building mine atm
 
Anonymous
 
@PatoSáinz lol
 
 
1 hour later…
2:06 AM
@Andyml Does that have to include hosting
@pato 403 forbidden
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson yep, I'm setting more shit up
 
Anonymous
 
Random fun fact of the day. Respirators are amazing inventions
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson why would you say that fact?
 
I got a respirator today
 
Anonymous
2:09 AM
@AJHenderson why?
 
I think I've been having a reaction to the kitty litter making me have a cough for the last few months
Respirator is a cheap way to avoid it being a problem
But I went with a p100 one
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson i've got an idea
 
Anonymous
get rid of the cat
 
I have nice friendly cats though
But anyway, this thing works so well you can't smell anything with it. It filters so well
I'm kind of amazed they are only $25
I just need to figure out a way to make it not intimidating when the baby gets here and then dirty diapers will be a breeze
I wish I had known about this when I was younger and cleaned up the dogs area
 
Anonymous
2:26 AM
@AJHenderson got a link on amazon?
 
@AJHenderson either that or host from home
 
it's overkill for what I'm doing, but figured it would be worth having for any spraypainting or cleaning or the like
rather than getting the slightly cheaper $10 to $15 basic respirator
@AndyML I visited my brother at his university lab today
stupidly fastest internet I have ever seen
it made my server feel slow
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson lol how much is that in numbers?
 
my server has a dedicated 100mbps connection, but his lab computer gets 200mbps
was handy since I scanned the baby photo at 1200 dpi, so the image was 290MB
 
2:49 AM
hmm, debating what scanner to get
Canon apparently has a series now that runs entirely off USB power
 
3:01 AM
in other news, manual touch up of scans is such a pita
particularly when it turns out the research lab whose scanner you used doesn't keep their scan bed particularly clean :(
 
Anonymous
3:20 AM
@AJHenderson so, I'm ready to start setting wordpress up
 
Anonymous
Got a status panel at status.connect.patosainz.cl/host.php?h=patosainz.cl and SSL enabled at connect.patosainz.cl, everything else runs through cloudflare at patosainz.cl
 
3:35 AM
free class 1 SSL
tied to your e-mail address
and domain name I think
actually, might just be to the domain name
I forget, I've got the class 2 from them (which isn't free)
though if you need wildcard SSL you might have to go class 2 so maybe it wouldn't work
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson yea but is Startcom a recognised CA by most browsers?
 
yes
I've yet to find a browser or server that doesn't recognize my class 2 wildcard
you've actually seen it in action. All those photos I linked in chat that were hosted from my ownCloud service were provided over SSL using my StartSSL cert
which reminds me
 
Anonymous
nice
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson oh. tough luck. cloudflare free won't relay SSL
 
Anonymous
but my site doesn't actually need ssl other than for the admin panel that i connect via my cloudflare bypass subdomain
 
Anonymous
3:44 AM
@AJHenderson danielle henderson?
 
Anonymous
isn't danielle a girl's name?
 
Danielle is my wife
until the child is born, they consider the woman the patient
 
Anonymous
oh seems reasonable
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson do you agree on what I said about cloudflare?
 
sure, I don't personally use cloudflare since my server is pretty quick to start with
and I use forced SSL for pretty much everything
my blog, my oauth provider, my webmail, my cloud storage
 
Anonymous
3:47 AM
@AJHenderson how quick?
 
about the only things allowed to not go through SSL is e-mail (which will use TLS or SSL if possible) and FTP (only because I can't properly configure SFTP with my network configuration options
100mbps connection directly on multiple major internet backbones
and the server itself is a 3.10 ghz quad core xeon with 12gb of ram
err, I'm sorry
dual core, but HT enabled
so practically speaking it behaves more like it has 4 cores even if it only has two
2TB of disk space running as a 1TB striped array
er
mirrored
not striped
 
4:01 AM
I don't like CDNs though so media loading takes some time still
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson oh why don't you like em?
 
I like to control my content and keep it on my system
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson how on earth did you get that, who did you buy your server from?
 
