Snarks and Ladders

Marylin recommended Lightroom to me the other day when I was whining babbling venting about the learning curve required for Photoshop.  After all, it’s hard enough trying to learn how to take a good photo, without having to learn a complicated editing program as well!

So, I got myself a copy of Lightroom, started downloading free presets like there was no tomorrow, and sat myself down for a little play time.

I’ll try to detail everything I did to the pictures, but I’m sure I’ll forget something…  I’ve included the SOOC shots as well to show you the difference.  As usual, click to embiggen.

With this one, I used the PH So 80’s preset, and then bumped up the blacks a bit since it washed them out.

I used B&W Brown/Red – Antique preset.  I think I sharpened the image a little as well.  I probably should have cloned out the grass from the corner, but I’m lazy, what can I say.

I cropped this one down, and then cloned out the small part of grass that was still showing (the clone job is actually really terrible… I need to work on improving that).  Then I used the Golden Vintage – darker preset.  I think I could improve this by making the tongue just a fraction pinker, but I’m pretty happy with the effect all in all.

This one is super stylised, but I really like it anyway.  It reminds me of the covers of the Jack London books I read when I was a kid, and I can just imagine Willie in the snow.  I cropped the picture down, then applied the Wizels preset.  I think the vignetting is a little extreme (I probably should get around to fixing that), but apart from that I’m happy with this one – it made his fur look really rough and textured.  I don’t think this is at all what the creator of the preset actually imagined it being used for, but then how often do I do things the right way?

I’d love to hear some preset recommendations from anyone who uses Lightroom, or actions for Photoshop.  I figure the more I have to play with, the more inclined I’ll be to practice and play!  I’ll probably try to work on some more realistic, less ‘edited looking’ photos next.

Sure, I was going to just throw a bunch of pictures up here and see what you could make of them… but we all know I suck at not writing words with them, especially since my pictures are only of mediocre quality.  However, my writing is of slightly higher quality, so a few words here and there should increase post quality dramatically.

For the curious, all the photos here were taken using a Nikon D90.  All but one (the butterfly one) are SOOC, since I get a weird nervous twitch in my eye whenever I use Photoshop.  I can’t help it, Photoshop scares the bejezzus out of me.

My baby brother is now taller than I am, making me the shortest of my parents’ children.  It was difficult enough surrendering the tallest crown when my sister turned 15 and suddenly grew like a freak weed, but now my brother has overtaken me as well.

He has also been working out, breaking my never stated but clearly obvious rule that my younger siblings should never be allowed to reach a physical state where I can’t beat them in a good ol’ fashioned wrestling match, should one arise.  I mean, I still kicked his butt, but I had to resort to cheap nasty tactics like hair pulling.

He’s still shorter than my baby sister though, so he can’t be too smug about it all.  Don’t even ask what sort of face my sister is pulling.  I don’t know why she does these things.

In a family of physically demonstrative people, I am the odd one out.  I generally don’t like hugs, kisses, or any other form of physical contact unless it’s really required, or I’m dating the person.  Even then, it’s touch and go.  So, of course, my family loves to attack me en masse so I can’t escape.  I nearly got one of them with the spatula, but they are sneaky and quick.

Sometimes I think babies were switched at birth.  I’m the only non-huggy one, the only one with eyes that aren’t blue…

No, my sister and I didn’t plan to wear the same colour.  It just happened.

My brother thought I couldn’t lift him.  He is often wrong.

I often don’t know what is going through my sister’s head.  However, she has been warned that anything and everything on my camera is possible internet fodder, so this is entirely her own fault.

I stalked a butterfly.  Now, if I had a macro lens, stalking butterflies would be easier.  Instead, I had to rely on my 55-200mm lens, some stealth, and sheer luck.

Yeah, yeah, I know that I still can’t take a photo worth a damn.  So sue me!

I have my adorable puppy living with me for a couple of weeks, which has been awesome.  The poor thing has been subjected to much photographic torture, but really… who could resist?

What have I been up to the last few days?

Looking at flowers…  Sturt’s Desert Pea’s are very pretty

Looking at rock sculptures

Scoffing fruit like a mad woman…

Hanging out by the river…

More hanging by the river…

Learning how to set up my bargain swag ($50 from a friend, only used once… probably my buy of the year, considering a decent swag can cost around $250)… I’m halfway through setting up!

Watching the boys burn stuff…

And, of course, drinking!  Because that’s what you do when you camp, right?

I also went off a rope swing (without smashing the hell out of my leg this time!), but, alas, I do not have the photos.

One of these days, I’ll remember to set the settings on the camera correctly for the conditions.  Slowly slowly getting there… although half my rope swing shots are terrible after I forgot to increase the shutter speed.  D’oh!

Everyone has to start somewhere, right?  At least, that’s what I told myself when I signed myself up to a 3 year, $100 a month payment plan for a new camera (which thankfully came with 2 different lenses!). 

So, once a week or so, even if I don’t have time, I am going to take my camera out, and play with it.  Practise.  Read a little bit more on how to use it.  Eventually I might even be brave enough to try and tackle photoshop.

But for now, I’m sticking with the basics.  Trying to learn.

I was half decent at photography, once upon a time.  Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten everything I ever learned about cameras, framing shots, lighting, and everything in between.  It’s going to take a lot of practise and reading to get back to where I was.  If I ever do.

But I’m sure I can have some fun, at the very least!

I remember being so disappointed the first time I saw a river.  In picture books, they are always beautiful and blue… in reality, brown and muddy.  Oh well!

There’s also lots of dirt out here.  Sometimes it’s red, sometimes it’s brown, sometimes it’s grey, but it’s always dirty.

Sometimes, we all need rainbows!

