Spring? What Spring?
/Spring sprung and then sprang back in - it’s a Middle Earth thing - and yes - I am pretty sure that is the correct use of sprung and sprang (perfect tense past participle vs. sample past tense), but even if it isn’t it is still cold again in the bunker. Which would be less of a deal had my little electric heater hung on to life for a few days longer. No worries - the cold builds character, I’m sure.
Spring in Alabama
Even if the weather had been perfect, I don’t think I would have had time to get out for a little photography. The bunker is busy right now now, with lenses to evaluate, a printer to learn how to use, several hundred cross polarizers to print and assemble … and so much more. So with that in mind I hope you will forgive my departure from our usual livestream format on Tuesday. I have decided to take a day off from writing and researching photography content to instead write and research some no-photographic material for Macro Talk on Tuesday. Here is what I am planning to do - Since getting rid of my television some three years ago (or is it longer?) the only type of content that I consume is that found on one of mankind’s greatest inventions - YouTube. This doesn’t count written material - I am always reading something or other. But when it comes to video content, it is straight YouTube. I will occasionally mention a channel that I particularly value or enjoy, but I don’t think I have ever just gone down my list of subscriptions and told you what they are about, why I like them, and why you might want to check a few of them out.
I will start Macro Talk by talking a little bit about YouTube in general - like what factors are important in assessing the quality of a channel, and what are the characteristics of a great presenter. I will share my thoughts on click-bait and give you my opinion on video length, before launching into a rapid fire rundown of the channels that I subscribe to and watch regularly - there are a lot of them, and some you will know, but many you will most likely not. But whether you are attracted to the same content as I am, or not, I think you will probably learn a little bit about what makes me tick. Of course, I do recognize that it is the height of conceit to think for one minute that you will care about the content I like, but I am going to do it anyway because I think you might really enjoy some of these channels.
Here is your link to this first livestream of the week - https://youtube.com/live/hw10BIuFIx8?feature=share
Oh and before I forget, I will list all of the channels to which I subscribe, and all the ones I talk about on Tuesday at the bottom of this post.
Two days after that and the party is over - time to get back into macro. In Macro Talk Too I am going to share with you the decision process that I use when selecting a lens for a particular photograph. I use a fairly simple decision tree to narrow down the list of options for a given set of circumstances and I want to go over that process with you on Thursday at 2PM. This should be a very useful discussion for many of you and I expect it might even stir up a little heated back and forth in the cheap seats (you know who you are!).
Macro Talk Too on Thursday at 2PM - don’t miss it - and here is your invitation to that event - https://youtube.com/live/98XO7IeK5rk?feature=share
We had a spectacular Pzoom last weekend, so that means we do not have one on Saturday - but instead we have what promises to be a very interesting discussion on Topaz Photo AI. In this session we will demonstrate what the program can do, and what it cannot, before opening the discussion to the audience for them to share how they use this powerful tool. As always, you are encouraged to bring images you may be struggling with as well as pictures that demonstrate how use this smart editing tool. Just pop over to my Google Drive and drop your picture(s) in the appropriate folder. We will retrieve the images in time for Afterstack. You are invited but will need this information to join the meeting, which is free for anyone who wishes to attend!
Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: AfterStack 21 - Topaz - Photo AI
Time: Apr 19, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=88644952456
Meeting ID: 691 680 2815
Passcode: 678122
That is about it for this week. All I have still to do is give you the list of my favorite YouTube channels.
SPOILER ALERT - if you do not want to know what I will be going over on Tuesday, read no further!
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Veritasium
Cutting Edge Engineering,
Inheritance Machining,
DroneBot Workshop,
The Engineering Mind
Not An Engineer,
Tom Stanton,
Product Design Online,
Three Blue One Brown,
Daniele Tartaglia,
Steve Mould,
Linus Tech Tips,
Paul's Hardware,
Sabine Hossenfelder,
GreatScott,
HomoFaciens,
MicrobeHunter,
Jeremy Fielding,
Uri Tuchman,
The B1M, and
Journey to the Microcosmos
PHOTOGRAPHY
Thomas Heaton,
Stewart Wood,
fototripper,
Jan Wegener,
Phlearn,
Mark Denney,
Peter McKinnon,
Sean Tucker,
Steve Perry,
BrainRight,
Planet Fungi,
Micael Widell, and
Grzegorz Baran
PILOT/FLYING
Pilot Debrief,
Mentour Pilot,
74 Gear
MUSIC
Billy Strings
Jacob Collier,
Rick Beato,
Paul Davids,
PomplamooseMusic,
Davie504,
El Estaprio Siberiano,
Make Weird Music,
Emmet Cohen,
Andrew Rooney Drums,
David Bruce Composer, and
Justin Hawkins Rides Again
OTHER
Gido's Fishing Adventures,
NKFHerping,
LockPickingLawyer,
SoftWhiteUnderbelly,
Mark Wiens,
Today I Found Out, and
Stated Clearly