Well, that was enthusiastic. (not really safe for work)

[Cooper]

Regarding the urban exploration; that would be safer with a friend, wouldn't it?

The blur photography: I will often take screenshots in a game, then tweak them in the Gimp. It takes time (I will cut out the sections I want crisp, save them to a new layer, then play with the blurrable-layer/s until I get the effect/s I want).

I totally appreciate that you get different results blurring with the camera vs blurring with Photoshop/the Gimp/etc; but is it possible that using PS/Gimp is cheaper?

Urban exploration=Yes yes and yes. My biggest exploration was done alone, but most of mine haven't been alone.

If I go anywhere near Detroit (urbex heaven) I'm not going alone.

As for blur: I don't think so, considering it isn't what I exclusively use the camera for.

Plus I'm not entirely sure how to get effects like these:

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...94-d3iu7qw.jpg
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...94-d6ch5eo.jpg
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20...94-d6ch5c8.jpg

With exclusively photoshop.

[RealUnimportant]

Plus I'm not entirely sure how to get effects like these:

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...94-d3iu7qw.jpg
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...94-d6ch5eo.jpg
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20...94-d6ch5c8.jpg

With exclusively photoshop.

Motion Blur filter would be able to approximate that.

[Insomnia]

I sent this to him today. I'm not going to follow through on any of the pseudo-threats, as fun as they'd be. Just used them as examples on why this was a bad idea.

Hi Cooper! I'm new to the site and just wanted to add my 2 cents too. Hopefully this advice is just my paranoia from personal experience rearing its ugly head. And I hope you and others don't think I'm some sort of stalker.

I would watch out for reposting word for word any email from someone like this guy and especially any response you sent out that has any would be threats serious or not in them. I say this because if this guy turns out to be some weirdo he may be angry enough to stalk or track you to CS by searching where you may have reposted his or yours emails.

It goes like this... a lot of ppl who receive crazy emails like you did tend to post them on their social media site like Facebook, Pinterest, DeviantArt etc. to say, "Hey! Look at the weirdo who email me everyone!" They then email the weirdo back to ridicule them or whatever then repost it again to their social media site. This goes back and forth with the person thinking the weirdo will never find them or get any personal info.

If the weirdo is smart enough they would figure out that their emails are probably being posted somewhere on the web to be laughed at. Look at all the failbook reposts ppl submit for laughs for instance. Now then, all the weirdo has to do is get a good search engine like Google and search something like, "I could have just decided to troll you myself. Ordered pizza for you, all the 4chan tricks." in quotes. In fact, you can do this now and this thread will show up in google search.

Anyways, he finds this thread, started by you where your CS profile has you living in Michigan. Now Michigan is a BIG state but since you posted on Craigslist looking for models I'm assuming you ask for models in your area, thus narrowing Michigan to a town or county in Michigan. You list on your CS profile you work at a marina. How many marinas are in your area? To narrow it down more, the weirdo only has to go read all your posts here on CS to know you're female and probably skim more personal details you may have let slip in various posts. Or just simply register to CS and get friendly with you and you'll never know he's the weirdo you've been emailing.

I hope this makes sense. I say this from personal experience of having a online stalker track me to my work place. All because I made fun of he's political views.

[Cooper]

Hi Cooper! I'm new to the site and just wanted to add my 2 cents too. Hopefully this advice is just my paranoia from personal experience rearing its ugly head. And I hope you and others don't think I'm some sort of stalker.

I would watch out for reposting word for word any email from someone like this guy and especially any response you sent out that has any would be threats serious or not in them. I say this because if this guy turns out to be some weirdo he may be angry enough to stalk or track you to CS by searching where you may have reposted his or yours emails.

It goes like this... a lot of ppl who receive crazy emails like you did tend to post them on their social media site like Facebook, Pinterest, DeviantArt etc. to say, "Hey! Look at the weirdo who email me everyone!" They then email the weirdo back to ridicule them or whatever then repost it again to their social media site. This goes back and forth with the person thinking the weirdo will never find them or get any personal info.

If the weirdo is smart enough they would figure out that their emails are probably being posted somewhere on the web to be laughed at. Look at all the failbook reposts ppl submit for laughs for instance. Now then, all the weirdo has to do is get a good search engine like Google and search something like, "I could have just decided to troll you myself. Ordered pizza for you, all the 4chan tricks." in quotes. In fact, you can do this now and this thread will show up in google search.

Anyways, he finds this thread, started by you where your CS profile has you living in Michigan. Now Michigan is a BIG state but since you posted on Craigslist looking for models I'm assuming you ask for models in your area, thus narrowing Michigan to a town or county in Michigan. You list on your CS profile you work at a marina. How many marinas are in your area? To narrow it down more, the weirdo only has to go read all your posts here on CS to know you're female and probably skim more personal details you may have let slip in various posts. Or just simply register to CS and get friendly with you and you'll never know he's the weirdo you've been emailing.

I hope this makes sense. I say this from personal experience of having a online stalker track me to my work place. All because I made fun of he's political views.

I'll admit I haven't been too worried about this sort of thing, though I'll keep it in mind. Mostly because my name is insanely common, there are a lot of marinas in the area (and I'm hopefully not working there soon), as there are a lot of lakes. I live in a pretty typical Michigan town, work in a fairly typical michigan job.

Heck, there were multiple people with my exact name in my high school, much less my current school. (My college is like 10x bigger than my hs was.)

I've tried to google-fu myself before, and my name is similar to a character in a popular tv show, so finding me would take a lot of dedication. (I just did it again with some info like 'marina' or my school name, and my internet footprint is still tiny.)

So I'm not saying that a stalker wouldn't have that dedication, or that it's impossible to find me. Just giving a justification as to why I'm not too concerned, though I do appreciate your concern.

[Tama]

I feel terrible for not realizing that you are in fact female.

[Cooper]

I feel terrible for not realizing that you are in fact female.

Don't! I deliberately try to project androgyny. Not that I've had problems with being female on this site, but I am part of a lot of male-dominated communities, so I make it a rule to use:

male-indicative username
female-indicative avatar

And just generally avoid mentioning my gender.

[Seshat]

Plus I'm not entirely sure how to get effects like these:

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...94-d3iu7qw.jpg
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...94-d6ch5eo.jpg
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20...94-d6ch5c8.jpg

With exclusively photoshop.

I don't know about photoshop, but in the gimp I'd experiment with either motion blur, or the 'warp' tool.

[Pixilated]

Those photos were intriguing.

Regarding the urban exploration; that would be safer with a friend, wouldn't it?

*snip*

I love the idea of urban exploration, but alas, don't know anybody around here who does it (frankly, I don't know many people around here period) and definitely would not go alone.