Ripley

It's personal taste, monelite. Some people who take photos don't want to give away their editing secrets, the fact that LukeW doesn't mind sharing them is pretty selfless, IMO. How you edit a shot is personal taste too. I like to shoot in raw, make adjustments there and, shock horror as I've been called a purist before (you know who you are ) I may use a layer mask or darken a background. Sometimes I like a shot how I took it if the light is nice - for example, I found on a tropical island at the height of the day the bright sun combined with a polariser is ideal for blue skies and blue water - and you don't need to do much with it, post production. If the light is crap, it's harder so you might want to fiddle more. I have noticed that the Canon 70-200 L f/4 seems to 'throw' green and yellow tones in sunny conditions. Has anyone else noticed that? I find I need to adjust the tint a bit on sunny days or the shots are too warm.

How cute. The dusky is your pet too? I've seen the wild pair of lories I feed chase off a flock of cockatoos -they are so bold. BTW, what is that song playing in the background? The singer's voice is very familiar.

Long exposure taken last month. Before sunrise (pretty disappointing sunrise and then it clouded over and rained all morning)

Rainy grey old day in Sydney today, light was a low so photographing an exuberant, running dog was hard for me and even worse, dog was black ( ), but here's some running dog shots. sepia Oh dear, check out the wet patch on the guy's knee in the background - very soggy day.

Did you get snotted on, kja? I got snotted on by one in Harvey Bay. I was laughing so much, my friend and I were drenched. Lovely shot!

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Oh yeah, I didn't think about fast focusing. I've only used it on a tripod for a sunset and dawn shot or hand holding it in very bright tropical light. Performed excellent both times.

I have a Sigma 10-20 which gets very good reviews and it's reasonably priced. I haggled for a good price on it. I have used it twice on holiday. I love it, but when used with a polariser you have to be careful the sky doesn't go too dark in the corners, that's all. I have read good reviews about the Tamron. I almost bought that but like my Sigma 17-70 so stuck with Sigma. I don't find it heavy either.

You can download a DOF calculator to your iphone/ipod now Dr DOF. It works it out for you if you aren't sure how to calculate it manually. http://support.phozmo.com/index.php?option...o&Itemid=38 what will they think of next?!

Check out this very well known photographer. He is famous for his horse photography and black backgrounds. There is a new book of his I noticed in Borders the other day. It's a huge coffee table sized book called Equus. His animal shots are intriguing. http://www.timflach.com/

Can I be excused for a shot in June because my nice lens is all broke? I went for a hike over the long weekend, saw some pied cormorants and had no camera to photograph them as my 70-200 is in pieces . Here are a recent movement shots taken within the past month, I missed out on last month's challenge. I work full time and with a broken lens, no time for this month's challenge, but love to see everyone else's up here. Movement (fast-ish) and why I need a longer lens than a 70-200 - a beach stone curlew in flight A 20 second long exposure taken last month. Before the sun rose. I left the white balance to ''as shot" in Raw as the camera's metre saw the shot as this blue and I quite liked the effect. It was very blue on the beach before dawn, I needed a torch to find my way there and then the light started to change. Just going back to what rocco said about film, on our hike, I met an older guy - who looked like Harry Butler from ''Harry Butler in the Wild' docos I saw as a child, he was using film. I stopped to chat to him and he had the tripod out (Manfrotto ), he had a Nikon film SLR and was affixing a screw on green filter to his camera as he was shooting some forest and lake shots in b/w film. He sells his stuff to newspapers, including the Washington Post, so still a market for film. I have only ever used point and shoot film cameras as I had no idea about photos during film years but I bought a Canon Rebel EOS film camera off ebay for under $100 last year, quite a modern one.

Ooh, I know all this and what it does and I want! Jealous as hell. I had a huge manta ray pass me the other week and had nothing to capture him with except my memory.

Canon 70-200 f/4 L (but not the IS one, couldn't afford that) (but all broke now and in pieces at Canon Sydney waiting on the US warranty company to give me a cheque for a new one) Sigma 17-70 - my general walkabout lens Sigma 10-20 - used only now and then for landscapes Canon 1.8 nifty fifty 50mm - hardly use these days. Also have a Canon L 1.4 teleconverter which is useless when hand held on the 70-200 L as that lens has no IS and you wobble all about and get camera shake when it's affixed to it due to the added weight. I've just bought a tripod collar though for a monopod I have, I'll see if it makes a difference. ETA: on my wish list as in "wish I could afford it now" is the Canon 300 L fixed focal length for wildlife photography. Etaa: Can we add our geek accessories? I have a 0.6 Hitech ND soft grad filter as the Lee ones were too expensive out here; a 2 stop ND filter and a polariser and a crappy Cokin grad that gives purple skies you have to then try and correct in PS - if anyone wants it, I will mail it to them. Also have a cable release but as I'm lazy and landscapes don't move, I am using the self timer more.

