rsands

<p>Mine is a picture that has been taken approximately 1 billion times and counting, but this is the first time it's been taken by me!</p>

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<p>Haven't been able to process any of my pix from my trip to London (UK) yet, so I'll just comment on some that caught my eye.</p>

<p>John Farrar - almost haunting.<br />Rene - someday I'll figure out how to get an exposure done that well when it's so backlit.<br />Illka - gorgeous. The part of Canada I live in isn't having winter this year, nice to actually see some.</p>

<p>I bought the 35 over the 50 for one reason. I often use it in low-light situations, e.g. inside churches. With a 35, I can often walk closer to what I want to fill the frame; with a 50, I might not have to walk forward, but often find I cannot back up to fill the frame with a panorama.</p>

<p>So, if (as it appears) you are somewhat torn, remember that you can usually walk closer, but you can't always back up.</p>

<p>A beautiful day in the park.</p><div></div>

<p>Sri Mariammar temple, Singapore.</p>

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<p>+1 on Picasa. Simple enough to use, allows you to do minor edits, and free. ViewNX is also a possibility, but I like what Picasa does in terms of organization of your files. I spend most of my time in Lightroom, but it's as much as $300 last time I looked.</p>

<p>Good morning, all. Looking off into the distant New Year...</p><div></div>

<p>Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. Another cat rescue safely accomplished.</p>

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<p>Matt, also glad to hear all is fine. <br>

A slightly different view of Tour Eiffel.</p><div></div>

<p>Jose Curiel, Chris Court; both great shots. Great lighting.<br>

Mine is from Montmartre Cemetery, on All Saints' Day. The place was full (!) of people visiting ancestors, cleaning up, and so on. This woman wass dressed for the occasion, and was on a mission, it appeared.</p>

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<p>Try as she might, my wife could not convince these pigeons to come feed late one evening in Paris.</p><div></div>

<p>Been off travelling for a few weeks. Here's the first one I'll post as a result of that trip. Last night we spent in Paris - c'est bon!</p><div></div>

<p>Allan, love the shot of Annie.<br>

Anura, great shot. Love the lighting.<br>

Mine is a competitor in a half-marathon, giving everything he has and 'draining the tank' about 20 meters from the finish. </p><div></div>

<p>Bill, I have to follow your lead. This is the best thing I've come up with this week. Maybe the same butterfly form a different angle...........</p>

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<p>Jana, I love looking at your shots every week.<br>

Mine isn't quite as 'glam', as it shows my wife at the end of a 10k, but I'm posting it to say thanks to everyone that offered their advice on a different thread after my last attempt. I'm much happier with the results, so is my wife, and I look forward to her half-marathon in a few weeks! </p><div></div>

<p>Playing with my flash, and with my favorite subject.......</p><div></div>

<p>Out taking some shots of something else that didn't turn out as well as I hoped, I was walking home and realized just how gorgeous the sky was that night.</p><div></div>

<p>Some great shots today as always. Been a bit busy and the camera only came out last night, so we'll have to go with an older one. Ahh, memories.</p><div></div>

<p>A last blast of summer......</p>

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<p>Following on from Matt, if you are thinking long-term archive, and want to make sure you have a viewer that can handle it, you can also download ViewNX and copy that download onto the storage media.</p>

 

<p>Thanks again to all for the feedback. There is a lot to digest here. I'm glad I was doing most things right, but see some great pointers on things that I wasn't so competent with. To Kerry, I do use a monopod, and agree it's a big help. The 70-200 may be out of my price range for the moment, and I know a pro-level camera is, but we'll see about the lens. It's an interesting thought, though, when I look at the shots I took at this event and see that most are in the 80-150 range. </p>

 

<p>Thanks to all for the feedback. Much appreciated, and I have some things to work on before the next opportunity. Higher/Auto ISO to get bigger DoF, prefocusing, trying AF-S, maybe even spraying shots. And more learning about D90 autofocus.<br>

Bruce, thanks for 'SPOUSE MODE', made my morning. Hers too.</p>

<p>Thanks. I was following your approach, Michael (and aiming at the numbers), but in the excitement of the moment managed to slip it over to one side slightly, and the AF sensor did what it's supposed to and saw the high-contrast flag. I had thought about the manual focus approach, Stephen, but couldn't find anyone in the right position. I'll pace it off next time if I have to.</p>

<p>So I was quite disappointed that a shot today didn't come out nearly as well as hoped. I know it's user error, and would appreciate any pointers on how to improve. <br>

I was taking some pics of my wife at the finish line of her first 10k (!), and the best shot is out of focus. <br>

I am using focus point selection, and had the focus point on her. Or so I thought. ViewNX (captured below) shows me that it is was slightly off, and instead of her, it picked the high-contrast area just behind her elbow. I understand what the camera did, and why.<br>

Equipment is a D90, with a Nikkor 70-300 4.5-5.6/G/VR. It was a bit cloudy, and I wanted to freeze action, so my shutter was at 1/1000, ISO at 640. I was in manual, and had centre-weight metered on some earlier runners, so so the aperture fell out at F/6.3. Focus mode is AF-C. The combination of aperture and lens and distance has given me a fairly shallow DoF, somewhere around 3.5m/11 feet. So, the flags were probably 10-15 feet behind her, I lose focus.<br>

So - what should I do differently? Crank the ISO and accept the noise? Close the aperture and underexpose, kick it up in post processing? Get better at holding the focus point on my subject? Prefocus manually? All thoughts appreciated. I have another 'shot' at this in a few weeks, want to hit it this time.</p><div></div>

<p>Bill Keaton - great abstract. Very nice. </p>

<p>Mine is a local celebrity, recovering from a hard day......</p><div></div>