Clicking Mad

terranik - beautiful blue eyes (how'd you get the "stars" in the eyes?) ... dance and water Love the look on Ashoka's face in the shell pool lol

Thanks... I assume you mean my pupils being star-shaped? I have no idea!!!!!! They just turned out that way off the camera! I hadn't actually noticed until you pointed it out. I was standing in front of the window with the full sun shining in, but the window is that privacy glass stuff, so maybe it changed the refraction of light or something?!!? I don't know!

yup, it's nice and effective ... I wasn't sure who's eyes they were ... you have beautiful eyes

Sorry I'm not going to comment on every pic, but I think they have all been really creative and clever and I'm loving them all so far

minimum - I really like your nightlight tree pic

pps - very cute "tree" and "pink" shots!

helen - I like your "tree" pic, lovely feel

jag - cool moon shot!

darien - I like your "old" pic and water and eyes! And some cool ideas with the others

montall - the swirl of water down the sink is cool

terranik - beautiful blue eyes (how'd you get the "stars" in the eyes?) ... dance and water Love the look on Ashoka's face in the shell pool lol

tlc - cool car, so shiny and I like the shadowed reflection of the houseline in the red one

lea - I love your "home" shot and totally laughed out loud with "what you leave behind" brilliant! ... and I like your 1st attempt with "best friends", and in the 2nd your daughter looks like she is having a lot of fun with it!

twospirit - I like your music shot. Is that a texture underlaid with the notes?

poodlemum - I really love your "look up" shot! Fantastic colours and light!

dieseldog - lovely "best friend" shot, 2 of my favourite doggies ... good one with the water too! I too wish I could get a shot like that

bindi-boo - we've lost half of your shots early on ;) ... great idea for music and I like what you've done with the shot ... I pulled out some tapes last month for a listen ... how ancient hahaha you could have that as your "old" shot too lol ... I like your 2nd "child" shot, great idea too

rocco - fantastic shots as always!!! I particular enjoy the "best friends" and "mobile"

aquaticmal - I love long exposures, good job with the passing cars shot! I like your earlier contributions too!

iltby - I like your mobile comment ... nice bird shots at the feeder, those guys are so small and quick ... and I'm still a fan of the "pink" pic ;)

j - love your pink pics ... "moderate rock" I can't help but think of a Nirvana song with those words ... good idea for the nightlights and great work by your daughter

poocow - love your music shot ... Top actually looks like he's enjoying whatever it is he's listening to ... very creative too!

chezzyr - thanks for the update on Kirislin, let her know we're thinking about her here!

I hope to have some more up soon ...

nah it's Chess drinking out of the water bowl - his white fur is totally overexposed

does this help?

in the first one if you look real careful at the bottom edge of the bowl in the water you can maybe see Chester's face????

brilliant pics everyone

really loving it and some great ideas too!!

okay, I feel like I'm getting behind, so here's a couple I have been playing around with over the past few days

"pink" (I'm really not liking this)

"tree"

"water" (been trying out this shot for a few months with little success)

I feel a little lost like I'm starting all over again with photography atm, been taking heaps and heaps and I have at least developed some plans for some of the shots ... but I don't think I'll be posting many up for a bit until either my days off or I find a direction, but obviously I'll pop in here and check out what everyone else has been up to :p

Bonnie Parker - both water pics are really nice

Bindi-boo - I just realised who you are on flickr so will have a closer look when I get a chance ... nice revisit to the mirror and great vegies shot, really interesting! ... am I the first one to admit it took me a few seconds before I realised what was going on? :p

quoll - brilliant desk, love the complexity of that shot

andowen - absolutely lovely silhouette

vickie - really good water shot, love the eyes

j - love the sax!

twospirit - very interesting shots, full of colour ... I like them

huga - cool collection! My plan so far for collection is the only thing I really have a collection of - that is, dog toys

Josie - Love your portraits, they look like they behaved alright I was just going to say that you could easily use your macro shooter for some of these topics ... glad to see you have with the mushroom

chezzyr - what a good girl for the "glasses" shot, not sure Chester held a nice pose for me with the sunnies on last month ... I might have to revisit that idea

lea - nice shots so far, like the old building and "look up" is cool :D

poocow - really nice shot of Top, I like that one

tlc - like your home pic and such sparkling water

kirislin - I like your first water shot, labs always have so much fun in the water :p

there is no way I'm gonna keep up like I did in January

great pics everyone so far

I figured I'd start with the easiest ... well I thought it was going to be the easiest - Texas really isn't as pliable as Chester and he has this brilliant knack of once I've got the shot nicely lined up he's turning his head the 1/4 second before the shutter opens ...

