colliepaws

Oh Cassie I am so so sorry for your loss. <hugs> He was such a gorgeous lovely boy, you must be so heartbroken...it sounds like you made the right choice for him as hard as it must have been for you.. I'll always remember him, he was one of the first Berners I ever met. Run free Zephyr.

Thanks for the lovely comments everyone! :)

Aww...I think Holly is pretty! Especially for being 20 years old! :) My collies and raggies get on fantastically well.. Molly mothers everybody, cleans their ears and eyes..the raggies line up in front of her nose and meow at her until she cleans them sometimes! Lazy buggers.. :laugh: Luka grew up with the raggies so gets along with them really well (we put the no chasing rule in place very early on!) but he is the self appointed fun police and will barge in on them if they're play fighting and break it up... We get those horrible minah birds that swoop the cats in the backyard and Luka will go out with them and stand sentinel for them and bark at the birds and chase them away so they don't bother 'his' kitties! It's so adorable... And the raggies wind up around the collies legs and are generally pretty happy to just hang out with them. Dash will occasionally have a hissy fit if Luka gets too nosey and he tries to beat Luka up but Luka just looks at him like 'what's up cat?' while Dash is all 'Stop poking me! I'm going to rip your nose off!!' but the raggies never ever get their claws out so thankfully no damage is done..just a few dents to poor Dash's pride!

I like the clarity and the tone of the one on the right more...makes me focus on Harry more. For some reason I keep looking at the curtain in the background in the one on the left..I don't know why!

Looks like you had a lovely day with your dogs! The lizard and the bird stand out to me - nice focus and good depth of field...I also really like the little waterfall-y one. :) Nice shots of your dogs. Looks like your having the same trouble with me - dogs with white are hard!! Particularly Lola being black and white - I feel your pain! :laugh: And it's even harder if you're shooting in the middle of the day...that last shot in the shade is really nice - what were they all looking at? :)

Rev Jo - thank you so much for the exposure tips! I definitely know that blown whites are never a good thing so I'm keen to learn how to correct it. I remember reading about bracketing exposure in my manual when I first got my camera and then completely forgot all about it. I'm definitely going to try that cos I need all the help I can get! I really really love that first photo of your highland cow and I hope you get your monitor colour/calibration sorted out soon! :) Lollipup - Yay for shooting on manual! It took me a while before I tried out manual when I first got my camera so you're doing well! And shooting at midday with that direct lighting is a tough gig...your dogs are so cute I still really like the photos even if they're not technically perfect. :) Oh and hope you manage to sort out your lightroom probs and get it fixed soon! dogfan - yep definitely a portrait photo. :) Such a pretty tabby and yep little bit of missing ear aside I really like it. I'm no good at black and whites so always enjoy seeing when others do them! huga - your work is always stunning! Very cool shots - love the little mermaid theme! :) Okay here's my latest portrait attempt. Rev Jo - I used your high pass sharpening technique and I think you're right - way better than unsharp mask! :)

Oh no poor Atlas..I'm so very sorry for your loss. Run free Atlas.

Oh he is so adorable! We used to have a quacky squonky moose toy...very popular! I understand why he felt the need to nab it! And that last photo absolutely cracked me up - he looks sooooo offended! And the absolute perfect 'how dare you!' look aimed right at the camera...absolute perfection.

Oh thank you for sharing those tlc...lovely photos. :) Love the ones with Bailey and those ones from her 19th birthday with the santa hat on the red rug are fantastic. :) She looks like a sweetie.. even if in some of the shots she does still rather have that evil death stare going on! :laugh:

Wow nearly 21 that's fantastic! I never would have guessed she was that old! I'm sure she's a lovely old lady. Do you have any photos of her looking less cranky? :) All my two raggies do is eat and sleep and they're only 5! :laugh:

RJ - Thank you for your feedback. :) I think I am terrible at cropping and I spend ages playing with it trying to get it to look 'right' and seems I still need to work on it! Thank you for the comments re the blown whites too - exposure is definitely something I'm struggling with! Do you have any tips of getting the right exposure with dogs with white collars and legs like mine? Or do I just need to learn how to recover the highlights better in post processing? It's so funny that you said I should bump the saturation cos up til now I've always had a bit of a bad habit of over saturating and upping the contrast too much in my photos and I kept getting told that I've taken the saturation too far and need to dial it back so I've been concentrating really hard on not taking the contrast and saturation too far with my latest photos...but maybe I've overcompensated too far in the other direction! Still trying to find that happy medium and figure out what I like most and what works best with particular photos... Photography is such a wonderfully subjective thing.. :) Snook - Thank you so much for your comments. I love the photo of Justice! Those pyjamas and that gorgeous head tilt are just too cute! I really like the texture you've added, something I really want to experiment with at some point! Also really love the catchlights and you got really nice dof considering you accidentally shot it a f3.5! Can I also just quickly add that I really love reading your posts where you give photography advice and explain things, your posts are always so easy to read and I find myself nodding along cos the way you write it just makes sense! :) Thanks for taking the time to share and explain what you know. Lollipup - Chester is so cute! They are pretty good shots for sooc! The eyes look pretty sharp and in focus to me so I think you've done well there. Looking forward to seeing more of your photos. :)

tlc - that's a beautiful old church.. Reverend Jo - thank you for the sharpening tips. I've been using unsharp mask but I'm going to try your method with my next photo. :)

