Lightroom and Aperture

I have been using Apple computers since the early eighties. I had an an Apple 2e and then a 2c and then, a lot later, we had (still have) a green G3 iMac. And now a G5 iMac and an intel Macbook Pro.

I have also been using PCs for about the same length of time, but as machines at work, mostly using WORD and EXCEL.

I like the graphical interface on Macs and the easy way everything can be found, moved, renamed, and played about with; seemingly without the restrictions that affect PCs.

I have been playing around with, but not seriously using, Aperture for a month or two. I haven't really enjoyed using it but I put that partly down to having to learn a new system of commands. I have had my hands full with other things and I half-promised myself I would sit down and learn more about Aperture when I had a clear head and a few hours to spare.

Meanwhile I have been following the development of Adobe Lightroom and a couple of days ago I downloaded it.

I am not going to make any comparisons of the capabilities of the two programs to 'develop' a digital negative because they are both good.

What I can say without doubt is that Aperture is slow compared to Lightroom and not as useable. Lightroom is fast and useable and it is such a pleasure to use brought a smile to my face.

One feature I really like in Lightroom is the 'compare' feature, where one can see the 'before' and 'after' states side by side as one develops an image with sharpening, white balance etc.

Another feature I like about Lightroom is the ability to export (i.e. save) images to the hard disk and Lightoom automatically makes a subfolder within the folder from which the original image came, titles it and saves the images there. It can make a large jpeg and a save-for-web jpeg so fast that I had to go check the image had really been saved.

And for some reason, the Ligthroom program is one quarter the size of Aperture (about 50MB compared to 200MB) - now why should that be?

Cat in a trough

This cat was sitting sunning itself in a small flower trough on top of a wall facing onto a residential street. It is a fine example of how relaxed many of the cats here are. As to why they are relaxed might best be left for a political analyst, a psychologist or a social anthropologist.

Flower Heads and the New Railway

in the Machene Yehudah market there is a shop selling spices, herbs, teas and flowers - like the flower heads here.

One part of the of the market is somewhat narrow and dark and intimate and seems older and further from the modern world than other parts. Which makes one think what the area will be like when the light railway that is intended to run along the road by the market, is built.

Written Hebrew

Hebrew has two forms of written script - a formal 'printed' style, which has a squarer script, and a cursive style that has a more flowing appearance. The individual letters of the two scripts are quite different, though it is possible to see where the cursive designs grew out of the printed script.

As with other languages, there are different styles of lettering, from the ancient to the modern, and a comparisom of an adverisement in a newspaper with an early text shows this clearly. Here are two shots of public lettering, the first showing the address of a building, and the second referring to an organisation, with cursive script over printed script.

Tefillin

By a Lotto stand on a main street at the edge of town, in front of a cordoned-off building site, a young man is helped with the detail of putting on tefillin.

Tefillin comprise two leather boxes, about an inch and half along each side, with black leather straps attached to them and which contain Biblical verses. They are put on daily by Observant Jews (except on Shabbat and certain religious holidays) and are worn during morning prayer. One of the tefillin is worn at the forehead and the other on the bicep of the weaker arm (that is, for a right handed person, it is worn on the left arm).

The use of tefillin is described in general terms in the Torah and in detail in the Talmud.

Books

Books seen through the bars of an open window in an abandoned building. Will someone collect them?

Wild Cyclamen

These cyclamen - about 4" tall - are growing on a part-wooded slope laid out as a garden, overlooking a valley with the Monastery of the Cross in the valley bottom and the Knesset building at the top of the opposite slope. The 'garden' is principally a number of paths weaving across the slope, with the scrub cleaned from among the trees and with some grassed areas. And this is to explain that the cyclamen here seems to be wild and does not seem to be part of an intentional planting.

A little Gem

On the street shown in the street sign, there is a building unlike the others, not very big and in what I call Odeon Style (though whether that is a term used to describe anything other than Odeon cinemas, I am not sure), with curving walls and with windows that echo the tiers of the building rather than its height.

What's On at the Jerusalem Theatre

The Jerusalem Theatre is host to plays, films, talks, art exhibitions, a restaurant and a bookshop. The film being advertised, is 'The Queen' with Helen Mirren. Looking at the advertisement, it seems that the half-face at the top of the poster is intended to be Diana, who sits like a ghost at the party.

Lifta Part ll

The intensity of the sun bleaches colour from everything. At least that is the perception to the human eye. The colour is there but it perhaps it needs to be brought out a little, as here.





Or more ..

Rain

The Government announced a drought last week. Yesterday afternoon it started to rain and later into the evening it started in ernest and rained through the night and into this morning. The trees perked up and this shot shows how much they liked the rain.

In part, the overcast conditions help the light bring out the intensity of colours, contributing to the impression that everything has 'greened-up', in contrast to the pale, washed out colours that predominate on bright sunlit days.

The deserted village of Lifta

Just outside of the western 'entrance' to Jerusalem, in a steep valley descending north-north-west there is the deserted village of Lifta. The watercourse runs along by the remains of the paved street into the village and there are a number of houses and other derilict buildings remaining.

We went today to see blossom on the almond trees. We went today specifically because it is Tu B'shvat, the New Year for Trees, and even more specifically because the Society for the Protection of Nature were running a trip there.

Lifta was an Arab village and in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, it is perhaps a microcosm of the views of the two sides as to what happened and to whom and why. Today it is tucked between highways that branch west (towards Tel Aviv) and north from Jerusalem.

Slightly off-topic, but connected, I have had this feeling I may be creating the impression that it is a small third-world country, with a smattering of architecture that dates to earlier periods, when the country was occupied, but not much going on except for housing developments. This shot of the highway running north from the western entrance to Jerusalem should correct whatever wrong impression I may have created.




This is mistletoe among almond blossom. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant in that it lives on trees and sends its roots down into them and draws nutrients away from the host tree. In some cases it will eventually kill the host tree. Mistletoe is actually a hemiparasite in that it can also grow on its own and photosythesise materials. Usually though, it is a parasite and I imagine that when the village was occupied, the mistletoe would not have been allowed to grow so extensively.



This is cactus and an almond tree, showing the steepness of the valley.



The houses are on both sides of the little valley and either side of the stream peer down into the valley and the scrub and the path here are against a backdrop of one of the deserted houses in Lifta.