This is a much better link with you choosing your wildlife photography character http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-afrika/39971 If you suffer a wildlife attack, you are sent back to base camp for treatment.

I'm not into computer games and I don't play them at all, but I do want this one. I probably won't be able to afford to go back there to photograph the real wildlife, so why not try this out on the computer? The graphics look amazing. Here's the (long) spool. It's not released here yet. ** You may believe this is some kind of namby-pamby plush job, and one that wouldn’t be entertaining for the player sitting at home on his couch, think again. No, you may not be battling the animals you spot, but all you would-be “photogs” out there can try your steady hand at snapping pictures of some of the world’s most alluring (and dangerous) creatures. The Safari Game, which will actually consist of accepting “missions” and stalking your prey, so-to-speak. As we heard from previous eyes-on and hands-on sessions – you will simply pick a male or female character and head out into the African wilderness. A main tent will act as your base camp, where you can fiddle around with your camera settings and accept e-mails that will give you a set of photography targets. Once you’ve accepted a quest, you’ve got to not only locate the animal(s) in question, but you must also take the best possible picture if you want big rewards. Perhaps you don’t realize that magazines like National Geographic pay good money for beautiful photography… And it isn’t easy. Nothing about it is easy. And beyond the actual taking of the picture, you will indeed control your character. At first, it was believed that the entire experience would be “on-rails” and the player would only control a camera, but you will have a standard control setting; left analog for character movement, for instance. If you press the Square button, you will enter the camera mode, where the sheer number of options may surprise those of you who aren’t familiar with the art of photography. Want to take a portrait shot rather than a landscaped shot? You can do that with the simple tilt of the controller. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg: there’s zooming, centering, filtering, and any other number of factors that one must consider, and let’s not forget that one must find the ideal position before one can even enter the camera view. You’re pursuing living, breathing animals, many of which are likely camera-shy, so you have to be stealthy and patient to arrive at the perfect spot. You can crouch to minimize sound and visibility on the part of the animals, and if your quarry takes off, you can try to chase it down in a jeep. But that sounds more like Plan B. Really, the primary appeal of the game centers on the science of photography, which we’re hoping will be extremely realistic and authentic. We want all sorts of cameras that we can unlock and buy. The IGN hands-on hinted at special technology “like trap cameras for snapping a shot of nocturnal creatures and cameras mounted on small remote-control rovers.” So not only will you have to be patient and steady, but you’ll also have to examine the situation ahead of time and determine the best course of action. Of course, the goal is to nab as many great shots of as many exotic animals as you can, and this will result in both cash and “extended information and media” about those creatures, which you’ll be able to find in the GEO Afrika sections. Not surprisingly, the National Geographic Library boasts real photos and video clips – done by professionals – so you can get an idea of how you should perform when in the field. You will also want to check with the Afrika Field Guide every now and then, too, just because it may include some helpful details that could give you the edge in your hunt. It pays to be proactive in your research. Lastly, players will want to pay close attention to the Big Game Trophy mode, which speeds things up and adds a healthy dose of exhilaration to a game that relies on tense yet mostly quiet interaction. In the aforementioned mode, you will have a certain amount of time to snap a photo of something specific, like a fight scene or a chase-down of some kind. You will be graded on the result, so when a lion has his paw raised and is in the midst of an immense roar, which will be the money shot. If you’re wondering about some intimidating meat-eaters making a dash for you…well, evidently, this is possible. We’re not entirely sure yet how Rhino Studios is going to deal with this (we get the feeling we won’t be armed out there), but it may be a definite concern at certain points in the Safari Game. Beyond this, the game won’t really deal with much else besides the photography angle, but provided it’s done correctly, this won’t bother us in the least. We just love the creativity and originality of Afrika and we can’t wait to give it a try. Artistic games can and do survive; just look at titles like Flower and echochrome. Afrika is slated to launch some time later this year in the US; we’ll let you know when Natsume issues a concrete release date. Award winning nature photographer Ross Hoddinott says, "It's a really impressive game and is actually a great learning tool. I found myself staking out a herd of wildebeest, sat in a bush for hours. It's really addictive, especially once you start building up your lens collection." Here is the Trailer for it oh dear.

