A Helicopter Takes Off . . .

Downtown Vancouver Today

Adobe Lightroom 5: Advanced Healing Brush

The new version of Lightroom provides a much easier way to remove objects from a photo. Can you spot two differences in the modified image at the bottom from the original on the top?

Adobe Lightroom 5: Radial Filter

Adobe recently released Version 5 of their Lightroom software. One new feature is called "Radial Filter". I took a photo today which was perfect to try it out on.

The 1st image is the original. The 2nd has three radial filters: The first to darken the area outside of the orchids and then one more for each of the colorful portions of each flower. The 3rd is a close-up of the 2nd image.

Behind Vancouver's Special "Painted Ladies"

On June 1st I was giving an impromptu walking tour of one of my favourite streets in Vancouver: The 100 Block West 10th Avenue. This is the home of the city's famous "Painted Ladies" - beautifully restored old wooden houses. We happened upon none other than Mr. John Davis, who was one of the two sons of the famous Davis family that started the restoration of the first 4 houses on this block. Eventually their efforts encouraged others in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood to do the same. And, as I understand it, lead to the City of Vancouver declaring the entire area between Cambie & Main and Broadway (9th Ave.) & 16th Avenue as a heritage zone. Well, lo and behold, John encouraged us all to go in behind the houses! I had never been back there before so it was a real treat. Equally so for my visitors from Brooklyn, Helsinki, Germany, and Holland.