Ripley

What ISO are you shooting at, persephone? I shot at my 30D's maximum ISO yesterday in a glow worm cave without flash and got hot pixels.

Well a model was very late for a shoot so he stood in, they just wanted a profile in shadow and he has a nice profile. He works in advertising. He wasn't aware the photographer would use the shot for the actual advertising campaign though but as he didn't want to rock the boat, said nothing. I remember being behind the bus and ringing up my friend saying, "Your boyfriend is in front of me" We gave him heaps about it. This was a few years back now.

A deck of cards you say? My friend's OH ended up on the back end of a bus! He's not even a model.

I'll see what they look like when I upload them later. They look like glowing kreptonite on my camera back. Trying to walk in this long tunnel (discarded railway tunnel) that is pitch black and sharing one torch was no picnic!

Ta. Tried that on the glow worm caves yesterday (pitch black in there) and it worked but didn't have a tripod so photos crap.

I think it's fun too, but OH doesn't. He boiled up a cuppa for himself (took the portable gas stove) while I went off stalking blue wrens at some remote pub in the middle of nowhere. Great spot for birding though, 2 gang gangs flew overhead, parrots etc. - of course I was hiking at the time and had the camera in the backpack as it's too heavy to hang around your neck on a several km walk. Unfortunately in the morning on the way there and on an unsealed road, we passed a young female roo who had been hit (god knows how long she was lying there in agony) and some moron just kept going, without checking that yes, she was still alive and in incredible pain. She was easy to spot too and had her head up. Her back legs were busted up and she was paralysed, trying to get up. She was growling at me when I approached and WIRES were going to be a long time getting there after we called, so OH and his mate had to end her misery quickly - I walked off, couldn't bear to watch. Both men were very upset about having to do that - but no creature should have to suffer like that because someone hit her and then were too cruel and thoughtless to check if she was still alive. I took a photo of her to show her plight which I might use somewhere, I won't put it up here for sensitivity reasons. Um, it's about an hour from the Gold Coast, not sure how long from Brisbane. Binna Burra is rustic, but I prefer it to the more upmarket O'Reilly's which is very commercial. Binna Burra is rustic cabins but great hiking.

Yep, I know what you are saying. I just remembered I took a few shots of a metallic plumaged bird this time last year. Unfortunately I had a very crappy lens on my 350D which belonged on my husband's film SLR which has got to be from the mid 90s or even 80s. It was a Tokina 70-300. I mean this lens is as soft as butter and so I never use it now I have the Canon as it's just crap. The male satin bower bird has a blue/black metallic plumage and the female here is greeny brown but she has a naturally light purple, shiny eye. I was up before dawn and took the camera out. This was taken just after dawn and mist clung to the lodge's grounds. Best time for looking for wildlife though as they are all out feeding as nobody was about (except this loser (me) and some keen Japanese hikers ). Species: Female bower bird in the mist. Location: Binna Burra Lodge's grounds, Lamington Nat Park, about inland from Brisbane. Ah, if only I the better gear a year ago. The early morning mist had rolled in more in this photo, shrouding her here. Later on in the day, the botanist at the lodge told me where the male bower bird's lair was and this is it - complete with everything blue. I could hear him, but I couldn't see him, off courting females no doubt.

Hope you didn't take that as a criticism, tess - wasn't meant to be (you know how with forums, the 'tone' of a post may be lost). I meant when I saw the photo of the RTB, it got me thinking of Rifle birds and how I wish for a trip to PNG so I could combine diving with birding. There is a dive resort there who have a feeder out for the wild Rifle birds. I also don't have the gear for bird photography with only a 70-200 lens. I was stalking a blue wren on a hike yesterday and the little bugger, if I only had more length, I would have got some good shots! ETA: Thanks for that kirsilin, I thought they were only native to PNG, there are several sub species of them up around Cape York. Just as with the Palm Cockatoo who is found in very FNQ and PNG. With RTBs, there are 2 or 3 sub species I think, I had one the same as tess photographed above, RTBs aren't as 'nasty' as other cockatoos, rarely bite and are big sooks). ETA: I just googled riflebirds and seems they are found around the Atherton Tablelands area of Cairns. chezzyr if you are reading this, might be worthwhile to check out how common they are for that upcoming Cairns trip of your's

I just looked at yoru photo of the red tailed black cockatoo again, tess, and what you've done with it reminds me of those Birds of Paradise and the Victoria's Rifle bird (natives to PNG) or even our own Satin Bowerbird as those birds have a natural metallic plumage that kind of shimmies. Whereas cockatoos have a lot of powder, which makes their colour when you photograph them somewhat muted. RTBs have very pale yellow speckles due to the powder I guess. I used to own a red-tailed black, sold him to a flight aviary with a female about 11 years ago as I thought he needed a mate and a large aviary to be truly happy and he is. Anyway, this is what I mean - birds with a natural metallic plumage - Victoria's Rifle bird. I love the blue black metallic plumage on him (not my photo, would be a birder's dream to photography one in PNG though!)

I went to shoot the moon tonight in a park but due to cloud cover, couldn't do it as it kep disappearing. So I shone the spot lights on a tree and decided to take a photo of a big old tree lit by side lighting. However, my lens wouldn't AF so I switched to Manual. Now my night vision is crap (which is why OH drove me to the park) so even adjusting the diopeter, I couldn't be sure the tree was in focus. I turned the lens and fired but the photo still suffered slight blur. Of course I used a tripod and auto timer too. How do you know when the lens is in focus on MF? The focus light beeped but then didn't beep again even though I kept rotating the lens. Ah well, at least the dog got a run around the oval in the dark

I hope the girls like it. My OH hates it and told me, "You've gone too far, their faces are ... bleached!" I told him that's the look I wanted.

