12.07.2009

some summer fare to chase the winter blues and a request for your help


sorry for the long post, but i could use your feedback, so i'd truly appreciate any who will read {especially the second half } and respond.




i made a caprese salad for dinner tonight and last night. it doesn't matter what time of year it is... i always absolutely enjoy the flavors in the combination of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. i know this is usually more in season for summer, but thanks to trader joe's grocery stores, i can have it even in the middle of winter.

and it's the perfect treat that also meets my new standard of trying to eat more raw foods. i've always heard how good it is to have as much raw food in the diet as one can. and i try to adhere to this as much as i can. but in my fight with this cough, i've put on the boxing gloves of good health to try to combat it. i just started taking vitamins again, too. {oh, and for all my second moms out there that have been worried about me and telling me to go to the doc, i made an appointment for tomorrow morning. aren't you proud of me?}

anyway, i decided to take some pics of my salad, 'cause not only do these taste delish, but they always look so pretty! the colors are almost too lovely to eat. while i was shooting the salad, b. walked into the kitchen and the following conversation took place.

him...
"silly, don't you know you're supposed to
eat your food, not take pictures of it?"

me...
"any true photographer
knows that's just not true."

him...
"any photographer except a starving one."

haha! he's a wise one. or is it, wise guy?

~~~

okay... now on to asking for your help. does anyone else use firefox for their internet browser? if so, is your browser showing what mine is when i view the post from two days ago... the one titled "i set my camera down"? for some strange reason, there is a big grey rectangle in the bottom left area of the top photo of that post. it's not in the image -- i double checked. and it's weird, 'cause if i click on the post title so that only that post is showing, the image is fine. but when it is viewed with all the other posts, it's got that funny box.

i don't like that, because the top photo is one of my favorite in the group. i tried everything imaginable to get rid of it, but to no avail. what's also weird is that if i look at my page in safari browser, it looks fine. but i did look on a friend's computer today who also uses firefox, and it was bad there, too. this makes me think it's a firefox issue, and not my computer. so if you use firefox, let me know what you see. or if you have a blogger blog, let me know if you've ever had weirdness like this on yours and what you did about it. pleeeeeeeasey??

and i have one more request for your feedback. while looking to see if the box showed up on my friend's monitor, i also noticed something else that i had been somewhat worried might be the case. i saw how faded and washed out all of my photos look. this was a new monitor that is calibrated correctly, so i know it wasn't just their setup. my monitor is very old and faded, but also very dim. {i have the brightness turned up as high as it will go.} so when i open my photos in photoshop, everything looks way too dark, and i end up lightening all my photos as a result. and the weird thing is that photoshop causes my photos to look even darker than when they are uploaded to my blog. so i am compensating even more heavily to accommodate. well, tonight i discovered my fear to be true. kind of gives new meaning to my blog name, "it's just how i see things".... a lot different from you all, apparently. {unless you have an old dark monitor, too.}

so... please tell me. {i won't be offended. just be honest, 'cause this will help me for the future.} are my photos too light and washed out? if so, i'm moving that new computer to the top of santa's list! i would just ask for a new monitor, but the mac i want is a monitor-included model. buying a new screen for my current computer would be a waste if i get the computer i am holding out for. help. please help!

14 comments:

Carolyn Ford said...

I do NOT see a gray rectangle on the image...and, I use Firefox...why don't you delete the photo and then re-enter it. Maybe that would work. But, it looks good on my end.

And, your photos have subtle colors but I wouldn't say they are too light or washed out.

ginny said...

i use firefox and i can see no grey box... i hope this helps... also your photos are gorgeous and regarding paleness... all screens are so varied.. i know my photos are paler on my friends monitor... i don't know how we get around this? wishing you a lovely day and do hope the cough improves... gorgeous salad x

Dagmar said...