I know I haven’t posted in a while… it’s been a tumultuous few days, and I just don’t think I have it in me to write about it all yet.  Now that I am starting to feel better, I guess we’ll start with something lighthearted.

Sex toys seem to be popping up here there and everywhere in my life at the moment.

Two weeks ago, I was back on the coast, and I visited a couple of my girlfriends.  We did the usual girl thing – you know, cheese, wine, getting ready to go out and party, all that stuff.  Anyway, in the middle of toe nail painting one of my friends jumped up.

“I have to show you guys this, it’s amazing!”

She ran to her room, and came back with her latest purchase from the sex shop.  My other friend cooed at it immediately.

“Oh, I know that one!  I was at a sex toy party the other day, and when you turn it up on high. it vibrates so damned hard it bounces off the table!”

They sat there and exchanged sex toy tales, one relating how her boyfriend kept taking the batteries out of hers because he was jealous of it, the other talking about which textured Rabbit she preferred.  And I sat there mutely.

Because I don’t own anything like that.

Well, I came home, and I just outright forgot about it, what with life being crazy and everything.

Then I came across a wonderful, funny, frustrated post from Veronica on Sleepless Nights.  In amongst my chuckles and sympathetic clucks (I don’t even remember when my last orgasm was either, Veronica), I thought to myself ‘Goodness, people even blog about this stuff and you still have no idea!’

Then, of course, I forgot all about it all over again.

I went to the pub last night for a work function.   I was talking to a friend of mine about the Sleep Cycle app on the iPhone (he’s one of those irritating iPhone fanatics), and I said that it was no use to me because I didn’t have any free power outlets in my room, and the phone had to be plugged in while you use it.

“What, your vibrator taking up all the plugs?”

“Yep, that’s exactly right – battery operated just doesn’t last long enough to keep me satisfied!”

Of course, you and I know this is entirely fiction.  My outlets are sadly used up by electric blanket plugs, lamps, routers and laptop cables.  Oh, the life of a geek!

Hi.  My name is Angela, and I am the last woman on earth without a sex toy.  I can’t afford one.  Buying one would make me giggle, because I’m socially awkward that way.  I’m scared owning one would make sex with the average male even more boring by comparison.  And I’m terrified that my mother would find one while she was snooping through my drawers when she visits.  Or that the cats will get hold of one – could you imagine?

Not many this week – alas, photo opportunities were not to be had!

My goof ball brother and his girlfriend.  3D glasses are highly attractive!

I think I died and went to heaven… actually, it was more like hell, since I had absolutely no money, and could only window shop.

Well, it’s a little over a week since the last one, but here are a few of the photos I have taken since I arrived at home.  Again, most of them are animal focused (I am an animal fanatic, what can I say?) and most of them are kinda meh.  But, I think I see SOME improvement.

My brother has two rather delightful beagles, Harry and Phoebe.  Harry is the dog you can see the most in this picture.

I love metal buckets, what can I say?  Also, it appears my parents have been neglecting their garden again.

I love glossy leaves!

Mmmm lemons!

It’s perfectly normal to take photos in the bath, right?

Spout face!

I love how the ripples distort things.

So, I made the mistake of buying into the hype.  Of listening to a handful of people without doing any actual research. And, of course, it came back to bite me in the arse.

Fricking iPhone.

So, the iPhone set me back a somewhat ridiculous ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS.  But, I was told it was ridiculously shiny, and well worth the money.  My Nokia N95 was starting to show a bit of wear and tear, and, although I have been a loyal Nokia consumer for quite some time now, I decided that a change is as good as a holiday.  So, how do I feel about my iPhone?

I guess first it’s important to establish what is important to me in a phone.

1.  Ease of text messaging
2.  Quality of phone calls
3.  Internet being simple to use
4.  Internet being fast
5.  Applications.

Well, I still find the text messaging to be awkward, with a much higher error rate than my Nokia.  I figure that should improve as I get used to the interface, but I do believe the ‘keys’ are too small, and people with large fingers would have difficulty using the touch screen.

I haven’t made a phone call yet on my phone, so I can’t judge.  However, it REALLY IRKS ME that I can’t use songs for ringtones (yes, I AM one of those annoying custom ring tone people – work is the Jaws theme, my Grandmother is one of those ‘impending doom’ movie themes, etc).  Seriously.  The iPhone is the ONLY phone I have seen that does not allow me to use Mp3’s as ring tones in the longest time.  No… if I want to do that, I have to fiddle arse around with my files, or jail break the damn thing and void my warranty.  Which I am loathe to do on something that cost one thousand dollars, damn it.

[insert rant about how I think Apple are a pack of money grabbing scum bags who somehow cleverly managed to market themselves to idiotic yuppies (one of which I have now become), who buy their products because they seem to think that overpriced means awesome]

Internet is fairly simple and fast – much better than on my old Nokia.  I haven’t used the internet browser too much yet, because the main things I wanted it for (Facebook and Twitter) are done through applications. 

The applications, while fun, are largely useless.  The application store is also a cesspool of crap with a couple of good things floating around in it.  If I see one more ‘naked women’, ‘underwear scanner’, or ‘hand x-ray machine!’ application in the wrong category, I am going to scream.

So, overall, I am actually really disappointed with my iPhone.  From what people had said about the device, I was expecting something more exciting.  Their lack of drop resistance also concerns me (I have seen many an iPhone and iPod Touch shattered at work), especially in a house with animals that like to knock things off tables and shelves.  Its size is also a negative factor – the large screen is nice, but it is slightly too large for many of my pockets.

Maybe I’ll grow to love the bloody thing.  However, I think it will always be second best to my Nokia.

Damn you Apple fanatics, you suckered me in again.