Ripley

'Lightroom crashes and ol' Ripley cries Her intentions fall to the floor ...' Bought LR, full version and loaded it and it's crashing on me. The one day I get some time to edit some photos for a friend. I'm really not in the mood now, it's hot and I've lost my motivation. Got the fan on here so heat isn't an issue. Anyone else had this problem when they first bought it? Might have to get husband to look at the computer when he gets home. I've read Scott Kelby's book and was feeling all ah-ha, know this and ready to go and now it's stuffed up

300mm should be fine for most shots, especially in parks in South Africa. Have you considered a camcorder with OS (optical stabiliser) in it? I went to Africa 10 years ago, back in the days of film and I took a compact point and shoot camera and my husband took a camcorder with a good zoom range. A couple of years ago I had all the film from the camcorder transferred onto DVD and it was great to sit down and watch our safari video all these years later. Taking a DSLR and a telephoto is a great idea and if I ever went back there, I'd definitely take my camera gear of course, but I'd also take a camcorder again. I haven't taken a camcorder (are they still even called that? ) anywhere since but Africa is one of those places I'd recommend doing so, just so you can film what you see.

How great are B&H. I ordered the regular version of LR off them on Monday and it's just arrived today - from New York with their normal shipping. Wonderful service. I've ordered a few things off them before. Of course the Scott Kelby book on how to use it hasn't arrived yet (off Amazon) and won't for another week. I doubt if I'll get to even loading it on the computer this weekend, too much on.

Excellent, thanks. Just googled and found it works with CS3 so I don't have to upgrade that.

What is the difference between the Academic version of Lightroom (cheaper) than the full version?

I clone sensor dust in Adobe Camera Raw as I find it quicker than opening in CS3. I also open objects as a smart object sometimes. I'm pretty confident in Bridge, which is why Lightroom scares me but I had a look at the raw converter in Lightroom and it has the same sliders as CS3's Raw converter just a few extra scary looking things I'm sure I'll get used to. I'm ok with actions, have used them before just not made up any of my own. I'm ok with layer masks too - maybe I'll be ok with LR. I'm ordering it today. Thanks for the great advice kja. One thing though, why do you have to import each file, can't you just download and click like you can in Bridge? Seems you have to import individually and then go to Develop, whereas in Bridge I just double click and it opens, I do my raw adjustments and then open in PS.

Love these iceberg shots - you are so fortunate to get down that way. http://oceansbyanderson.com/blog/?p=231 These ones - so blue! How was the sea sickness though? Those penguins are adorable and I think that seabird you photographed from the boat (it's not easy is it!) is a Southern Giant Petrel, but don't quote me on that. Not an albatross I think, wingspan isn't long enough. eta: Albatross have a very wide wingspan like this black/brown Albatross I photographed just out of Sydney harbour last month, he did a 'fly by' around the boat looking for a hand out I think

Great, I'll have a sticky at the photos over lunch in a sec. I hate being anti social as I'm on my butt editing pics so need Lightroom. I passed up an afternoon at the pub with friends last Sunday as "I have to get these photos done!" OH was not amused. Then I think, well what for? But it's for me, it's my hobby. My mother also wants a nice book and photos of her dog I took ages ago, she bugs me all the time, have you got those photos yet? Um, No. Can't even remember what I've done with them. Now she has an apricot toy poodle puppy, I'm being nagged to go and visit him and take pics.

Would love to see your Antarctica/SA shots. Do you have any on your blog? Do you think it's because you'd rather be outside or doing other things? That's how I am. I like taking the photos, I just get bogged down editing them and OH and I like to get out of Sydney and go hiking some weekends. I've (almost) finished my ones from August but I tend to sit down with good intentions, open Bridge, feel like it's all too much to do and become uninspired and log off. Also thinking of asking the OH to buy me the waterproof point and shoot Panasonic camera for Christmas. Need a good one for snorkelling or shallow dives.

Excellent. As I take photos of nature sort of stuff and scenics, I only convert things to b/w if it's a city scene or similar. I don't take portrait shots (if I can help it, not comfortable shooting people) or dogs!

I'll order it from the US as it's much cheaper. Can you load it on the home computer plus a laptop? I'm not tech savvy about these sorts of things. Will have to buy Scott Kelby's guide to it though. Last time I downloaded a free trial over a year ago it confused the hell out of me and I went back to Bridge.

Thanks kja. I sometimes use layer masks, I find them pretty good for selective adjustments so that's basically what I use PS for. Or converting to b/w. I'm not interested in any of the lightroom presets. I've got an action set for PS and have used it once or twice but I prefer to just make up my own adjustments. It's the fast raw converting and sorting through images that I need. eta: for cloning out sensor dust, I do that at the raw stage or use the spot healing brush in PS. If I have to tackle an object, I'll use the patch tool and the clone tool and find that ok in CS3.

