kja

Yeah, there are some on the blog - I think they are tagged with Antarctica so that should bring up the whole list (such as it is since I'm so far behind LOL) Try this link and this one - clearly I've sucked at tagging LOL No, it's not that I'd rather be doing other things - it's that I haven't had enough time or energy or mojo in the past 18 months to take very good care of myself for the most part. When I am more balanced I find keeping up with all aspects of my life just works out somehow, no matter how busy I am with work AND fun stuff! And, for me, Lightroom makes things so easy that it's not a chore or horribly time consuming to work with my images - it's something I really enjoy, in part because I know I don't have to spend hours and hours!

You'll love LR presets as you make them. I have variations of time of day, angle of sun, under/over exposed, cool shadow, warm shadow, etc so running through a whole day of shooting is usually a breeze. The presets might not be 100% every time, but they get me super close and then I can tweak and synch images. FAST. Love it. LR3 also recognizes your camera & lenses and makes any adjustments needed - which is pretty cool even if I don't understand it all LOL Oh and "behind on photos"? I am the QUEEN - I still haven't finished the photos from my trip to Antarctica/South America. Hell, I have underwater stuff from 2008 that's never been dealt with. One day I'll either get to it or simply dump them all LOL

BTW - Lightroom Queen rocks more about LR than you'll ever even consider wanting to know

Yup, you can I'm a hands on learner so have never bought a book - just got in and played with sliders. I'm happy to walk you through anything you need or have questions about. It's really super super easy.

Lightroom lets you make your OWN presets - and that feature is worth its weight in gold. There are also tons of free and for sale presets - some are better than others. I don't have many presets from outside sources coz it's so easy to create my own for my specific needs. They are all totally tweakable, too. Presets ROCK and save hours of time. They don't lock you in or take ages to apply and it's one click to go back or change your mind. You don't even have to apply them - just run your cursor over the list and the preview window instantly shows you the effect. LR also has options for only adjusting part of an image and LR 3 is better than the other versions. And converting to black and white in Lightroom - a frickin dream! The amount of fine control, the options, the results - sometimes I love it so much I want to turn everything I do into black and white. And then there's split toning that takes mere seconds...oh how I love, thee, Lightroom! Everything you do in LR is at the "RAW stage" and is non-destructive. I personally import as DNGs not the proprietary RAW format of my cameras. Either either works just fine.

One word - yes. Lightroom 2 is fantastic. LR3 does some things better and I am starting to be glad I upgraded, but honestly, I didn't really miss anything in LR2 I can't remember the last time I needed to adjust something in Photoshop - it's all done in LR. Photoshop for me is for the fancy schmancy arty farty stuff mostly - and that's not really my schtik so I don't do much of it anyway LOL Photoshop still kills it for cloning etc (and I'd never go backwards from CS5 now) but LR3s clone tool is much much improved over LR2 so I do actually use that to remove sky dots etc...so in fact, I guess LR3 IS enough improved that I'd spring for that instead of messing with going in to PS to save a few bucks on an older LR version...

Sorry, I thought I put that in the post on the blog! They are two nudibranchs and I'm pretty sure they are species Hypselodoris infucata - pretty awesome. We saw about 5 different species of nudibranchs - a couple I don't think I've seen before. It was just an incredible (again) area and we're planning to go back. We also saw octopus, frogfish, trevally, all sizes and shapes of crabs, big bailor shells motoring along the sand and lots more - all in an area roughly the size of the average Aussie living room! And in about three feet of water. This area amazes me every single day. I hope to have more photos up today later. Oh, someone asked me what "nudibranchs" were - they are sea slugs. Like land snails/slugs but infinitely more interesting! They have two little "horns" at the front called rhinophores and their gills (lungs) are the fluffy bits on their butts. "Nudibranch" means naked lungs basically Some are quite big (larger than your hand) and some are so tiny you could fit two or three on the fingernail of your pinky finger! These two were about 4cms and 2.5cms & maybe 1cmish wide.

OMG each time we go out gets better and better!! We were in water so shallow that you could kneel on the bottom and have your shoulders & head out and there was so much freakin' stuff to see - some I've never seen before. AGAIN! Check out one image...more soon!

What fun!! I really like the differences between the frames - so cool

On all of my Canon bodies the Sigma at 1.4 is great - I wouldn't see any reason to have a 1.4 lens that didn't give you sharp enough photos wide open!

Mine doesn't hunt much, that's one reason I adore it so!

