« first day (648 days earlier)      last day (4342 days later) » 

6:07 PM
 
your next gravatar?
 
Looked at the weather forecast for the week, and that's awaits Wed and Thur
 
Lovely.
 
ahh. Good time to make some icecream then.
 
It supposed to be hot enough to make artisan breads using the "great" outdoors as an oven.
 
6:09 PM
I must photograph my own messy red-blue-white icecream.
Maybe it will look better when scooped, the mess flowed mostly to the bottom of the container
 
Yes, the strawberry ice cream (try 2) tasted good. The blueberry ice cream (try 1) did as well.
 
We are forecasted to break 100 next week. A little earlier than I'd like.
 
Did you meddle with the blueberry pH?
 
@rumtscho Nope, I just through them in the food processor with some sugar and a little milk.
 
So, you didn't color them blue?
Or did you use food coloring succesfully?
 
6:11 PM
Poured it out, added a little more milk, heated (to melt sugar), then added cream
 
My sugar syrup looked a lot like the liquid from diaper ads. Remind me to not mention it on the final blog post.
 
With the skin-bits suspended, they were purple. Tried to get them to blue with food coloring, but wound up with blue-grey instead
 
the purple will turn blue with baking soda
but if you add enough baking soda. the whole thing will probably taste soapy
 
Yes, but I doubt that does good things for flavor :-(
Yeah...
 
Blue-grey isn't that bad as a shade
and maybe small amounts of baking soda plus enough food coloring will help - the f.c. to actually turn things blue, the soda to reduce the amount of red (but not enough of it to turn the whole color blue and the taste to soap)
 
6:14 PM
Well, I'm not going to worry too much, because blue and purple are the same color anyway :-P
 
Wait, I thought that red and green were the same color?
Or is your case more complicated?
 
Yeah, I think its that I perceive red weirdly, or something. Not sure, been a long time since I had a colorblindness test (like, when I was in elementary school), and I don't know the proper term for the type I have... But I know I've run across two packs of something, which other people claim are different colors... but to me, they're both the same. The other people claim one is purple.
I assume other people are just insane.
2
 
So, how did you know that your blueberries-without-food-coloring were purple?
 
@rumtscho Color detector app on phone :-)
Some blues and purples look different. Some reds and greens look different. Some don't. I've seen research more recently that depending on exact type of colorblindness, there may be some colors I can tell apart, that normal people can't. Must find some to drive them insane.
 
If these pairs look the same to you, you have a good chance of seeing the same way van Gogh could have seen
 
6:20 PM
yes, left and right look pretty similar (the online ones never look exactly right, suspect lack of color calibration)
 
OK, they do look similar to me, but I can certainly see differenecs in some colors
 
They look different to me.
 
not only reds, but also in the blues and yellows
 
And green!
 
Oh, by very similar, I mean, if I carefully compare, I can maybe see something that's a little different...
 
6:22 PM
@derobert is colorblind?
 
yes
 
I didn't know that :)
 
@derobert I hope I didn't proclaim something which you meant to keep a secrret
 
@Mien but still many standard deviations above the average mushroom in terms of color vision!
 
It sucks that you're into photography then, I guess :P
@rumtscho red-green is the most common type of daltonism; but there are others.
Blue-yellow is another for instance.
 
6:23 PM
@Mien it didn't suck for van Gogh to be into painting, and he may have been colorblind too
 
@Mien I don't notice it much doing photography. Now, trying to figure out color-coded wires, that's a PITA.
 
Well, perhaps that's why I don't like his paintings :P
 
i know a working pro photog whose red-green color blind
 
@derobert Do you swap color channels to find out how much grain you have?
The worst thing about my less-good lens is that it generates insane amounts of color noise (red-green dots) at not-so-high ISOs.
 
Odd that the lens does that, I'd think that's a sensor thing.
 
6:25 PM
probably because its max aperture isn't as large - so you have to raise ISO as a by product?
 