Not particularly inspired, I'm not happy with either of these, though we did some good work to have him hold position while the lens was right in his face ... good boy!

EYES

Okay, apparently I have way too little faith in the dogs... -

Hope this doesn't sound really immodest, but I'm in love with this shot!

Nah, totally brilliant shot!

and an old term that gets thrown around at work a fair bit "TYD" (meaning: trust your dog! or dogs in your case)

Lea - cool eyes idea!

TwoSpirit - I laughed out loud on seeing your shot, clever and cool!

darien - nice comfy chair, I could see myself getting absorbed in it!

I have no idea how I'm going to approach this month

I think I miss taking photos of Chester already and not sure if I can incorporate the themes?? And I had planned on concentrating on pics of Texas for February but I'm not sure if he is a little sedantary for the job?

I don't know. I may still take pics of Chess for myself and do other stuff for here? or ??

thanks iltby & tlc - I had Chester sit in position (or close enough) so I had something to focus on, camera on a tripod using the 50mm lens, ISO 400 speed 1/13 and f/4.0. I deliberately left some "cropping room" around what I saw through the viewfinder just in case either of us moved a little too much when I jumped infront of the camera. I used all natural filtered light through the windows - my lounge room is generally the darkest room in the house but I had all the blinds and the front door (over to the right of shot) open to let in as much light as possible - there is no direct light it is filtered through the corregated opaque ceiling of my carport. Had the timer set - and have found out I can't change how much time I have to get in shot 10secs is all. Ran into shot and plonked myself into some sort of position, I sat on the lounge next to him in a couple of tries, then decided to lay-down on the floor infront and made myself smile :D which involved giggling so that it wouldn't look so fake and that was kinda how I found out my giggle encouraged a tail-wagging for Chess

Earlier I had tried to do a nose-to-nose type portrait shot but the 10sec time limit just never gave me enough of a lead-in 'cause he found it quite unusual and not sure he really liked it, usually after the shot was taken he'd be happy to give me a smooch. And I also tried a few on my bed in my bedroom - a lot more light in there, but I kept getting shots of my arse or up my nose, it wasn't working for me I was also looking into a nice portrait of us sitting down - again couldn't find the right setting for it.

Bindi-boo - cool collage! sweet and playful

jag - thanks, I've loved your scenic pics! ... and your last series is fantastic

tlc - love your collage too, the nose-to-nose ones are really nice, Chess just wouldn't do that for me, at least not within 10secs ;)

mtd - sweet Maggie (?) on the lounge

iltby - nice dog pics, I'm loving those kind of in-focus nose pics, leap has a great shadow going on and fantastic "Prey" pic, I prefer to off-centre and I think it looks great as it is

CM - your photo from yesterday is absolutely hilarious :p Have really loved seeing all your Chester shots over the past month, you've done some amazing things with B&W. Also, have already said it, but your photo from today is just brilliant, I absolutely love it

Ash, thanks for coming up with and organising this whole thing! It was a ton of fun Have really loved seeing pics of your two little boys. I think the first shot you ever posted is just brilliant, too.

And finally, thank you so much to everyone for your compliments and feedback and encouragement, I've had such a fun month with this

thanks iltby it has been a lot of fun!

I just want to thank everyone for embracing this challenge. I know for some (myself included) a photo a day is difficult to commit to. I am actually impressed that I managed about 20 out of 31. I have photos from a couple of days that weren't posted - one because I didn't download it until the following week and another because even though it's a good photo, it contains some explicit language (wall of graffiti).

I am so impressed with the way many of you have approached the challenge and made your own personal goals. I have loved a 'month of Chester' (including the self portrait ) and I have also loved 'ILTBY's month of macro'. I think there are a few here who have made great improvements with their photography over the month, the three that spring to mind straight away are tlc, PPS and lea.

