Ripley

With apologies for those who saw this in the Nov challenge. I rarely use this lens but when I do I love it for people pics.

Treats are there to be shared. The other photo I caught my Alex sneaking up on my Burmese while she was trying to nap, he has an "I wasn't doing anything" look on his face, but those velvet puss cat ears are there to be preened according to him (and my cat lets him).

Same here. I have an Alexandrine parrot who kisses my dog goodnight and flies down to drink from her water bowl. Parrot is boss.

Helen, beautiful dog shots, I love the way you take dog portraits. It's nice to see dogs out and about. Lovely portrait pics above too.

Thanks JS. I am a bit overwhelmed with how many pics I have to edit but have culled all the ones that aren't sharp enough and reduced them down to a manageable level. It's hard not to get trigger happy with the shutter when unexpected wildlife show up. Thank god for IS lenses, I got a few bruises from crashing into things trying to steady myself. I just wanted to jump in the big blue there too, a professor on board did just that

The portrait, dog and landscape pics over the last few pages are lovely. A sea bird landing on the open ocean 2 Saturdays ago. It's a black petrel, the ocean was so blue, there was even plankton on top of it in some parts. Black petrel or Parkinson's petrel, which breeds on only 2 islands in New Zealand and then travels as far as Galapagos Islands and Peru. It's conservation status is listed as "vulnerable". It felt quite weird having these big seabirds fly in, like nothing I've seen before. I'll definitely go out again, even though I felt like chucking on the way out, got to find my sea legs!

Huntsmen are very welcome here too, although one gave me a fright the other night as it was on the opposite side of the garage door and I nearly put my hand on him. Mum has one who lives behind a painting in her living room and is the chief mosquito killer in her house. I have an orb spider out near the gardenias, I love to watch her build her web ever so delicately of an evening and then take it down the next day. Fascinating.

Well yes, Vincent is lovely, just like his owner. I don't agree with dogs (apart from assistance dogs) in hair salons either. There is a kids' play area designated to where I go that is at the back of the salon and kids are encouraged to go there when adults are in the chair. However, I don't know if anyone watches that area.

You can't ban people with guide dogs in salons, what about them? A blind guy frequents the salon I go to, along with his lovely black labrador. eta: A salon in the city I used to go to sometimes for a hair cut had a maltese there. She belonged to the owner and I was amazed at how he could juggle handling cash in one hand while holding onto the white fluffy in the other.

Aw, gorgeous baby animals too! On my way to work this morning I saw an RTA guy on the side of the road 'herding' a mother duck and her ducklings who were on the very busy 6 laned M2 motorway! Someone must have called the road crew as they were trying to catch her.

I too like your pp, Luke. I like the warm tones to it.

I'm going through some wildlife shots I took from a boat off the coast last Saturday. Here are two. Face plant! Juvenile Campbell Albatross - such a graceful, strong flier but crap at landing on water. eta: Nov challenge is a good title, can I say how bloody hard it is taking pics from a rocking boat?!

Lovely nature photos there, persephone.

Thanks for everyone's input. I don't mind I guess, I just think it's rude not to ask first. I've sent an email to the person who isn't in Australia and I'll wait to hear back.

I'm selling my husband's camera, it's hardly used as he only used it to take indoor shots on a tripod of his work, so the shutter count is low. It's an Olympus DSLR E-500 with standard lens. Any expressions of interest, please let me know. eta: comes with a 14-42mm lens. Cheers

Hi, someone on DOL has kindly offered me their opinion on this before, privately, but I have now had another request to paint photos I've taken by a total stranger and was wondering if others gladly give their permission to do this? If it's someone I kind of read about on a forum who asks me permission directly, then I don't mind, but some random person, do you say yes? I don't want anything for it but should there be acknowledgement if they are selling their work? It's nice of them to ask so I just need to go back with an answer as the dog in question this time, is my own. I'm not sure on the protocol and I'm not on any photography forums (got to fix that one soon) so any suggestions / advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

tarope, the dog was on his front porch and got excited and ran to us. It's not the first time. He said he was embarrassed as his dog was so badly behaved at training, the dog is pretty young I think. I used to refer to him as the mad German guy but I haven't seen him around for a while now, maybe he moved.

