At the risk of everyone getting bored. More birds!

This time it's Tony. (I know it's Black-burn but it's late and it's the best I can do).

What can I say? I have been in the garden all weekend and the birds have been whizzing around like complete nutters.

So here is an abstract black and white piece just for them.

It's SO nice to have a garden when the weather gets good. I did actually get 'green fingers' today which I never thought I would.

Snapped little Mr Finch in the trees at the end of my garden today.

Poker was brilliant last night with updates on the Poker part of imagi up now.

Oh yeah. I won! Sweeeeet! Although the pot was a quid short! after some Gypo didn't put in the right fee!? (Other than me that is as I was 50p short on the night. Good job I won really).

Nik and I watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. I heartily recommend it!

It's Poker Night tonight with a large crowd gathering at my Iceberg (my house actually– I call it the Iceberg as my Poker name is Scrat after the Iceage character who potters around Icebergs. I can't remember why Scrat? Maybe because I horde my chips!?).

It does mean that I may not post anything as I am busy cooking for d'guys.

Here is the second of two similar shots in Timken Steel works before it shut (the old one being this). I actually prefer this newer shot now (I didn't when I posted the original).

I love these dark, industrial settings for photography.

Well I knew it!

Of all the programs I didn't want to play up it was Photoshop. And yes, that's the one that is complaining. The archive and install I had to do yesterday has obviously upset it and I will have to reinstall it at some point. I feel like a fly caught in the web. Grrr!

Anyway after a quick game of badminton I have just enough time to post this appropriate shot. I will post some other shots that will take more processing when I get a mo'.

Not wanting to jinx it but I think the laptop is back in working order. I still have to launch a few programs to make sure there aren't any registry problems (Aperture doesn't want an update now, even though one is out, which is worrying). We shall see.

An Apple a day, it would seem, is not good for you after all.

If this does work I really should put the solution in the 'HOW TO' section. Maybe some good would come from it then?

I have been on the tech support telephone line to Apple. Apparently I have to pay them 40 quid to help me even though it's their software update that rodgered my system!

Are you having a larf Mr Jobs?

I tell you what. You can fix my laptop so I don't have to spend hours doing it, and I won't shove it down your turtle-neck-wearing face, ok? Grrr!

So, I am archiving and installing a new OS in the attempt of pulling my machine out of the quagmire of tech-death (the Apple guy suggested this, but he didn't really tell me, wink, wink! Good on you pal, whoever you are).

I would love to post a beautiful photograph this evening for you all to enjoy but after an update from Apple my laptop is buggered! I keep getting a grey screen descend down over the image of the power key saying I must restart.

I am trying to find a solution at the moment but bang goes any photo tonight.

To start with I was afraid I would have to re-install the OS but I am starting to panic now that it may be something more. I have ran through the usual. Restarting from the DVD and using the disc utility (which says everything is rosy!?).

I am doing a hardware test now.

I am going right off Macs. There. I said it (you listening James? Chuckling away!?).

I have been rushing about tonight. I have been on the laptop doing some other bits and pieces and only now have had time to post a photo. This is a shot of the canal near Narborough road in Leicester. It is from the day I went to the dentist and had to wait an hour before they would see me so I had a bit of a wander around. I know it is not the most exciting shot in the world but I quite like it. Nothing fancy. Some nice still water. Nice foliage. Not everyone's cup-o-tea. But hey, then the world would be a boring place, right?

I did shoot a young guy doing tricks with a scooter near a pub called the Quay which look more interesting. I will post one of the shots but they will need a little work and I am afraid I don't have the time nor inclination this evening.

Finished painting the back-gate this morning and I have also been making this image for my entry for the Photo Friday website challenge this week. This one is an HDR from 3 exposures, 1 stop apart. I did make one from 9 exposures but the end result looked pretty much like the 3 so I just went with the lesser.. Keep it simple I say!

I have been hard at work today on the garden and garage. I sorted out all the garage and stored all my tools and things away in selves and plastic boxes.

Nikki has been hard at work too. She treated the shed and some of the fencing and Nik's folks helped take the decking up and make a partition for the bins. Nikki's mum also covered the back fence with the wood preserver.

We also had a guy over to sort the fence that blew down in the storms over two months ago. Two Months! Yes, it took that long to fix thanks to our original fencer letting us down.

Thankfully we had our odd job man from the local village come and sort it. Two hours later all the panels were in and looking good (And it only took that long because the muppet who put the concrete fenceposts in obviously hadn't heard of measurements, or just couldn't be arsed to space the posts correctly. As a result we had to shave some of the panels to fit).

That said, dear reader, don't presume I am in a bad mood. On the contrary, I feel pretty good. The weekend has been a beauty. I just hope the weather holds.

As I missed yesterday, I managed to find something to post tonight, even though it is late. This has to be the weirdest exterior ever, like something out of a 'Cat in the Hat' book. It is another shot from Paris.

The flowers, that looked so lovely the other day, have died. A stark reminder that all things end.

They do still look beautiful, just different in their decay.

I am not sure this photo really does them justice. The laptop is busy tonight which is why I am posting from the PC and having trouble. This poor machine can't cope anymore and it is a real drag to work on (Well it is almost 5 years old now!) I keep having to stop to let it catch up ( a bit like me playing sports with my young friends).

The monitor here is also dying with the white really out of whack. Bugger!

On the plus side, a bit of Moby is taking my mind off the computer problems.

