kja

I'm not sure where to put this and I'm really struggling for the past few days. My beloved Diva died a year ago come the end of this month. I spiraled into a deep depression that took months to even begin to climb out of and I've been struggling ever since. I had a few "good" months and was feeling a little stronger. Last month I really started to plummet again and this past week has been overwhelming. I have so many good things in my life and they help keep me moderately sane, but in my heart all I want is my dog back. I hurt so much. I don't know what I want from this post. I know I'm not the only one out there and I know you all have your own heartache. I can't bear to read other Rainbow Bridge threads to even offer my support because it knocks me out for hours and hours. Maybe just putting this out here will help. I don't know. I just hurt.

I don't think you need to find a book that is specifically dslr based. Photographic principles are pretty much the same no matter which medium you shoot. It's all about the light If you're thinking along the lines of "how do I get the most from my digital photography" rather than camera specific, check out Scott Kelby's offerings on photoshop and lightroom. Also How to Wow for Photography by Jack Davies & Ben Willmore is a great resource. I have to admit I've had this book for ages and only really dabbled with a few things, but it is still a resource I pull out for certain things. And I second Katrin Eismann's offerings if you're really into photoshopping stuff. If you are looking for photography books - the ones in this thread will apply to film or digital equally well and are some of the best books to start with. HTH

As you look at lenses with wider apertures, you will find that the lens is heavier (and better usually). Faster glass (2.8 vs 5.6 for example) will be heavier as they let in more light - and that means bigger glass diameter usually. You won't miss faster glass until you don't have it That f4 Canon is a great piece of glass and most people will never really need their 2.8 version. I have two Ls and they are monsters indeed! Oh, and they're white "officially" ;) If you can lay hands on the Sigma, do it - it's a top notch item for a very good price. If you're happy to have it shipped in, check out www.Sigma4Less.com as they often have great prices and the shipping to Aus is good.

The 70-200L f4 is a great lens. It's kinda heavy, though. Sigma do an 18-200 OS that's a cracker - might want to look into that one, though it's focal length is a little shorter than your maximum but if you're considering this range, it should be on your list imho.

Beautiful! I really like the last three - their eyes tell such stories! #1 is a tad dark but a bit of a tweak will fix it right up! I fiddled quickly and it's gorgeous with just a touch of processing love Be aware that the lcd on the back of your camera can be off a bit from true rendition. Better to use your histogram to check exposures.

Eeeewwww!

Add a dry pair of shorts or pants if you are heading to the beach! I am forever crouching down to get a better angle and it never fails that some rogue little wavelet will jump up and get me, even on the calmest days

Ditto. A UV / skylight filter offers little to the digital photographer other than lens protection. I think all we are talking about is lens protection here...

Each to their own I'm not saying use one or not, everyone has to decide for themselves. I'm just presenting another view for consideration. If you choose not to use a filter, it doesn't mean that your glass will die a horrible death I don't use filters for protection. Never have, haven't found an issue. I routinely shoot on beaches, out in the bush, leaning out of airplanes, off the sides of boats, with dogs (and once a horse!) bumping and licking and having a wee taste and while crawling around all sorts of places. I've not scratched a lens yet, knock wood. I shoot everything from my Nifty Fifty (about $50 ) to the 70-200IS 2.8 L and I am not concerned with my method for any of them. If you are going to buy a filter, buy a good one, imho. And I think using it while you are in a high risk environment makes a lot of sense - just make sure all three glass sides are clean I also picked up a new blower, I'd been without one for a long time - mine's just a bulb one - and it's a gem of a thing to add. Lightweight, easy to use, powerful enough to blow the dust and bits off without worry of scratching anything (handy trick - blow across the lens, not down on to it). Mine was like $8 or so. Works great when I'm out and about. austen - Woohooo on your new camera! Great that you're loving it already!! Let's see some photos :D Some stores will offer their people a larger commission on some items/brands. I'm not sure about Harvey Norman in particular. I do find that a lot of time the "photo pros" are anything but...even at some dedicated camera stores! I don't think you can go wrong with Nikon or Canon, honestly. I prefer Canon for a number of reasons including better high ISO results but know lots of happy Nikon shooters, too. It would be interesting to know specifically what these guys thought was better on a particular model - sometimes what's "better" might not be important to your needs. Also, when I was moving to dslr I found that Nikon's service was dismal. I live in a remote area and being without my camera for longer than absolutely necessary or having it cost squillions to fix wasn't a go for me. Everything I'd heard about Canon and the two times I had to deal with them myself was easy, stress free, fast and courteous. I've got two friends who shoot Nikon and both just sent stuff away (well, in September and November respectively). They bitched for weeks about the service they were receiving. My friend who sent his lens off in November still doesn't have it back. Service might not be a deal breaker, but it might be something that weighs in on one side or the other.

