Sami Serola (inactive)'s photos

▶️ Only in the dark , soundtrack by Ben Lukas Boysen and video by James Blann. Because we see things.

➽ Captain's log

Contribution for The Sunday Challenge #410: Chaos Contribution for The 50 Images-Project: Still Life 47/50

Author : Sami Serola Created : December 8, 2019 Updated : December 22, 2020 When ima team updated the frequently asked questions (FAQ) section , it was decided to use "photo articles" instead of blog articles. The main reason was because the "internal links" on ipernity blog articles opens always on new tab and not on the same tab. From FAQ point of view it is better to open links on the same tab. Moreover, there were no resources to change and fix the way how links are implemented on ipernity articles. But lately I have started to think that if and when ima finally get the reprogramming started, it could be better to combine those two. Instead of having separate articles, one could just as well write what is called as " photoblog " or "photolog", which is sometimes shortened even as "plog". What it would mean is that it should then be possible to write articles also without any image. That is actually how it is done at such photo sharing platform as YouPic. There the stories become displayed as such on the similar news feed as here on ipernity. But here on ipernity it would require some more information displayed than just the author's name and image . Maybe the image title and some of the caption would do, and a symbol to declare that it is indeed an article with no images. Something similar as on one's own personal photos at the moment . But it would also require similar text editing tools provided for image caption as there is currently on blog articles. What I actually did when writing this story, is that I first wrote this on articles tool . Then I (re)viewed it on source mode, corrected misspellings, copied the text with HTML codes, and pasted it onto this "image caption". Although, one can also write the HTML code directly into caption area, if only one knows how to do that. But in this way, copying the text and HTML formatted links from the article tool, one can avoid the HTML formatting mistakes more easily. Then to show some possibilities of inserting also images within the text, I simply copied the image share codes from several images and pasted them here. Currently the beauty of this approach is that one can even remove the links "around" the image codes. Moreover, it is possible to change the dimensions (width&height) to create nice collages. Although, tampering the image codes is somewhat against the terms of service: " Note : do not forget that our Terms of Service impose that the photo must be clickable and that the link must redirect to the ipernity page displaying this photo. " However, I think it is supposed to be an advice to someone who copies the image code (if enabled), and uses it outside ipernity. So, it is supposed to make sure the image represented for example on someone's blog elsewhere would also provide link to the original source. Besides, if one can just as well write similar code also by oneself, and if one only tampers with one's own contents (own images and/or free material online), that should be allowed and okay here at ipernity. I actually admit doing so every now and then. For example sometimes I replace the link with one that opens my private image . Or sometimes I remove the link on PiPs that would direct to "dead end" anyway (link to private image).

♫ Replacing the fuel rods at SL-1 by Spunshine, available at YouTube Spunkshine uses some strange names on their music. It makes one curious to find out more: " The SL-1, or Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, was a United States Army experimental nuclear power reactor in the United States that underwent a steam explosion and meltdown on January 3, 1961, killing its three operators. " - Wikipedia

UPDATE December 13, 2020: Currently there are no magical way to get images uploaded. The only way to make something appear as "new" is to change the 'Posted' date of some old images as explained on this old post of mine. Hover the mouse cursor on right side next to 'Posted on...' or 'Photo taken on...' date. Click on appearing '(change)' link. Then change the date as you wish on the opening dialog box. For example you may wish to change the date 'Posted on...' to make some older upload appear on your contacts' 'News'again. That trick is perfectly alright to do, to for example make some useful blog article or image appear again on 'News' after doing some updates on it. Moreover, this trick is useful if you first upload image as private, and then later on wish to turn it public and appear on 'News'. To change date when 'Photo taken on...' is useful if for example you have forgot to correct your camera's calendar, or you have scanned some old printed or film media images of your's. Update by Bernhard (Bergfex): Please note that re-posting has no influence on the placement in the gallery. This is because the gallery does not use a date stamp, but the sequential number of the upload, which is entered during the upload and can never be manipulated. For this reason, old images will never appear in the gallery if you move them to the front of your photo stream by changing the 'date posted'. Update concerning the group contributions Moreover, there is no need to worry about the order of group contributions, if and when the 'Posted' date becomes changed. All the contributions and their order within the groups remains as the same.

