Siena Noble's Blog

Finally put out another video, although it’s not part 2 of my Dracula tier list (fret not, that one is coming soon, I swear). This one is a slightly abridged version of an old grad school paper of mine, because I had conspiracy theories and misinformation and anti-vaxx stuff on my mind lately because of… *gestures at literally fucking everything*

But in other news… um, remember all those times when I said I might actually republish my old romance book High Risk and finally finish th...

Today I will be sharing my chili recipe. No particular reason, I just happened to be making some chili today after experimenting with my recipe last time and I wanted to share it. Now, it may seem a bit sacrilegious and perhaps not even “real chili” to plenty of people, especially if you’re from Texas; it’s very bean-forward (shudder) and the only real “chilies” in in come from the green sauce and chili powder. But chili with beans, a tomato-y base, and not a lot of vegetable chunks is what I gr...

Hey, everyone! Remember how I’ve been yapping for like, at least a year now about how I’m totally gonna start a YouTube channel? Well, surprise! I have some actual content out there now that isn’t just a commentary track edit. Yep, I’m in the business of video essays and long-ass tier lists now. Still learning as I go, so apologies if my editing is a bit rough around the edges, especially when it comes to the background music.

Now, this is a project that has been in the works for a...

Welcome back, lovely readers! Apologies for the long hiatus; I really need to stop taking those, but the past six-ish months in particular have been especially busy and full of changes for me, some of which are still ongoing. I started writing this post all the way back in uhhhh, September? I think? And I had most of it done, but for some reason I hit a block toward the end and put it on the back burner for way longer than I initially planned while I was busy with moving, starting a new job, ent...

For this final module of my course, I wanted to share some photos that I took while in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful and interesting city with a lot of frequently photographed locales, so I wanted to get some pictures in a few places that I thought might be slightly less common, such as the ruins of the old Sutro Baths and the beach nearby:

Or this tranquil shot of the botanical gardens in Golden Gate Park:

Of course, I had to visit the Palace of Fine Arts, as well as...

For this final course module, we were instructed to take one of our own photos and use it as the basis for a prompt to generate an AI image using OpenArt. I want to say upfront that as a writer and artist I am extremely wary of AI and do not support it as a general rule. My feelings on it are complicated and this is actually the first time that I’ve ever used an AI generator to create anything. However, I feel as though I must begrudgingly admit that it is likely here to stay in some capacity, a...

For this photo editing course assignment, I practiced using filters in Photoshop. This first picture was taken while walking along the trail in Aspinwall Riverfront Park. I spotted two random flowers springing up along the gravel path and couldn’t resist capturing these bright spots of color in an area that otherwise had very few wildflowers. I applied an oil painting filter and a subtle canvas texture, and the resulting image looks somewhat like an Impressionist painting.

This next p...

This segment of my photography class was all about creating multilayered images in Photoshop. For this project I simply wanted to have fun and create a few absurd ocean-themed pictures. As I mentioned previously, I recently went to a wedding in Puerto Rico and did a few touristy things while there, which inspired me to blend the scenery that I photographed there with some pictures taken around the Pittsburgh area and my own neighborhood.

This first one is pretty simple, placing a strip...

This one is all about beauty retouching. I’ll be experimenting on my own face here in two photos; one with makeup and without my glasses, and one without makeup but with my glasses. This first untouched picture was taken at a wedding:

Looking at it again, my eye makeup isn’t as bad as I remembered it being! I don’t wear eyeliner very often except on special occasions, and even then I rarely use it under my eyes, only on top. So as you can imagine, my skills are pretty rusty! For whatev...

This post is all about High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. I focused on landscapes for these pictures, such as this shot I took of the Allegheny River while on a walk in Oakmont:

Or these pictures taken in Old San Juan, PR, of the garden in La Casa Blanca (the oldest standing Spanish colonial era home in the city) and the fortified city walls:

It was amazing being able to take these scenes of (mostly) natural beauty and enhance the light and color while maintaining realis...