kja

Pretty sharks! I thought I'd remembered you had this one but then it didn't come in my search. Thanks for the photos. This will be used almost always on land, I don't expect to even snorkel with it very often. It will be my beach & doggie cam I'm pretty sold on it. Another friend suggested I check out the Sony TX5 but although sexy, it's still a Sony LOL I checked BH and they wanted $60 for shipping so I'll have it shipped to Dad's and then forwarded to me coz the last small camera he sent only cost $15 to here!

Gotta disagree with the focus point not mattering. Focus on what you want to be sharp or focus and recompose so what you want sharp is in the plane. Learn to do it properly to begin with and you'll get where you want to go faster and not develop bad habits that are hard to break. 5.6 doesn't get a particularly big band of focus plane, depending on your lens and how close your subject is to you. you might get lucky sometimes and it might work, but I think her photo clearly demonstrates that shooting the side of the dog doesn't get the eye in focus every time. Even stopping down (to f/8 or f11 or f/13 etc) might not do the trick, though it might buy you more room for error . As pers has said - practice. Keep trying things. Look at the advice, try what appeals to you, ignore the rest. You will get there and find what works for you!

Some of these faces are awesome!! I see this for the big dog "Ummm...no. Thanks." and for the little one, the classic completely clueless look - no idea who he is, where he is or what he's meant to be doing Love it!

Some places won't ship to hotels so check that. CA has higher tax than some other states so depending on where you are going, check that, too. I don't personally know any camera stores in LA but if you can get out of that hellhole and go to the Bay Area, there are several very reputable and great stores there I've never had issues bringing stuff back except room and luggage allowance I do usually strip all the crap like boxes and cables and extra bits I have no use for away before packing which has the added benefit of not screaming I'M BRAND NEW GEAR. Oh, and change money now if you are going to buy in a brick & mortar - the Aussie dollar probably won't be as delicious in November as it is now!

Yes, you need to put the focus point on the bit you want in focus. That would almost always be the eye - and almost always the eye nearest you.

A bit more light is very helpful Were you putting your focus spot right on her eye? Are you running your image through some sort of sharpening when you resize (absolutely necessary especially if you are shooting RAW because the camera doesn't do any of that for you like it will in jpeg...and what it does in jpeg may or may not work how you want it to without further tweaking). Good for you for getting out and doing it!

LOL no shame in editing. Editing is and always has been part of the photography process But you can't create nice sharp focus where there isn't any. the above edit appeal more, but it's still not in focus.

my little Oly is such a piece of crapola but I persevere with it. But since I'm off to Bali for a much needed relaxing holiday, I really want a new waterproof/rugged camera. I'm about 99% certain the Panasonic TS2 or maybe even the less expensive Panasonic TS10 is the one I want but I'd love to hear from people I kinda know ... pros, cons? What do you really think of the images out of the camera? Does it take forever to shoot a frame (like my Oy)? Does it actually get stuff in focus (unlike my Oly that misses far more often than it hits)? helen - found a thread that says you have the FT10 (which is the same as the TS10, different country). What are your thoughts?

@evolving - thanks xox She LOVES swimming! 5/52 - Is this my best side? Am I close enough? Olympus 720SW OK, that didn't take as long as I thought...think I'm caught up on the weekly project!

@FM - thanks xoxo 4/52 - Dora swimming Olympus 720SW

I hope you'll all forgive me for my pathetic one week effort & subsequent disappearance and let me try to play some more ;) Might take me a while to catch up but I gotta start somewhere, right?! 2/52 - Tilly at the creek Olympus 720SW 3/52 - Lobo on bench Canon 1DIII, Canon 100mm 2.8 macro, ISO 640, 1/200, f3.5

36/365 - plotting her NHL/WWF inspired moves for later that day...I am SOOOO sore!

Oh, and no, white balance won't make a difference. I missed that you were letting the camera choose the focal point. Choose one - probably the middle one until you get comfortable - and stick with it. And again, don't be scared to up the ISO - I will even shoot higher ISOs in daylight hours if I need more shutter speed. Sometimes you just need to do it.

