kja

49/52 - Dad working the plasma torch 50/52 - maybe my last visit to The Stick since the idiots are building the new stadium in Santa Clara, for Pete's sake!! Great game with perfect weather and 49ers walloped Miami with Kaepernick running for a 50 yard TD 51/52 - my nephew, the Bodie-man rockin' his winter hat Whew! I'm caught up :) two more photos for the year for me - week 52 and week 52 & 2/7s :D Next time I have time, I can go through and look at everyone's photos more carefully - and that's always fun!

A couple of my friends are starting another year of their fortnight challenge. They decide on a theme - alternating - and post to a single dedicated blog once a fortnight. So that's only 26 themes and 26 posts with lots of time to deal with real life and the challenge. They did five photos per theme this past year and I think are doing three photos per theme this year. I'd love to do something similar but can't find anyone local to do it with me. Since the internet makes us all closer in some ways, I thought I'd ask the DOLers if anyone would like to join me. I know I won't do it alone... anyhoo, if you're interested please let me know here or PM me :) Thanks! edit: Here's the link to the blog so you can check us out!

43/52 - Dora checking out the morning conditions over the Gulf 44/52 - nudi holding on in massive current, Exmouth, Ningaloo Reef 45/52 - Lobo's eye 46/52 - iPhone Boof watching birds 47/52 - bustard on our way back from the beach 48/52 - sunset in Key West

Awesome to see this thread still ticking over and some amazing photos in here, thanks, All! I fell behind due to travel and then being so swamped with images followed by a big battle with the Big D and work and more images and more travel. I'm still struggling on many fronts but I am determined to share my weekly shots, even if they are massively late and even if you're going to be bored to tears with the ones from my diving holiday so I apologise in advance. I really want to complete this project so here we go... 37/52 - humpies in Exmouth Gulf 38/52 - WWF blue-ring octopus style, Lembeh 39/52 - close up squid, Lembeh 40/52 - shrimp condo, Tulamben, Bali 41/52 - Boofster cuddle on a scary day 42/52 - Tilly subtly telling me her food dish is empty mtc..

huga & gap - beautiful again! whoops, lost a week! Week 35 Harry yawn Week 36 lunch break

I just had a play with the Canon 600D last week - it's quite nice Pretty much any of the entry level dslrs from Canon or Nikon will give you plenty of things to learn and keep you shooting great results for a good while. It will come down to your budget and which brand/model you personally like better - you can't go too wrong so don't worry too much! If you buy used, just buy from someone with a good reputation. Look here or POTN for Aussie sellers or even ebay. I still have and adore my Canon 40D - and it's several generations old.

I use spyder products. Yes, macs will also benefit from calibration - they aren't magic ;) Best thing to do is send off a few test prints to your chosen lab and make them tricky prints with lots of dynamic range and lots of black/white tones. If they are spot on, don't mess with things and keep the prints handy for reference. If they are off at all, calibrate. To some extent you can pop stuff up on the net and ask people what they are seeing - really only works if other monitors are spot on, though! I have one monitor (Asus) that was great right out of the box and one that has a temperament and needs to be calibrated now and again. I admit to being lazy and just using the Asus for colour work instead of recalibrating the other one, too LOL Works for me.

tlc - loving that red & yellow flower in post 241 and the last bug in 242 I'd love to find a bug like that and a daisy (is that what that white flower is?) - such potential for a really striking shot! Nice work :)

Got dive bombed by three of these guys yesterday. Batstards. While we were standing around chatting, my gardener found this little guy hanging out in a plant. I had a play with some actions I found languishing on the hard drive thanks to a restart that disappeared all of my actions from PSCS5 and mono

Thanks, CC & snook! kirislin - wow, what an awesome place to go shooting

Even compact cameras can join in! Playing on the beach before sunset

Great, huga!

gap - I think they look lovely. #2 is my fav of the set :) dog - sweet :)

Thank you :) Skinks are icky slimy looking and just downright freakin' creepy

Thanks, All. I spent quite a bit of time on my patio yesterday, just enjoying the "first day of spring" (I'm still not used to it being the first of the month instead of actually related to the earth's cycle!) I again can't get over how many birds, lizards and other critters happily wander around out there. I detest these guys - huge ICK factor for me Honeyeater on the retic hose And, of course, Camera Slut Boy Lobo

Nice start, pers!! I'll toss one up here from today's play in my back garden. Canon 100-400L at minimum focus distance, handheld 400mm, f5.6 (max aperture), 1/320, ISO 400 + shooting between palm fronds & a happy bit of light breeze in the background. Nothing in post except my siggy thingo

I should be working. Or painting. Or doing housework. But I keep getting distracted by the stupidly loud birds outside of my office window. Good excuse to give the 100-400 some love, I guess. Neither pup is that excited about me getting the camera out: Dora meditates and Tilly furiously pretends to sleep

Brrrr! It was cold here last night and this morning, too, but not quite that cold! Love the frosty pond :)

out of time! I guess I'd start with: Exploring isolating your subject Encompasses depth of field (so play with apertures and distance from backgrounds/subject/camera etc), watching out for distracting background elements (no posts out of heads, learn to move as you visualize your shot to eliminate/minimize funky extras you don't need in the shot etc), altering your shooting angle to get a cleaner background, giving your subjects room to "breathe" and others bits & bobs. I think it's a pretty flexible theme that allows for all kinds of lenses, techniques & photo opportunities while building on the strong base of "focus". Good step in the move from snapshots to more polished photographs.

Nice Turbo!! He looks a little deranged, but I think they all do when they're having so much fun

I think others should chime in on what they want to do - I'll be on holidays for most of Sept and won't be able to participate much! Maybe a poll? 1st gets Sept, 2nd gets Oct etc? Save having to do a "what shall we do" thread every month?

Thanks :) What did you decide? Tomorrow's the first!! :)

now that you're confident at f8, try opening up and getting shallower depth of field

My votes would be for something fundamental: - exploring the rule of thirds - shooting verticals - exploring negative space - exploring alternative ratios: squares, panoramics, cinematic (1:2.39 etc), 1:2, 1:3 and so on - capturing motion: fast and slow shutters; dragging the shutter; using speedlites/strobes etc - exploring shooting angles: ground level, from above, straight on, bird's eye... - isolating subjects from backgrounds: depth of field, shooting angle, watching for distracting elements... I like the ideas of editing in various ways(textures, composites etc) for ongoing challenges. I'm not a fan of SOOC as I shoot RAW for a reason; even when I shoot jpeg I think about how I am going to achieve what I want. To not use all the tools at one's disposal is like shooting film and leaving it undeveloped in the roll or putting the camera on P and firing away. What one does in camera is only part of the creation process.

my Canon 24mm 1.4 so know you love your Nik, too!