ceesmaas

<p>Mel,<br>

Just curious. Why don't you bring your 35mm (the new AF-S)?<br>

Disappointed in the quality or no zoom?</p>

<p>PS: the credits for the poem are for A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson. </p>

<p>Green and amber and gold it grows<br />When the sun sinks late in the West;<br />And the breeze sweeps over the rippling rows<br />Where the quail and the skylark nest.<br />Mountain or river or shining star,<br />There's never a sight can beat<br />Away to the sky-line stretching far <br />A sea of the ripening Wheat.</p><div></div>

<p>I'm sorry. The Software Machine of Phono.net can be a bit too quick to make some corrections afterwards. The phi ratio, of course, is 1:1.618 and not 1:1.68 as I mentioned earlier. A lot of designers are using this ratio to reach an interesting, natural and balanced design. In modern photo-software as Adobe Lightroom you'll find a grid overlay with (among other ratio's) a couple of phi ratio's.</p>

<p>Michael - Beautifull photo! But the frog itself doesn't break any rules at all. The ratio between its eyes and nose tip are perfectly balanced under the 'golden rule' of phi, as Fibonacci centuries ago describes. <br>

The phi-ratio (1:1.68) - often mistakes with the much more common rule of thirds - and based on the natural ratio of ( in this example) the frog face, makes a slightly different crop of your photo possible. The frog is no longer centered, but one may ask if the total image isn't a bit more interesting with phi.</p><div></div>

<p>Phil,<br />A quote from the excellent second edition (may-2009) of The Dam Book, the bible for archiving digital photographs:<br />'With proper handling, a quality optical disk that is burned well should be a valuable backup to a hard drive-based archive for 5 to 10 years'.<br />The author Peter Krogh gives the next tips:<br />- Use quality disks<br />- Burn at slow speeds<br />- Don't use a solvent-based pen to mark the disk. Mark only in the center area of the disk.<br />- Do not put label stickers on your disks.<br />- Don't print with inkjet printers.<br />- Immediately store your disks in a way that protects them from scratches.<br />- Protect disks from UV light, excessive heat and humidity as well as frequent changes in temperature.<br />- Validate the data on the disks from time to time.<br />Peter Krogh advises to use the DVD+R format, but states that manufacturing defects and poor storage conditions can result in data loss.<br />He recommends two brands of DVD that are considered particularly stable: Delkin Gold and Taiyo Yuden.<br />And of course: a single burned DVD should not be your only backup of your valuable photographs.</p>

<p>Jack,<br>

Go for the second edition of The Dam Book. You won't regret it.<br>

See also this thread: <a href="00KsfI">http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00KsfI</a></p>

<p>Reed,<br /><br />Just finished reading the second edition of Peter Krogh's The DAM Book. This book is even better than the first edition and includes also a very good sample of a Lightroom workflow.<br />The book provides a very stable workflow and image management system for long in the future to come. The DOF in the book (476 pages) is unbelievable.<br />Peter Krogh (he manages an archive of about 300.000 photographs) knows what he is talking about. The Dam Book is a great tool for any serious photographer.<br />Go for it.</p>

<p>Agree with Stuart. B&W and distortion of the main subject looks muuuch better. You get more dancing movement in the image and don't miss the feet that much. Another option is to apply the phi-ratio for more balance, straighten the upside of the window and apply a pinch of edgarian blur to the disturbing background. You get something like this. A quick edit. </p>

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