~*Shell*~

Love the photos!!! 90% of the shots I have of Zero were done in my backyard. He loves being out there!!

I burnt mine, saw that I got nothing and then went and bought more from the $2 shop!

The majority of shots entered have been photoshopped in some way or another. There are entries that are composites of a few shots so I wouldn't worry about photoshopping. They might have a problem with your dad photoshopping it for you though. I'm not sure where they stand on that but i would have thought it would have to all be your own work. ETA: Enter carebear!!! I look back at what I've entered and shudder but I'm pushing myself to get a good shot this year. Nothing I'm not happy with is being entered!!

This sounds exactly like people trying to get into my industry (for those that don't know, I work in TV). My intern recently had a review where she asked "when does the fun stuff happen? I haven't been on a shoot yet" - she's final year at uni doing a media degree and yet she thinks that what we do as producers is go on shoots, which are entirely fun. She still doesn't realise that going on shoots in the vast minority of what we do. Working in TV is definitely not glamorous but so many people think it is. I find photography is the same. The amount of time I spend shooting is totally dwarfed by the amount of time i spend organising and planning! The thing that really gets me though is the amount of people who now look at my photography equipment and think I'm anywhere near professional level. I think i would probably be able to count the number of photos I have taken that I would consider to be professional-standard on one hand. :D Don't get me wrong, I have some nice equipment (now) but my list of things I want to buy is huge compared to the list of things I have! :D Seriously lacking in the skills department too but unfortunately, I can't buy that!

No 24-70mm lens here yet! I actually think I might go for the 24-105mm just so i have that overlap with the 70-200mm. I very very rarely shoot at 2.8 so i'm not sure if I'll need the extra. F/4 is usually about where I shoot at (between f/4 and f/6). Time for some hands on research! I know 2 people with with 24-105 and while i hear it vignettes a bit more than the 24-70, i've also heard that a lot of people prefer it over the 24-70. I might rent both of them for a week and see what i think. I was to have a look at the 100mm macro too. Gotta love being able to crop!

Bokeh is caused by the depth of field and the way the background blurs. Depth of field depends on your aperture. For example, if you set your camera to f/1.8, you get a lot narrower depth of field than if you were to set it to f/10. Here's some of mine:

Ditto - I got over them about 6 or 7 years ago when everyone had crappy wav music on their sites. Hated it then and i really dislike it now. The only thing you can do that's worse than that is to have a moving, tiled background or an animated cursor.

He's a strange one - if i was going to do it, i would just use Lucius, my other cockatiel. He's not as pretty in black and white as Rem is though considering he's a normal grey, yellow and white with orange cheeks. Rem is grey and white with beautifully balanced markings. He photographs nicely in black and white (not that it happens very often!) which is awesome and a curse at the same time! I spent hours trying to think of an idea for it! I just don't do macro photography (probably because i don't own a macro lens) so now I have a different idea! I haven't seen anyone who has it yet to hopefully it'll be original!! I decided to just change my idea for the smoke brief. Getting Rem and Lucius to do what I need them to do it like pulling teeth anyway!! I went over to my brother's house to use my niece and nephew for the confetti brief but then Zero was rushed to the vet so I dropped everything (i had only been there 2 minutes and hadn't even looked at getting my camera out yet!) and ran to be by his side he's okay but i was freaked out!

I had trouble finding more confetti too. Can you iron out the backdrop in photoshop? I have had to do that maaaaaany times! Why don't you enter it and then post it?

I was just playing around with my new camera - i had an idea of using Remy for the insence one and simulating a bushfire with birds fleeing from it but Rem is kind of insane (living in pets paradise on one of those perches where everyone can touch you for over a year will do that to a bird) and was not only completely freaked out by the incense stick (when it wasn't lit) but also the sound of the camera shutter. Needless to say, I've changed my idea I did manage to get this one though - not too bad considering it was shot at 2000ISO with horrible lighting conditions. My 450D didn't even allow me to shoot at 2000ISO - it was too noisy to use at 400ISO so i shot everything on the 450D at 100. I'm just happy that rem doesn't look like he's about to fly away! In most of them his wings are slightly open.