I use both lenses on the same sensor :) Must be some scattering or such
 
But yeah, I probably don't notice the red noise as much as a normal person. But I try to avoid high ISOs, with nature you don't need them so much.
Well, with animals, sometimes, but...
 
@rfusca No, they have different amounts of color noise at the same ISO - aperture - shutter combination I think
 
odd
very odd
what camera, lens?
 
Yeah, if its single-pixel dots, that should be sensor noise.
 
6:27 PM
D90, with the 60 mm macro prime from Nikkon (the good one) and the 18-200 from Nikon (the bad one)
 
maybe some dust on the rear element of the lens that's showing up oddly?
 
I doubt it, they are kept in the same closet, and periodically cleaned by the same methods. Also, I pay attention to keeping the rear elements clean.
 
@rumtscho i'd love to see the same shot with both, and the difference in noise
cuz thats pretty crazy
 
Maybe I really use wider apertures with the macro one and haven't noticed it - I haven't done a comparison shot on purpose
 
Yeah, it'd be nice to see two shots, both on manual with same parameters
 
6:29 PM
but I know that I am in for some unpleasant noise starting at around 640 with the superzoom
 
I guess a lens could do it, if it ran really hot or something...
 
640 on the D90 isn't high, but its certainly noisy on that sensor
 
@rfusca I don't mean that it is "throw that frame away" noisy at 640, it just starts bothering me there, and at higher ISOs with the other lens
 
i was cool up to 800 on my D3200 and i'm fine up to 3200 on my new D7000
@rumtscho hmm interesting
 
@rumtscho Maybe its just you're shooting different subjects with the different lenses?
 
6:32 PM
@derobert I think I have noticed it also in cases I tried to shoot the same subject
I use the 60 mm not only for macro, also for portraits and as a general purpose prime
 
ya, it should be pretty reasonable for portraits
btw, i'd love overall opinions on the new site - spottsphoto.com . Anything that 'doesn't work' or what you like or anything.
 
Is the two-row navigation intentional? It struck me as a bit odd as soon as I opened it
like the navigation spilled over from the first row
 
@rumtscho i don't see that on mine. can you screenshot?
 
@rfusca hmmm, I see that two
 
screenshot anybody?
 
6:35 PM
 
hmm ok
 
note 'home' and 'my cart'
 
doesn't do that on mine, but I must have a wider screen
 
No, the browser is much wider than the screen for me
 
@rfusca even if I full-screen that (1600px), it stays like that
 
6:36 PM
I mean, the browser is much wider than your site
I just cut a selection here.
 
odd
it looks totally fine on mine :/
oooh, idea
one sec
 
It stays for me that way at 1920
 
@rfusca also, nitpicking, on the front page, "our customers" -> "my customers", there is only one of you, I think.
 
I am on firefox
so maybe it picks a different font size as default as compared to other browsers
yes - looks normal on Chrome
 
try refresh now
 
6:38 PM
@rfusca there are sites for comparing the look of sites across browsers
 
@rfusca yes, fixed now.
 
yes, good here
 
cool
 
width of navbar box. the width needs to be explicit and I added the 'blog' link recently. apparently chrome doesn't enforce the width and firefox does
so i just increased the width a bit
 
6:39 PM
Maybe it was bad on Chrome too, I tested it there three seconds before you wrote to try refresh
 
its been fine in chrome for me across several systems
 
But go to this link, it lists tools for testing
so you don't have to install all possible browsers
 
sure, i've used stuff like that before
including earlier designs of this site
this was just a recent minor change that I didn't anticipate issues
 
don't like the bold?
 
6:41 PM
that's very similar to the styling you used for a link on the front page, but those aren't links
 
good point.
 
