Why Dont You Blog?

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.

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]

Popularity: 43% [?]

Popularity: 43% [?]

Some more pictures uploaded to picasa:

These were taken at a variety of national trust sites, and with the exception of the black and white picture of Bodiam Castle, have not been retouched in any way yet. Over time, I plan to experiment with the effects and filters Picasa provides. These seem entertaining but lack the level of “control” Photoshop has.

[tags]Pictures, National Trust, Photos, Photographs, Picasa, Photoshop, Photo Software, Castles, Landscapes, Bodiam, Castle Ward[/tags]

Popularity: 53% [?]

Popularity: 53% [?]

Well, I have used Picasa in the past, so it isn’t really “new” in that sense, however thanks to what looks like a wonderful plugin called “piflasa,” I have been spurred to re-using Picasa and seeing how will it feeds pictures to this blog. (or blogs in general)

The usage instructions for this plug in seem quite straight forward, so hopefully in the space above you will have a flash based screenshow of some pictures I’ve uploaded to Picasa.

[tags]Pictures, Photos, Picasa, Plugins, WordPress, Photographs, Landscapes[/tags]

Popularity: 30% [?]

Popularity: 30% [?]

I was listening to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 today (yes, I know…) and as always his “phone in” show attracts odd, outspoken members of society, no matter how trivial the topic is. One of today’s odd topics was about the proposed legislation to force “rights of way” along coastal routes, even if the landowner objects. The Radio 2 website even has a “have your say” on the subject.

Now, I have very mixed opinions on this and would probably lump for maintaining the status quo - we currently have about 70% of the UK coast open for “ramblers,” the rest is in private or Ministry of Defence hands. That said, I can see the arguments put by some of the ramblers - and as a big fan of the countryside in general I think it would be nice if there were more places to go. Anyway, from this position of steadfast ambivalence, it amused me to see one of the arguments used on the show (repeatedly).

Basically put, there was an argument that as we are “born on an island” we have a “birthright” to walk the coast. Seriously. Well, when I say seriously, I mean it is not something I have made up for giggles here but I am not 100% sure how serious the people who said it were.

Sadly, the fact that no one seems to have picked up on this during the bits of the show I listened to and the fact people could actually use such a line of nonsense as an argument, highlights the downsides of the UK’s educational policies. Gone are learning classical philosophy and the origins of society. Now people think a “right” to do something comes with no burden of obligation and is identical to wanting to do something.

Unfortunately this watered down idea of what a “right” actually is, means people are less concerned when important rights are lost… So it looks like we will force landowners to allow access to their land at the same time we bring in ID papers, increased CCTV monitoring, longer detention without trial and so on.  Well done Britain.

[tags]Education, Classics, Classical Studies, Philosophy, Culture, Society, UK, Coast, Landscapes, BBC, Radio 2, Jeremy Vine, Civil Rights, Rights[/tags]

Popularity: 23% [?]

Popularity: 23% [?]

It has been a while since I posted some photos here for you to, err, enjoy so it is about time the blog got livened up a little. I am planning to run off quite a few photos into real world prints using Snapfish (which is, by the way, excellent), but some of the source photos felt like they could do with the Photoshop Goodness.

I am aware of how often I say this, but it never ceases to amaze me that ten minutes spent in Photoshop can turn average pictures into wonderful creations. Now, I am not arrogant enough to say these examples are wonderful (although I think they are…) but they are certainly more eye catching than the originals.

As with most of my pictures they are taken from either National Trust or English Heritage sites. These have been resized in Advance Batch Converter, which sadly reduces the quality a little. On the off chance you would like a larger original (up to around 2760×1840px) then let me know - they are free . As you can see, I have a tendency to get enamoured with “Lomo-Style” effects - mainly on the pictures of Stonehenge and Lulworth Cove.

Although some people may feel that “retouching” the photo after it has been taken is cheating, I disagree, it is all part of the digital imaging process (IMHO of course). Seriously, although I have neither shares in Adobe, nor do I get advertising kickbacks from them, I honestly think anyone who has a digital camera really should get some form of image processing software and learn to use it. The great thing about photoshop is that even after two years, I am still finding new (and sometimes interesting) things you can do to spruce up a picture.

[tags]Pictures, photos, landscapes, Dorset, Lulworth Cove, Stonehenge, English Heritage, National Trust, Photographs, Photoshop, Photography, Photo Software, Photo Editing, Digital Camera, Digital Photography, Lomo, Photo Effects, Lomography[/tags]

Popularity: 48% [?]

Popularity: 48% [?]

Well, despite the massively predictable bank holiday weekend weather here in the UK, a visit to Bodiam Castle was well worth it.

Bodiam castle is a National Trust property located in Sussex (not far from Hastings). It was built in the late 13th century as a “fortified home” for an English adventurer returning from France. It could well be argued that it isn’t really a castle, as it was more of a “manor house” with a moat and crenelations… This picture shows the front entrance of the castle - if there is interest / time, I will upload more pictures in the future.

One other odd thing, was a strange looking duck. Being a City Dweller, I am not really up to speed on what water fowl look like, so this one caught my eye. Can anyone confirm what it is please?

As always, feedback welcome.

Popularity: 92% [?]

Popularity: 92% [?]

Thanks to the wonders of Global Warming, the rainy, miserable (obviously offset by Chocolate) Easter weekends of my childhood really are a thing of the past. On Saturday I went out to Stourhead (National Trust property) and the weather was fantastic. Just so you don’t think I am lying, here are some photos:

As you can see the weather was brilliant. Shame about the polar bears though.

On a more serious note, it amazes me that anyone can deny climate change. Just goes to show how much people can cling to a belief… One of the other reasons to make this post was to try out a geocode plugin I have recently installed. Let me know what you think.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Popularity: 33% [?]

Although I was raving about how good the cameras on Camera-Phones are today, I still think that “real” digital cameras are better (Not going to get into the realms of digital vs wet film…).

While phones are good, the quality a good “real” camera can produce far outweighs them. The trade off is often file size though - the ones from the phone are about 600kb in size, the ones with the camera are in the region of 2MB. Still, the price you pay for quality :-).

For the terminally curious who dont know where Stourhead is:

Popularity: 16% [?]

Popularity: 16% [?]

Well, I am still amazed. It only seems like yesterday that the pictures taken with Phone Cameras was tiny, grainy and pretty much rubbish.

This has all changed though. Todays camera phones are very much a rival for genuine cameras. Well, low end ones anyway.

Pictures taken with phones often suffer when it comes to zoom or focus - but as these pictures show there is still no reason why they (phone cameras that is) cant take good landscape shots.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Popularity: 11% [?]

jokulsarlon glacial lagoon,
originally uploaded by krmuir.

Sorry to keep the photo thread going… but this lagoon shot looks amazing. Some excellent work done on some fantastic landscape there.

(I will try to limit my use of superlatives soon…)

Popularity: 21% [?]

Popularity: 21% [?]