ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Friday 7 October 2011

HONING NOT POLISHING (07/10/11)

I’m experiencing quite dramatic weather. Today is supposed to be good before a really vile day tomorrow. Today is worse than yesterday! I may have whinged about yesterday. Last night was a night of interrupted sleep. A superb thunder storm, the dogs love them I have to open the window to give them a better view and sniff. Ozone is supposed to be good for you. They must know that. Then it hailed, hail with forty knots of wind behind it. I’ve an aluminium chequer plate roof, the din is hard to sleep through.

Fortunately, after a walk through the woods into town for provisions they are tired. I really don’t want to go out again. We do have sunny spells but for fifty percent of the time it’s squally, wintery showers , on a twenty minute cycle. Pretty grim.

I do get the good camping so I’ll not moan…………Too much! I do enjoy wild weather. I’m just loathe to put summer clothing away. When I do I must remember to launder them first. Did I wash my winter clothes this spring……….Oh! I do hope I did. If not, I’m an environmentalist………….a true Green. One wash could do both. Can’t see a problem there. Apart from sitting in the laundry in my birthday suet. The last word is not a misspelling.

Whilst in town I purchased one of my comics. Digital Photo…………it gives me something to annoy folk with and it does seem daft having software and not being able to use it. The book picture is theirs. the rest is all mine. It will enlarge with a click and took over an hour……………it ought to have taken six hours!

POPUP-BOOK       ADRIAN’S BOOK OF POP-UP FUNGI.

The sky is the only thing from today. Had I thought of this Idea then I would have framed the illustrations better. Not fill frame but bang in the middle. Makes it look as if only the bottom of my pages can support life. I put a drop shadow on the left hand page then got all muddled up. I should name my layers as the posh Photoshoppers probably never do. I use PS Elements 9. Ten is out but it’s more into organiser . A bit of it I just accept. I prefer it to Lightroom. I’ve had Elements  since  Elements 4  and 9 since it was released and love playing in there.

This is starting to sound like an advertisement……..I’m not sponsored. It costs me money to play……I’m just easily amused.

The one and only piccy from today…………………………………………

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERARose Hips.

Have a great weekend.

PS. Just had another look at the book with a click, so big. No halos on selections……..I’ll get there and sleep, sleep the sleep of the just.

20 comments:

  1. You know for someone who has self-deprecation down to an art-form you really are sickeningly accomplished. I have decided that when I no longer spend my two summers each year faffing around wandering round visiting friends and relatives and France and playing croquet (all of which I absolutely love doing) I shall hunker down one winter in my Hebridean hideaway (after all no one knows where I live...do they?) and sort 60 years of photographs and play with Photoshop and read and..... And I will hold you out to be the inspiration! Or blame you (depending on how well I do!).

    From that you might have gathered that I thought that your efforts today were passable, ok, a bit better than that.

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  2. Graham, I'm thick!......took me four years to understand layering and blend modes.
    I loved photography before but digital is superb so much more entertainment.
    I even see you dabbling in the occult....sorry real world, now and again.
    Sharpening is a skill all on it's own. Your images could benefit. I'll do a seeing to or ask your son. He's a good at it.
    I'll do a SEEING TO PICTURES on selection tools and what they do. It does get complicated.

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  3. Graham, I'm not backwards coming forward. I aspire to the Dave Hill level of accomplishment...Dave Hill, Joe Cornish, the list goes on and on. They are the dogs bollocks.............Two totally contrasting styles.
    Where my problem lies!

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  4. I think the mushrooms sprouting out of the book are brilliant! Hugely effective (only you will notice any errors!) I have PS elements 9 too - maybe I should give it a go

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  5. Adrian, I've sussed out how you can deal with our differing weather. What you do is put a set of winter clothes on over the top of your summer clothes, then if summer happens while you're out and about you just need to take a layer (or two) off, easy!
    The theory does break down a bit when winter happens in the summer as you'd look a bit stupid with shorts and teeshirt over the top of your duffle coat!

    Now back to reallity, I think!..Your first image is superb, what a clever idea,and you've worked it well.

    I used to buy all the magazines at one time, but I don't bother anymore as I found that they just seem to repeat themselves!

    I love playing in Photoshop (I've got CS3) but I'm convinced it's got a much bigger brain than I have!...[;o)

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  6. Annie, it will pass on a winters evening. It is an immensely powerful bit of software. They hide stuff away but apart from graphics and the perspective tool I can't see where the other £400.00p comes from, well......path.....and...starts to sound like Monty Python. 'What did the Romans do for us?'.
    It is not intuitive........Play have problems. Play again and e-mail me. It could give me something to do.

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  7. Trevor, I'd end up looking like Batman.
    Not my idea, they had a wee lass in a Poppy field. A two page spread.
    They have to repeat but I still am addicted. They show things for free. Only now and again mind.
    CS3 is now old......problem with soft and hardware.
    Try Elements. 7 on has better panorama stitching than CS3. CS5.........Selection tools are a dream. Elements9 they gave a lot away. Elements 11 will be a bonanza. They'll give paths for £60.00...........I wish!
    Have fun.

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  8. Hi Adrian...I am not a techie person....you are far to good for me ...I would never get there, but I do like seeing and you telling about the things you do with your photo's!! How you did the pop-up??? Great!!
    I can alter wedding gowns, make a great apple pie, run a chainsaw and cut trees, fix the riding lawn mower and all that kind of stuff and more, but what you do...if I put my dollars and my mind to it..ya I probably could!! I don't even have photoshop!! da!!

    The rose hip photo...is gorgeous !!

    On my post the first mushrooms where still wet from all the rain we had...I have no clue what they are ..just wanted to give you a bit of a hard time!! ; }

    Have a good one my friend!!
    Grace

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  9. Another wonderful read Adrian.. I still have to enter the world of photoshop. Editing my little video clips take up a few hours of my time then uploading to Youtube to share.

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  10. A piece of art, mushroom standing in a book, you are wierd, "but I like you".

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  11. Grace, Just blame the weather.
    I'm sorry I couldn't be more help with the fungi.

    Andrew, I don't know where you get the patience for video editing. I hate it.

    Bob, you have hit the nail on the head. Weird!

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  12. Sickeningly brilliant. Unlike GB I can't seen myself ever getting round to photoshop and even though I layer occasionally in Imagefolio I think it's pretty primitive compared to yours.

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  13. I love your pop-up fungi. Fungi do seem to be popping up in the most unexpected places this autumn! ;)

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  14. John, PS Elements is reasonably priced. I would like CS5 but I can't justify the price. £60.00 for Elements and £400+ for CS5. Phew!
    I look at the masters of digital manipulation and know I have an awfully long way to go.

    Monica, it would be fun as a GIF animation with pages that turned over.

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  15. Very clever stuff Adrian. I wish I had your time, patience and above all skill.

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  16. Trevor, it is a bit of a balls aching job. Video is awful to edit. Be good to build an interactive book. It would not be hard technically but I just haven't the skill. I'm working on it!
    This is just fooling around on a wet and nasty day.
    I have a hundred pound limit on software and a thousand pound limit for a computer. Then I work around the wee problems..........With help from other bloggers. I just.....Shout Help!

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  17. Brilliant. The pop up book looks very professional.

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  18. John, It would be fun to make an interactive Pop Up Book. It is fun.

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  19. You've been eating those magic mushrooms again. I never find things like this when I browse in 2nd hand shops although I'm nearly there with the old musty paper smells !!

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  20. Jay, no musty paper with digital....more's the pity.

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