I tried to click on 'no risk'
 
On a touchscreen device, there is no on-hover function
so when a customer is in your galery, he doesn't notice that he can page
 
@derobert changed
 
I only noticed it because it loaded the buttons before it loaded the whole picture
 
6:42 PM
@rumtscho ooh, i don't know that I can do anything about that
 
I don't know if there is an easy solution either.
 
ya :/
 
Can I nitpick too? In 'Pricing' -> 'Cost' you have the size of the frames, but I think it would be better if you added the " for inches
 
It looks funny on Dolphin, when I do page, the whole right third is overlayed with green (the "selected text" color in my theme)
and stays that way until the next pic is loaded
 
Oh btw, @rfusca the site looks nice! :)
 
6:44 PM
@Mien he's in the US... in AR no less. :-P
 
@rfusca not only the site looks nice, the pictures look really great
 
@rfusca not sure if you saw my nitpick my vs. our, but you have it the other way around on the linked page.
 
@rumtscho weird, can you screenshot? I'm sending a note about the hover/paging issue.
 
@rfusca (the "about" page)
 
@Mien ya, I think thats overkill
@rumtscho thanks!
 
6:45 PM
"Photos are taken on location at a site discussed with the client and photographer" - maybe you mean "between" the client and photographer
 
@Mien thanks!
 
On 'portfolio", you can't see on what page you are.
 
@derobert hmm l didn't, let me check itout
 
For now, you only have 2 pages, but I assume there will be more in the future
 
@Mien in the gallery?
 
6:46 PM
Yes.
You can see the page in the url bar of course.
 
@derobert hmm not sure what you're referring to
 
But on a lot of sites, the current page has a line under the page number
 
@Mien hmm, i'll see if I can do that
@rumtscho fixed
 
@rfusca On your front page, "See what our customers say!" (weird, you're plural?). Click that, "This is where I'll let my clients speak." (yeah! split personality disorder cleared up)
 
@derobert oh, gotcha
 
6:49 PM
Also, of course, you may want to be consistent if you call the customers, clients, etc.
 
@derobert k, fixed
 
(That may just be me, at work we have both clients and customers, and they're different groups of people)
 
http
Two examples of what it looks like
 
6:51 PM
@rumtscho what kind of device is that on?
 
HTC One X, Android 4.0.3, Dolphin HD browser
else the site looks nice on the phone
 
@rfusca "right picture does for a person - there's nothing else like it." should be an em-dash (—) not hyphen (-) .... :-D
 
resizes well when the orientation is changed
 
(there are some other occurrences of hyphen instead of em-dash as well)
 
@derobert fixed
@rumtscho does that green box happen when the page loads or when you click or ... ?
 
6:55 PM
 
This is after I have clicked that part of the picture in the galery, to page to the next picture. It is visible before the next picture is loaded.
It isn't visible all the time, only after clicking.
 
@mien looks like I can fix that gallery page thing, i'll do that. they gave the current page number its own css class
 
This is on the gallery in a single-picture mode. If I am on the home page and click, the whole picture gets overlayed in green, not just the right third. But it is less distracting there.
 
@rumtscho k, thanks!
@derobert better?
 
Yes. Also, I'm not sure you want that headline "Are the pictures any good?" That's somewhat negative.
 
6:59 PM
@derobert ooh, good point
 
also, at the bottom of that, you have "contact us today"
 
contact
it's a link
 
Also Check us out on Facebook for current specials!

Contact us today for further inquires!
 
Yes, the us is the problem, there is still only one @rfusca. I think.
 
@derobert fixed
@rumtscho fixed
@derobert fixed
@derobert fixed
 
7:01 PM
@derobert The new business went to his head, so he is using the royal we now
 
An army of separately-contractable rfusca clone photographers.
Bulk discounts for events.
 
I would still think of getting a different picture of you
 
@rumtscho well, he could, but then he'd have to write the rest of the site like that. Its weird for it to be a mix of I, me, and then a few 'us'
 
And... calling the photographer a "miracle worker"? That lady must have poor self esteem.
 
@rfusca when you changed that headline, you lost some of the styling on it, I think.
 
7:03 PM
@rumtscho ya, i think i might try - but thats hard
 
Last time I made a portrait, I heard "normally it is hard to be natural in front of a camera, but it is so easy to be relaxed in your presence, so the pictures got really good"
I must admit that it was a friend of mine, so it probably helped
 
@rumtscho He was flirting.
Pay an hour sitting fee to socialize with the cute photographer.
 