1/160 is not fast enough to freeze action. You need to be up around 1/400 or faster Photography is all about trade-offs. If you're shooting in dark conditions, crank the ISO up - that's presumably why we spend some money on good bodies Even the older Canons (400/450) will do nicely up to ISO 800. A well exposed image at a high ISO will look better than an underexposed image shot at a low ISO but pushed a few stops in post. And it takes a lot of "noise" in an image to actually show up in a print. Remember that our brain plays tricks -what we think is "enough light" or a "quite light" really isn't according to our cameras!

huga - wide is wonderful terra - love it! 35/365Oh yeah, Baby, my spa is back! At least temporarily, I see a leak this morning, but whatever... And it was a much needed return from a crappy Friday

Love everything on this page! 34/365 Dora giving Til a bit of a lecture yesterday

Day 33 looking good, Everyone! TN - love the upper right shot with the water splashing! Shell - beautiful pastels Luv - what a pretty doggie! 33/365 Red dust pillar builds over Exmouth as I was out snorkeling yesterday

Hello, My Lovelies! I can't wait to head back through the thread and have a little look-see at all I've missed. I've been pretty good about shooting, but terrible at sharing. Hopefully this month will be better. I'll probably pop a post up in the Off Topic area later about me being missing - but thanks to all of you who reached out to check on me. I know I haven't gotten back to many of you, but I did & do appreciate the time you took to see what was up - xoxoxo 32/365 - horrible buggies in my house after the rain & wanna-be cyclone

9/365 We had some pretty amazing skies The southern view from my front yard was more dramatic

Wow, I've missed a lot of photos yesterday! I was so tired after my 13 hour day at work that I couldn't face dealing with posting and stuff last night but I did get out and take a quick shot of the sky. From my backyard, over the fence to the northwest 09.01.11 - Day Nine The southern view is here

OK, the A470 doesn't shoot RAW so ignore that part for now and just concentrate on what you have. Those little Canon Powershots totally rock - I have two plus one of the SD/Ixus Canons You may need to read the manual to see if you can control where the little box is and when you are shooting, you need to make sure that the little box is actually where you want it to be. With my little Canon SD1200 IS I can't move the little box - it is just in the middle. So I put the box on my subject, half press the shutter and then move the camera to recompose (keep the subject in the same focal plane for best results - there is a bit of leeway with these these compact cameras so you don't have to be perfect) and fully press the shutter to take the photo. There are many ways to sharpen - what software are you using on your computer? Lightroom? Photoshop Elements? Photoshop? Picasa? GIMP?

rav - omg those tomatoes looks awesome!! TerraNik - love it! gorgeous hair ;) Love all the recent shot, Guys (sorry, I'm another that's being slack on commenting individually today!)

IMHO focus is the #1 priority in 90+% of images. You can have the most beautiful exposure & scene & subject, but if the focus has missed the image isn't worth keeping the majority of the time. (Yes, there are exceptions, but they are exceptions ;) ) What camera do you have again? Every camera I've used has a little light up rectangle in the viewfinder. That is where your focus point is. You need to place that on the area you want to focus on - everything outside of this box, the camera pretty much ignores. If possible, try to place that little box over something with contrast as it will help the camera hit the sweet spot faster and more accurately. On many cameras, half press to get focus (or use your * key on the back of Canon dslrs, if you've set it up that way) and then smoothly press the shutter fully to take the shot. Take more than one frame! Especially if you have - mediocre or poor lighting conditions - moving subject - wide open aperture - concerns that you might miss focus ;) Have fun! You're doing great! PS - don't forget that virtually every image out of the camera (especially if you shoot RAW) will need to be sharpened to look it's best. If you are shooting jpeg, your camera may apply (ok, WILL apply) some sharpening that may or may not be to your taste/adequate. You just need to experiment a bit to see what works for you. original: two second sharpen:

I hope you are feeling great tomorrow! I'd rather have a full To Do List and not be laid up in bed for days on end, I guess

7/365 In a perfect world this page would have stayed blank