September 2011 - Playing with digital photographs.

Ever since I discovered Paint Shop Pro as a free version on a cover-disk in the 80s I have manipulated photographs in order to enhance them. Sometimes it is removing people from backgrounds but can be taken to a high level and be used for removing scratches and marks from treasured photographs of relatives through to completely changing backgrounds in order to place people in a different environment.

Digital images on newer cameras may be altered quite easily and older printed photographs must be scanned before attempts at improvement may be made.

In my Computer Group (part of the Torrevieja U3A) we will be covering photo enhancement and this post is for demonstration purposes to show a few techniques.

1. Removing annoying or eye-catching backgrounds.

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Here the image has been cropped, and the car and pavement rubbish has been removed. The groom has had two blemishes removed from his face.

2. Changing a background


In this photograph, the lovely couple standing by their flash car has been added to a picture from "Wind in the Willows". By no means perfect but an early experiment of mine.


Now the same lovely couple (somewhat older but just as lovely) have moved on to a swimming pool but the thin trees in the background allow a view through to the road and houses. Using "cloning" the trees have been spread to provide a more pleasing background and hide the cars etc.


My Great Niece, Grace, was photographed on holiday being given a bath in the kitchen sink in their caravan. I think removing her to a field of wild flowers makes a much more pleasing picture.

3. Repairing old and treasured photographs

Above is a badly damaged photograph of Sergeant Joseph Christie of the Eighth Army, taken circa 1942. Again not perfect but a vast improvement and a very acceptable enhanced image.

A friend of mine was doing his family tree and asked if I could improve this picture of his Grandfather. Mainly using cloning, the scratches, creases, and spots have been removed and left a very good new image. A photograph like this could take about three hours to improve to the extent shown above. The sepia tone has been kept to maintain the "age" of the photograph.

I hope to demonstrate these techniques in future weeks with my Computer Group.

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September 2011 - An act of trust from The Halifax (not).

I have been banking with The Halifax for about thirty years. I have had two mortgages from them and have never missed a payment. I have two Savings Accounts with them and have used them for my house and household insurance. Up to about two years ago they were happy enough to let me carry a Halifax Visa Card. My salary or pensions have been paid into my current account for quite some years.

Whilst checking my Santander credit card account during our recent holiday in England, I found that some kind person had been using it for online Poker Games. I can't say whether he won or not as only the payments were reflected in my account, and not any money he may have won. Santander sorted out the problem without fuss, credited the amounts and sent me a new credit card. Unfortunately this was sent to my Spanish address, leaving me without a card in the UK for petrol and other purchases.

Not to worry, I thought, the good old Halifax (motto: a little extra help) will sort me out; I will simply resume my old credit card with them.

Not so! It would appear that I am not rich enough to hold a card with the mighty Halifax. They did not tell me this of course but said my credit check, combined with their own knowledge of me, revealed that I am not worthy of them. They dutifully gave me the details of the credit check agency, both verbally and by mail, telling me several ways I could get hold of them.

So I did. My credit check was exemplary. The results showed that if I applied for credit in a situation where interest rates depended upon my credit rating, I would receive rates at the lower end of the scale.

So now I can only assume that The Halifax cast aside us poor pensioners so that we will not bring down their business again like their own boys in red braces did a couple of years ago.

During the course of my verbal application no questions were asked about my outgoings, amount of required credit on the card, or method of payment. They asked about my income but being but a poor pensioner this is pitifully low. They did not ask about joint income or other cash input which added together keeps us in meat (a couple of times a week) and other basic necessities. From this I infer that if I was earning a large salary but had huge debts and a massive mortgage a card would be mine. Their questions logically point to this.

Not to worry. Upon arrival at our home in Spain my Santander card was waiting for me so I can tell The Halifax that I no longer require their card and I will continue to use their rival.

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September 2011 - The road home!

The 1st of September saw us with a packed car (far too packed) reversing our trip of early July, and heading south for sunny Spain.