:D
 
There's got to be cheaper and more effective ways to socialize.
 
but obviously people have some fear of the camera and they feel better if the photographer seems nice and open and friendly
 
7:04 PM
@derobert fixed
 
and in the picture on the "contact" page, you look more marlboro-man-tough than friendly
 
@rumtscho Awesome!
Congrats @rfusca!
 
@rumtscho indeed
 
@rumtscho I liked that :P
Rfusca "Clint Eastwood" Spotts.
 
I'm not sure what I think of the manilla(?) background.
 
7:05 PM
I don't know if some customres won't see it and think "I will look terrified if he fixes me with that stare, the photos will look bad. I'd better search for another photographer."
 
@rumtscho getting people to relax is 90% of getting good portraits
@derobert i like it
 
@rfusca I think you swiped it from #TheFryingPan :-)
 
@rumtscho More like "I'm afraid his raw manliness will overwhelm my delicate heart and I will swoon during the shoot and the photos will look bad. I'd better search for a more effeminate photographer."
 
@Sobachatina Or "I am an emancipated, modern woman. If he looks that way at me, I will start fuming and turn red in the face. I'd better search for a less macho photographer."
 
@rumtscho Who wants that kind of client anyway!
 
7:08 PM
@derobert lol, perhaps
 
@Sobachatina She is likely to actually have money to pay, as opposed to the swooning damsel
 
@rumtscho Good point.
 
I think the new site is loads better than the previous
 
@rfusca do you have a picture of you in action?
That could also be nice to put on the site.
 
@Mien nope
 
7:09 PM
But emancipated women don't like manly men? You can be not a chauvinist and still have a hairy chest.
 
@Mien I don't think this would be a very interesting picture. He shoots outside, without a bunch of lights and tripods and whatnot.
 
The manilla background didn't register at all, at first, but when I look at it longer, I start wondering why. Yellowing like that sort of says old, e.g., a yellowed print. But of course web sites don't yellow, so I could just be crazy.
@Mien he has one on the about page
 
@Sobachatina There is always the sort which takes any display of severity way too personal.
Although I must confess that I like shaved chests and I am not even very feminist.
 
@rumtscho David Hasselhoff would never shave his chest.
Ever since Nightrider I'm afraid he is the defacto standard for manliness.
 
@rum k, emailed their support team about those issues
 
7:15 PM
that's a nice picture
 
thanks
thats my dad
@derobert refresh the page and you get a less annoying watermark
easier to crop, but I didn't like the centered one.
 
Not seeing any difference on refresh.
 
@Sobachatina I don't even know what Nightrider is.
 
@derobert odd
 
@rumtscho It's a goofy 80's tv show about David Hasselhoff in a cool talking car.
 
@rumtscho ya i know :/ nothing to do about that
 
@rfusca I don't remember what I clicked, but I got a list of galleries, saying "customers", "blog" and "portfolio"
 
Ok. I still don't like that hover-highlight effect, especially on the big pictures on the blog. Its way to easily to accidentally have your mouse over one, and then the photo looks pretty bad.
 
ya, you just followed the breadcrumbs from the portfolio to galleries and then clicked customers
 
You can't hide the "customers" link from non-logined visitors? Or display a text saying "When I have made a shooting with you, you will be able to choose your pictures here"?
 
7:22 PM
Oddly, I don't see any pictures in "customers"
 
@derobert you shouldn't
 
@derobert That's normal - because you are not a customer
 
@rumtscho I can add text, let me do that.
 
@rfusca just display: none div.breadcrumbs, that will probably solve it (untested)
honestly, you have your entire navigation up top, you don't really need breadcrumbs\
 
@derobert ya i know
 
7:26 PM
I'm confused by 'my cart'. I can't find anywhere to put items into the cart. Maybe I need to register?
 
I think it's for customers?
 