@PatoSáinz 1and1. I have a dedicated server
granted, I also pay $110 a month
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson oh
 
4:07 AM
but I run a series of TS3 servers on it
just renting those same TS3 servers would cost well more than how much I pay a month
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson do you use your dedi to its full extent?
 
I use it pretty extensively
I upgraded from an older slower box that I was hitting the limit, but I specifically got a bit more powerful than I need
to ensure performance stays solid at peak load
I could probably do ok without the hyper threading and with only 6GB of RAM, but spam filtering in particular is a bear on processor and memory
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson can you explain what do you do with it?
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson oh you also host your own email, and filter your own spam. so hipster.
 
I run e-mail, spam filtering, remote file storage, remote access, multiple websites, DNS, multiple voice chat servers, IRC, a couple of game servers, cloud storage, webmail, device sync and a few other things off it
basically anything and everything that I need a web connected host for, it provides
oauth provider
I did the math once time and if I was to buy all the services it provides separately from third parties, it would cost me over $450 a month
conservatively
possibly over a grand
I've also been experimenting with some SIP forwarding
oh, and streaming media services
 
Anonymous
4:22 AM
o_O
 
Anonymous
irc, game servers?
 
Anonymous
@AJHenderson wtf are you a damn webhost? Can I has shell lol
 
I used to run a website that got 3000 to 5000 unique visitors a day
 
Anonymous
also, @AJHenderson, having that many services running smoothly is quite a big feat, good job
 
@PatoSáinz I have lots of different optimizations in place
I'm actually working on trying to improve the caching optimizations on my WP site now
need to figure out why minify isn't working
oh yeah, that's the other thing with CDNs
it makes HTTPS a bitch
and I don't feel like spending another $50 a month for the sites I run
which is about what cloudflare would run me
and even then, I'm not sure their SSL options on the basic level are sufficient. It might actually be $200 a month
I can settle for a well disguised 3 or 4 second load time (since parts of the content are loading before that)
I do love how easy to update WP is though
when a new version comes out, click update
it downloads and installs itself
though, yes, you do very much want to make sure it runs on an isolated and locked down user
 
Anonymous
4:52 AM
@AJHenderson yea... but it worries me if a plugin ever breaks or a theme
 
8:22 AM
@AJHenderson When handling babies you'd better remember to use disposable coveralls too ;)
 
 
6 hours later…
2:27 PM
@AJHenderson That's one thing I love about my campus. Internet speed is just ridiculous.
@AJHenderson So why not run from home?
Whoa whoa whoa, there's SDXC UHS-II cards out now? Wow.
 
@AndyML because home internet upload speeds are too slow
I only have 5mbps up at home and a dynamic IP
to get the same class of service at home would cost far, far more
 
2:43 PM
@AJHenderson Ouch and ouch
What do you pay per month for hosting?
 
$110
for my server
the internet package I have at home already costs as much
well almost
my home internet is $100 a month
50 down / 5 up
 
@AJHenderson Wow, that's a pricey 'puter
 
well, thats the server and unmetered internet access
it's actually very cheap for what I get
 
@AJHenderson Unmetered for your host, not home, too correct?
 
right, though home is technically unmetered too
I have no data caps on anything, cellphone, home internet, server are all unmetered
 
2:46 PM
@AJHenderson Sooo over $200/month for home internet and online host?
@AJHenderson for $100 my ISP will give me 100 down and 15 up. Didn't realize I was that fortunate.
 
@AndyML yeah, and another $150 a month or so for cell service for myself and my wife
but we don't get TV
and our land line phone is through Google Voice
aka, no $ cost
and the server is partly a business expense
I've thought about dropping the level of internet service at home, but if I went to the next level down I drop to 1mbps up
and that'd be a problem for transfering photos to clients
which actually, probably means I can write off $30 of my home internet connection now that I think about it since that is the primary and pretty much sole reason I go for that package
I could arguably write off $50, but that might be pushing it as I'm pretty sure I do use the extra 10mbps from the 20mbps it would be at $50 a month to the 30mbps it would be if I was only paying $70
 
3:13 PM
@AJHenderson That'd work in your favor.
I'm shutting down my zenfolio account and am switching to a professional webpage, but without photo hosting or e-commerce.
 