I'm very behind on my photos. I have a stack of images to do from a trip to Lady Elliot Island in August and I'm only half way through them. Working 5 days a week and not wanting to get on the computer at night means I only get half a Saturday or Sunday to go through them as I don't like my weekends taken up by sitting on my ass editing photos. (and my husband hates it too). Can anyone tell me that Lightroom would be a worthwhile investment? I take images in Raw and sometimes there are a number of photos I want to keep that require the same adjustments in the raw converter, due to them being taken in the same light, exposure etc. I have CS3 which has the same controls in Raw as Lithtroom 1 (I think it's 1) - clarity, vibrance, blacks etc. so that's all I want to do at the Raw stage and then open the file in PS and do a few adjustments from there. Adobe Bridge takes so long and often freezes up. I can open several files at once in Adobe Bridge but I've heard Lightroom is faster. I need to get cracking as images are just going to keep piling up. We are going away in December and then more images will pile up after that. If I get Lightroom, would it be too big to load on a laptop? I was thinking it would be much easier to take a laptop away, take photos during the day and edit them during the quiet times you get at night, while my husbnad hits the bar. I was thinking Lightroom 2 as it's much cheaper and I just want it for the fast processing I've heard it can do.

I've found the 50D fantastic for locking on focus on moving animals and where you don't know where they are going to go - I've used it taking a photo of an albatross in flight and a humpback whale calf breaching and it didn't lose focus, but I only use one focus point for flight shots. One thing I've noticed between the 50D (which I've only used about twice since I got it in Aug) and my 30D is it throws a magenta cast, but this is easily corrected at the raw converter stage. I borrowed rugerfly's Nikon at a dog show last year just for fun and I can't remember what Nikon she had but it was pretty impressive, I think that was down to the great lens she had on it. Agree about spending your money on a good lens. The lens I use for taking photos of birds etc. is worth more than my camera (300mm f/4 prime), I love it, except I bought a khaki cover for it as the white sticks out well, like dogs' balls, plus the neoprane keeps it dry and it's pretty comfy on the hands.

Tess, what about Andrew Zuckerman? One of his books http://www.creaturebook.com/ Doesn't appeal to my tastes (I'm a big Nick Brandt fan now though, might order his latest book), like Tim Flach too. He photographs non domestic animals. I went to the newsagents this morning to get something and had a browse of the UK photography mags there and saw a photograph of his on the front cover. It was a giraffe so I flicked through the mag and that's the first I've heard of him, he's pretty famous too. His site http://www.andrewzuckerman.com/ (very bold letters )

I was going to say Nick Brandt but he mainly photographs African wildlife? Someone showed me his site after I saw some of his photos in the SMH paper, wow, he is amazingly talented (and super famous it seems, I recognised his images as I'd seen them over the years in newspapers or bookshops ). eta: just googled his site, he does landscapes too, can't find any studio pics Here's an interview with him, interesting that he doesn't use telephoto lens - he says in the interview below He uses a Pentax 67 and short lens "I can’t be close to animals when there are other people there because then I’m blocking their view, so it’s antisocial. So, I’ll be sitting all day with lions, waiting to get their photograph and finally at the end of the day, the lions get up and at that moment tourists in a Land Rover come over the hill. And I have to back away because I can’t block their view. I’ve spent all day spending time so the lions are completely relaxed so that when they get up they won’t even notice my team and I… but then that’s it. It becomes harder and harder. I increasingly have to go during low-season, but even then, there is getting to be no off-season. It’s very frustrating." http://www.lesphotographes.com/2010/02/21/...rsus-barbarism/

Years ago I bought a pocket sized book on dogs and their owners by French photographer, Yann Arthus-Bertrand. I liked his book - just googled him and found this He has published many books - Dogs, Cats, Chevaux (horses), and Home (landscapes from the air), this is one of them He also does aireal photography. Some of his animal photos eta: just found his site. http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/

It does throw a magenta cast but if you photograph in raw, it's easily corrected in PS. Here is the trip report with photos of what we saw as one of the crew members takes photos. Photos of his can be seen here: http://www.sydneywhalewatching.com/sightin...sighting_id=531 the Blog: "The whales were everywhere. A playful pod of 3 humpbacks were sighted breaching as Explorer navigated through Sydney Heads at approximately 1.45 pm. The breaching could be seen from afar as the seas were flattening nicely. These whales were only 4 miles offshore and as we came within 200m of the pod they rolled over on their backs waving both pectoral fins simultaneously. They were certainly in a good mood to have a frolic. A pod of Common Dolphins also came jumping over as we slowly cruised along beside. Another pod of 2 whales were following a short distance behind. From breaching to fluke up dives, tail and pec fin slapping to the graceful tail flukes were witnessed this afternoon. Other vessels were out this afternoon also enjoying the brilliant conditions and there were literally whales everywhere. " Worth doing if you are in along the east coast atm, the whale watching season ends in Nov. eta: they run the operations well. There isn't allowed to be many boats near the whales so we moved on and ended up finding another pod and were the only boat there, I chose a smaller boat to go on as it's usually less people on them.