... is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture - often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme. ~ Merriam-Webster Dictionary Advent Wreath is just a pious custom practiced at home, and not a formal liturgical tradition. ~ Tradition In Action

Soundtrack 'No Return' by Stray Theories: soundcloud.com/straytheories/no-return Inspired by Swedish Beck movie intro: youtu.be/bjezxCrQc58 Some technical yada yada ... When taking the shot, I did a mistake of not taking account the narrowing perspective when pointing up with wide angle lens. But then on editor I thought it is a cool idea to give a little surreal touch, and "widen" the reflection instead of trying to correct the perspective on original first. That way I also manage to keep the nice attic window on top right corner within the frame. The continuity of straight lines and perspective are not perfect, but I decided not to be too perfectionist. That way the image title "nightfall" gets also a double meaning. It now hopefully and intentionally looks like the block of houses on right are little skewed, like falling to water. Also the whole landscape looks like sinking towards the far end of the street. There is also a small mismatch in the middle, where the vertical poles does not meet precisely. But I was lazy, and decided to leave it that way to make the image look like there is "an error in the matrix" (referring to the movie Matrix). Moreover, I copied the idea from the very first scene on the Beck movie intro, and placed the horizon (mirror axis) on one third instead of leaving it in the middle of the image. Finally I added some darkening gradient on the bottom part to make the "water" look darker, like it often looks on water surface reflections seen in nature. The whole thing was done on GIMP editor, except some fine tuning of exposure done on PicMonkey, which I added after the upload. P.S. I strongly recommend viewing that Beck movie intro for several times. There are number of very clever tricks. For example a building reflecting from a water, which looks right way up when the bottom part of the image gets mirrored to top. And then the mismatch film sequence on the corridor scene, which also could be done on still image, by taking two images on different locations and then combine the halves.

Inspired by Mateusz Skutnik's "Lucky Room" soundtrack used on Submachine games: Soundtrack at YouTube

... and PicMonkey Creative Users group for the past years! ⚠️ The posted date of this image changed. Picture originally uploaded in April 2020. We have now removed the PicMonkey API link from the ACTIONS menu. And this is because the Adobe Flash based old PicMonkey online editor is no longer supported. If you still wish to use especially PicMonkey as your post processing software, you have to use it outside ipernity and pay for it , or use their still free mobile app . Check out also my short review posted earlier. Do remember that you can also download your image at ipernity, and upload the new version when it is again possible . So, no more easy online editor, but yet relatively easy way to rework already uploaded images. On this image I added the text onto image with PicMonkey Android app, but I could not find frames on that software. So, I added the frame with Snapseed Android app. This is what I have lately started to do more often. I use multiple phone apps to get what I want. The positive side of PicMonkey and Snapseed are that they seem to keep the EXIF data, allowing the audience to see the details of exposure, and even the map location, if they have been recorded in the first place. Snapseed is better on this, keeping more EXIF data untouched. Sometimes I even use Snapseed's "double exposure" feature to "merge" image edited on another app onto the "original", to get the full EXIF recorded and shared ;-)

⚠️ The posted date changed. Picture originally uploaded in 2013. Vice President's overview Please find Bernhard's excellent overview at the Club News comments . There is still hope If the old car cannot be mended, we still have each other. There is maybe time to consider a complete reprogramming. And as long as we are a members association, we can have freedom to affect on what the outcome is. I guess most of us appreciate the "old fashioned" layout of ipernity. Although, also ipernity has its quirky features. But it still is much less confusing as many other photo sharing web sites. And if we start from scratch, we can keep it nice and simple. Time to look back and communicate Because uploading new images has put on halt for a week or so, it is a good opportunity to use what still works. At least ipernity is not totally blacked out this time. As some of us have already discovered, one can change the upload date to make the older uploads appear as new. This is a great way to get especially previously unnoticed photos seen, like this one uploaded back in 2013, when I had just joined ipernity, and hardly had any contacts. But this is also a great opportunity to browse what others have done during the past years. There are literary myriad wonderful collections arranged in albums and groups. We usually feel too busy to visit them. Way too often we only dumb our images into groups, but don't really visit them. There are also number of groups that allow contributing with old uploads. Actually more than those where new uploads are expected. Or we can write blog articles. Articles feature works just alright as well. Or as well as it has worked for the past 2-3 years. On articles one can add images, and again, give new life for old uploads. A small useful tip. Use the source code button on the toolbar to review the spelling , and then switch back to the normal editor. And don't forget that one can also embed Youtube and Vimeo videos onto blog articles .

There is also option to create a new album. Moreover, one can use search tool and options to display limited selection on the bottom bar, like images that are not in any album . And if Organize tool does not work for you, then you can add images to some albums one by one via ACTIONS-menu.