There is a German guy around our neighbourhood and twice now I've seen his GSD off lead. One day it ran at me and Millie and I know you aren't supposed to pick your dog up but when you have a larger dog running at you I don't care, I will protect my dog first. I picked her up and held her above my head. I felt paws on the back of my shoulders, I'm tall but the paws still reached my shoulders. I prepared for the worst but he just licked me. I was angry at the guy who came running up to grab his dog. What if I'd been a kid or an old lady. I told him he needed to take his dog to training, but he said he had and was embarrassed as he 'failed'. So yes I'd risk a bite to protect my dog, I wasn't going to take the chance of her being bitten with a GSD or any dog, running towards me on the street. As for Chinese people, there are a lot of Asians in my area now and a few are scared of Millie and she's the size of a cat, it doesn't bother me at all if people are scared of my fluffball. Kids seem to love her though but it took a while for the 2 kids near us to get used to her. They will call her over when we are coming back from a walk, and she wants to go over to them with her tail wagging as she likes kids, but they then run from her squealing, so now I ignore them when they call her over and silently think, just go away and leave her alone, you little sh*ts.

Tell us what you really think, ruger! I have to agree with you though - they are crap, they have some fringing and are quite soft. If you get the Canon camera, I think the Sigma lenses are great. The Sigma 17-70mm is sharp and it's a great 'walkabout' all purpose lens. Quite a few DOLers have this lens. I was going to upgrade to a 50D but I really like my 30D. It was firing away like a machine gun on a wildlife trip on the ocean on Saturday, the auto focus kept up with a flying sea bird and I'm absolutely happy with it.

Do you think a gust of wind did it or a butcher bird saving him for later? Great photo, persephone

Brigie Bear, your OH reminds me of Chris Cornell circa Soundgarden here!

I think I should stick to photographing wildlife , anyway, here are a couple of portrait shots of a friend's 8 year old. She looks just like her daddy (we've known each other since we were her age). Spent all last weekend with her and she wore me out, even got me to straighten her hair for her. Had to laugh when she said she'd like to stay with my friend and I and "fly home on weekends." I left the slight scar in as it's part of her. She insisted on wearing lipgloss. This pose was her hamming it up for the camera indoors, I didn't get her to pose this way, it's a bit too pretty baby for my liking. Canon 50mm 1.8 lens f/1.8 @ 1/160 Backlit outside in early evening f/1.8 @ 1/500. Metering: Spot colour version (needs a crop)

I've been flicking through that mag at the newsagents since you told me you were in it, but haven't seen it yet. I'll look on Monday as they get the latest air freight issue downstairs. I don't buy that mag but I do know the one, it's a very popular English photography mag. Well done!

I've licked it clean and then rinsed it with cold water, rubiton. About to use the bellows on it, even the camera has salt spray on it now. The reason the UV filter wasn't on is because it's a new lens and I only bought the filter last week and its still in its casing.

I'm just home after a day out on the open ocean - I'm walking about the house swaying and grabbing onto the bannister as my body feels like it's still on the boat. I forgot to put my UV filter on my lens and it has salt spray on it. What is the best way to clean it without scratching it? I can't rub it or I'll scratch my lovely lens. One of the photographers on the boat said to lick it off with my tongue and then use fresh water. Is this the way to go? Would appreciate some help if anyone knows, kja what do you do? (It was an amazing day out on the open ocean, calm conditions, not too much wind, blue skies. Species photographed: Wandering Albatross (x3), Campbells Albatross (right up to the boat as they chum the water); pod of sperm whales, sun fish, dolphins, shearwaters, skuas - oh my! Now to go through over 400 shots to delete crap