tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35984495719054208592024-03-13T17:11:55.744-07:00Looking through the glassMike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-21617722476344998962014-02-11T05:30:00.003-08:002014-02-11T05:31:32.743-08:00New Dogs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Got two new additions to the household. They've been here around four months now (where did that go!). Despite being father and daughter, they're very different characters.<br />
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Being much younger than the last dog, they're fast. Really fast. Which makes photographing them much more of a challenge. This is shot at 1/1000th of a second on a sunny day, and has frozen Daisy quite well. The tongue is just a bit of luck, but adds a bit of fun to the picture.<br />
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This is at 1/1600th. Despite it being a sunny day, the ISO is at 1250 in order to use an aperture of F6.3. Any smaller than that, and there's next to no chance of them being properly in focus.<br />
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Trying to photograph a running dog is really hard. These were done while my wife played ball, and I stood to the side to photograph them. There's no way you can throw a ball and try to shoot them while they fetch it.</div>
Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-29475978164728176422013-10-09T05:18:00.001-07:002014-02-11T05:31:51.200-08:00Dunkeld Shot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Took about fifty pics over the weekend, and this was by far the best of them. In better times, I'd have had a tripod and remote release, but instead I just rested the camera on the wall of a bridge and hoped for the best.<br />
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Bit of photoshop to balance the lighting, but otherwise quite happy with this one.<br />
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Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-37419276530663401602013-06-23T10:39:00.002-07:002013-06-23T10:39:46.678-07:00Self Portrait<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Off camera flash, fired using the remote. The background should be more black, but I'm standing a bit too close to the wall. Overall though, I'm pleased with this.<br />
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Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-79162757685225317262013-03-04T12:57:00.002-08:002013-03-04T12:57:24.915-08:00Sunset through the trees<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Got a loan of a 17-35mm Canon lens at the moment, to make sure this is what I want for Christmas last year (!). The thing I love about wide angle lenses is what they do to clouds, but we've just not had the right weather since I got it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">I took it up to a local reservoir yesterday to try to get some sunset pics, but it was pretty cloudy so I gave up. Just as I got to the car, the sun broke through some trees, and I fired half a dozen shots off to see what came back. Best of the bunch by a long way...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGs86z0jhPBCslB5HBIgvOg_07pRvxQ9ogkg8jGO93x81qLk5i3G7OBiS8UP4b_lO4Q4gZAXCdSwW11cqKlaoe7Jq0z9plkpfe9YHk-6K0JxTZlbYBvpQA1nIpM0vXq1_F6MnsoC1Wc8/s1600/Fireworks+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGs86z0jhPBCslB5HBIgvOg_07pRvxQ9ogkg8jGO93x81qLk5i3G7OBiS8UP4b_lO4Q4gZAXCdSwW11cqKlaoe7Jq0z9plkpfe9YHk-6K0JxTZlbYBvpQA1nIpM0vXq1_F6MnsoC1Wc8/s320/Fireworks+1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Another attempt at taking firework pictures, at the end of the Edinburgh Festival. Still not great, but at least there were one or two that were "ok". And my battery didn't die, as it did last time I tried this.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-62835704073821348682012-07-18T05:46:00.000-07:002012-07-18T05:46:18.346-07:00BramMy dog died last Friday. He'd been showing his age, and his back legs had been getting noticeably weaker over the last six months. The dog that could clear a four foot high wall from a standing start now had to be lifted in and out of the car. On Friday, he could no longer stand, so it was time to say goodbye.<br />