Overall I have enjoyed and loved seeing the vast array of work that EVERYONE has produced from simple shots in their home, of their dogs and general domestic life to getting out and about and doing things they wouldn't have normally done if it wasn't for the challenge.

The treasure hunt list for February has been posted. Hopefully Troy will be nice and pin the thread for us again. I just want to say thank you to everyone for making this a success and I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have.

See you in the February thread! :D

Brilliant Ashanali ... thanks for starting this! It's been totally absorbing. I just went through the whole thread - it was quite a journey!

aquamal - love that last shot!

jayc - cool colours in the sky

poodlemum - beautiful boy and no pink for him

ravyk - love the running dogs pics really like them a lot! Love the movement and darkness and inability to entirely know what's going on

CM I absolutely love your self portrait. It's brilliant, well done.

thanks

Thanks EVERYONE for making this a great month! Brilliant inspirations and creations and dedications - it really has been a fantastic month!

I think I've learnt a great deal. Just concentrating on the one subject has made us both - Chester and I - better at knowing what to look for in a nice shot and him in his tolerance, posability (if there is such a word) and flexibility. I seriously think he's gotten good at "posing" how I want, and what I see - I've given a lot over to his "normal" behaviour but there were many shots that I've totally had to move him around with my words or hand signals - that recent night time shot for example all I had to do was put my arm/hand out to the left to get him to give the side-on shot which was what I was after ... he's learnt my camera language hehehehe

and I wouldn't've done it if it was for this thread

see you all in the February thread yah!

montall - cool catch with the flower in the droplet

hahaha tlc - same again!

I'd planned from about the 2nd week to take a pic of Chester and me on the last day - other than that I really didn't have much of a clue on how to execute it :p

after a few different set-ups this was the best I could manage

btw: I was thinking a title like: "I'm a Chess Nutter" because I'm wearing a t-shirt that says "Nutter" but you can't really see that in any of the shots I got ... but I like this one 'cause I found out that if I giggled just before the shutter went he wagged his tail

:D

a fun pic today - credit should go to spotty spot spot for the idea

thanks for the comments

kirislin - good idea getting in early, I like your shadow and dog

montall - I'm a glass and paper spider person too (or yoghurt tub and lid) ... spidey is colourful too

iltby - that fly-thing is really cool ... can't decide between the 1st and 3rd as my fav for today

tlc - thanks, the background is the emptiness of my yard where the light didn't reach basically, had Chester sitting on the edge of the light iykwim? I used the overhead fluroescence lights that I have in my back pergola-type area and I had the white balance to "white fluroescent" which I think made a big difference because I've tried pics out there before but they just haven't turned out quite right, plus it was the nice little 50mm (1.8) lens

Cooper jay is adorably cute and I love that sky pic of yours!

pps - whippy mustn't've just been having too much fun ... I think you've done a fantastic job this month with limiting yourself to 10 shots!

lea - Stella (?) looks like she's been rolling in the grass and has that look in her eye that she just might jump up and do a crazy run around hahaha

mtd - love the orchid - I've really become a fan of them since reading that book ... Maggie does sad very well

poocow - love the many faces of Darcy Super Dog! He starts off nice and calm and turns into a raving lunatic by the last one ;) too funny!

lost power just before I was going to download the pics for today and took half as many as usual but should get mine up before midnight

I'm a few too many days behind ...

I've really enjoyed seeing the landscape pics! Just lovely

ravyk - I think the "light tail" is cool - I like the effect you get from shooting into the sun

huga - love the pug face

aquaticmal - fantastic shot of your horse watching your dogs play, I really like that one

poocow - I've enjoyed your dogs in action shots ... Top, Super Dog and your friends' ridgie, they are really nice and clear

terranik - love the shot of you in the cabinet glass reflection, cool idea I think the pink/red one is a little brighter and easier to see what's going on, but I do like them both

and the bursting balloon shots are really cool - there's another trick I'm gonna have to give a go :D

iltby - really cool pics of scarlet playing, I especially like the first one. And of course still enjoying the macros. I like "feeble" for today best "carefree" is really nice too, has a very happy feel to it

bindi-boo - cool little grasshopper

jayc - great "arty farty" shot, I like that one!

chezzyr - lovely catch of the little kingfisher

I haven't had enough time to put any real effort into mine ...