3:48 PM
@AndyML I can unfortunately only write off about half of the server costs though because a lot of the value of it does come from personal use
TeamSpeak 3 is my voice chat server of choice and they have a non-profit license you can use if you aren't selling access and aren't using it commercially
it lets me run up to 10 servers and 512 users
typically the monthly cost of TS3 hosting is around $2 a user
hmm
actually, looks like prices have dropped since the last time I checked
by quite a bit apparently
$80 of the cost would still be for TS hosting though for the 200 slots I use
1TB online space with unlimited access runs around $50 to $100 a month as well
and I actually do use most of that between client and personal files
though I can probably start writing off more of the server cost now that TS3 prices have dropped
since the value of what I'm using it for shifts drastically towards the business now
 
4:38 PM
Anybody recognize that photo? Is it a remake of a recognized art photo or painting, or is it unique as it is, or what is it?
It was posted in to a photography group in Facebook, and even though some photos posted in the group are good, this "Dog in black" is almost too good for the group... so I'm wondering if it was ripped off someplace else.
Of course, I'm looking at it on a mobile phone screen. Could be different photo on a decent quality display.
 
5:18 PM
@EsaPaulasto I doesn't look that good
 
5:40 PM
Ok, I'll take your word for it, @rfusca . It does look great to me; on smartphone :)
 
@EsaPaulasto focus is too far forward, eyes are a little out of focus it looks like
... so I just heard of fizzbuzz and I'm now depressed with humanity
 
Hola
 
@Shyju hey
 
yes sir
Changed my job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
 
5:56 PM
@Shyju oh?
 
6:15 PM
Fizz buzz (also known as bizz buzz, or simply buzz) is a group word game for children to teach them about division. Players take turns to count incrementally, replacing any number divisible by three with the word "fizz", and any number divisible by five with the word "buzz". Play Players generally sit in a circle. The player designated to go first says the number "1", and each player thenceforth counts one number in turn. However, any number divisible by three is replaced by the word fizz and any divisible by five by the word buzz. Numbers divisible by both become fizz buzz. A player who...
What's the humanity aspect of this?
 
@EsaPaulasto the fact that many developers apparently aren't able to do it
I had an efficient and clean way to code it in mind before I even finished reading the question and within 30 seconds I'd refined that to just about as clean as you could solve it. Yet apparently, many developers can't figure out how to do it, even in an ugly manner, let alone a clean one
I mean, I get that I'm better than average, even a lot better than average, at that kind of thing, but I have serious trouble believing that numerous people in the software development field have issues with that problem
 
6:42 PM
When you open a paper map in the USA and ask a random passerby to point the crossing of two named roads on that map, half of the people fail. That's depressing. What more, from the same map, every third person can't even show the location they are at that moment.
 
6:56 PM
@EsaPaulasto in fairness, depending on how big the map is and how small the roads are, that could be challenging
though not being able to find where they are is much more depressing if they aren't in an unfamiliar area
 
Midwesterners give directions by time and landmarks too. "Turn left at the gas station and drive for about an hour til you pass the second town"
easier than trying to find a small street sign that's been overgrown.
 
 
1 hour later…
8:10 PM
@MattS. Wait, are you in the midwest?
 
@AndyML Yup, I'm from Iowa, but moved to Illinois last year.
I'm hoping to move to South Dakota or Minnesota in a year or two. Illinois is just a bit too.. southern for my liking.
 
@MattS. Ouch... Iowa. Minnesota here.
@MattS. Strangely it is.
 
I'm down by St Louis, so it's worse.
 
@MattS. As long as you don't end up in Wisconsin, you're good in my book, lol.
@MattS. That it would be
 
@AndyML I dunno.. They have cheese curds.
My wife wants to be closer to her family in South Dakota, so Wisconsin wouldn't be a move in the right direction though.
 
