David's Shutter Bug Club

[Kerry]

Please do post them Kerry! I'd love to see them. And please grab your camera sometime soon and take some pictures of Sydney for us! And if you have any questions, I and others here will be more than happy to answer them for you if we can.

Thank you most kindly for your encouragement, David.    You have inspired me to have a go at being a little more adventurous with my camera. I'll try to come up with some atmospheric pics!! No promises! Please be ruthlessly honest with me. But first, I'll post my 2 only good pics (when I get home tonight), just to gild the lily haha.   

[David In Indy]

Which Camera Should I Buy?

My family, friends, neighbors and colleagues often ask me that question. And I can't blame them for getting confused - all those Sunday ads can be extremely confusing if you don't know what the terminology means, which reminds me I still need to post a FAQ sheet explaining some of these crazy photography terms.

In my opinion I personally feel WAY too much emphasis is placed on megapixels (MP). Normally the camera's MP is posted in big bold numbers. It's often the first thing you see other than a picture of the camera. People always ask me how much MP they will need in order to take a good picture. My answer to them is it depends on what you plan to do with your camera.

For those who wish to simply pick up their camera, point it, shoot it and print out a snapshot size photo (6x4 inch or 148 x 100 mm) a three MP camera will be plenty. Even 2 MP cameras are perfectly capable of taking a film quality 6x4 inch photo.

Those wishing to print larger photos, like an 8.5 x 11 (216 x 279) should consider purchasing a digital camera in the 4 to 6 MP range.

If you are interested in taking poster size photos, or if you think you will be cropping some of your pictures (digitally cutting a section of the picture and then enlarging it), a camera of at least 7 MP will be necessary, possibly as high as 10 or 12 MP for the cropping of small areas of a photo and blowing them up to full size.

But for most people, taking a picture and printing snap shot size prints is all they are interested in doing with their camera. My advice for those people would be to purchase a 3-5 MP camera and save your money. Why pay extra money for things you will never use? Or if you want, you could use the extra money to invest in a camera with a high quality lens or a high quality imaging processor.

Everyone wants their pictures to look nice. But a camera with many megapixels could be a huge waste of money unless you are interested in getting very creative in post processing activities. Generally I try to encourage people to purchase a camera with a little more MP and features than they think they will need just in case they decide at some later point to branch out and experiment.

Bottom Line: Don't waste your money on features and MP you will never need or use and save it instead for other things.

[David In Indy]

Thank you most kindly for your encouragement, David.    You have inspired me to have a go at being a little more adventurous with my camera. I'll try to come up with some atmospheric pics!! No promises! Please be ruthlessly honest with me. But first, I'll post my 2 only good pics (when I get home tonight), just to gild the lily haha.   

I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures Kerry!

[injest]

now here in this picture I made a mistake...I was taking landscape pictures (will post in a moment) and had been experimenting with the 'my colors' in my manual settings.

but when I stopped and moved on to something else I forgot to reset 'my colors'!! so it has too much of a red tone to it?? (I think that is a reddish tone.. )




I love his hang dog expression...he looks like he just lost his best friend....

tip: when taking a pic of a horse you usually want the ears to be as far forward as possible....makes them seem much brighter and alert..

[injest]

ok this is the base picture....There were beautiful sunbeams coming down..that was what I was trying to capture..as you can see it is way too light...

Shooting Mode   Manual
My Colors Mode   Off
Tv (Shutter Speed)   1/1250
Av (Aperture Value)   3.5
ISO Speed   400
Digital Zoom   None

soooo I changed the aperture

Av (Aperture Value)   7.1

and here was the result...



and I was ok with this picture....then I decided to experiment with the 'my colors'

I changed the aperture back to 3.5 then changed 'my colors' to vivid

[Kerry]

I love his hang dog expression...he looks like he just lost his best friend....

Gasp! What is that thing  on that poor horse's nose, Jess? Does he have a bad cold? He looks soooo sad! 

[Kerry]

As promised, here is one of the few good pics I've ever taken!  It's a big pic, so you may have to scroll over.

I get some great sunsets at my place. The one on this particular evening was absolutely stunning. I spontaneously grabbed my camera, stepped out onto the bedroom balcony, poked the lens through the branches of the 9ft fig tree that dominates most of the available space out there, and this is the result. It's looking towards Sydney's Little Italy and the spires on the horizon are the local town hall and a church on Norton Street, in the heart of the Italian Quarter.

In all honesty, I took lots of pics and discarded the others, that being the joy of a digital camera.

I was pleased with the way the leaves of the fig are framing the sunset, which is a complete and total fluke!!!

[injest]

Gasp! What is that thing  on that poor horse's nose, Jess? Does he have a bad cold? He looks soooo sad! 

 

he is a 'cribber'. That apparatus prevents him from doing it.

Cribbing is a nervous habit some horses develop (why we do not know although there is some evidence that it may be hereditary)...anyway, they catch stuff with their upper teeth and 'suck' air..they will do it until they are in a almost 'stoned' state. Some will even forego eating to crib. Some barns will refuse to allow a cribber to be boarded at their barn for fear that other horses will pick up the habit. It wear their upper teeth down to nothing if left unchecked (as well as destroying fences..since fences are the favorite thing for them to catch their teeth on...)

[injest]

As promised, here is one of the few good pics I've ever taken!  It's a big pic, so you may have to scroll over.

I get some great sunsets at my place. The one on this particular evening was absolutely stunning. I spontaneously grabbed my camera, stepped out onto the bedroom balcony, poked the lens through the branches of the 9ft fig tree that dominates most of the available space out there, and this is the result. It's looking towards Sydney's Little Italy and the spires on the horizon are the local town hall and a church on Norton Street, in the heart of the Italian Quarter.

In all honesty, I took lots of pics and discarded the others, that being the joy of a digital camera.

I was pleased with the way the leaves of the fig are framing the sunset, which is a complete and total fluke!!!

soooo pretty!!!

for some reason it makes me think 'tropical', the colors are so vivid!! VERY nice photo!! thank you!

[Kerry]

he is a 'cribber'. That apparatus prevents him from doing it.

Cribbing is a nervous habit some horses develop (why we do not know although there is some evidence that it may be hereditary)...anyway, they catch stuff with their upper teeth and 'suck' air..they will do it until they are in a almost 'stoned' state. Some will even forego eating to crib. Some barns will refuse to allow a cribber to be boarded at their barn for fear that other horses will pick up the habit. It wear their upper teeth down to nothing if left unchecked (as well as destroying fences..since fences are the favorite thing for them to catch their teeth on...)

Poor horsey! Will he have to wear that thing all his life, for ever, or will he grow out of being a cribber? (I'm thinking of a child growing out of having to us a dummy/pacifier)