I don't use any filters on any of my lenses for protection and I'm not particularly graceful or careful with my kit. Stuff is pretty rugged, I've found. I just take reasonable precautions and pay attention to what I'm doing. Filters such as these can degrade image quality or change the image (some make the image darker, for instance). Adding glass to your lens will rarely help for optimum optical performance (and it means you now have three surfaces you have to make sure are spotless!) Another solution if you're worried about something touching the lens is to use a lens hood. Canon only supplies these with their L glass but Sigma includes one with all of their lenses. Again, I rarely use mine, but find this is a better solution for me. The added benefit of using a hood is a reduction of sun glare which is really helpful when you're outside shooting. As for books, hit the local bookstore and browse their selection as there are a million out there and not every one covers the things you are interested in. I also find hitting the net forums to be invaluable - there's a wealth of information and current real life examples posted every day on every subject you can imagine. Canon has a forum that's pretty extensive - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php - with subforums for all types of subjects, including Nature & Animals for pet photos. Excellent stuff in there.

Have fun with the new rig! I learn by playing - moving dials, pushing buttons, spinning wheels Take lots of photos of everything just to do it and figure out what works for you. I'm happy to help with anything photo ;) Look forward to lots of new photos!

Have you formatted the card yet? What happens when you do that?

Try it and see what happens - it's more likely that you have a bad card than some big camera problem...though that can happen Do you have another card you can test things with? What kind of card and where did you get it? Not saving on the computer is another thing - what does that mean? How did you put it here if you didn't save it to the computer, did you simply upload to this site directly from the card? Hmmm....

It looks like maybe corrupted data. Does it happen with all cards or only one? If only one: Try reformatting your card in your camera. Don't just erase the images, but totally reformat it.

Two quick ones to try...ymmv and there are lots of other ways... 1) use a flash to light your subjects. Not the easiest thing in the world with moving doggies! 2) use your manual modes and expose for the darker dogs. You may find this blows the sky etc, but it's the trade off.

OH god, yes. I personally make goofs all the time - but not the same goofs over and over...at least I learn :D For me, it's part of the process - I like experimenting and trying new things and usually I just wander off and do it without thinking it through or researching the correct way to try it first Most common goof I've seen in the pro circles? Not remembering to change the ISO. Sometimes no biggie but other times can make life a bit difficult! That's half the fun!

I personally don't like the white balance in this shot. I assume you shoot RAW (it will really help for what you are trying to do), so it's easy enough to make it correct - try the auto adjust settings in your software or use the eye dropper to click in various areas of the frame until it looks more natural. You might want to try setting your camera in Tv mode to ensure no camera shake. This shot also looks underexposed by about a stop. Test out cranking the ISO up again. It can't hurt and if you don't like it, don't use it I use the full range of my ISO on both my 20D and 40D as it is one more tool in the arsenal and Canon has worked very hard to make it all usable - the trick is to make sure to hit the exposure The 350 is a little rougher on noise, but I have several friends who routinely shoot bands and receptions at 1600, so it will work. And a little grain can look good, especially in black and white!

What camera are you using? That will help a lot in how to provide tips. In general, you'll want to slow your shutter, raise your ISO and open your aperture. If you camera allows you to do those things. Each has its downside: - bumping the ISO is going to give you noisier/grainier images, especially in any shadows. If you are shooting a Canon dslr from the 350 onwards, you'll be fine at 400 and 800...if you have the 20D or higher she'll do good work even at 1600 as long as you expose properly. - slowing the shutter can give you blur for things that are not stationary or if you move - opening the aperture will give you a smaller depth of field...this means that things behind and in front of where you focus will be softer. Not a bad thing, you just need to make sure to get the focus point where you want it. If you are shooting a compact, this isn't a terrible thing to cope with as they usually have a pretty good DOF even when wide open. Note that if you use your zoom, your aperture will automatically get smaller (darker images), so avoid it if possible. Better to try to properly expose and crop than zoom and get something that is too dark.

