Ripley

Bindiboo, how very patriotic, really like that. I've been back at work so out of this as I don't have time. I know that probably voids me, but I had to share my aloof cat's expression here. I went to do the vacuuming and Missy refused to get up off her sleeping position in the bedroom. She loves to recline on the throw rug I have over a cream sofa upstairs. I couldn't help take a photo - as soon as I turned the vacuum on, she bolted. Missy the 10 year old Lilac Burmese - Canon 'nifty fifty' lens. quick b/w conversion OK, back to the vacuuming minus cat.

I haven't printed any out, yet alone put any up. I'm so slack as I have so many photos to go through on a portable drive from many places and it's too overwhelming. I am going to get a pbase account to display favourite photos so I can just send the link to friends and family instead of them asking if they can see some photos. My mother wants a photo I showed her of a highland cow as she loves them so I will do that one this weekend for her. The only photos I have displayed are at work to brighten up a boring wall behind me. They are one I took of monelite's Rex that I gave her and one I bought from a DOLer's website as I like landscape and wildlife images the best. Hmm, I also promised a highland cow photo to jbbb so she can paint one as she does lovely animal paintings. CM, I know what you mean. I look at the photos my OH took from a trip 2 years back (I had no interest in taking photos at all 2 years ago so he had the camera the entire trip) and I just think, what missed opportunities for a great shot there. Plus we had that crappy soft kit lens on the camera too. Ah well.

Not if you make them private. Someone emailed me yesterday wanting to use a photo for something, some awareness campaign or something. Haven't responded yet, I will google what they want it for first.

ILTBY, I like your grasshopper shot. He reminds me of Walt Disney's Jiminee Cricket ClickingMad, the ''parent'' koels have already gone home to PNG or Asia, or are on their way, I haven't heard the male in weeks, he used to wake me up. Big bubba koel will find his way up there when he's old enough and strong to make the flight and probably return to the same spot next year as an adult. Isn't nature amazing? Bindiboo, lovely flower buds. This galah this was having fun hiding and clowning around in a big green tree at the bottom of our driveway.

Lovely shots, jules. I am going to pack a polariser for sure. It's the location I'm worried about, grass around wheels is not attractive. Chezzyr, I'll see how they turn out and how much she likes them, we'll see. I'm sure she can do me a favour in other ways and not by loaning us a fancy sports car, I'm not into that but I can appreciate their attraction. We had some fun in the one they loaned us for the weekend last time. It's not us though to be honest.

OK so the person wants to pay me for the shoot but I feel a bit uncomfortable as I'm not a 'photographer' if you know what I mean. It's just a hobby I can combine with hiking. I saw one of the cars yesterday but it was parked half in shade, half in sun with a pole behind it and reflective windows casting back on it. I didn't have my camera so just had a look at the car for some ideas. A silver Aston Martin - nice. I am meeting the woman for coffee on Friday (have a day off) and she is going to tell me what she wants. She said she will photoshop them so that's a relief, I hate spending time on the computer editing photos as did I mention I'm no good at PS?! We are going to a paddock and I'm thinking late afternoon/early evening for warmer light as the middle of the day the lighting is too harsh. Thanks for the tips guys, much appreciated!

I see you have aphids on your gardenias too, poodle mum. The nice praying mantis takes care of a few of the ones on the gardenias at our place. ETA: When I took that photo of the gardenia earlier and converted it to b/w, I picked off a few aphids but there was one left so I cloned it out. You can clone the ones out in your shot pretty easily if you wish.

Bindiboo a chrysalis. That is stunning, I have never seen one. Thank you for that image. ashanali those poor Fijians. I like your sunset shots from your trip. I have had a busy weekend so here goes 2 days' worth. No photo for Friday, didn't manage it. Photos taken while walking around the neighbourhood. Saturday - pine cones. Sigma 17-70 lens This morning, took Millie for a walk and heard this baby bird calling. Could it be the elusive ''cooee'' bird's chick (the beautiful metallic black koel, who migrates to our East coast from Asia each Spring). Yes, it was. I crept up near the tree and Millie was so good, sitting perfectly still and not moving so I managed to get a few piccies. The parents even came back while Millie and I were there. Poor pair of red wattlebirds trying to feed their foreign offspring. The Koel is a brood parasite. Migrates to Australia every summer from Asia, lays its eggs in another bird's nest, then chucks out the eggs of the wattlebird so the unsuspecting parents end up raising this monster alien bird who will be more than twice the size of them soon. Junior koel will grow into this gorgeous bird with glossy black plumage and a scarlet eye if its male, but is quite ugly as a fledgling. Junior here waiting for his frazzled parents to bring more food. The poor parents were flying back and forth with insects for him. Canon 70-200 f/4 lens Red wattlebird feeding their monster adopted child a cricket. The koel baby is already larger than them. Two wattlebirds in this photo, the smaller female is hidden in this photo by junior here. (I haven't heard the adult koel for some weeks. Task completed of dropping off its egg in another bird's nest, she has probably flown home).