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As well as being a great pet, and until recently a very effective way of keeping fit, he was a great photography subject.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-74266763905970247262012-03-08T05:06:00.000-08:002012-03-08T05:06:31.972-08:00Star Shot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vkDV1o0Pl6ZWfni1g73d8T5KgSS4b3Qx-Ah_KIdsyBlZh1X6mCxUZDhVsHzNwq-a-eDRekm7GjHeb2_4Ws7tbBfZWWwJpMU6XxqwF2f_7zTJ-v7yYqi4lSioEYxQW2Pm9g054y7CKPE/s1600/stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vkDV1o0Pl6ZWfni1g73d8T5KgSS4b3Qx-Ah_KIdsyBlZh1X6mCxUZDhVsHzNwq-a-eDRekm7GjHeb2_4Ws7tbBfZWWwJpMU6XxqwF2f_7zTJ-v7yYqi4lSioEYxQW2Pm9g054y7CKPE/s320/stars.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Ok, these aren't actually stars. It's Jupiter and Venus, shot from the decking at the back of my house.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-81630337613330422832012-03-08T05:02:00.000-08:002012-03-08T05:02:50.890-08:00Rose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHItb30qoh6003EGLOOMj8EutvIdMtFVRpGLKgRQVNNKU0mR_RgKCR2upVoFFIlnjzHvf1wdyvcMA4lLsezQ2lg3DgIEOag7p_SR9pRhXP6t75tCgHfldcdLBcRMeZANsg-dGJE8guSc/s1600/rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHItb30qoh6003EGLOOMj8EutvIdMtFVRpGLKgRQVNNKU0mR_RgKCR2upVoFFIlnjzHvf1wdyvcMA4lLsezQ2lg3DgIEOag7p_SR9pRhXP6t75tCgHfldcdLBcRMeZANsg-dGJE8guSc/s320/rose.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>The GLW bought herself some flowers (she must have done something to upset herself), and the sun was falling nicely on the roses in the kitchen window. Ran this through photoshop, and added some hard light to increase the contrast.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-19294222819899294432011-09-21T13:53:00.000-07:002011-09-21T13:53:49.430-07:00Durban 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePv1NCgwUeSmmHlZGZ0af4KegE67imhKNN4z-WYoW5niFSMv03FEZYPhlcihWiTTzfvDMYyIPVlLlCRxxpZeGzmUvIpuK4xvTAcJUZiAPYTsiaxTuQSxhaf-Sz7Zt4lo-Gw_3VzAc_fg/s1600/IMG_8308a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePv1NCgwUeSmmHlZGZ0af4KegE67imhKNN4z-WYoW5niFSMv03FEZYPhlcihWiTTzfvDMYyIPVlLlCRxxpZeGzmUvIpuK4xvTAcJUZiAPYTsiaxTuQSxhaf-Sz7Zt4lo-Gw_3VzAc_fg/s320/IMG_8308a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Similar shot, but this one picking up some nice reflections off the buildings. Increased the lighting in the foreground to pick up some detail there.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-3838018446928202902011-09-18T03:39:00.000-07:002011-09-18T03:39:03.264-07:00DurbanOne from a recent trip to Durban, making use of a setting sun and the shadows it cast. Took two exposures from the RAW file, and used one to lighten the foreground.<br />
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Probably did a bit too much, but it's something to play with later.<br />
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One thing I've been wanting to do more of is really long exposures, particularly of water. I took the camera, tripod and dog up to Harlaw reservoir at the weekend, and took a few pics of the sunset. Despite stacking two ND8 filters and a graduated ND filter, and winding the F stop as high as it would go, I still couldn't get above 6 seconds. With hindsight, the polarising filter would probably have helped, but I didn't have that with me.<br />
