Oh For Fuck’s Sake!

We are already at the point of the year where it is sufficiently hot that my main PC shuts down through overheating if it’s asked to do much graphics work. Last year, it managed OK unless it was doing 3D stuff, like playing games. I could bear that. This year, it now packs up when trying work with Photoshop.

Fuck.

I’ve got Photoshop for the Mac now, so I can work with that, but what I don’t seem to have is any good software for browsing RAW files. iPhoto seems to believe that I don’t need another RAW editor, despite the fact that it’s own RAW tools are pitifully bloody inadequate. Anything I instruct it to open in Photoshop, it converts to a jpeg, first. As if I was done working with the RAW. Which I fucking wasn’t.

a) can anyone tell me if there’s a setting I’m missing?
b) if I’m not, can anyone recommend me a free RAW browser for the Mac?

Gjallarbru

Gjallarbru

More from that late night London walk. The title is taken from the name of the bridge to Hell in Norse myth – this is, of course, Blackfriars bridge, where God’s banker, Roberto Calvi was murdered by a Black Lodge of secretive Masons.

(More from White Mischief to come when time permits, but I had this one ready….)

About Last Night

If you were not at White Mischief, then believe me squire, you were in the wrong place.

Music: Not a band on the line up I would not happily see again. Repeatedly.

Cabaret: Strange and terrifying. Which is what you want. Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures of the woman setting things alight with the electrical power of her nipple.

Crowd: glamorous and charming.

Photos taken: 1123. I’m halfway through processing them, and even I can’t hate all of that number. So far (not quite halfway through a first pass), about one in ten is good, although by the time I eliminate virtually identical shots, and winnow down to just the very best, that number drops quite a bit more. Still, should get a good number up.

So, pats on the back and drinks for alexdecampi, and back to wading through photos for me…

White Mischief – Just The Beginnning

White Mischief - Just The Beginnning

The first of well, I don’t know how many (until I think you lot will probably be bored) shots from White Mischief, a club night put on by a friend of mine where I took many, many pictures.

This is Mademoiselle Fifi, one of the burlesque performers that was on. You’ll see more of her. (While I think of it, can I just check: is there anyone reading this that’s going to be freaked out at the sight of a little (and really, it is just a little) blood? I’m not willing to place pictures under a cut in this blog, so if I get objections, I’ll have to think about skipping one of my planned pics.)

This short has not been altered for colour except as part of the general process of adjusting the RAW file – the blue is what I got from the available light and the natural adjustments I made. I have a black and white version of the same shot on Flickr – I genuinely can’t pick between the two, so I’ve gone with blogging this one, just because I think it’s more my usual style, but I’d love to know which other people prefer.

Bling Bling

Bling Bling

One from the archives – I clearly meant to blog this, as it’s been sitting public on my flickr account for months, but I just never got around to it. So, here’s a huge lump of some crystal or other, from the Natural History Museum. Not perfect – the crystal isn’t quite pin-sharp – but it’ll do for on-line, even if it wouldn’t hold up in print.

I was so close to titling this “OMG Racecar!” but I suspect that the shelf life of a daft lj meme is even shorter than a normal pop culture reference.

Urban Arboreal

Urban Arboreal

One of these trees is not like the others. Another from the lights exhibition at The Pool of London last month. I don’t really have a lot to say about this one – I’m a city kid, and one of my earliest memories is of watching The Triffids, so I regard trees with a certain healthy suspicion. But I liked this one.

Water Dragons

Water Dragons

A fountain at Greyfriars, near St Pauls. Or, three strange beasts emerging from concrete, only to be caged by these strange arcing bars…

Tactical Error

I accidentally drunk about three quarters of a bottle of whisky while sitting about the house last night.

This may have been a mistake. I feel a trifle unwell.

Variation On A Theme

Variation On A Theme

One of the first photos I took that a number of my nearest and dearest expressed the admiration of was this one, Light Of Knowledge. This, then is my attempt to refine the shot a bit, with the addition of a couple of years practice, and a rather better camera. I’ve deliberately excluded any people from this shot, where the pervious versions contained humans. I’d be interested to know what you think of the change.