Well Sally Field or Jim Carrey in The Mask.

I feel a Sally Field moment coming on. Yep, I think it's a great idea of ashanali's and hope she is ok over there and shares some piccies with us when she returns. It will be a shame when January is over. Anyone else, join in. It's not too late. kirsilin, your horsie looks like he's taken a slurp of something in the bird feeder and it wasn't food.

Yeah, was thinking that, chezzyr. I will ask a few colleagues today - they live all over the place. I like Top Gear UK. Love the banter and the ribbing between the 3 guys. They pick on Richard Hammond a lot. He is always saying, "No, I have NOT had my teeth whitened!" I think he's very cute, it's those big brown Bambi in the headlights eyes I think.

Yes, near where I live they do. But it's where Hillsong are located and it's always full of the happy clappers on weekends so a lot of cars.

No, can't think of any. The office complex where OH is has a gym and cafe there and it's always busy on weekends. Maybe I can park it on Hillsong's lawns. Well, Pastor Bryan drives a Bentley.

Thank god she is good at PSing as I don't know how to get those looks. OK the cars are a red Ferrari, silver Aston Martin, white BMW M3 (which the loaned us free one weekend), black stretch Hummer (god, need a wide angle lens for that one!), Porsche, some convertible Merc and a black Ford Territory. It's for their website and promotional use. They said we can have one of the cars for the weekend as payment but not really into this. I know OH will be though. I will have a practise on our car this weekend as I want to see if my lenses are fast enough and can get close enough to photograph inside the cars with the interiors in lowish light. Maybe I'll have to use a tripod for that. She is thinking of locations we can use too. The countryside would be good or a cliff top. No idea - everywhere is going to be full of people on a weekend. Plus, the best locations where there are no people are unsealed rural roads and no way can you take expensive motor vehicles on unsealed roads. thanks ari.g, will check out that link. Thanks pointeeblab too. chloesdad, yep, that's the look she wants so I'll do the angles and photos and she can play around with it. I can't help but watch Top Gear and notice the effects since I've started taking photos. I too notice they shoot a lot in early evening light. ETA: This is one of the cars they want photos of. I took this with the 50mm when it was parked outside of our place, but just as a practise shot, the light was pretty drab.

Aw, the look on Jedi there. kirsilin, it's proper lorikeet nectar just bought from Woolies. It's about $8.00 a packet and will last a few weeks. Bread and sugar is bad for them. So that baby I photographed was raised on it - of course, they supplement what I give them with bottlebrush, grevilia etc and I'm sure our relationship is not totally monogamous with their parents either - there are other soft touches in the neighbourhood I'm sure! I've called their parents, Bold and Bashful and Bold will come and sit on my arm, the male is more timid. I feed them every morning. If I don't, they will fly to the bathroom where I'm showering and call to me, tapping on the window. My Alexandrine parrot, Lewis, hates them and lets me know when they are around No idea what to shoot today. Helen, your photography is always inspiring. Great shots so far today, everyone.

Does anyone have experience photographing cars? I have been asked to take some photos of cars for someone who was a photographer - well they did it at uni, along with graphics art but she used to work with film so isn't converted to the digital age. Plus with 4 kids and a business to run, she doesn't have time to do it. I've been avoiding her requests as I don't think I'm good enough but she has seen some of my photos and wants me to do it. She just rang me then and chatted through what she wanted. I told her I'm crap at photoshop but she said that's ok, give her the CF card and she will do the photoshop work as she wants a Top Gear look. The cars are all sports cars. Help? As she has done photography herself I'm really nervous. She says she will pay me but I don't feel comfortable taking money for it. I'm thinking, nice clear early morning for good light and pack a polariser. I only have a 17-70 lens which stops down to f/2.8, a 70-200 f/4 and the nifty fifty cheap 50mm fixed which stops to 1.8. Will that be ok? I have an idea in my head of red car, blue skies and different angles with a polariser to intensify the colour but how do you make sure you don't show up in the chrome?

PM, what a gorgeous boofhead of a male budgie there. Lovely markings around the bib too. He looks like a show bird I have another wild parrot shot today. I am very fond of the 2 adult lorikeets who bring me a baby twice a year to show me and proud parents they are too. I can hear a baby in the tree and then one day, he'll appear with them at the nectar bowl. They don't roost in our big tree though. Once that baby matures, they start chasing him/her off and they are on their own to find their own territory. So far, they still let this one eat with them but she is feeding herself now. I think this one is a little girl. She was back today with mum and dad after the cool change we had.

