roger mitchell

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Douglas Stemke: I understand the spirit of the "no hand of man" in a nature photo but that seems a bit extreme to me. I'm fortunate to live in an area where there are abundant hawks and people come from all over to view them. Two winters ago, I took a course on hawks and had the opportunity to spend a day watching hawks with one of the world's leading experts on hawks, William Clark (he literally wrote the book). We saw a gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) that was spending the winter here. She flew all the way from the arctic just to spend her days on a telephone pole. She was neither captive nor tame. She was in what constituted the wild for her for that winter. I have a very nice photo of her sitting on the crossarm of the telephone pole, large insulator in view, etc, ie. "the hand of man" is visible. By your club's standards, even though the gyrfalcon was definitely in the wild, I guess my photo isn't worthy.

Andrea, if you use "Select All, Edit, Stroke" to create your border, which I do routinely, you apply the stroke on the INSIDE. This is one of the "Location" choices in the middle of the Stroke dialogue box, at least on PSCS Windows version it is. Hope that helps.

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Check to see if you are applying the stroke on the inside. It may seem counterintuitive but the stroke should be on the inside. I do this routinely and it always shows when I print on my Epson 2200. Hope this helps.

Each year, about now, Shagy Mane, or Coprinus comatus, mushrooms pop

up. They only last about 24-48 hrs.<div></div>

In Katrin Eismann's "Photoshop Masking and Compositing" book (which is excellent) she has a chapter in Part III entitled, "Selecting Hair and Fine Detail" in which she provides detailed instructions for doing what you want several different ways. Hope this helps.

Scott, I'm no expert, and there are a number of outstanding bird photographers on this forum, so I can only pass along what I've learned. We have many, many GBH here in NW Wash. State but many of them are in farm fields, along the ditches, in the open. Watch how herons stalk their prey - they move very, very slowly. You do the same with no sudden movements. Don't suddenly move your camera/long lens to your eye and they will tolerate you getting fairly close (20 feet). The 300mm will be frustrating but you can get good shots and a tripod will help a lot.

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Leon: I use the Lowepro Mini-Trekker AW as my regular bag and love it (I have other Lowepro bags, as well). My standard setup includes D200 w/MB-D200, 24-20 VR, 105 f2.8 macro, 300 f4, PN11, 3 extension tubes, TC-17e converter, 1.4X converter, 2X Vivitar macro converter, polarizer for all lenses, ND grads and Cokin P holder, SB-800 w/SC17 cord, MC-30 cable release, RRS MPR192 rail, RRS B87B flash arm, 2-20" reflectors, Plamp, spare CF cards, a 3rd ENEL3e battery, and even my Lensbaby w/ its macro lens set ! A touch heavy but I have everything I need, most of the time, in a compact, easy to carry bag. Hope this helps.

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Lots of green<div></div>

Juvenile bald eagle<div></div>

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It's at Mt. Baker in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Nat'l Forest. Take I-5 NORTH to Bellingham (which is about 85 mi north of Seattle), take Exit 255 EAST (Mt. Baker Hwy, also known as WA 542). It's about an hour's drive from B'ham. You can't miss Picture Lake because it's well-marked and there is a loop road around it. Also, there is a visitor's center at Heather Meadows. Call them to find out the best time of day for the Mt. Shuksan reflection in Picture Lake. Hope this helps. Enjoy your visit.

I recently graduated from a D70 to a D200. Don't waste your time with anything else - start with Thom Hogan's ebook; it is extremely well done and will answer 99% of your questions.