[PB PM]

From what I can see its not bad. I thought about getting Nikon's 70-300mm VR, which is a lot cheaper than my 300mm prime, but most reviews pointed out to this type of zoom being rather soft wide open on the long end, which is why I went with a prime. Not sure about the Canon. Here are some user thoughts on it.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=27&page=2

[Swox]

I've heard that the price to performance ratio is spectacular. We'll be looking at getting it in the next year or two, it being the recession and all .

[PB PM]

Yeah. After looking at the price, you might as well save up a little longer and grab the 70-200 F4L USM instead, and put a teleconverter on it a few months later, better bang for your buck, IMO.

[PB PM]

Another shot from yesterday.

[Chinney]

I love the subtle colours of that one PB, and, especially, the shadow on the water.

[julesstoop]

Wow. That's really a cool shot. The suggestion of space is greatly enhanced by the shadow which looks almost unreal because the water is so calm.

[turtle]

PB PM, I've been enjoying your shots lately! Keep it up.

Here's a few I managed from the zoo trip recently.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by Chinney I love the subtle colours of that one PB, and, especially, the shadow on the water.

Originally Posted by julesstoop Wow. That's really a cool shot. The suggestion of space is greatly enhanced by the shadow which looks almost unreal because the water is so calm.

Thanks guys. It is has taken some time, but I'm really starting to get the hang of these bird in flight shots. Since shooting in the morning/evening (golden hours) are out of the question due to work, I've found that partly cloudy days are best. The Heron shots in question were somewhat easy because six or seven of them were flying just above the water as they tracked a school of small fish. Aperture really helped me to pull out natural colours in these shots, which is what I love about it.

[GSpotter]

Yesterday evening, while walking the dog, two does were on a field near our home.

[PB PM]

Nice shot!

I think one of the hardest things to do in photography is taking different types of shots, or perhaps subjects. It is easy to fall into a niche and just focus on that, which is fine, but I know for myself that I want to expand beyond just shooting birds, as much as I do enjoy it. One result of me trying to expand is the following shot.



One thing that might be cool to do is a mini photo challenge. I know lots of photography sites have them, but if any of you guys are interested, maybe we could try it.

[GOLDFRAPP]

My first attempt at HDRI:

[turtle]

Wow GOLDFRAPP, keep up the shots from New York!

I'm all for mini challenges. I think we should definitely do that. It'd be good motivation to get me shooting more again.

[Chinney]

[GSpotter]

Nice shots from NYC! Brings back memories from my visits (About 11-12 years ago. I had a 20mm lens for my SLR then).

I like the idea of a challenge.

[PB PM]

We'll just have to put on our thinking caps and think of something that everyone can do. It could be anything from "arty" shooting styles to a particular subject(s).

[sunrain]

It's killing me. I've had my new 5D mark II since Thursday and it was only last night that I had a moment to go onto our deck and grab a shot. I'm dying to find more time to shoot. I'll post more when I do.

[Chinney]

I'm up for the AN challenge. How about a "bring us back an interesting photo within 50 paces of your front door" type of challenge?

[PB PM]

Well that is an interesting idea, I know all I would see 50 paces from my front door, would be my front door and some bushes.

A few ideas from me:
* Park benches, this could be wide open, anything from just different views of a bench itself to what can one see from a park bench (but the bench needs to be in the shot)
* Oldest building in your city/town
* Graffiti
* High Key/Low key
* From the cameras point of view. if you have a second camera, take a photo of your camera, setup for a shot in a setting of your choice, although this would be limited to tripod photography most like, or have a photo of a photographer, maybe even yourself shooting away

[turtle]

Ok, how about someone start a thread and link to it from here. That way the challenge threads stay separate from this one but linked.

Hey, there are plenty of cool things in bushes. I'll do whatever the challenge is. My new server is being delivered today so I'm gonna be pretty occupied today and tonight.

[PB PM]

Okay, I started one, since it was my idea, I'll do a little bit of the dirty work.

http://forums.applenova.com/showthre...138#post626138

[Chinney]

Snow, ice, water and green grass in the park at night during spring thaw. This is about 1 km away from my front door, so doesn't qualify for the challenge.



I'll get around to posting my challenge pic later this week (slow workflow with the Sigma).

[Xaqtly]

Took this at Best Friends this past weekend. It's the entrance gate to Angels Rest, the pet cemetery.

[PB PM]

A shot I took a few weeks ago.

[NosferaDrew]

[PB PM]

A shot from today. The river in the photo is the Chillwack river, which is just a few hours east of Vancouver.

[Xaqtly]

Stella, an Australian Shepherd, comes over to say hello. That's my GF in the background. Pic taken at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

[sunrain]

Did Stella go home with you?

[Swox]

Got another shot of the red tailed hawk yesterday - this time he was pretty close!

I really owe her one, because the shots of her have convinced my wife that we need a telephoto lens! I ordered the Canon 70-300 IS yesterday - sweet!

Here's the shot:




Something interesting I found out yesterday is that apparently, there is no visible difference in quality between large and medium JPEGs and also no difference between coarse and fine settings. I tested this theory by taking reference shots at all four settings on my 40D, and he's absolutely right - the larger and fine images capture exactly the same amount of detail when viewed at 100%. The only setting that got me a bit more detail, and much better colour, was RAW.

Here's the explanation from the 5d mkII review from www.kenrockwell.com:

Usage... Try shooting your 5D Mark II at it's M (11MP) or S (5MP) settings. If you look at your images at 100%, you'll see that the lower resolution shots are sharper! Why? Because they use less, or no, Bayer interpolation. No digital camera really resolves its rated resolution; they cheat and interpolate up, so at 100% at its rated resolution, no digital camera image is as sharp as a true scan from film. At the 5MP setting, you have 100% R, G and B pixels, exactly as if you were using a Sigma Foveon sensor. If Sigma was selling this, they'd sell the 5MP (S) setting as if it were 15MP (also a lie). What this means is that the lower resolution settings actually pack away lot more detail than you think. The S (5MP) setting of the 5D Mark II is a lot sharper than any 5MP camera.

[PB PM]

Using Ken as a reference isn't exactly considering something worth while.

When it comes to jpgs it is a matter of compression. The large&fine are the least compressed, which means more detail is retained for cropping and editing, as each time you edit a jpg it loses detail. If I shot jpg, then I would use large and fine because it isn't just the original photo, but any editing you have to do that you start to lose detail. That is actually why I shoot RAW, so I can make changes without losing detail before I make a jpg.

[Xaqtly]

Originally Posted by sunrain Did Stella go home with you?

No, but I did fill out an adoption application for Dakota, a big black and white Siberian Husky. I hope I get approved.