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I'm still quite happy with this - it's benefitted from a bit of tweaking in Photoshop, particularly getting the horizon straight! Next time I'll get there a bit earlier, and take some with the sun behind me maybe.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-72673641989052410872011-01-01T09:33:00.000-08:002011-01-01T09:33:16.165-08:00Forth Rail BridgeWent to South Queensferry, intending to see people jump in the river on the 1st. However the crowds and a tired dog made me turn back. I did manage to get this, which was the first proper outing with a graduated filter. The sun was quite low, which is why the bridge is lit the way it is. A train may have added to the picture, but as it was a bank holiday there weren't many to be seen.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxjaW9ZGje-ukZXiNGr0zBaXpS2jD0Rqx56fv0nKsH8WHjVqsFRoOkC4gPGCLKCnAvXSLtHSngjFiq5XrapRqW0U9OUWOjC7K2aRA-VKX76ITe8Xo9mKRoGhEFSTlP4b8cIrG-oV3xBA/s1600/bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxjaW9ZGje-ukZXiNGr0zBaXpS2jD0Rqx56fv0nKsH8WHjVqsFRoOkC4gPGCLKCnAvXSLtHSngjFiq5XrapRqW0U9OUWOjC7K2aRA-VKX76ITe8Xo9mKRoGhEFSTlP4b8cIrG-oV3xBA/s320/bridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-53538129218706698232010-12-31T09:28:00.000-08:002010-12-31T09:28:02.347-08:00December<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsi2PBw3awWPHXX1ErUI3DHJDYKNRelR7Q40QR8BToyu-86yPAQ7ZOHCybJ3KqYI3A0NlCAqwJ3Uvtf9DsE1CTMDmcv6vzEwDrSAtwaKxwCAlOa37LhZ1SD9peViZc43jjqE4rXziYC4/s1600/landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsi2PBw3awWPHXX1ErUI3DHJDYKNRelR7Q40QR8BToyu-86yPAQ7ZOHCybJ3KqYI3A0NlCAqwJ3Uvtf9DsE1CTMDmcv6vzEwDrSAtwaKxwCAlOa37LhZ1SD9peViZc43jjqE4rXziYC4/s320/landscape.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Yeah, ok, so I've been crap at posting. I've been taking lots of pics, but most are pretty average and not been worth talking about.. Shot this looking across to Fife, where the sun was hitting the snowy hills. A bit of a tweak in Photoshop, and then cropped it to create a landscape.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-48884435947587765322010-11-07T07:52:00.000-08:002010-11-07T07:52:53.448-08:00Australian BeachJust back from a three week trip to Australia, with about 900 pics to wade through.<br />
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Shot this on an empty beach at Queenscliff, south of Melbourne. I loved the patterns the sea had made in the rocks, which left rock pools when the tide was out. Tweaked it bit in Photoshop to bring out the colours.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-60609405832909822772010-09-07T07:11:00.000-07:002010-09-07T07:11:23.547-07:00FireworksFireworks make great photographs. Except I seem to struggle.<br />
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The text-book says use a long exposure, as that gets you the "trails". For the second year running, I've tried this and got an absolute mess. It didn't help that there was a pretty strong wind, which was shaking the camera.<br />
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Then, to top it all, the batteries packed up. My own fault for waiting until they die before charging them. This is the best of a very bad bunch. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxNPuJddK4gYcwFgSPEdMZx4gVg0p3ULxc6MXBNakF3iTJkoocXuDyYf9qjNUvEcxwlOGO23eynVcIMpLlArVCFyTDt2jQ2uQURgL4eAnNgEm7WBfYBO2NAhXRJeYE9ukRQHfpnKwf1c/s1600/IMG_4849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxNPuJddK4gYcwFgSPEdMZx4gVg0p3ULxc6MXBNakF3iTJkoocXuDyYf9qjNUvEcxwlOGO23eynVcIMpLlArVCFyTDt2jQ2uQURgL4eAnNgEm7WBfYBO2NAhXRJeYE9ukRQHfpnKwf1c/s320/IMG_4849.jpg" /></a></div>Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-73081375399572802552010-08-31T05:48:00.000-07:002010-08-31T05:49:05.547-07:00BlendingSo I'm crap with photoshop, but I'm learning. I know enough to shoot in raw, so I can sort out the white balance and exposure later. Every now and then, though, I manage to do what I want.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwub5CzBJOyYkKVqOIQv-wKWX-bGbaUgeB708fiuhZBGyYfbnC7cz6JNA3gcycLVc0yenT4NJio4oXymKH2pcBmL4xuVxL0XyiZ-5eHB7EDrpsyOmH8jOg-IB12V-6o8F57fRwFSAdRM/s1600/IMG_4571a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwub5CzBJOyYkKVqOIQv-wKWX-bGbaUgeB708fiuhZBGyYfbnC7cz6JNA3gcycLVc0yenT4NJio4oXymKH2pcBmL4xuVxL0XyiZ-5eHB7EDrpsyOmH8jOg-IB12V-6o8F57fRwFSAdRM/s320/IMG_4571a.jpg" /></a></div>Shooting from Bonaly Park across the city, I had a huge range in brightness to contend with. I exposed for the clouds, and hoped for the best. When I got home, I took a second jpg from the raw file, and boosted the exposure. Created a gradient layer, and blended the two pics.