Jan 27th - the neighbour's dog was stirring on the other side of the fence

Jan 28th - striking another pose

Jan 29th - a night time shot

Thanks for the comments everyone!

This thread is so cool. I'm so impressed with the variety, imagination and skill

poocow - lovely wedding flowers pic - I've got a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks and my friend (the bride) has handed out all the jobs for the wedding to her friends which means I'm supposed to be the official photographer and I say that very lightly because she doesn't care about the photographs so she says (as long as I turn up ;) ) ... not going to stop me from trying my best and you've reminded me not to forget the flowers amongst other things ... and superdog is looking very nice

lea - Stella is looking fantastic for her age! ... those gliding shots are cool ... great Australia Day pics ... they represent country Australia nicely!

pps - I'm struggling to find a pic of yours I haven't liked ... Poodie ... and the cows in the field yesterday ... brilliant!

becks - interesting wine glass pic

CM Chesters weaving shot is fab, did you set the timer anduse a tripod for that?

Does anyones cameas have continuos shots in timer mode??

yup timer and tripod and I have no idea whether my camera shoots continuous in timer mode, I strongly doubt it though

Love the race boat! very cool ...

aquaticmal - I love the pic of the re-vamping of your pool yard! I like the shape and setting of the leaves against the background ... and I love the ones from today too!

MTD - gorgeous lucky doggies

montall - love "jaws"

kirislin - think your horses eye photo is amazing, I love it ... and your spots pics are awesome ...

ash - too good, all of them just brilliant! I appreciate the tips too ... I so need to spend more time taking photos NOT in the middle of the day!

terranik - I'm really becoming a fan of Jedi and Ahsoka, the beach is great fun

poodlemum - very nice pic of your daughter ... I like your landscape beach shot too

jayc - I love the character in your shots, the silo and that wheel in Melbourne - hmmm I've just had an idea for my birthday

huga - great b&w pics ... love it when you can get that feeling from a photo

I will have to catch up tomorrow, some beautiful and interesting shots that I've seen ... but my quick submission for today ...

I tried in the mirror Bindi-Boo style this afternoon ... got some very funny looks ... this one had the best focus though

I feel very honored lovely capture!!!! and yes I can totally relate to the strange looks.

haha ... it's a good idea and I'm definitely going to give it another go some time soon! I couldn't get the focus right on most of the others, kept auto-focussing on the rose bushes I had behind Chester and they had the best "funny looks"

pointeeblab - I really like the "old married children" ... really does show!

I haven't had nearly enough time to put in any real effort in interestingness, so it's another Chester by the flowers pic again ... my rose bush out front is really blooming, getting Chester in the right position and avoiding some bad background has proven challenging though ...

:D

I will have to catch up tomorrow, some beautiful and interesting shots that I've seen ... but my quick submission for today ...

I tried in the mirror Bindi-Boo style this afternoon ... got some very funny looks ... this one had the best focus though

Your parrot is a very well-exposed and in-focus shot, beautiful colours

I'm really no expert but I can hand out useful links

someone posted this link before

Mark German

and this one I just found

rule of thirds

and practise practise practise

in flickr you need to check "all sizes" and "grab the URL link" underneath the photo ... and then here you need to use the "insert image" button to stick the [ IMG ] ...[ / IMG ] brackets around the URL link ... hope that helps

kirislin - wow, that's some dust storm, certainly creates an interesting atmosphere ... and Pagan is very pretty

jayc - that 2nd shot (whatever it is) is interesting

beck - nice erratic boulder and a good bit of education

montall - guppy bubbles! cool colours I feel like I'm being drawn in ... yup dallies are great!

iltby - glad we have a name for the critter!