Hi Georgia, I don't see it eighter. Your pics look just fine to me (my comp. isn't calibrated so I think the same some times that i'm over doing it, and I don't because whenever I go to let them print by a pro they turn out different in colors too...grrrr). So I should calibrate my comp too. But all your pictures look stunning to me, notting to worry about with fading etc. Oh but I don't work with firefox so maybe thats it? Good luck to you. And I'll be thinking about you when you see the doc. Keep us informed (well only if you want to of course). CU

Tracy said...

Your salad is scrumptious, Georgia! This is one of my favorites too--any time of year. In winter it's a taste of summer! :o) As to your problem, I use Firefox too, and I see no problems here with your photos or anything. Perhaps just temporary glitch. Try re-loading the photo(s) Everything looks great here--as always! :o)

Sueann said...

Everything looks great here too! I use Firefox as well. Your photos look terrific...not washed out at all. I just love the pic of your salad. It is gorgeous!
Hugs
SueAnn

Steve Gravano said...

Caprese salad is only better in the summer because we make it with homegrown tomatoes and basil. It'd still great year round! No box on my screen. Your photos don't look washed out here either. My photos never look the same once I upload them to blogger. I tweak them and re-upload and they still don't look as good (to me) as they do in photoshop.
That salad is making me hungry it looks delicious.

Steve Gravano said...

P.S. maybe the rectangular box is from the sunspot in the photo. If the monitor is set darker it looks like it could create a box. Maybe?

S. Etole said...

I use Firefox and no rectangle is appearing. I know my photos are washed out on the blog compared to what they appear on my computer which is frustrating. Your salad is beautiful and very Christmasy with the red and green.

Janet Oberholtzer said...

Found you today via Just ... A Moment. Beautiful pics and words.

Caprese salad is one of my favorite salads! I'm also trying to eat healthier and now seeing your pics - my mouth is watering, so I'm going to have to go shopping today :) No trader joes near me, but Giant Grocery Store has great produce.

Your pics all look great to me.

d smith kaich jones said...

I use both IE & Firefox, depending on the computer and the windows version it's running. All looks fine. All my work computers are "calibrated" and I put that in quotation marks because of Barefoot From Heaven's remark about the colors being different when she has prints made. My boyfriend & I own a professional photo lab & like I said, all our computers are calibrated, but there is so much else that depends on the color of a final print. Paper particularly. In addition to each paper printing differently (and having to be calibrated - each comes with a profile for each type of printer if you're lucky), each printer is different, and printing on photo paper instead of digital paper is totally different.

Also, like Steve, the color of my photos is always different when I upload them to Blogger. Always I color correct differently for my blog images and still sometimes you just can't get there from here. Pink is a particular problem for me - always, always it is too purple. In addition, I have a friend who was having problems with Blogger - her images would appear out of focus. Soft. She began loading them into Flickr and them uploading from Flickr into Blogger and that corrected the problem.

For me, all your stuff looks good, though.

:) Debi

Hi Kooky said...

Your colors look great on my computer. The salad photos are vivid and saturated - no worries here.

As for Firefox, I switched away from using it, because it was so weird with things like that for me too. My hubby convinced me to use Google Chrome, and it's worked fine ever since. (for the most part)

I think any weirdness with a browser really shows up when it comes to posting photos on blogger. That's where even Chrome can be weird sometimes.

Good luck, and I hope you get the Mac computer!

Char said...

colors will differ on monitors just because of the wide variety of systems and color treatment. they look fine to me - my monitor at home is a laptop so they're dark there, my laptop at work makes them brighter. The difference between Sony and Fijitsu I guess.

beth said...

no grey box....
and your photos look fine to me...like always !

monitors are crazy....programs for editing are crazy...none of them look exactly the same everywhere and it drives me crazy.....

now that explains a lot....as my hubby would say :)

Grey Street Girl said...

I'm so glad to hear you're going to the doctor for the cough. A cough is nothing to play around with and it can wear you out so easily.

All the photos look great as usual - the salad looks really vibrant and yummy. And, I don't see any boxes and I use Firefox and IE.

Get to feeling better soon! Don't make me come up there! ;)