Daily Archives: Fri, 13 July, 2007

Frosty Stonehenge

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Thanks to a generous employer, I am now the proud owner of Adobe Creative Studio CS 3. If I am honest, the photoshop bit is not a massive improvement over the previous two CS versions so if you have Photoshop CS or CS2 I dont think it is worth paying for the upgrade. That said, it does have some “workflow” improvements and, as a result, I was able to churn this image of Stonehenge in the winter out in a few minutes.

Frosty Stonehenge - Image retouched in Photoshop CS3

Personally, I like it. The source image was quite poor and badly exposed. This is a lot, lot better 🙂 (But then I am biased!).

[tags]Photos, Pictures, Photoshop, Stonehenge, Wiltshire, Landscapes, Digital Photography, Photo Editing, Photo Effects, Photo Software, Raves, Technology[/tags]

The Telegraph’s view on Conrad Black

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More from the blog’s new department of sweet irony.

The Daily Telegraph reports of the trial of Black (uncannily similar to the Guardian’s, even down to a timeline) describe his wife, Barbara Amiel as “the virulently right-wing journalist.”

No, really. It’s not a typo, for once. The Daily Telegraph did call indeed someone virulently rightwing. The mind boggles at quite how extreme you would have to be for the Telegraph to use this description.

The paper also reported that the Conservative Party had decided that Lord Black couldn’t count as a Tory in the House of Lords any more. 😀

Jessops – Bad Shop

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The current line of ranting on technological subjects continues… This time it is the result of some mixed experiences with Jessops, a camera retailer with both on- and off-line shops.

Surprisingly for a High Street retailer, Jessops price their camera systems competitively with most online shops. For anyone who has not been unfortunate enough to try an dip their toes into the world of Digital SLR cameras, the whole thing is a muddle of choosing a camera body and lens from an array of options that really are mind boggling. Annoyingly, there are few retailers who provide the best price on everything, one will have very cheap lenses, but expensive camera bodies, another will be cheap bodies but extortionate shipping costs and so on.

As a result of this muddle (and wanting to have my new toy right now!), I eventually came to decide that the best solution would be to buy the camera and a kit lens from Jessops (I went for the Nikon D80 and a Nikkor 18-135mm lens for anyone who cares), then order other bits and pieces from cheaper, online, retailers (Warehouse Express is very good value for lenses). Continue reading →

Sweet ironing

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Conrad Black, former owner of the Daily Telegraph has actually been found guilty of fraud. Well, of 3 fraud counts and one obstruction of justice.

Black, 62, was cleared of racketeering and tax evasion but could face 35 years in jail when sentenced on 30 November.

Well, you can’t win them all…..