8:26 PM
@AJHenderson lol niiiice
 
@MattS. my sympathies
I could not live in the south or midwest
I'd go crazy and snap
 
Its not that bad...
 
yes, it is
well, south depends on the area
 
because of what?
 
it kind of is.
 
8:28 PM
the combination of lack of urgency and smiling to the face while stabbing in the back
 
lol
 
Luckily the people I work with are good for the most part, although everyone seems to kind of hate their job.
 
I prefer the NE or west coast where we stab you in the face and get things done
 
i really don't see much of the whole stabbing in the back thing...
and i've lived in the South for quite some time...
 
@rfusca yeah, midwest tends to have more of the back stabing as they smile
south more excels at the lack of urgency
 
8:29 PM
I don't think it's so much stabbing in the back, at least not where I'm at. But everyone only thinks about themselves.
 
@MattS. deal with any large enough organization from the midwest and the politics and dancing is rediculous
everyone is out for each other's heads but has to be polite about it
so nothing gets done as everyone manuevers
 
btw @AJHenderson congrats on the sonogram
 
@rfusca thanks
and it isn't that the NE is any more polite, if anything we are more brutal, but we are honest about it
I don't deal well with either though, because I become a bull in a china shop that starts calling people out left and right and smashing heads when I'm forced in to a situation with that kind of political BS
and when everything can be done later and there is no sense of urgency I just get frustrated
 
lol
 
because I tend to focus on things and work them to completion
 
8:33 PM
I think the political stuff is more corporate type places. The office in Massachusetts is like that.
 
i have a colleague that just ignores emails to him that he doesn't like...so its incredibly hard to get him to do things
 
@MattS. you do get some of it anywhere, but midwest based companies are generally the worst
 
Gotta stay later than the boss, and come in earlier the next morning. hopefully get noticed.
 
and where is the home office for that massachusetts company?
@MattS. that's not what I'm talking about
I'm talking about political maneuvering
 
@AJHenderson Hmmm... Maybe I've just gotten used to it I tune it out.
 
8:34 PM
intentionally setting people up to make bad commitments and changing your reasons after things happen to make yourself look better and others worse
and always trying to make others look bad
 
I really don't see much of that
 
yeah, that's more midwest than south
 
perhaps
 
every large midwest company I have ever dealt with has been that way
south are primarily just the lack of urgency
where things will get done when they get done
 
I've seen not wanting to be held responsible, but not the direct trying to make someone fail.
The whole "Right to Work" thing changes things I think.
 
8:41 PM
@MattS. right to work is a union thing
 
I don't know a whole lot about it. Just that it gives employers the ability to fire people without reason in Iowa.
 
@MattS. Touche
@AJHenderson Midwest in general, yes. Minnesota is an island of goodness surrounded by the midwest, though.
 
@AndyML That's cause it's pretty much Canada
 
@AJHenderson Minnesota: Passive aggressive capitol of the world
 
Minus a couple mooses in the southern part of the state maybe.
 
8:48 PM
@MattS. that's how most states are though
most states are "at will" employment
meaning both employee and company can end the relationship for any reason that isn't discriminatory
 
@MattS. Almost, except we actually have civilization
 
@AndyML ha touche right back
 
that makes me think of weird al's canadian idiot
I'm not sure why
such a great song, even if it mocks the US something fierce (if satirically)
 
@AJHenderson even the discrimination part is a bit..flexible. All a employer has to do is say 'you're fired' . They don't have to give any reason. They'd have to be really stupid and say "You're fired because you're <some reason>".
 
or perhaps more accurately mocks nationalistic americans
@rfusca yeah, but if you can make the case it was discriminatory they can still get in trouble
not particularly easy to do
but it can be done
 
8:54 PM
@AJHenderson indeed, but the burden is on you and often incredibly difficult
@MattS. its a common misconception. "right to work" is a union thing and paying union fee's and stuff like that. If you're not union, it has nothing to do with you. What most people are talking about when they mention it is "At Will" - which most employees think they hate because it allows them to be 'fired for no reason'
its the same law that allows you to quit for no reason as well though
 
@rfusca yeah, "at will" was what I meant.
I used to hate it working during high school. Mostly because of the types of jobs you get as a teenager.
But now working in a government position where it's difficult to get fired from, it's strange how people can let themselves stop caring.
 
