The high country today...

If these two images look like a big exclamation mark to you, it was intentional... and just to emphasize what a dull, foggy, rainy day we're having here today. This is why it's called a 'rainforest' around these parts. The forest needs the rain, and we need the forest, so it all works out very well, and it saves on sunscreen, so there's a bright side to it too. 

 

Is this really November ?

Here it is the 20th of November, and look what I found on the outside of my screen door just now.... a huge and very-much-alive housefly. And earlier this evening, we had a thunder storm with several lightning strikes nearby. How about that?

Images: Dust and Scratch Removal -

Thanks to my friend Eolake in the U.K., for finding this one for us. It's now out of date, but available from an archives site, and even though it comes to us from back in 2002, I'm happy to say it works fine in Windows 7.  "How does it work?" you ask....

Pick an image with lots of scratches, like this one I borrowed from Eolake's website to demonstrate. On the 'Action' menu, select 'Create Mask' and use the default settings....

The program finds and highlights all the blemishes on the image. Again I used default settings, because it's my first time trying it, and then after I got this, I went back onto the "Action" menu and chose "Clean Image".....

And here's the finished cleaned-up image! Isn't this something? You can use Google to find out more, or check Eolake's blog for more information about this, including links to the downloads for Mac and Windows. For Windows, choose the most recent (2007) update on
that archives listing page. 

 

Looking out the window...

It's a good day to be inside, looking out, I think.... except that the apartment on the other side of the wall behind my desk is being renovated, and its kitchen is against this wall. The kitchen cabinets were torn out last week, with a great deal of crashing and breaking of woodwork, and now the new cabinets are going up, requiring a concrete drill to make the holes for the anchors. When that drill comes on, even if I'm expecting it, the noise really startles me - it's very loud. These concrete buildings are like being inside a drum with someone beating on it whenever modifications are going on - and lately, that seems to be most of the time. When one gets finished, another starts. Sometimes, with all the holes it seems people have drilled into these walls, I wonder what's holding the place up....

Today, the subject of removing scratches from images came up, and this points up the fact that there aren't a lot of foolproof programs available for cleaning up old images. There are some, but they usually cost quite a lot, and even then they don't do a perfect job, if their trial demo versions are any indication. And I'm not buying something that doesn't live up to its advance publicity.  
 

Autumn Leaves

In spite of the snow on the hills, we still have some leaves on the trees, reminding us of warmer days.