Second hand canon 40D or 50D then buy a new 50mm 1.8 lens. Those are cameras you won't grow out of in a hurry and the 50mm is an awesome lens for the $125 price tag. The only downside is that you won't be able to zoom. Neither of those cameras have video on them either but I would take them over the lower level cameras with HD video.

Zero has advantix and a tick collar. We were at the vets today and they had so many dogs there who were in because of ticks. With Zero being so fluffy, i wouldn't have a hope in hell of spotting one. Thankfully he's decided to blow coat so hopefully he'll be naked in a couple of weeks. That'll make it easier to see them!

We put Zero on the side because he's the one who is most likely to want to get up and move. It's uncomfortable for him to sit for very long because of his hips.

Zero loves them!

That's ~Woofen~'s dog wrangling skills! She's awesome at getting them all sitting together! It helps that the dogs all like eachother though. I don't think we've ever had a problem with the 5 of them together, except maybe when Abby was in season (and would flirt with Zero then have a go at him if he got too close! ) but both Jedi and Zero are desexed (though you would never guess it from the way Zero acts around a bitch in season!).

Lol - this is my pack: He wishes it was more like this though: He'd even take it like this, as long as Ahsoka is there! :D The last photo was taken by Terranik, dog wrangling by ~Woofen~

I'm indifferent. Put it this way, if the option was to either put the dog to sleep (or dump it in the backyard for the rest of it's life) or send it to Cesar, I know which one I'd be choosing. Having seen Zero in that same situation, I can tell you it's heartbreaking. Thankfully, we found Steve The simple fact that people try to use Cesar's methods without direction and without training is scary but at the same time, it has enlightened some of the general public to the way a dog is capable of acting. I have had a couple of people at training mention to me that they wouldn't have come except that they've been watching Cesar and they want a better behaved dog. For the first time, they've been able to believe it's possible because they have seen the cases he has been able to turn around. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad though having met the man in person, I think he is in it for the good of dogs - that being said, I don't think anyone I've ever met is able to be as calm as he is in a panic situation.

Love mine to death (so much i bought the 50mm 1.4) but similar results can be achieved on your 17-70mm if you shoot on 2.8. Personally I think the nifty fifty is the best value for money as far as lenses go but if you don't need it, don't get it! I rarely use the 50mm 1.4 @ 1.4 - it usually hovers around the f/3-f/5 mark. I mostly bought it because i dropped my 1.8 (well, it actually fell out of my camera bag but same diff) and it broke into two pieces - the 1.4 has a better build quality and I'm a whole lot more careful with it!!

Lol - I didn't even realise!

Definitely not! I probably would have gone for the 7D for action after reading all of the reviews. I work in TV so i need something that will shoot broadcast-quality 1080p video and we only have a workflow for the 5D here, not for the 7D yet, even though they are so similar in the way their video is output. For what we do, the 5D is the only option - if it was just for me, i would have probably gone for the 7D. That being said, when I need to shoot action, I'm sure I could borrow a 7D. I have a few friends who have that body now

Happy birthday Daisy!!!!! :eek:

That's insanely cute Bec! Daisy running is like the cutest thing EVER!!!

I borrowed the 50D, it's not mine and I believe agentvee (who i borrowed it off) has already sold it as he has just bought the 7D. I've just sold my 450D (which didn't have problems with speed either) and upgraded to a 5D mark II.

The lenses that were announced in august are apparently being released at the end of this month but who knows. Give it a couple of weeks and see if anyone has them listed. They would probably want to get it out and on the market before christmas though. I'm pretty sure that's what they've done in the past. Hmmmm - I haven't had a problem capturing action on the 50D, the problems I did have were to do with the lens and the autofocus motor being sticky from the lens not being used in a while. That being said I have only used it for flyball and it was borrowed so I could have just been lucky. Do you mean that the 40D and the 7D were released at the same time or the 50D and the 7D? The 40D was released in 2007, the 50D in 2008, the 7D in 2009 and the 60D in 2010, all announced at the conference/expo thing at the end of august so pretty much a year between them all. The 7D was supposed to bridge the gap between the 50D and the 5D, not really be a successor to the 40D.

Ditto, Zero also had a couple of other things done while he was under so it's irrelevant. Personally I would just find a vet you trust and pretty much ignore the cost of the procedure if you are in a position to do so.