you'll be waiting for a while, sorry. I'm just hopeless when it comes to processing so I won't get to it until the weekend. I did download them though and am stoked to have some sharp shots as it's always a lottery with the ocean swell. I'll tell you what we saw though: Fairy penguin, dolphins, one fur seal, shearwaters and a couple of albatross. I took one photo of an albatross in flight and then concentrated on finding some whales. I used my 50D and the AF works great in it, a bit better than the 30D. We went out past the heads into the open ocean where it got a bit bumpy but nothing too bad. Then we came across a pod of humpbacks. They were showing their bellies and slapping their flukes on the water in a sort of whale ballet. I stayed put in one position and just hoped for the best and was rewarded with a few breaching shots and slapping their pecs on the ocean so I'm so happy I got some breaching shots. Also got a tail shot that I think is sharp enough but I had to shoot through people's heads - thank god I'm tall. This nice German guy let me squeeze in next to him so that was nice of him. I didn't need the teleconverter so that was good. At one point I thought if this whale comes any closer, I'm not going to be able to fit him in the frame (I had a 300mm). No time to keep fiddling with the camera changing settings as you would miss shots, but I did have to dial in some - exposure compensation with their white bellies on display. But that's the fun, you don't know what they are going to do. They are just so amazing.

tsk tsk, very naughty Ripley. I hope it performs brilliantly for you. Are you whale watching? Yes. I was supposed to go last weekend but it was overcast and I want a blue sea, not a grey one like I had last time. This time the whales will be humpbacks and whatever else shows up. They are migrating back down the coast now. I don't want a heavy lens as it's hard enough to take pics from a rolling boat, but if they don't come close enough, I'll have to use the teleconverter. Haven't used the camera yet as I have too many photos to process, I don't need to take more - I'm so behind, months behind. Just no time and husband hates it when I sit on the computer if he's home (he's the one who bought me the 50D ). Thanks for the well wishes, kirislin, I hope the whales are putting on a show and this wind dies down!

If this wind in Sydney stops, I might have to use my teleconverter tomorrow as I can't get close to what I'm going to photograph, I have to see if they want to come close as I'll be on a boat. Hoping I won't have to use it though, it also makes my lens heavy to hand hold. If I use it, I'll let you know how it goes, I'll be using it on a 50D, had the camera since August and haven't even used it yet!

I've got a Canon 1.4x extender but rarely use it. It does slow down AF which is important for me if the subject is moving. I rarely use it to be honest as I've tried to use 'fieldcraft' I'd guess you'd call it? to get closer. (I bought a neoprane camo cover for the lens too as I found wildlife a bit suss on the funny white tube thing I have in my hands) and they don't mind the cover I have on it as it tends to look like a tree branch. It's great for more reach but if the light isn't so good, it will hunt. I don't have your lens though, I have a 300mm f/4 L and found that the telecoverter hunts but if the subject isn't moving, it's fine. eta: For wild birds, you will miss shots as it slows down AF, however you have a 7D so you might be right? I've taken all my in flight shots on a 30D so I ditched the teleconverter. With birds remember, the smaller the bird, the faster it will fly

Stunning, kja. If we ever get to WA again, I'd love to head up your way for some diving. I wish I could afford an underwater unit. Always love seeing your photos, I sometimes feel what is underwater is far more interesting than what is above it on land.

If I'm having trouble with AF for a fast moving object, I turn the IS to off on my telephoto lens as I found leaving the IS activated slows down the AF on my 30D (which I think shoots 6 fps?). However, the light needs to be good enough to do this as I only hand hold it so need the higher shutter speed. I had no probs tracking a wild sea eagle the other month using AF. Haven't tried the 50D out yet though, had it a month and haven't used it yet. eta: Are you thinking of selling it? I tossed up between a second hand 1D Mark II N and a brand new 50D for bird and wildlife shots as the 1D has better AF according to all the reviews I read, but I chose the 50D as I need the crop factor, I didn't want to pay nearly a grand for an older camera and it's just a hobby. Got so many photos to process right now I'm overwhelmed. The second hand 1D Mark II N was going for about $950.

I've got a couple Helen. Lee Frost's Landscape Photography and Rick Sammon's Digital Imaging Workshops - happy to donate if any interest. eta: You can also have Scott Kelby's Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers (I have CS3 now so don't need it) if you wish