I’ve almost broken the Technorati One Million!!!

I can hardly believe it.  I’ve nearly broken the 1,000,000 mark in Technorati rankings.  Some people may not think of this as a big deal, but I do.   It’s only been 6 weeks since I started this blog. 

I figured with the millions of blogs out there I would be so far out to the left of the decimal point in rankings that I would never see the light of day.  I started at nearly two million and here I am on the verge of breaking the million mark.

Not that the ranking defines the site or its quality, but for me it is nice to see it continue that slow steady move up and to the right.  Thanks to the dedicated few that keep checking in on the site.  I hope that I have been entertaining if not interesting.  There’s more good stuff to come, stay tuned.

R.

Editing software for the photographers out there

I recently had my work laptop re-imaged and haven’t had the chance to re-install some of my photo app’s.  I realized this on my recent flight to Ireland.  So, before I left for Orlando, I made a point of digging out the software CD that came with my 5E.  It has a little editing app that also processes the “picture style” settings in the camera.  While I can load CS2 on my laptop, I prefer not to.  The work laptop isn’t exactly a power house and Adobe can suck a laptop battery dry after a short time.

As is usually the case, I forgot the CD at home.  So, instead of waiting until I got home to edit and process the pictures, I decided to download an app I read about on TechCrunch and Scobleizer called Paint.NET.  It’s only 3.6 megabytes instead of 350 for the trial version of CS2.  That in itself makes it worth a try.

Overall it works pretty well.  It’s quick and fairly full featured and the adjustment options (hue, saturation, auto levels, etc) make pretty good adjustments at the default values.  It also has a sharpen tool similar to Adobe’s Smart Sharpen feature.

I’ve only tried it with JPEG files.  I hadn’t read the docs for it yet and wasn’t sure of its RAW support.  You can read more about the app on the sites mentioned above (click the links).

I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.  I edited the pictures of the fireworks on Flickr using Paint.net.  I was fairly impressed.

If you like it, drop the guys at Paint.NET a line and maybe even a small donation (they take PayPal).

R.

Spaceships and fireworks…

(There’s no wireless in the hotel room and the network cable doesn’t reach the bed, so the next few entries are being written offline using MS LiveWriter).

On Wednesday, I headed back to Epcot to take another shot at photographing the fireworks.  I got there a little later than I wanted to and found my usual spot to watch the fireworks was taken.  After looking around for a good spot for some time, I had nearly given up.  The place was packed and trying to find a place was impossible.

I finally noticed a spot behind one of the little restaurants surrounding the lake.  It was roped off and there was a lady standing there keeping watch on the area.  I walked up to her and asked if it was possible to get back there to take a few pictures.  At first she said no.