Ripley

.

.

They are lovely - nice light too, it's given you a great background. I hate it when I spot a wild bird and it's bright sunny middle of the day lighting. I don't know why you don't like that lens, isn't it the 75-300 with IS that a few other DOLers used to have? I think those pics are pretty sharp considering the overcast day.

edited, won't upload TD, stunning rainbow.

Me too. He may have something in common with Lady Gaga though.

Queenstown area looks beautiful - stunning! OK, I wanted to see the dawn (as I never see it being a night owl) so I got there while it was still dark. I had to find my way through the pistonia forest trail with a torch which was a little creepy. . It was still dark when I set up my tripod but the light was changing very fast, faster than I'd anticipated not knowing what the hell I was doing technically. I noticed the light was quite blue and soft due to the reflection off the ocean. I couldn't get the long enough exposure I wanted due to the changing light so I stuck on a ND filter to the lens which slowed the exposure down to 30 secs. I used a tripod for the dawn shots, the others were all hand held. eta: I checked the photo stats and it was a 30 second exposure, not 20.

I couldn't get her to look at the camera, she is so timid. When OH picked her up to try and put her somewhere where I could get a photo, she did a bit of wee on him, only a few dots. I'll go through some more shots tonight from my memory card, I've just noticed I need to cleans this lens, I have the same 'dot' on a few of my shots (appears on her head in this one!). Fortunately I can clone it out, funny how I didn't notice it until now, don't you hate that.

This is Charlotte the KCC. She was a puppy farm rescue and kept in appalling conditions all her life. When found, she had 3 puppies with her. She will be on RSPCA rescue this year and now lives with my mother. She is still so timid, I had to corner her under the pergola for a photo, poor girl. With the 50mm 1.8, I didn't have to get too close to her so she let me take a few pics before running to the back of the fernery, little bugga. I've taken a few pics of her but haven't had time to convert them from RAW yet.

Gosh you guys live in some gorgeous spots. I work in the city, and I haven't had my camera out this month, but here are a few taken a few months back of our beautiful country, the Barrier Reef, Heron Island. Big Log (unfortunately before sunrise walkers left footprints along the waters' edge) Popular snorkelling spot A while before the sun rose Storm rolling in Oh look, found another dead tree :D Got up at sparrow's fart before sunrise and found soft pastel light, some teenagers were greeting the dawn in a more lively manner (far right) Sunset, taken hand held from the bar, I almost made it before the sun set.

.

.

Quick question for the experts. Do you need flash in the rainforest? I can take a tripod for still shots, but really don't want to use flash or buy a flashgun if I can help it as I never use flash and wouldn't know how to use a flashgun. I've never tried to take pics in very low light before, expecially pics of moving animals. Nothing confirmed yet but I may need a macro too. The fastest lens I have is the 50mm 1.8. All my other lenses are f/4. After ISO 800 my 30D shows too much noise.

Not expensive, frequent flyer points are covering the airfare. We are tossing up where to go but Borneo looks good - but now I will need a macro more than a flash for all the froggas and other amazing small critters. There is a rainforest lodge there and then not far from that it's Sipadan for amazing diving! back on topic, AM, what lens did you buy and where if you don't mind sharing? I had a quick look (as the shots are still in raw) at a few wild bird pics taken with my 300mm prime and 1.4 teleconverter. They are sharp even hand held with no support, I'm impressed with this lens hand holding it. I'd love a bit more length but couldn't afford a 400mm prime IS and don't want the 'trombone' 100-400 one. I'll post a pic when I get home.

I have the Fuji one. Wasn't expensive and waterproof enough for snorkelling. I took 2 pics with it and then realised I'd forgot to buy a memory card. Hopefully will get some use out of it next month.

I think I'll need a camera with a really high ISO or a flashgun if we are going where I think we are going for our 10 year wedding anniversay next year.

