Lightroom hidden secrets.

I have heard from a lot of people that they are struggling with Lightroom of late. Admittedly I was an avid fan of Apple's Aperture when it was available and it did take me some time to get used to Adobe's Lightroom.

I came across this video today which I thought was worth posting as it has some nice tips that aren't usually covered in most Lightroom tips videos :-)

Apple Store Photo Walk - Exploring the Grassmarket

I had a fun time this morning taking a guided tour around the Grassmarket in Edinburgh with members of the Apple Team and other iPhone / iPad photographers. The apple team members were very helpful in explaining how to use the Camera Application and brought along some hardware from the store to try out!

Although what the Apple Team members were explaining was prior knowledge to me, it was good to meet new people and to help them with some of the functions of their applications and photography techniques.

Interestingly the majority of the people were older (OAP's), this took me a little by surprise, but it was great to see an older generation really get to grips with this technology. It was surprising as I have never seen a lot of people (of an older generation) use this technology so adeptly.

The afternoon was taken over by a client meeting signing off a website, which will be part of the portfolio when this site relaunches in March. The site is Tenth Floor Photography, go visit it and leave some nice comments on his first blog post! :-)

For now I'll leave you with some of the shots from earlier today in the Grassmarket and surrounding area.!

Apple store visit

Anybody that knows me a little knows that I extols the virtues of Apple, and the joy of using a Mac. I'm a Mac? I could have played Justin Long's part in the adverts without the large pay check :-)

Needless to say I was more than a little disappointed when my MacBook Pro stopped responding to keystrokes and trackpad movement last week. Having tried the usual turning off and on again, and frustrated searching on the internet I had to give up and take it to the Apple Store. The Apple 'Genius' didn't tell me anything I hadn't already figured out: "The keyboard and trackpad isn't working". He run it through a few diagnostic tests and decided to send it off to some unknown magical place that would sort it.

I was a bit apprehensive at sending it off somewhere as my experience (ala MediaMarkt) was that if it did come back it would be in a months time.

Shockingly, I was summoned back to the Apple Store yesterday and was presented with my MacBook again, apparently a ribbon cable that connects the keyboard/trackpad and the motherboard had been faulty. It took them less than a week to diagnose, fix and get it back to me. I was duly impressed.

I have often been in the minority in "what computers should I buy?" discussions and there is no doubt that I could buy PC's that are a third of the price for the equivalent computing power but for me it is still the service and professionalism that Apple gives, especially in their stores that makes me a happy consumer.

Thankfully I was still under warranty (and have extended Apple Care) as you would not believe how much it would have cost to get it repaired ;-)