Christmas Goodies

Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year, forgot to mention the photography related goodies received.Always striving to improve on and off camera flash techniques I got a copy of Joe McNally's Hotshoe Diaries.Its very readable and informative and will put into practice with the new Nikon SB900.
Stu Little over at littlephotoshopis planning some flash tutorials too so I'm sure that will be most useful too.

Software has also been updated on the computer.  Have the latest version of Adobe Lightroom - some of the presets are really useful and the batch editing will help speed up workflow or RAW files.
I know adobe CS4 is now out but its difficult to keep up with all the latest versions so have settled for CS3.
 I googled for solution and found Ia  was not alone in my endeavours.  Adobe themselves suggested a fix for the conflict in their software.- however this did not work for me.  My solution was to run CCLEANER application to clear the cache and fix any registry problems.   Installation was then straightforward.  Hurray!

Icy Spell

The icy spell across the UK has brought the photographers in us all out - news programmes have been inundated  with snowy clad landscapes.  Actually glad not to have any weddings in January - far too cold!

So have taken opportunity to capture  nature's frozen gems.  Frozen water droplets and freeze-dried roses adding a splash of colour, the snow-covered beach and  the frozen lake in Ashton Park in West Kirby  have all been digitally recorded.  Its such a rare occurrence for the Wirral to have such a blanket of snow that even with icy paths had to wrap up well and get out with the camera.   I found that the cannon G9 on macro mode was more adept at getting detail shots than the D90 with the tamron 18-50mm lens. Hope you get some great winter shots too and that you share them.

La Palma

Almost forgotten hadn't mentioned our travels back in early Daecember. La Palm was a lovely weeks break back in Nov/Dec - seems a while off now we are in an icy grip. This small Canary Island has its own micro-climate.  We discovered that its "tunnel of surprises" was true - travelling from the cloudier rainy east through the tunnel we arrived to see blue skies and sunshine.We found a car invaluable for exploring the national park and coastal towns at our own leisure.
A full report can be found at  virtualtourist page.