qpmarl blog

When it comes to digital photo editing, there's really only one player - you know who it is - starts with Photo ends with Shop. Sure there are others, but when people talk about digital image work, they talk about Photoshop.

But that's not what this post is about. In fact, I haven't ever really used photoshop - I've played with it a bit on various computers - I may have even had some ancient version installed on my own computer long, long ago. But I grew up with Corel Photo Paint. Then I advanced to The Gimp. The Gimp is basically open source Photoshop - it doesn't have all the fancy features of Photoshop, but it has all the necessary elements of a powerful photo editor.

But that's not what this post is about. In fact, my very best photos - and I've read the same from one or more professional photographers on the net - my very best photos have not been digitally touched at all (excluding simple chores such as cropping which don't alter the remaining content). I have taken a few photos and touched them up so they look pretty good, but I have not been able to replicate the quality of a picture that's just awesome straight out of the camera.

Ok, so I wanted a mousing surface and drink holder. And so I added them.

Here are the pictures.

While I was at it, I fixed the crappy chair mounting with some 1/2" bolts.

Features:

• Really ugly
• Very comfortable
• Quite sturdy

Still lacking:

• Footrest
• Monitor/Laptop stand
• Integrated sound system

The footrest is essential, but I haven't got to it yet. For now I'm using the edge of a bed (in my room, but not my bed), but the bed is a bit high which causes a bit of discomfort after a while.

The Monitor/Laptop stand is not essential - I just set the laptop on my lap. My desktop monitor is on a dresser (again - in my room, but not mine).

The integrated sound is something I've been thinking of since I first built it. It'll probably just be a frame to attach some cheap computer speakers behind the seat. I was thinking of mounting this directly to the steel frame of the backrest. I tore a hole in the back to get a look at this frame - shouldn't be too hard to attach something there. Afterwards, I'll close the hole all up with some nice, ugly gray duct tape.

The design of the armrest/mousing surface/drink holder follows the original design philosophy of using scrap materials. I did go out and buy the 1/2 inch bolts though - since we didn't have anything that big in the garage. I paid no attention what so ever to aesthetics. And I used only the scraps of the scraps that I used the first time.

Sorry about the messed up colors in those pictures. My camera's auto white balance is messed up or something. I could change it and reshoot them, but I'm too lazy.