It's not uncommon for pros to have a variety of systems but it is very rare for someone's who is just to have fun to have multiple systems. For pros, it's all about what tool will do the specific job

i think photo bucket does it,open a flikr account. It's actually about the size of the image, not where it's hosted. There is a max size allowed on DOL and when you put one that's too big it simply makes it a thumbnail or reduces it to a small percentage and you need to click to display the entire image. Great shot, All!

Nothing special photographic-wise but I haven't even taken photos of the Girls at all lately. I'm so tired and overwhelmed with everything that I am neglecting myself a little bit. So these trips out to the beach to just enjoy the sunshine, the amazing ocean and my two big goofballs have been life savers. I get pure joy watching them have fun More here...

Oh nos! I hope it can be fixed!!

Go with it - you'll love it.

Canon 550D or 60D and the 60mm macro lens and a nice range zoom (short & wide = Sigma 17-70; do it all wide to long = Sigma's 18-200; or long = Canon's new 70-300 or something similar) :D

I've been doing something a little different lately. Something I've wanted to do more of since I have lived here, but really haven't just gone and done. Snorkel from the beach on the Gulf side. A few friends and I are really trying to spend some quality time exploring new places and just enjoying the heck out things. Probably not areas that the average tourist would enjoy as it's very different to what the rest of the area offers. I'm also taking one of my baby cameras out instead of the Big Girl Rig (system cost w/one lens about $8200). I'm using a very basic (and old) Canon A720 with no strobes in a Canon underwater housing. The whole shebang cost me about $275 and I'm having a whale of a time re-learning how to make it do what I want it to do! Having something so small, light and unobtrusive is a delight as we walk over the rocks to the water. I'm even using some of the scene modes and other auto settings which I've never done before. Sometimes they work better than others, but it's pretty cool to experiment. Of course, I find the shutter lag frustrating and the recycle time for the internal flash when I use it seems to take an age and a half, but for all the niggles, it does a mighty fine job of capturing snippets to share. I think I'm getting just as much enjoyment out of snorkeling and shooting this setup as I do from diving and my BGR (OK, maybe not *quite* as much as there is pretty much nothing I enjoy more than diving and I do love the results & response from the BGR, but it's a close second!) Anyhoo, here's some shots and more are here and here...and I'm heading out again tonight so hopefully will have more soon, too! Leave some love here or on the blog if you feel it!

yes, I mean it would take almost forever to outgrow the 7D it's a terrifically capable camera. I haven't seen a new 40D in ages. No idea if you might ferret one out. I'd have no hesitation in buying used myself, never really understood that as long as you buy from a reliable source, but each to their own The newer 50D is a nice camera, too. Might still be able to find them new in box. There's nothing at all wrong with the 60D either - forget the whiners about what it's "missing" as it isn't really missing anything so much as it isn't the upgrade from the 40D/50D that said whiners hoped for :D if you have the cash, the 7D has the most longevity out of the current offerings. Investing in good glass is always a safe bet BUT you do need to decide if you're switching brands before you sink more cash in. Nailing down what you feel the current camera isn't giving you might be tough, but to really make a non-emotional decision you'll have to do it. If it's more about making a change - which sometimes is all the reason one needs and can be a very good thing - then go with your gut. There really aren't any bad choices out of your options!

What's not doing it for you on your current body? Why the need to change? Those answers will help a lot in narrowing the choices down. Personally, I wouldn't get the 5D or 5DII. Best bang for buck is still a good condition 40D. The 7D is one very sweet camera but it's at the top end of the price range - you likely wouldn't be tempted to upgrade from it soon.

Super!!

Always happy to help

I adore my Sigma 30 1.4 and wouldn't trade it. If you are over on POTN, check out Lloyd's magic with the Sigma 30 - he's picturecrazy there. You can also check out the 28mm options. Canon does a 35mm L that's very nice - but for the money & difference in image, frankly, I'll stick with my Sigma :D Once you go wider than 28-30 you start to get a completely different feel to images. I love my Canon 24L but it's not a fab lens for portraits as one needs to be careful with the edges. Some others make lenses in the 20-24 range and they are very very good for not much money. Again, I personally wouldn't be headed towards these for portraits.

I wonder why the owner didn't get in. If you can't swim, you'd think your dog should be on a lead around water. If it was my dog, I wouldn't be waiting for someone else to deal with it. And, I, too, am happy that there was no frontal shot

Huga - I'm so sorry :D :rolleyes: I'm tempted by that very same bag, too, so will love to hear how you like it. Where are the photos of the bags that have arrived?? C'mon you slackers :D