@MattS. what do you do?
 
@rfusca Software development
 
@rfusca - thanks for pointing out the bad related question
I posted a few more that should be better
I honestly was blowing that off with slightly more than a close...too broad
because we've had lots of other questions that try to attack the same thing
and fundamentally the camera doesn't matter
but I agree that I didn't select the best possible duplicate to match it to
and it was because I was being lazy and not putting much effort towards a question I didn't feel showed much effort
 
@AJHenderson I think on a question like that, we feel like they don't show much effort. But from his position, I don't think he even knows where to start
@AJHenderson and the camera does matter to a certain degree. He's talking about a car at one point. a crappy point and shoot will not do a car shot as well as a entry level DSLR
@MattS. lol well obviously, thats 99% of the people on SE - but what kind
 
9:11 PM
@rfusca I do more webapps. Though technically I guess I specialize in cleaning up other people's work.
 
@AJHenderson Regarding - photo.stackexchange.com/questions/49608/… - I'd be somewhat surprised if the wedding party wouldn't have a bit of an issue with you suddenly throwing a full power studio flash at the whole room repeatedly, ya know?
 
Right now I'm only doing two projects, one is Oracle Forms and Reports that wasn't standardized, and the other is an asp webpage that the developer figured out was out of his league when the deadline started getting too close.
 
@MattS. ah, nice
<---------- Oracle DBA
 
@rfusca in regards my question like I've said I am a complete beginner when it comes to take pro photo and at this moment I do not have a space to make as a studio for big products but I do think I can arrange something basic for small products and what I really want right now is a camera I can use to begin with it and perhaps then upgrade to something more pro.
I image I will need a good camera to capture the details, the background stand which I am not sure what sort of material or where to buy, a good tripod for the camera, and light which I am also not very sure of what would be a good start
 
9:30 PM
@rfusca well I was more referring more to the fact we have related questions on the site already, though I suppose the fact the camera doesn't matter as much as lighting or background might not have been clear enough
@rfusca yeah, but a well lit picture of a car with a crappy point and shoot will beat a poorly lit photo with a nice DSLR
let alone a cheap one
in general, what camera should I get comes down to the more fundamental question "how much money do you have?"
 
@AJHenderson all the topics you have linked in might have been related to the subject but they really doesn't help to the core of the question which is basically what sort of camera I should be aiming to get it started. I understand that there are many factors related such as the background, light and etc. But you can't take a photo without a camera right?
 
@Prix the camera doesn't matter compared to any of the other things, and in your defense, looking later, most of those questions didn't hit home on that point as well as I initially remembered them
@rfusca yeah, that's another good point for that one
 
So are you saying that no functionality a camera have will benefit it for the job? Because that is what it sounds from your affirmation.
 
@Prix not exactly, the nicer the camera, the nicer the shot will come out if other factors are handled properly, but your priority should be get lighting, backdrops, etc
then choose your lenses based on the size of things you are shooting
 
True but for that you do need a good camera that can take that shot as well right
 
9:35 PM
and then use whatever you have left over on a camera
@Prix you can take great photos with an iPhone if everything else is handled right
cameras give you more flexability and an easier time getting the shot you want
realistically, you'll want some kind of DSLR
 
And why do you think an iphone would do that? mp wise? lens wise?
that is where I am getting to you know? I have no idea of what sort of requirements the basic camera would need for the job
 
modern cameras produce high quality images if the scene is well lit and the appropriate distance
 
Evening all
 
and you generally aren't doing any short DOF stuff with product photos
 
DOF?
 