today's pic up nice and early for me ... figured it was about time I revisited Chester's old tricks ... it's been that long since I've done any with him, he was buggered by the time we'd finished

weaving between my legs

The white fluff was coming from him It looks sort of similar to this shot that a contact of mine on Redbubble uploaded-

http://www.redbubble.com/people/starkatz/a...91438-2-no-idea

hmm, that is some weird critter

today's pic is all about the tree in the background ... in high winds yesterday a big branch from it broke loose falling over the telephone wires - after a call to the council, removal of the branches, 2 telephone companies fixing their lines the council have made an appointment for it's removal. I'm not real happy about it, this tree is the largest out the front of my house, no longer will I have the shade or the feel of privacy I enjoy with it now and it was one of the first things I shot when I got my DSLR and switched to manual ... I had to take a photo or two to remember it ... I also took heaps without Chester :p

Darcy is beautiful, sleepy on the stairs

love the golden boy

CM love the shot of your doggy with the left over strawberrys, is the pic black and white and just the straws in color, very clever.

thanks lea and tlc

sort of, I did it the easy way and desaturated to 0% all the colours other than red. I'm not real good with the spot tool or whatever it's called. I have tried it that way in one of the others I've done somewhere but didn't think it worked as well. There is some kind of red toning (even though I think it is more browny/orangey to look at) in the wood decking behind him which is shown up more in some of the other shots I took that I couldn't escape from using this method - and desaturating the green to 0% made the strawberry leaves look a little funny but I thought this one worked ;)

CM is your dally a smiler??....your dgs are soo photogenic

thanks, yeh he is, but for a 1000th of a second, I've not been able to get him to hold it for longer, I was thinking earlier this month I'll be lucky if I ever get a shot of that ... he only ever does it under specific circumstances and a camera infront of my eyes is not one of those times ... I see your pink poo is a smiler - nice pic!

pps - I'm not much of a car person but I love Mount Panorama pity about the missed photo-op of the guy who almost ran you over, and I love the "sad" race track pic - I like it when it's nice and quiet ;)

huga - lovely chooks! I've loved your pics to date ;)

lea - can't wait to see a birthday Stella giant schnauzer running through there - looks like a lovely spot for a picnic!

pops - nice piggy pic ... cute little playing piglets

terranik - cool skink ... to my eyes it has 2 heads, everytime I first look at it, it takes me a minute to get my bearings and find the position of the head

mtd - love that mountain! very atmospheric

persephone - awesome "boy" ... um I've heard dragon? I was thinking goanna? great shot!

bindi-boo - the mirror shots have been great, love that blue sky and clouds ... very cool :p I really like it!

itlby - looks to be a baby grasshopper with that head? but I'm not real good with these sorts of identifying of things ... is that white fluff coming off it's butt or is it related to the plant?

....

I have heaps

dogs on fridge, a whole wall of dog happy snaps from my old 35mm film camera that are laminated, a few framed holiday photos that I got enlarged - but to a size that it is hard to find the right frames for so I have another dozen or so printed but in waiting, and I have a drawing in a photo frame of Chester as a puppy that I did (I'm not particularly drawing-talented but I like it just the same) and some smaller frames with old dog and cat pics and a couple of my work dog.

I've given photos away as gifts too, mostly my parents and family.

I print photos at home sometimes and I plan on printing the good ones from the January challenge and some non-dog ones, actually I've already printed a couple of large size ones of the HDR stuff I did for the 1st :D

these are the holiday ones (2007 holiday to Russia) I have up at the moment in frames ... they were all taken with my small point'n'shoot digital camera and are photobucketed ( )

and this one needs a frame

:D

It's funny looking at these, the one thing my brother told me when I asked for feedback on the photos I was doing for the canon photo5 comp last year, that has really stuck with me is: "everything is smack bang in the middle" ... most of these photos show that too ... especially that last one if I could take it again I wouldn't center it so much

I love the poodle pics

poodlemum - those llama pics are very interesting and the koala is so cool

rocco - interesting texture stuff going on, I really like it

pps - love the white horse and the "lavender" is fun ... oh crap the friskie factory, bet it smells bad 'round there

kirislin - the peach tree huh? every year my dogs add to their barf diet and every year I must make sure the yard is clear of the seeds before I mow. I did take a pic today of Chester stealing one right off the tree in front of me, but it isn't a great shot so has been pushed off todays pick

mtd - I like the flower with the bird sillouette (20th)

itlby - I love the grasshopper pics, seriously they have such character ... and your dogs nose (21st) is really nice. Thanks for your comment on yesterdays pic, I love doing slow shutter speed pics, but I don't normally, or haven't very often tried it with the dogs ... I'm a little unsure of where the line is between too blurred, a bad shot and "art" :D

tlc - love your dogs ears and they are very active!

