So, here we have the first image that I've posted which has been processed through my new workflow. The main difference is that I've done away with UFRaw, and introduced RAWTherapee. In practice, I still have to process my raw files to tiff and then import them into GiMP, but the RAWTherapee interface is so much nicer than UFRaw, which hasn't been improved over the years that I've been using it. Presumably the developers have been too busy hating Microsoft to bother with reworking their UI.
Anyway, back to the image itself. This is of a poppy that we found growing in one of the troughs at the front of the house earlier this year. We left it to see what would develop, and were glad that we did. The thing was enormous - about three feet tall when I made this image. We've harvested the seeds, so we should have a few more next year.
The title of this post is a reference to the fact that this is a windblown plant, but it's also a suitably obscure music reference (clue: think alt country). Anyone who spots it will get an honourable mention on this blog.
The title of the previous post is a reference to an album track from Sonic Youth's "Murray Street" album. Props to Mr Ian Dart for spotting it.
We've just returned from a week's holiday in Rhodes. However the rhythms of my photography don't neatly align with those of the rest of my life, so this image is one of those processed on my old laptop using UFRaw. It will, however, be the last of these.
As to the image itself, it was taken well over a month ago. The strawberries that we had in pots on the riverbank have been over for a while now.
As an aside, if anyone can guess the obscure alt-rock reference of the title, they'll get an honourable mention in the next post on this blog, when the answer will also be revealed and I'll finally get round to posting an image produced by my new workflow.
Good news first: I now have film in my MTL3. Not Tri-X - Ilford HP5 Plus 400 - but film none the less. I was wandering past a branch of Jessops, popped in and that was all they had. I've been taking some happy snaps so watch this space for news of the result - I haven't actually established that the camera is working yet.
The bad news: my Sigma 50mm macro lens has developed a fault. The focusing ring has jammed such that I can't focus any closer than 0.6 m, which is pretty useless for a macro lens. A return to works job, I'm afraid and no more flower images in the meantime.
Oh well. The summer garden is almost over and I do have a fair few images backed up which will hopefully tide me over until my lens is fixed.
I'm still working on my old laptop, still using UFRaw. I have a couple more images from this batch to post and then I'll make the move. However, this is the last image of the jasione that I'll post - at least for now. They're still flowering, so its possible that I'll make some more images of them.
Another image of a jasione flower - this one is from earlier in its lifecycle than the previous post.
I've finally bought myself a new laptop, which I'm in the process of setting up. Its a much more powerful beast than the eight year old machine that I'm writing this on and this will probably be one of the last posts written on it.
I've installed RawTherapee on the new machine, so this will also be the swansong for UFRaw. It will be interesting to see what difference this new setup makes to the images.
PS: Thanks go to Ian Dart for the title of this post.
This is an image of a jasione flower. No, me neither. We have them growing in pots at the front of the house. I've no idea where they came from, I assume that my wife must have bought and planted them, quite possibly when I was present, but I have no memory of it.
They appear to have a fairly complex lifecycle - a blue flower morphs its shape a couple of times before developing into the green seed head which appears in this image.
I have a few images of the earlier phases, which I may post over the coming week.
"Peace" apparently.
I've been trying to make images of the roses all summer, and failing. This is the first that's been worth posting.
