gapvic

Thanks Snook - it was a hard week. I am pleased with the photo though and can't think why I haven't gone down amongst my trees to take photos there before . I'm sorry to hear that you haven't been well and that, combined with the camera problems, must be just . Thanks too KA for the comments :)

Week eight - sometimes I feel like...

Fabulous - thanks Huga

Huga, are you putting your self portraits on flickr? I was telling a friend about them and how fantastic they are, and she'd love to see them too :)

My family were devout Canon users and were horrified when I bought my Nikon D80 :laugh: . Can't wait to get the D7000 next month :D

Beautiful photos!!

Flaves, we are all here to learn :) - please don't leave!

Thanks Dogfan! They are quite easy to do, but you do need a helper I think if you want to be in the pic too. ISO 400, f11, shutter onto "bulb". Put your subject into the frame and shine a torch on them to get the focus (in my case, I used my mother). Lock focus, then use remote to start the picture. I sat in the frame and my mother then came and sat next to me with a torch in her hands. She got it into position, turned it on, then drew the heart. Once the heart was done she turned it off, moved to the camera, got another torch (stronger one) and shone it on my face for a couple of seconds (have to be fairly quick I think as we were slower first time (shone torch over more of my body) and I got movement blur even though I sat as still as I could). I then used the remote to end the shot. Hope that makes sense The second light shot was heaps of fun to do. My mother stood in the pose and I simply stood behind her and kind of traced her outline with the torch, trying not to get too close to her as I didn't want the light to shine on her clothes too much. I then drew the hair, then put in the eyes and the smile. It is a fairly simple technique and one I think kids would enjoy doing :)

Wow Huga, just beautiful!!!

Gila - I'm really enjoying your selfies and the glimpse they offer into your life :-) MTD - beautiful flower! MrRedDog - It must have been heaps of fun to watch the Dachshunds running around LOL! Sorry to hear you've had a rough week. What is cooking in your Week 6 image? Misteri - it's amazing how clear the water is. So beautiful! Kym & Adrian - cute puppies :-) Redangel - how sweet is Luci? Dwynwen - wow, great pic!! Kja - welcome! Lovely photos. Dogfan - what interesting effects! The second one is quite freaky. ButterNut - I love the glow in the lantern shot. Anniek - another beautiful blue hound. What a pretty girl May is! Pixie_Meg - your photos are always great. I love the ones featuring your children. MnDM - oh, a whippet baby!!! Juddy is so so cute. Evolving - what a handsome dog Alera is. My apologies if I forgot anyone! Huga, I'm really inspired by your light pic and want to have a go at a similar one with some lanterns I have. Snook, thank you so much for the email. It has helped a lot :) . So, two pics for me for week seven! The second one is pretty crappy but seeing as I was playing around with torches, I figured I'd better try to get myself into one of the shots. Week seven - Kyneton botanical gardens Playing with light And just for fun :-)

KumaAkita, the instructions in the magazine were to use a spot with some ambient light if possible. Use a torch to shine where you want the camera to focus, use auto focus then lock. Set ISO to 100, f11, and shutter on "bulb". Use your remote to open the shutter, walk into the frame, turn your torch on and start making shapes. You can go for as long as you like. If you want to move to another shape, turn the torch off, move, on again and start making your shape. Once you are done use your remote to end the shot. They also suggested putting coloured plastic over your torch to make the light different colours. Hope that all makes sense! Heaps of fun :D

It is fun, isn't it? I did some writing that came up well but sadly went off screen LOL! Would love to see other people's better examples :)

A friend gave me a heap of older camera magazines to read, and I came across a technique of making shapes etc with torches. It was heaps of fun! As you can see, I can't draw very well . And I need a smaller torch. If anyone wants me to type up the instructions here as to how to do this just let me know and I'd be happy to do so :)

Great pics CC - especially love the cat in the first one :laugh:

Thanks heaps Huga, I'll give that a try :) . I've kind of cheated . I wasn't really happy with my week six pic so I've taken another one.

Yes, you may :) It is a long exposure - one second. So camera on tripod. I also had to stick a bit of masking tape on the wall behind my head, so the camera knew where to focus. ISO 400 f/6.3 (I think), but I should have gone higher, because I am slightly OOF. I wanted the lights to glow, so knew it had to be a long exposure, but there was no where near enough light to see my face. I tried the flash (off camera), but that was too much light, so I had a torch aimed at my face (which I also needed to light the masking tape on the wall, otherwise it was too dark for the auto focus). Does that all make sense? :laugh: Try with a different light source. On camera flash never looks great. As you've probably noticed, I've been trying to push myself and experiment with light a lot. It's amazing what can be done. Thanks Huga, that does make sense. Did you then have to edit out the masking tape? And did you have someone holding the torch, or do you have some sort of stand for it? I'm struggling a little as my OH is not particularly interested in being an assistant so I need to work out ways to do it myself. Trying to get the pic framed, the sparklers lit (in the wind) and the photo taken was a little frustrating :laugh: . Damn sparklers! My camera will only stay on the remote setting for a fairly short period, so I'd finally get the sparkler lit then find that the remote had turned off :laugh: . Bugger. So, using the sparkler shot as an example and using an outside light source (I've got a nice, not too bright, spotlight I can use). Would you first light the subject for a few seconds, then turn the light off, then wave the sparklers around?

I'm finding this challenge a bit difficult and we're only six weeks in . I wanted to do a night photo with sparklers this week but just could not get the focus right. I had my camera set on rear flash but it would still do a little flash when the timer started too. No matter what I tried, I always came out blurry, like I'd moved . Here is my week six. Waiting.

Just beautiful Huga :). May I ask how you got everything around you so dark but the light on your face? It's quite lovely.

:laugh: Snook - there is no way I'd mess with you with those gloves on! Can I ask how you get the white background in your pics?

Fantastic pic Gila! Thanks Huga. I don't have PS.... might have to download a trial :)

Cool! Do you do the layering in something like Photoshop? Can it be done in Lightroom?

Wow, FANTASTIC photos everyone !!! Huga, your photo is really creepy. I'm especially freaked out by the "monster" behind the couch for some reason. How did you do it?? My week 5 is a little boring - just me with the sock monkeys (for the sock monkey thread in OT).

Crazy Cresties - amazing picture! I think a micro must be next on my list... after a new camera :) Katie - absolutely beautiful photo. I'm sure your children will thank you when they are older. They will have so many beautiful photos of themselves, and you, to look back on. MnDM - how cute are coati babies! I've absolutely no idea though what a coati is so I'm off to google it. I felt bad that Zephyr, one of my greyhounds, missed out on having his picture taken this morning so we headed out into the hay field next door for some time with the camera. Hope it's OK to post another pic for Week 4

It can get a bit frustrating at times, can't it? I seem to take hundreds too to just get one I think is ok. Snook, I forgot to say I loved your week 3 - it made me laugh :laugh:

Ah haha - snap! My selfie this week includes one of my dogs too! Is it cheating to include a husband as well? Week four - two of my loves I love the one above as Oscar is giving Nick a kiss on the nose, but the second one is probably better as you can see more of Nick's face.