That's the thing with birmans and raggies isn't it - too easy going! Is the last photo of the grey cat your older cat? I love those yellow eyes..but with that look - I wouldn't mess with her either! :laugh:

Both Dash and Cosmo are raggies. :) I take it Bailey is a Birman? (he looks like he has different ears to mine...is that a weird thing to notice? :laugh: ) how does he get on with the awesome foursome?

Wow! Your photography blows me away! It's just brilliant I keep going back to look at the shots over DVD over! Really really love the eagle ray and my god those morays are frightening looking! And I love the shots of the fishes in the sponges, that's so cool.. Thanks so much for sharing here! :)

:laugh: I still think its a great shot even if took a lot of shots to get! When mine are cleaning themselves and I come at them with the camera they stop and give me daggers for daring to impose on their precious selves! Darn uncooperative critters...

Great to see you are certainly enjoying your new camera! I love your photos of Bailey James..he's a lovely looking cat. :) And good work with the action photos...looks like they're all having a lot of fun!

Omar is a beautiful cat! And very nice photos! I've tried so many times to get a cat licky shot of my two cats and never succeeded so well done on that action capture. :) I also really love the last photo..

Oh I'm so happy to see the challenges making a come back! I've been really neglecting my photography..as in basically haven't picked up my camera since December last year! But I've decided to try and get back into it as it is something I really enjoy, I just need to make the time to get my camera out! Here's a few portrait photos I've taken in the last couple of weeks...all shot on manual. CC welcome. :)

Many thanks to everyone for the replies...I'll admit I'm more than a bit envious of those of you who have found fantastic vets that you love! It's reassuring to know that what you guys consider a good vet lines up with what I'm looking for - I was starting to think I must have ridiculously high standards but I'm now determined not to settle for a vet I'm not comfortable with or who dismisses things that I'm concerned about. Also good to know that others also request a particular vet at multi vet clinics - I don't want to be disrespectful to the other vets but I feel there is something reassuring about a vet who 'knows' your pet..I love the stories of the vet loving dogs - that's what I want! My poor boy Luka has to be coaxed (okay and sometimes gently pushed!) in whining and carrying on...I'm happier that with my latest vet while he's not keen on being there he seems to be less anxious and the vet nurses/reception staff are always really nice to him which I think distracts him! :) Also great to hear from those of you who travel a fair way for a good vet. The latest vet I'm going to is 45 minutes away and I wasn't sure if that was weird because there are certainly a lot of vets between me and them! But I was impressed at how they treated Luka when he had his knee op a few years ago but at the time I thought that maybe they were a bit far away to be my regular vet. However, being very disappointed with my previous vets treatment of us though I've decided that 45 minutes travel is well worth it for a good vet! They seem to have really good staff and facilities so I'm hopeful that they will become my regular vet. I just really want to find a vet, like those of you who love your vets, who I feel I can trust not only to treat my pets well but also trust that they will give me the best advice in terms of their medical treatment.. Thanks again for the advice - if there are any recommendations people can make for great vets in metro SA I'd be happy to hear them (by PM if you prefer :) ).

So very sorry for your loss. Penny was so beautiful and obviously very much loved... RIP Penny. I really hope your other little ones get better soon.

Lucky you! Congrats on the new camera! Love the last photo with the toy giraffe - very cute!

I'm looking for a new vet and was just wondering how other people chose their vets. I must confess I've been somewhat disappointed with some vets I've seen in the past so I was also wondering what you think makes a good vet and if there's anything in particular to look for or ask a new vet to find out if they're good or not so good. A couple more random vet questions: How far do you/would you travel to see a really good vet? If your vet clinic has mutiple vets do you insist on seeing the same vet each time?

Lovely photos... Kirislin - the greyhound roll is so cute! Looks like it's a long way down to get to the grass. FM - Frodo looks so very content. Very cute with his toy. huga - love the light in the walk in the park... KK - what a very happy clamshell puppy. Although the look to me says - what are these things floating in my pool? So cute. Stopping to smell the roses.

Ooh I'll try and join in this month.. Simple pleasure - walkies with Luka.