Amersham Beyond Group - 7th Nov 2024
Amersham Beyond Group - 7th Nov 2024
MONTHLY CHALLENGES
Current and past Challenge images can be seen at Amersham Beyond Group on Flickr.
For APS Members only, the images are also available for viewing and commenting on Facebook here.
The current Challenges are;
#45 PINK FLOYD ALBUM COVER
#46 NATURE AS ABSTRACT ART
… and the latest Challenge;
#47 OUT OF THIS WORLD
The objective of Out of this World is to create a space-themed image; planets, solar systems, astronomy, science fiction, derring-do. The viewpoint could be from earth or extraterrestrial. Given that most of us have not had the opportunity to go into space, open-source images can be incorporated such as from NASA, ESA, Unsplash or Pexels. But no generative AI.
Members certainly had fun with the images submitted for this Challenge which were more alien-inspired and less Brian Cox, which had been my expectation. Some very atmospheric and thoughtful images nevertheless.
The next Challenge will be;
#48 TONDO
No – not the Lone Ranger’s companion, a Tondo is a circular image or work of art (Italian: Rotondo) such as a ceiling boss.
For this Challenge the crop and/or main subject should be circular. There must be something of the photographer’s creativity in the image ie not just a picture of a button or a wheel!
The more adventurous could also investigate the Tiny Planet effect. The Photoshop procedure is not very difficult; 1. panorama 2.squish square 3. invert 4. filter>Distort>Rectangular to Polar. Many examples and tutorials are online. Such as here.
For the more flush there are now 360 degree cameras, as well as mirror balls and lenses.
BACK OF BEYOND DIARIES
Full Fibre. Our road was comprehensively trashed for one week last winter in the name of full fibre broadband. The initial offers were not very attractive but the unreliability of the local copper local network pushed me over the edge and after some research I plumped for Zen Broadband – winner of all the broadband awards for ten years. I ordered full fibre and sat back to see a flurry of emails pour in. Zen outsourced the external work to BT Openreach. After an initial survey all went quiet. After two months and many escalations by Zen we were both frustrated to find that Openreach had summarily cancelled the job for lack of a permission. They wouldn’t tell Zen or me what permission due to GDPR!
The road had been fibred by Gigaclear but to my surprise it seems that Zen and BT would not be using that fibre or ducting and further digging would have been required. I have now re-ordered from Gigaclear and already, within a week, the fibre is installed to the front wall of the house. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Anti-Virus Software. I was probably the last person on Kaspersky Security software on account of the two year paid contract and my 100% satisfaction rating. However given the renewal reminders and the fact that Mr Kaspersky is best friends with Mr Putin it was time for a change. After some research I have uninstalled Kaspersky (surprisingly easy) and left two computers on Windows Defender which seems to be perfectly adequate in tests. For my own desktop I have installed Avast Ultimate which was available from PC Pro Store for a bargain £30 for ten devices for two years and top-rated in tests! All good so far but I’ll let you know how it goes….
NEXT MEETING
Thursday 5th December 2024 in the Drake Hall at the Community Centre.
Cheers, Steve.