Sweet!

Another one of the kids (the older ones!) This time it's Rik looking kool in his shades.

I am posting this image of Luce which I am quite happy with.

Before the male swan attacked the female she sat, calm and asleep, on the water near Swithland letting me photograph her.

Cleaned the roof and gutter of the garage, sawed down over-hanging conifers at the bottom of the garden and picked up my boss/friend Craig's old garden furniture, which goes brilliantly in the garden (thanks Craig!).

So I have had quite a night. Bed now and blessed sleep.

Poor old Mr Warm Bear has the blues. Well at least he can be my entry for photofriday.

I can't post much tonight as we have Nikki's brother over with Luce and we are playing wii (great fun).

I did go shooting in the morning at Swithland in the fog near my house. There, I was photographing a female swan when the male arrived and attacked her for a bit of nookie. It was pretty harrowing to see when you are not used to it and I had to keep telling myself that it was all natural. My instinct was to protect the female but I stood quietly and managed to get one or two photos. This is of the male, enrage and aroused, charging the female.

What a Groovy van I found at Rutland water.

I don't really have any shots I can use for this weeks Photo Friday challenge so Ian kindly posed at work for a fun photo which will do. Thanks mate!

It has been a day for fun photos.

You watch. I put up a serious photo and nothing. I put up this and I bet people go for it. We shall see...

This is a homage to Mr Bursill and his little girl Neve... the only way to go to the loo! (Although the face Neve is pulling is far better than mine. Maybe she will be an actress when she grows up?).

I have been talking this over with Noo and I have agreed a top 5 general movie list. Apologies, this topic may not be to everyone's liking (although John, if you are reading this, what's yours? I realise this may be really difficult for you simply because your film knowledge spans the known universe but have a go. I dare you!).

For the record my favourites at the moment are;

1.) 12 Angry Men
2.) Goodwill Hunting
3.) 2001
4.) Seven Samurai
5.) Shindler's List

These are judged, for me, on a number of different criteria. The main being how many times I have watched them and how I can keep on watching them. I may have forgotten some at the moment so I reserve the right to change my mind.

Oh and here is a detail shot of some flowers in the conservatory.

Yesterday Nik and I met my mum and nan and went walking in the beautiful sunshine at Rutland water. Mum is looking so much better as you can see here. It was a really nice way to finish the Easter Hols.

The Easter holiday has whizzed by and it's work tomorrow (mores the pity!). With all our visitors gone and my day out with the folks over, I now have time to post something. I am late with this as I have been exploring CS3, amoung others things, and have only just finished this nice shot of my noo.

For the record, there is a mountain of new stuff contained in the different programs in CS3 and this is my first chance to check it out. I have to say it looks impressive. The modifications seem to have purpose, the interface feels slick and it handles like a mother on the Intel machine. So expect further coverage on these exciting programs, when I get a mo'.

Everyone is sleeping so I am taking the opportunity to post a photo. I don't have all the kit set up as Nik wanted the table cleared that I usually work on for dinner last night, so I am posting this from the laptop in the sun. It is a bit difficult to see the screen so I've kept this one simple.

Friends are down for the holidays so I don't know when I will get the chance to post anything, so here is a quicky from the walk Nik and I took around our village earlier today.

With the warm weather comes an abundance of bees and flies. This is actually a bee. One of many that hung to the outside of my house, desperately clinging to the last rays of the sun.

Some more flowers here, taken at the same time as 'La Morte" and 'Fire Flower'.

Work was interesting today, mainly from its absence (another long story).

I'm sticking with my workflow for photos as it is for the moment until I get to the bottom of this colour profile business.

Here is a shot I took while wandering around Swithland near where I live.

This colour profile business is going to take some looking in ('cos it's driving me mad). Just when you thought it was all straight forward some other guy on the net has a different opinion about workflow. After talking with Ian we have decided to test the profiles ourselves. (Makes sense really). Here are a couple of cross processed images with mad colour to see the difference in the profiles in the extreme. These were processed from RAW using the different profiles, as the images I used below (Horse Panicked) came from an initial Adobe RGB and the subsequent images were so close as to prove nothing.

Anyway apart from that here is the image in sRGB in the gallery also.

Ian and I were having a conversation about colour profiles. I had been using Adobe RGB because of its wider gamut and I was convinced that it worked better online. However Ian says he has converted a lot of his photos to sRGB because it works better through the web.

I had read about both profiles and I knew that a lot of people recommend the use of sRGB. I did a bit of testing myself and I thought that the Adobe images were more vibrant but looking back now I am not so sure. So I have made the image below with both profiles and put them together below in a roll over so when you put your cursor above the sRGB image it will change to the Adobe RGB version for comparison. See what you think.

I think from the image below it looks like the Adobe RGB has more zing. However apparently Adobe RGB images do not display correctly so use sRGB.

The conclusion to this colour space problem seems to be - it depends. For my RAWs I have been using Adobe RGB but apparently this can cause problems. Here we have someone else suggesting another larger profile that will solver the problems of Adobe RGB and sRGB but this only works in a controlled colour flow workspace. What a minefield!

I had forgot how much of a minefield colour profiling can be. I will need to read more on this and have a chat with Ian and see what he thinks.

Here is the image in the gallery using sRGB profile.

Oh and thanks to Ian for the silly image of me (above). Why do I have my shirt over my head? Long story!