Baby lorikeet came back yesterday morning, grey old morning it was. She is so cute.

Ooh nice. I'm off on an adventure tomorrow. Up at sparrow's fart to go out with the boys to the Lost City around Lithgow. Glow worm caves and all. How the hell do I shoot that without a flashgun?? Torch and tripod and long exposure??

It was my first attempt at high key - FAIL! I know I should have removed a few shadows from faces first but don't know how to use the patch tool very well - I don't ''do'' portraits, prefer landscapes but I warned the girls they were my Friday challenge. Yes, on the left is fierydi, monelite on the right. I will clone out the spot on the lips and inner corners of eyes before emailing it to di and mon.

Great photos again from everyone. My OH is also not liking my computer time on the weekend so here is yesterday's and today's in one go. Yesterday I had lunch with these 2 lovely DOLers. I'm crap at PS but did a quick b/w conversion and put a diffuse glow filter over it. Today, my naughty parrots. These are pretty much straight out of camera with a crop as I'm too busy this afternoon to play around with them. Passionfruit My Alexandrine reminds me of a fish eating from a coral bommie in this photo. Chewing up my Outdoor Photography magazine Photos taken with the 50mm 1.8

Red tailed black cockatoo?

I have a hoya fitted to my 70-200 lens but I have taken it off to see if there is a reduction in quality with it on. Then I get paranoid I will get a scratch on this lens. I'm not the most gentle person with my camera equipment. I tend to drop lens caps and have dropped a filter before, so clumsy!

I love old derelict buildings, so much character there. I have an idea for my challenge today and 2 unsuspecting DOLers will be it. :p

I use my compact digital quite often and find that if I select the ''Vivid'' setting as I do for landscapes images on it, it sharpens them up which is a bit annoying.

I had others but they weren't full length body shots. Isn't he just a perfect baby? Judging by the head I think it's a female.

Ruffles, on first glance I thought that was a piece of toast with something wedged on it like poppy seeds. I had a killer of a headache last night so didn't put mine up. Yesterday's effort : Lipgloss I wore to work. It's a sheer colour, I don't make my lips THIS purple but wore a light purple top yesterday. Taken on the bathroom vanity basin while getting ready for work. Selected the gloss I squeezed out (which ended up on my lips) and desaturated the colour from the rest of the image. 7.1.09 Today's photo. I feed 2 lorikeets each morning proper nectar mix. This morning they brought their baby around and he was on the ground eating the excess seed I throw out from my parrots. I adore baby parrots - the big eyes and the black beaks.

Everyone's shots are full of colour today. Beautiful. These shells are in a dish in my bathroom. I have collected them over the years when diving or washed up along different beaches. I placed them on a placemat and took a photo using natural window light, no flash. As it was early evening, I had to bump up the ISO so they are a bit noisy. I'm also no good at b/w conversions but thought I'd have a go with a very slight duotone instead of just b/w. Shells on a mat

I'm late again. It was a hazy, hot day today so I couldn't be bothered leaving the confines of the building's air con. Plus I was wearing high heels and I wasn't about to trot about in the heat in my heels. Went for my evening walk as usual but this time I took the camera. Talk about missed opportunities. I rounded a corner to be confronted by 3 long billed corellas feeding just over a metre in front of me. I crouched low and got the camera out but by the time I'd fired off a shot, all I got was half a corella's body as he took off. Managed to grab this shot opposite a local reserve. Lapwing plover - his mate was calling so he flew off just after I took this. 1/640 @ f/4. ISO 250 Why did the Plover cross the road? edited to resize

I've taken the camera to work today so I'll see what catches my eye. It's a pretty hot day here in the city. ETA: It took a while for photos to load on my work computer but I love the diversity of everyone's shots.

I think I'll just make it before off to bed. Today we had a busy day. OH spotted a magpie near the side of the road and he was a juvenile and stunned, lying in the heat, probaby clipped by car. So we took him to the vet, hope the poor little bugga makes it. Then we went home, grabbed the dive gear and drove to Clovelly for a dive at Gordon's Bay. I wasn't going to take the DSLR in case the car got broken into (you never know) so I took my little 3 year old Panasonic compact. During the dive we saw so many sting rays, I mean it was Steve Irwin's worst friggin' nightmare out there today with all the rays - and some biggies too. Some blue groupers, damselfish, pipefish, octopus, small leatherjackets and then the tide started to come in and we had to swim around a large ball of bait fish. Something BIG over the drop off must have driven them in. Tide turning, water turning murky and bait fish balled up meant time to swim back and get out I said to OH it was probably kingfish and he just said, "Er no, not kingfish" Here are 2 as I couldn't decide. Taken in warm early evening light. The thing with my pocket camera is, it has no viewfinder in it so you have to point the camera in front of you and click. I couldn't see where the hell I was focusing as the sun was in my eyes. These are just straight out of camera, with a crop. This is where we swam in for the start of the dive. Picture: Standard mode. Setting: Landscape. ISO 200 Tide coming in, was really windy out there. Picture - I changed the camera setting to Vivid, taken on Landscape setting.