More thoughts on the HP Photosmart D5460 Printer

Once again, I was having ink problems with my HP Photosmart D5460 printer. I had streaking and lightness of color. I tried the usual things like print-head cleaning and alignment to no avail. I replaced a few cartridges. Still no good prints. I remembered I had once taken the print-head out and rinsed with water to make the black ink work. I decided to try this again. I removed the ink cartridges, then removed the print head. I ran water over the print-head for about 15 minutes until the water stayed clear. I shook and agitated the print-head under the water stream. I dried the print-head with a paper towel and replaced it in my printer. I reinstalled the ink cartridges and began to print. It took about five 4x6 prints to get the print-head charged with ink, but after that the printer worked perfectly again. Hallelujah.

Note: I use aftermarket ink cartridges. This may contribute to the fouling of my print-head. But if an occasional print-head wash is all that is needed to restore the printer to working order, the money saved makes it worth it.

Pigment Inks for Epson 1400

I just bought an Epson 1400. It uses dye inks. I think there may come a time when I want pigment inks. Inkjet Mall at the link below offers a solution:

Welcome to InkjetMall!

I will report later when I do indeed purchase these inks.

Using a plastic plate for making a dreamy image

I like dark blurry images. For some reason they appeal to me. Like nighttime dreams they are real but not real.

 I recently have been using 6" plastic plates from Walmart in front of my lens to create the blurred effect. These plates are a soft plastic and have bubbles and haze built right in. Depending on how much blur I want, I can stack the plates.

Plastic Plates of Joy

I haven't tried this on other things like flowers but I am sure the effect will be similar. Kind of like a lensbaby, a very cheap lensbaby.

My first publication (small book)

HeartBeats

A book of poems by Panello (Penny) R. Hall with photography by H. Wesley Phillips

My Kindle Fire Review - Part 1

I received a Kindle Fire as a Christmas present. I have been using it for about 3 weeks now. Here are my impressions so far.

The Fire is heavy. It is constructed with very clean lines. All joints were tightly fit. Only one button for power. There is a USB connection for charging the battery and transferring data. There is also a ear phone jack. Battery life is good. I also received a cover. This cover can be made into a stand for watching movies and videos.

The Fire runs Amazon’s version of the Android operating system. I do not like the bookshelf view of icons and the way you choose apps or books. I would prefer icons for getting around but for now, this is not available.

Once a book is loaded, I find the reading experience very good with Kindle formatted books (mobi). Only books downloaded from Amazon are shown on your bookshelves, others are shown in the document shelves. I have downloaded pdf books and viewed satisfactorily on the Fire, although the page size may exceed the screen. I have also downloaded books from the Gutenberg Project and read on the Fire with success.

The Fire comes with 8 gigabyte memory, not all of which is available for books. This is not really a limitation, because you can store your books and music on the Amazon cloud if you desire.

Surfing the web is ok. Somewhat slow at times. But usable.

The built in email client works well with any pop3 or imap account.

In Part 2 I will discuss how I use the video and photo apps for my photography.