It's in pieces atm. He has to put it back together. I'll give the place in the US a call tomorrow morning as it will be Friday pm their time. Hope I don't get hit with the labour cost. ETA: I'd say they need the broken lens as evidence. It's well and truly screwed I'm afraid. The Canon guy said hard tiles and lenses are not a good combination. When he told me it had an internal fracture, I felt like asking him if it was a compound fracture, he was holding it and talking about it like it was a leg or something.

I went to a Canon repair place in the city this week. Just got the quote back. $748.66 for a repair. They said it was fractured. Guess I get a brand new lens through the US insurance place! (No I didn't do anything else to it, I couldn't do that).

Yep, great warranty. I won't say here what he advised me to do. Let's just say if I were to drop it from a fair height like a balcony, I'd get a new lens. I remember tsking at the extra $66USD it cost me for the warranty because the guy who got it for me bought the 3 year warranty too and I had to pay for that on top of the lens - now I'm very happy he did. It covers even cracking the lens glass too!

I rang the warranty place in the States this morning and I'm covered for accidental dropping. Have to get a quote and then they send me a cheque or, he told me, if it is really, really damaged from dropping it an the cost of repairing is more than the lens' worth, I get a new lens. Phew.

LOL. I can't do that either, I'd have too much guilt. Well the AUD is still strong against the USD atm isn't it?

Yes, I'm an idiot for doing that and it would have had to be my most used lens too wouldn't it. Murphy's law and all that. I'm interested in what the "unintentional impact" cover actually means. As it was unintentional! I have travel insurance, get that free from work whenever I take annual leave, whether I stay home or not. However, there is a $250 excess to pay with any claim, so it may be cheaper to send the lens back for repair.

I was cleaning my camera a few days back and my Canon 70-200 L lens rolled off the bed and dropped onto the tiles. It's the f/4 one (not the one with IS in it, just the regular one). It only fell from bed height but the next day, it wouldn't auto focus. Manual focus still worked so that was a challenge as I'm kind of short sighted. Then that froze up too. I can hear a tiny rattle in it (not good). When I got my boss to get it for me when he was o/s last year, he also got me a 3 year warranty which I paid for on top of the lens. This warranty says it covers a few things, including "unexpected and unintentional impacts". It's a protection plan warranty from B&H. I'll have to ring them up in the US but does anyone have a warranty like that? OH says I should lie and say it got damaged in transit but I feel very uncomfortable doing that. He said don't tell them you dropped it, but they aren't idiots and will know when repairing it that it's been dropped Pretty annoyed that a so called luxury lens can't survive a 2 foot drop onto the floor.

Well some pros say you should put you camera away between 10am and 2pm (which I thought were the hours for staying well out of the sun due to sunburn but there you go ). Depends on the light that day and the season - summer would be too harsh middle of the day, winter might be ok. where you are and what you want to photograph. Some days you will get amazing sunsets and some days just blerk washed out ones. Photographing dogs which I don't do much, I like overcast days, the light is sometimes nice and diffused. Ideal day for taking a landscape shot? For me personally it would be late afternoon before a sunset and then after a sunset with a beautiful afterglow. I'm not a morning person at all. I imagine pre dawn light would be beautiful, must try it For landscapes, I'd say dawn and just before sunset/actual sunset and twilight are ideal times. After the sun sets, you get a lovely afterglow. I took this shot quite a while after the sun had set and got a nice purple afterglow (used a grad filter affixed to my camera over the sky), but the colour was a purple/pink hue. It just happened to be a nice coloured afterglow that day, quite a chilly night so clear too. You can get some great shots middle of the day but the light is harsh and contrasty. I'm sure others will be able to offer you some great advice but here are a few shots to illustrate times of the day and light. Twilight:

That's exactly what I thought too. I have a Canon and 2 Sigma lenses. A 17-70 for walkabout use and a 10-20 which was a recent purchase. They are both very good lenses. I've read reviews of the Tamrons and they seem to be quite good too.

Nothing annoys me more than bad service. God, I ordererd off B&H in the US last year and got my product in 3 days!! Wish the AUD was higher, you can't beat B&H for service.