@rfusca on the registration page, there is only one password box (there isn't a confirm box)
 
@derobert ya, its for customers . I wish it would only show up once something was in the cart
but I can't change that
 
@rfusca the Log in in the empty car doesn't look like a link
 
@rumtscho Check it out now
 
7:29 PM
@rfusca looks better
 
Hmmm, once I sign up and activate my account (link via email), client and cart still don't do anything useful. I guess because I'm not actually a client.
 
@rfusca maybe you can put a login link after the "logged in customers see their beautiful personal galeries here" part
not below the gallery in the three-galleries-screen, but after the visitor has clicked and seen the empty gallery
 
Maybe you can sell T-Shirts so that non clients can still be customers!
 
@derobert ya, i have to associate you with a gallery
 
Hmmm, you seem to have one of those rss feed thingies. :-P
 
7:34 PM
@rumtscho done
 
rss feed too?
He has all these social sharing buttons
less than other sites, and more discreet, but shrug
 
@rumtscho its in the page headers, Firefox will show it (if you have that turned on)
 
I haven't went to the trouble to turn it on
I wonder who would need it
but I guess that most people wouldn't even know that it is there
maybe his competition would use it to see what he's been up to
a normal customer won't need to see other people's pics
 
@rumtscho well, obviously, its for us in the frying pan to become his stalkers, the easy way! No effort, just add him to Google Reader.
 
@rfusca there's a mistake in this caption:
 
7:38 PM
@Mien yup
 
Oddly, I can order a print of that.
 
@derobert ya i know :/ I gotta fix that
i just realized that
pricing is done by picture, not gallery - so I've got to disable the buy button in certain places
 
so there are more stalker-friendly features beside the RSS
 
links, site wide, should be more obvious now
i'm working on taking the breadcrumbs out
 
ah yes, the good old underline. Works always.
 
7:43 PM
Could you please ask the people to stand out of the way? They're blocking the shot of the Martian vegetables. Almost as bad as Earth getting in your view of Venus
 
@derobert hehe
 
although, FYI, when you do photography with artwork in the background, beware of copyright issues.
 
@derobert ya i know, i talked with the owner first
 
really? If I take a picture of a building, do I have to pay copyright fees to the architect too?
 
Copyright sucks.
 
7:47 PM
@rumtscho No, building are different. Usually.
 
buy button gone
 
copyright per se doesn't suck, but the current legislation does.
 
@rfusca are you planning on a trip to Europe? You can take my picture if you want to :p
 
@Mien he won't give it back.
 
Er, what?
That's a weird photographer.
 
7:49 PM
@rumtscho but, if you could get around a copyright by taking a photo of it, copyright law would have no teeth whatsoever.
 
@rumtscho I have read about suits where architects did try to assert copyright over photographs of their work.
 
@mien "Travel fees outside the Conway - Little Rock area may apply"
 
Car manufacturers do it all the time with their designs.
 
I know :(
 
@Mien lol thanks....i'll come to europe if you pay travel costs :D
 
7:50 PM
I won't :D
I'll come to you if I win a plane.
And then to derobert
and then to rumtscho
and then we'll see who's the best photographer here.
 
@mien your kerosene costs for flying to America will be higher than your ticket on a passenger airplane
 
@rumtscho I meant winning a full plane.
 
or did you mean that you will sell the plane you won, then use the money to buy tickets?
 
@rumtscho Maybe her won plane includes a year's supply of free fuel?
 
I can let people pay to come along.
It's a business plane.
:D
 
7:52 PM
@Mien I'm not sure about that. Air companies are not only heavily regulated, they seem to be operating at close to no profit nowadays
 
k, breadcrumbs gone
 
@rumtscho Well, I'm sure it's cheaper then flying the plane with only me inside.
 
so, any other website suggestions?
that was a helpful critique
@rum btw, in terms of your issue on the HTC - I got this back "Thanks Chris - and we've been able to reproduce it indeed, thanks for
raising this.

Mobile is pretty high on our agenda, but that's going to be no small
project. In the meantime, let's see if we can find a workaround for this
as we did for iOS.

Cheers,
J-F"
 

« first day (648 days earlier)      last day (4342 days later) »