aquaticmal - cool pic of that colourful spider and the shadow on the wall ... it looks kinda suspended ... and I really love the first one of yours today, just beautiful

terranik - love the sequence dog pics - Ahsoka is adorable

ravyk - your retrieving dogs pics are cool, love the movement in them ... and nice car shots, I like the first one best

jag - I like the nighttime palm tree shot!

jayc - how many orchids do you have? the crucifix has such a vivid colour!

poocow - love Darcy :D

persephone - you need to take more hamlet pics he has great colouring and markings, very handsome ... love that spark inbetween the trees in your riverside picnic, it looks lovely

montall - that is a very interesting water drop pic, the tap is sorta silvery ... and again an interesting cactus flower wow!

popsicle - you could have added those bubble pics to the Canon photo5 comp last year hehehe the kids sure look like they are enjoying them ... and such a funny pic of Cosmo being bothered by the lace but refusing to move

bindi-boo - nice mirrored dogs, like the colour treatment too

instead of the peach pic, I've gone with strawberries - well the left over bits after making myself some breakfast this morning

been having concentration issues

loving the photos everyone and will try and comment later

just thought I should try and get the last couple of days up before I fall too far behind

20th

"Chester pouts"

21st

I was trying for movement - here Chester is lying on his side and washing his face with his paws

nah it's upside down

hahaha jayc - I've been seeing them in the sky a few nice mornings from a distance looking east towards the city (usually driving to work or with work) and thinking I really need to get one of those shots, and wondering why no-one had here yet

I agree with poocow lovely insects with the flowers, and the ant is

tlc - they are great action shots today!!

lovely colourful hibiscus and fruit basket

love the horse pics too :p

just finished editing mine from today ...

reflecting on the pool (Chester loves going to the beach but isn't keen on the pool, he's pretty happy to hang around on the decking, but it was hard getting some distance from him, he kept wanting to follow me )

fantastic pics everyone

rocco - thanks for the reply re: "direction" ... now that just makes me think that you and your sister do an awesome job even more than I thought before ;) Can't even say why it makes it so, maybe because you are both working for the right shot rather than just naturally come about them, maybe I appreciate the effort that goes in? ... whatever, it's cool :cool:

love the idea of having a room!! and the pics in there so far are fabulous ... rocco is gorgeous as always

jayc - loving the orchids

clover - great fluke shot, the ball and her mouth are in unison - open wide

kirislin - I'm with you on the dipsticks

huga - the clothesline is my nemisis - because I take so many pics in the backyard I have to work around the damn ugly thing - I was thinking at some stage I need to use it in a pic just because I hate it so much ... your angle is interesting, I like it

blab - black labrador eyes! great series

montall - I like the water around the pond weed you have there, and like you said it "sort of rolls" on the top. the lawnmower incident sounded a bit scary and a bit too much hard work

pps - lovely dog and horsey pic - the horse is brilliant shiny dark against the spotty weedy light background, highlights nicely

ash - glad to have you back. Great scenic, sunset/rise pics. I like the b&w bird in flight too. That bridge looks to be a bit of a worry.

itlby - great self-portrait ... I particularly like the toning ...

poodlemum - your niece is obviously a character ... bugger sitting in a chair and smiling ... Looks like she has some attitude. She'll be a star!

I like the PS water effect on the gardenias

tlc - nice family pic ... I like the one on the hill too

beck - :p

ripley - great story behind those koel birds. So mumma koel has gone back? when does junior go back to it's native territory? And some really nice shots!

bindi-boo - I really like the jersey caramel shot :D

ravyk - the pub sunset is great :p

awesome mouldy food, it is very colourful and spindly and interesting :cool: ... not sure I could have taken the pic though ... the smell woulda ... well yeh ... but a picture I like hahaha

lea - ah bondy's telling you to take more pics of him!!! hahaha "look what I got!!" I like the rose pic too, nice shadow up against the fence

poocow - pretty beagle pic and like kirislin said very clear