Author Archives: Andrew

I’ve just been processing the shots from my steam train trip to Ludlow last year. Most are quite disappointing: the light was very poor, and you actually can’t get many pictures of a train if you’re travelling on it, and getting on and off at any stop other than the final one.
However, I was quite pleased by this shot of the interior of Ludlow’s St. Lawrence’s Church, an HDR combination of three originals. What was interesting was that I normally make strenuous efforts to achieve as natural as possible a result when I have to use HDR to overcome lighting challenges, but here for the second time in a couple of months I’ve tried subtle, and then gone for something more extreme. (See here for my attempt to emulate the great Dutch masters!) This was generated using some of the most extreme settings in Photomatix Pro, but I think they produce a good result.
I was also pleased to find that my geotagging process had worked. I wasn’t sure of the church’s name, but from my image browser I opened a Google Map at the geotagged coordinates, and could immediately confirm the location as St. Lawrence’s.
Sometimes things work better than you expect!
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I’ve identified one cause of the problem afflicting my Galaxy Note and some other phones running Ice Cream Sandwich. I’ve been progressively synchronising all my various calendars with Google Calendar, which has worked fairly well, with one exception. Google Calendar Continue reading →
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 in
Galaxy Note
My new Note was suffering the dreaded “Ice Cream Sandwich Power Drain” problem, but it looks like I have found a solution. You have to install the app “Cpu Spy” and confirm whether it’s going into “deep sleep” or not. Continue reading →
Friday, June 22, 2012 in
Galaxy Note
For those dedicated (or deluded?) souls who follow my photography, I’ve just posted a number of updates to my online album, particularly in the Action, Europe and Barbados sections. Take a look if you have a moment, and let me Continue reading →
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 in
Photography
After pride comes the fall. My upbeat post yesterday about the Galaxy Note was slightly premature, as I suddenly ran slap bang into a problem with calendar synchronisation. It turns out my phone was upgraded on Thursday to Android 4.0 Continue reading →
I have just taken delivery of my brand new Samsung Galaxy Note, and I must say so far I’m very pleased. After the rather aggravating experience of the iPad I was a bit wary of going to another new operating Continue reading →
I went to see Prometheus over the weekend. Was it just me, or is the plot so ridiculous it’s actually laughable? I mean, given the context of the story would you really: Go wandering helmetless on your first visit to Continue reading →
Monday, June 11, 2012 in
Reviews
Inspiring but occasionally challenging look at the maths behind the modern world Continue reading →
Sunday, May 27, 2012 in
Reviews
For almost 20 years I have been a fan of, and borderline apologist for, Microsoft. One of the main reasons was their focus on software usability, backed up by a visible intention to preserve backwards compatibility wherever possible. While each Continue reading →
This is an intense, dark, mediaeval mystery, set in turbulent 13th Century Italy. Giulio Leoni makes Dante Aligheri the central character who travels as Florence’s ambassador to Rome, but who rapidly becomes embroiled in investigating a series of murdered and Continue reading →
Monday, April 30, 2012 in
Reviews
The wildlife on a Barbados trip is usually pretty predictable: lizards, turtles, monkeys, flying fish, various small birds and fish. This year had already improved on the norm with a couple of hummingbird sightings, but that was before our catamaran Continue reading →
Saturday, April 28, 2012 in
Barbados,
Photography,
Travel