9:37 PM
which is where cheaper cameras have the most issues
depth of field
sorry
with portraits you want a shallow depth of field to give that smooth background blur
 
I see
 
but generally with product photography, you want the whole subject in focus with no strong shadows
which means you want a wide DOF, which any camera can do
what you don't want is shadows, which requires lights
 
and about that background thing is that mainly order made or are there places/companies that sell those for you to build yourself or what kind of material is that?
 
you can get light boxes for smaller stuff or use backdrops or paper rolls for larger stuff
my recomendation though, start with the smaller stuff first
 
it will be cheaper to do well
but if you expect most of your market to be larger things, then ignore that advice :)
and that's why my initial reaction was to vtc as too broad
 
but in chat is the easy place to get the crash course to figure out more specific questions :)
 
@AJHenderson let's say I will take a lot of shots from cars is there a background material that is cheap and can be used for it? let me give you a better example, lets say you will take photo of 100 cars, you have mentioned that there is paper rolls would paper rolls work for this end and would it be thrown away after or are those reusables?
 
@Prix honestly, for cars, it would probably be a painted garage
would be the ideal
cause at that point you just want a painted wall
no backdrop is going to stay flat at that size
 
9:42 PM
@rfusca Woot! I'm the 1% percent.. doesn't feel as good as I thought it would...
 
not without a lot of finagling (and cost)
 
and for something small like a TV do you know where I could get the light box? some website I could see some examples and perhaps price ranges?
a 40~60" tv I mean
size wise to be more specific
that kind of size will cover most of the small products I would have to handle I believe.
 
@Prix - note that this is going a little outside my largest area of expertise as well, I'm an event/wedding photographer primarily. I dabble in other areas, but it's really dabbling
@Prix photography superstores are a good place to start
B&H and Adorama
atleast if you are in the US
 
yeah im not but I just need to have an idea of what I am looking for so I can search within where I live.
 
9:47 PM
That's interesting
 
there are other similar stores in most parts of the world
but I don't remember what they are in each of the various parts of the world
 
That one seems pretty nice for small products
 
but the absolute #1 most important thing for product photography is the lighting
5
the lighting is what makes it show up clearly, the lighting is what makes it seem like the background is pure white, the lighting makes or breaks the shoot
 
lots of big, soft, even lighting
 
I see
 
9:50 PM
flash lighting is the cheapest way to get the amount of light you need, but has a higher learning curve
 
@rfusca which is another reason to start with small stuff if you plan on doing a range
 
flash light as in the camera?
or a pod
 
@AJHenderson nod
 
if you start small, you can use cheap small continuous output lamps and see what you are doing
 
you might want to consider a book on the subject to fill in all the gaps:
 
9:53 PM
I see, well I really like that tent you showed me early, I think I will start by looking into something that size, as for light and camera I am still out of what would be easy to start with
 
@Prix flash as in stand alone speed lights
you generally want to avoid on camera flash
 
the first book looks interesting just reading a few pages now
 
those two seem to get decent reviews on the subject
 
and by generally, I mean with very few exceptions do you ever want an on-camera flash and on those rare occasions, you do everything you can to make it not act like an on camera flash
 
9:54 PM
i've personally never read either of them
 
for larger stuff, it will become prohibitively expensive unless you go with flashes or strobes though
 
light a whole car properly is a real challenge
 
good quality constant output lights take far more power and cost far more than similarly powerful strobes/flashes, but strobes/flashes don't let you see how it looks without taking a photo
 
I might ended up getting those 2 books they seem pretty interesting
 
and the amount of light you need grows exponentially as the size of the subject increases
thank you inverse square law
 
9:58 PM
Well we have a lot of car resellers and stuff like that come in which is where we make the most money and we could most likely expand later into it
but we also have a lot of small scale products coming in very frequently and If I start with either I am sure we can make the money very fast to expand
 
they may presume some basic photography knowledge - on exposure and stuff
 
and even hire a pro
As for camera would you suggest me anything to look at?
I think that will be the first step getting the camera and work the studio from there
 
@Prix go with whatever DSLR you can afford after buying the needed lights and lenses
 
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