Thanks Ripley That bridge!! Very close to Morpeth, just down the road at Hinton across the road from the pub :rolleyes: Nice spotting I live 10 mins away from Morpeth. Very popular place that! Edit to add I had a chuckle at your card experience......been there done that Wouldn't it rot your socks re the CF card? :rolleyes: There is a storm rolling in from the sea, I can see it from our skyscraper window. I know where Hinton is. I spent my teenage years just north of Paterson on a property :D Mum lives 5 mins away from Morpeth now. ETA: JAG, I think our school bus used to cross that very bridge!

chris, with the spot metering, after you have taken a reading, do you then switch the metering mode back to evaluated or centre weighted or something? Because that part throws me. edited for typo

JAG - what a great moon shot! And that bridge, that looks a lot like the one at Morpeth, you don't live there do you? Lea, I like that horse shot, looks like you had some nice lighting there and the church (?) in the background complements it. rocco, very edgey as always. You have a great eye for people photos. How about a self portrait to give sis a break. :rolleyes: ILTBY - I can tell you love your macro lens and you are finding some interesting subjects. Good stuff. Clickingmad - chester is a character and you have a knack for bringing out his personality with the lens. persephone, I love that red soil and full moon shot. It says 'Australia' to me. Like the composition too. Other shots are full of colour and original subjects - DOLers really have an eye to spot opportunities. I'm so blonde - today I took my camera to work, aimed it on the way to work to take a shot and .... no focus. Left the damn CF card out of it. :rolleyes:

It's late and I'm about to go to bed as I have to work so I will have a good look at all the photos tomorrow. On quick glance, it looks like the heat has inspired some, tomorrow is going to be a scorcher in NSW too. Sorry, 2 days' worth here. Last night. Taken on my walk - shopping mall carpark at twilight. This is pretty much straight raw shot with white balance cooled down a bit as I inadvertently had my camera set to ''daylight'' and I wanted a cooler tone. I used a grad filter on camera to darken the sky (best camera accessory I've bought). This is when the nice security guard asked me what I was doing and was fine when I told him it was for a photo a day posting. I should give him this link! Lens: Sigma 17-70. f/16 and ISO 100 Today's. Picked this Gardenia from our garden and placed it on a black mousepad. Natural light through a window indoors. Quick b/w conversion by using greyscale mode and slight curves adjustment. Should have used a tripod but couldn't be bothered - photo taken as soon as I got home from work and hadn't even got changed . Sigma 17-70 f/7.1, ISO 400

I envy you guys with gorgeous landscapes and sunsets and old buildings on your doorstep. No light pollution at dusk either, you are lucky. Last night I got 'busted' by a friendly security guard taking a night shot while I was out on my evening walk. I took the camera with me in case I spotted something and I did. All was ok though, he just wondered what the hell I was shooting and as long as it wasn't the shopping centre logo, he was fine with it - I showed him my image and we got chatting. Will put it up tonight as I was too tired when I got home, sorry. Really enjoyed viewing everyone's shots from yesterday.

I found my manual and it says that if you hold your finger on the shutter and rotate the lens on MF at the same time, the focus light will flash in camera once focus is achieved. I shall try that next time.

No, I live around Sydney. We went to the above spot on Sunday - left around 7.30am to get there. We did the glow worm tunnel at Lithgow, it's amazing in there as you cannot see because it's pitch black, so fumble (stumble) along with a torch and then turn it off and see all these flouro glowing worms that look like stars. Then we went to The Lost City which looks like ancient ruins but is rock formations and then we drove along an unsealed road to Newnes so that photo was taken just out of Newnes on the way back to Lithgow. Hence why we got home at 10pm! ETA: I just googled for you and we were around Capetree Valley area, in the Wollemi Nat Park. Wolgan Valley. I don't think it's all that far from Mudgee!

Doggies, kids, flowers, sunsets, objects and more - gorgeous pics. Sorry here are 2 days' worth as we didn't get home from hiking until after 10pm last night. Anybody heard of Newnes? Lovely little spot in the middle of absolutely nowhere out of Lithgow. Sunday's photos: Dark clouds from approaching storm were rolling in on the way back from Newnes. I nearly got my head blown off taking this shot and then it started to really bucket down. Stop the car! I jumped out and took this one before the storm hit. Today's photo - quite boring. Krispy Kremes. Bought them on the way home from hiking yesterday as I needed a sugar rush.