This is not a story of the complete trip as one 1500 mile journey through Europe is like another. I must mention however one or two points of note and interest.

The Queen Elizabeth Bridge, which takes M25 traffic clockwise over the Thames, is now so busy that the number of toll booths is completely inadequate at times of even medium traffic numbers. We crossed at about 2:00pm on a Thursday and it took us over 30 minutes from the bridge approach to exiting the automatic booth (about 2km).

The impressive but overcrowded QEII Bridge

It made us late for our Chunnel crossing but happily the operators are very flexible and simply put us on the next train.

We entered France and stopped at hotels in Calais and the Loire Valley then travelled down through the centre of the country towards the A75 Autoroute. This incredible motorway is free for its entire length (apart from the Millau Viaduct which is a toll bridge) and takes you from Clermont-Ferrand to Beziers near the Mediterranean coast, a distance of 340km. It travels straight through the Massif Central and I believe it to be the most scenic motorway in Europe. The views are incredible and it rises to 1121 metres at the Col des Issartets, much of the motorway runs at over 800m above sea level, and over 50km runs in excess of 1000m.

Le Puy de Dome

The volcanoes of The Auvergne

One can see the Puy de Dome, which is the highest of the extinct volcanoes in the Auvergne, and the views are so good that you have to take great care not to sightsee at the expense of safe driving. South of the Millau Viaduct the motorway drops sharply to Beziers through a series of tight switchback bends where the speed limit is reduced to only 80kph (50mph) for safety reasons.

The Viaduct itself is a wonderful sight as it crosses the Tarn Valley. Its statistics are massively impressive and may be viewed on many websites including Wikipedia so most are not repeated here. The highest pylon is 343m high, 19m higher than the Eiffel Tower, it is 2460m long, and cost €300million to build. It now costs €6.40 to cross it. It is such an attraction that it has its own Visitor Centre where you may view films of its construction and of course purchase souveniers from a fridge magnet to huge framed photographs.

It was a fine but dull time of day when we crossed so I have included one or two photographs from the Internet to decorate this article.

Please click on these pictures to view them full size

The beautiful British designed Millau Viaduct

Worthy of mention is the hotel in which we stayed the night before. Les 2 Rives is part of the Logis group and is a beautifully turned out hotel in Banassac, a tiny village of only 800 inhabitants. It has been completely modernized recently and each room has beautiful facilities, a king-sized bed, wi-fi, and TV. Our room overlooked the river and was very restful.

Hotel Les 2 Rives, at the side of an unnamed mountain stream

After Banassac we travelled down the A75, along the French southern coastal autoroute, into Spain, around Barcelona and stopped at Tarragona. This is a city with 2000 years of history but I only want to mention the area in which we spent the night. From Booking.com we reserved a room in the Hotel Lauria, situated on the Rambla Nova, and from the looks of the map, close to the beach.

The hotel location map

The hotel was quite old fashioned but the room was large, had a balcony overlooking the smallish pool, was air conditioned, and had the usual facilities. We took a walk from the hotel, along the Rambla towards the sea, then stopped dead at the view point. We were about 50m above sea level with a very steep road down, and two main roads and a railway line to cross before we could reach the beach.

View from the end of the Rambla Nova

Anybody in a wheelchair, or parents with buggies would find it very difficult to reach the sea if not impossible. Quite amusing for us staying only one night but a complete shock for anybody on holiday.

Finally fuel costs. Our little car runs on diesel. In the UK it is more expensive that petrol, on the Continent it is slightly cheaper than petrol. The prices we encountered (in euros for comparison purposes) were as follows:-
UK normal garage 1.53
UK Morrissons 1.47
UK motorway 1.60
France normal garage 1.39
France motorway 1.51
Spain normal garage 1.25
Spain motorway 1.29.

It felt like a long drive back from our new holiday home in the Yorkshire Dales, especially in the heat, and next year we will probably leave a month later, and take the western route down through France and cut the journey by a day.

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