HDR, AEB and DELETE! Technical terms...

Calendar says: Boiler man coming in the 'am'. What does that mean? It means that you have to be up and ready for him at 8am, but he won't come till 11.55am.

Oh, ye of little faith! The phone went about 9am. I was ready. It was the power company.

'I'm very sorry but the expected visit this morning will not now be until the afternoon, he has had some breakdowns.'

I'm not sure if the breakdowns were the van, the boilers he came across, or indeed the boilerman himself. I didn't like to ask. But how good was that? A brownie point then for that power company, although they charge an arm and a leg for the pleasure of my custom.

I've been intrigued with the HDR images I see on blip. When I started blipping, I hadn't heard of HDR, then I started using an HDR filter, but I've been following Chamaeleo's journal, and he has been experimenting with some amazing HDR shots, with his camera handheld. (Can I also mention the BEST gosling shot ever!)

I didn't know you could do this. I knew you had to change the exposure between shots, but how could you line it up again exactly? You must need to use a tripod. Surely.

This intrigue prompted me to read the camera manual! And there it was - AEB - Auto Exposure Bracketing. You can set the camera to take three shots - standard, over and under exposures. Brilliant!

So when the boilerman postponed our date, I hot-footed it down town to try out my AEBs on some buildings. It was still quite early, and the Mile was relatively deserted, except for the rubbish collectors and a few Fringe performers. This group had an early show, and so had to be in town first thing (bet they weren't partying last night like our Fringe neighbours were). It was lovely to hear them singing. What talent. They said they were doing quite well with big audiences.

I spotted the old codger with the straggly grey beard. I've seen him most days. He wears a kilt, tweed jacket, Dr Marten boots that have been painted blue (different blues, mind) and uses a walking stick. He hangs round with the performers, and I assumed he also did a spot of performing himself, perhaps some intriguing statue work. In fact, I've already got him in some shots.

Edit: check out shev's sneaky pic of him.

So I took a photo of him as he came along. When he got near me he waved the walking stick - very near my nose, I may add - and shouted 'Delete!'

I was quite taken aback. A man walking behind him came up to me laughing. 'He didn't want his photo taken? He must be the only person in Edinburgh!' I haven't deleted it, but I daren't use it. I think he could run faster than me, even though he has a stick.

I'll now have a fiddle with my AEB photos and await the boilerman, when he's recovered from his breakdowns.

Besides, I need to recover from my near-assault.