Adobe Photoshop CS4

Well I have had this for a few weeks now and thought I'd give you my impressions.

I really don't like the tabbed images layout (and it seems I'm not alone) it wouldn't be so bad if you could turn them off, but although there is an option to turn it off it still tabs the first image, so it's not really off is it Adobe!

I also dislike the new pallet system, if they stayed where you put them it would be great, but sadly if you click on one it minimises the others, not ideal, please Adobe bring back the old pallets, or give us the option of locking these open.

While I'm in critic mode, it's heavy on RAM, it really needs a compatible video card for the GPU acceleration to work. Some people don't like the lighter grey background (although you can change that) And for the life on me I can't understand why the took out the extract filter, pattern maker etc etc.

Looking on the plus side, the new version of ACR (camera raw) has some great new features, more in line with Lightroom, although there is one curious anomaly that most people will never find, and it's jolly usefull. No I'm not going to tell you, find it yourself, I'll give you a clue though, look at the preview options in the different tabs, most only show the changes on that tab, one however will show you all the changes.

The content aware scalling is a very clever tool, but it does need a certain type on image to work well, and if your a clever so and so you could get the same effect with a bit of free transform.

Overall impressions, is it worth the upgrade from CS3? personally I'd say no. Wayne

A funny thing happened to me on the way to my e.mail

Well I mentioned my PC has been down with problems, after getting it working I needed to phone BT (my ISP) for my e.mail details to reset it, this proved an interesting experience.
I rang them up at the number given and got through to the "book a tech" department, not what I wanted, I just needed a simple code. They however offered to pass me over to tech support (and this is where the story really starts)
I got through to a lovely young lady, very pleasant, I explained my computer had crashed and I needed some details from her, and she sounded confused! I repeated my request with more details, at this point she asked what room I was in, now I got confused. I pointed out I was at my computer and that I just needed the settings. At this point she asked who I thought I was talking to, I replied "tech support!" "no" she said, "your talking to reception at the Hilton Hotel Los Angles", but she said it beautifully! Wayne

Funny old day

It's been a bit of a funny old day today, I seem to have had tons to do, I had to make a slide show, but of course my slide show software went with the format, so I had to find it and re-install, now I have just realised my labeling software's gone as well so I'll have to find that next.

Then theres been bills to pay, and jobs around the house, that sadly wont do themselves.

On to the image, heres another version of one of the waterfall images, this time a black and white version. Enjoy. Wayne

Bad day.

Yep I had a rubbish day today my PC has been slowing down lately, it's been getting worse and worse, the odd crash (not unusual with windoze) anyway I ran my anti virus, which found nothing (and is about as much use as a cheese aqualung) Then my brother suggested another malware remover, this found 22 viruses. Hip Hip hooray I thought... but no it's never quite that simple for me, you see when it removed the viruses, it removed something important, I don't know quite what but on reboot I got the infamous blue screen of death, and it stayed that way!
Luckily for me I have a brother who in a past life was a computer tech, he came over after my screams down the phone (and a few threats lol) and although he tried to recover things it was too far gone, and we had to format the b****y thing.
Luckily I have a nasty suspicious habit of backing things up. Yes it's a royal pain in the arse to reinstall everything, but at least my paranoia meant I didn't really loose anything important. And here's a lesson to you all, BACK UP! you never know when lightning will strike, or a flood, or more lightly some git writing a virus (oh for 5 minutes alone with him!!) At least all my images are safe, and that's the main thing. Wayne

It was only a winters morning....

Don't worry, I'm not about to break into song... too many windows and glass things around here for my outstanding voice to SHATTER!

However this nicely leads me into today's images, after shopping for the dreaded school uniforms (No not for me!! Doh!) I decided to go walkabout with my camera, I headed for the falls near Glyn Neath (Wales) sadly the name of this one escapes me at the moment, but I have been told it's frozen up, well it wasn't totally frozen as you can see, but I gather it's been better a few days ago and I missed it. Enjoy. Wayne

Why is nothing simple!

Well why isn't it? I bought some RAM today for my computer, but the PC just refuses to see it, it's supposed to be compatible but not according to my b****y PC it's not!

On too the pics, while I was visiting PC world I did a bit of Ubexing (urban exploring) here are some of the shots I got, enjoy! Wayne

Happy New Year

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and health wealth, and prosperity.

Whats been happening in the Wayne household you ask? (ok you didn't really but I'll tell you anyway) Well to be honest, not a lot, I have had a quiet-ish couple of days. Truth be told, I'm still feeling a bit off colour from this flu thing.

Yesterday I thought it was time I got out in the fresh air and got some exercise, I went down Penard for a walk, I was going to go to Pwl-du beach, but I couldn't find anywhere near-ish to park and gave up (I'm still not up to a big walk) So I ended up on the cliffs at Penard (Gower, Wales) I took my camera of course, although the light was a bit sad and misty I still got a few shots.

Here is a pic, I liked the lighting here. More to follow. Wayne