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTcOd3gMNnk6NPS-5tNc5Rz8RVL7Mh5WXbZwBwB8mxeDwrGwUJPWJ3T9NPq-Wivgx9GBsfEHylfVYxhWKZJ2IhHiaUgzX799OE8s4tN8DNb5ei1aIgRnuN2f6FYj-EPUj-7PzmuRwL0c/s1600/IMG_4571a+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTcOd3gMNnk6NPS-5tNc5Rz8RVL7Mh5WXbZwBwB8mxeDwrGwUJPWJ3T9NPq-Wivgx9GBsfEHylfVYxhWKZJ2IhHiaUgzX799OE8s4tN8DNb5ei1aIgRnuN2f6FYj-EPUj-7PzmuRwL0c/s320/IMG_4571a+copy.jpg" /></a></div>Ok, I really should have gone for a much smaller aperture (F5.6 on this) and a slower shutter speed (1/500th), but compared with the picture I actually took, this is quite a result.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-5174544373849235452010-08-20T05:51:00.000-07:002010-08-20T05:52:56.147-07:00Underbelly Bar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaghlM5FDYhyeL414JUZnJ_zwJk54qxNagTmH50q75Z2TvJiPptnosynmU9vAD-4PW0_U6T38UqsiQ2y6CWUG_SBx_0ai92BA82RLEuChSmS01WLEWzxI66q6A234I9vNsR7JmsZWTePo/s1600/IMG_4445+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaghlM5FDYhyeL414JUZnJ_zwJk54qxNagTmH50q75Z2TvJiPptnosynmU9vAD-4PW0_U6T38UqsiQ2y6CWUG_SBx_0ai92BA82RLEuChSmS01WLEWzxI66q6A234I9vNsR7JmsZWTePo/s320/IMG_4445+copy.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50621053@N00/4906639557/"><br />
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Had a few hours to kill in town, during the festival. In theory, this should give plenty of opportunities for photographs, but to be honest the light was pretty poor on the High St (that's the Royal Mile to tourists). So I wandered down to the Underbelly to see if that was any better. It wasn't, so I bought a pint, picked up a couple of festival magazines and sat on the steps.<br />
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When I looked back up, I noticed a blond girl wandering around clearly looking for somene she'd arragned to meet*. She was wearing bright red lipstick, which really stood out from her pale skin. I took a couple of pictures, wondering how much that would be visible in the general scene.<br />
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Got home, and the pics were a bit disappointing - this was the best of a bad bunch. Photoshop allowed me to make something worthwhile out of it, adding a motion blur to the rest of the picture and keeping her "sharp". I think it would look much better if I'd actually got her in focus though.<br />
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* you don't see that too often. Generally people use their mobiles to find where each other are, rather than hang around at a pre-arranged time & place.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598449571905420859.post-17788904105976350362010-08-20T05:43:00.000-07:002010-08-20T05:43:15.539-07:00OpenerI've wanted to blog for a while, though I'm not sure why. I guess everyone else does it, and it's one of those things you can do pretty much when you want. Then there's the "what to blog about" thing, I'm not one of those people who can just write endlessly about any subject. Those that know me know I tend to be the quiet one in a group, and I'm the same when it comes to writing - try to get 100 words out of me, and I've said everything I need to say in the first 50.<br />
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I've had my SLR for about three years now, and what started off as "I think I'll get a new camera" has started to verge on an obsession. What I lack is an artistic streak - I really admire the way some people can see a great picture in everyday life, while I'd just walk on by. I recenly bought a copy of Photoshop Elements (actually, that was about a year ago now I think about it) and that's added a whole new arm to the hobby.<br />
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So, here we go. I'll take a few photographs, and use this to describe what I was looking for, why I took them, what I did to make them better, etc.Mike in Edinburghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09488947818845046677noreply@blogger.com0