Are you sure they are actually marked? Sometimes if your mouse is rolled over them they can be sensitive and look like they are marked, but they really aren't! It's easy to remove the ratings - when viewing all the thumbs, select all and set no rating - there are drop down menus across the top that will let you do this. I like adding keywords, but I suck at actually remembering to do it I'll often use the stars and or colour ratings for prioritizing images...when I first import, I'll zoom through the images and mark all the ones that are hitting the web ASAP with purple, for instance. Then when I'm done, I click the purple filter, select all and export for web (this is in lightroom, but works pretty much the same in PS - you just batch them).

Don't bin it, just clone her out...two seconds, easy fix and you'll never know. If you're not sure how I'd be happy to point you in the right direction or do it for you.

IF you have PhotoshopCS etc, you might want to check out actioncentral.com - they have some great,free actions that can make your life easier on things like converting to bw. I have one that I like a lot from there - it lets you tweak things so you can tailor it to each image. Let me know if you want me to send it to you. If you have lightroom, black and whites come out great as it offers so much control. But it's a matter of playing around with all the sliders - gets time consuming as you learn coz there's always one more neat thing to try! But it's fun. If you want any help, I'm editing photos from a shoot this weekend so will be around and would be happy to help, especially with the black and whites - even if you just need a sounding board to see how your results are going. To remove the unwanted chick from the photo, use a combination of healing brush and clone tool in PS. You may even try the patch tool initially - it can save a ton of time and works slick! Sounds like you had a great time! Can't wait to see some of your images! How did you like you camera and lens? Shooting RAW?

Oh, I meant to add a link to some great, cheap memory for those who are using CF cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820208340 I have been using Transcends along with a whole slew of other brands for years. Never had a problem with any of them. Just picked up this 8GB card in December and it's just fine. No slower than my Ultra IIIs in camera and I'm not at the point where I care if it's slower in my card reader (and I haven't actually noticed much difference). For $50ish dollars you can't go wrong. I always download my cards at the end of a day and 8GB for me - even on a shoot (bar weddings) - would be tremendously difficult to fill! I still carry my other cards so if I need to, for whatever reason, I can swap them out. But now that this card has dropped again (I paid $56 US) I'm buying a couple more. Not sure if these guys ship overseas, but I will be putting an order in early next week so if anyone wants to jump in, let me know [email protected] and I'd be happy to have them come with mine (I have things shipped to my US address and my Dad forwards it to me) There may be other companies with similar great prices... There are also SDs available for about $37 at newegg - but double check that your camera can take them...I don't think a couple of my little compacts can use anything greater than a 4GB but I haven't double checked on that!

This is so true!

Eza - you'll do great this weekend - looking forward to seeing some! If you have a histogram (not sure what camera you are using) turn it on and use it. It's an excellent and easy tool. Basically keep the peaks off either end. Expose slightly to the right (highlights), even if it looks a tad too bright in the viewfinder, without touching the right side. This will give you the most information in the image to work with. And most importantly - have FUN! Taking photos should always be fun first, IMHO.

Yeah I hate that massive changing and creating thing, but each to their own. My biggest thing is who possibly has the time LOL I shoot a massive amount of photos and don't have a hard drive problem. My smallest drive is 250 and I'm just moving my imaging over to new 500GB drives (eventually, they are just sitting on the shelf waiting now). I back everything up onto at least two hard drives. Drives are so insanely cheap now (picked up two 500GBs for under $200 total) I never let things like storage and memory limit my shooting - I might just not take that one shot that I'll really miss! And I suck at deleting stuff - but every once in a while I'll clean out the folders of the rubbish - usually three or four edits that are just consuming space. jpegs are fine and you can dup them BUT they are originally smaller images because the camera has thrown away the data. You can never get that data back. For me, it isn't worth it to not have data that I might really want one day.