I hear you. We are looking at buying a place again atm but it's so boring looking at houses, I'd rather be out on weekends back to nature , I'm in no rush unless something wonderful grabs our eye. So I have to be careful money wise too. Believe me, I thought long and hard about the lens I needed. I would have gone for that lens but didn't want a big zoom, I wanted a prime. I don't even have a website up and running (just a pbase account), I'm about 4 months behind in all my photo editing as I hate doing it, I'd rather be out away from the city and people on weekends. I have a 30D which I'm pretty happy with, it's just over a year old (they still made them in the US up until later last year) but the 7D is pretty tempting, not sure whether to save for that now, I just bought myself a monopod with a ball head. eta: I know about the OH thing. My husband wasn't amused when I told him the price of my 300mm but then I justified it. You see, I used my stimulus package cheque and the insurance cheque received when I broke my 70-200 which was in USD so then it was only a couple of hundred bucks worth - justification!

I have a Canon 300mm L (it's a fixed focus) and had the first good go with it on Saturday. I had my 1.4 teleconverter attached (also an L) and found it slowed down the auto focus a bit, especially when I tried to track birds in flight and I have successfully tracked birds in flight no probs with my 70-200 L (which is now deceased). So just be aware that with fast moving objects, it may slow down your auto focus. Apart from that, images are still sharp even hand holding but it's much sharper without the teleconverter. However, If I didn't have the teleconverter attached, I wouldn't have managed a close enough shot of a whistling kite who was just hanging out in the wetlands - and with 300mm and 1.4 teleconverter I got close enough by sneaking up on him. eta: It also 'clunks' and whirs with the teleconverter but if you want extra reach, try and spring for the L series if you are thinking of getting the 100-400 L. As I mentioned, I got mine much cheaper from B&H New York than I would have paid for it here and the AUD is still pretty good against the USD although I hear that this won't be the case in the next few months! am: What do you primarily want the lens for? You mention wildlife. There were a few guys at the wetlands on Saturday with these huge f*ck off lenses, serious birders perhaps. OH remarked how big their lenses were, I think they were 500mm or 600mm lenses. I want mine for wildlife shots but didn't want a zoom and I'm too small framed to hand hold a bigger lens, plus I couldn't afford it, the 300mm prime was expensive enough. I had to think about whether I would get the use out of a more expensive lens and thought that yes I would as my main interest is birds and scenics.

The guy in the shop was wrong, just did a bit of a hunt and found this. The guy has already tested it and the site has photos. http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_pag...d=7-10042-10239 It's a 1.6x.

I was told it's a 1.5 crop. eta: guess I'll wait and see. I don't see the point upgrading my 30D to a 50D but might be tempted on this one if the crop is 1.6, no less. I need reach.

I bought a tripod today and the guy in the store was banging on about this. I thought it was full frame so said it's of no use to me but he said it's not.

I have a Canon L 1.4 extender. On my f/4 lens it drops the aperture to 5.6. It was impossible to hand hold (for me) my 70-200 non IS lens with it attached so I never used it. However, now I have a 300mm lens that has IS in it, I can attach the 1.4 extender and hand hold it. I still wobble a bit but the IS compensates a little. It's still better to use a monopod with it attached though, something I haven't done but will do when I affix it again. I bought mine from B&H New York last year when the exchange rate was good as it was much cheaper than buying it in Australia.

I am no PS wiz at all. I was totally crap at it until I bought one of Scott Kelby's books. He explains layer masks in there.

If you are applying the effect to a dog or bird, you can use a layer mask to keep their eyes sharp so the effect doesn't blur the eyes.

redangel, it looks like you have left one of your layers set to Screen and not merged it down. One layer needs to be set to Multiply in PS.

I have the 'Oroton' effect, I have 2 handbags, a wallet and a keyring. Sorry, couldn't resist. Here is one easy way of doing an Orton effect, there are a few other ways. Here is how to do it in Paintshop http://blog.fotonomy.com/tips/the-orton-technique/