geodar

it happens about 9.30am on Friday 20th march, in the north west direction, I read that us on the north east coast will get around 98% of it geoff

thanks all, 7d it is. (in a Nikon mount for some) geoff

I use a 40d, but i'm thinking about changing up to a 7d(mk1) or 70d(mk1). anybody got any thoughts as to which I should go for. I don't do vids so not bothered about specs on that. cheers geoff

they are also good places to find history, some stones tell you how people died, and when. geoff

I had to buy a new pc after the xp crashed a few days after being informed that there would be no more support (strange happenings there I think), anyway the new one is 8.1. it took me ages to get round using it, about 3 months. I just didn't like the look of it, different from 7. then one day I sat down and just got on with it. I think the main thing that was putting me off was the apps page, didn't know anything about them, not got a smart phone so everything looked hard and complicated, strange and frightening. now I just use the desktop page to get around, just like I did on 7. I have bought office and elements for it, and downloaded them, no problems. updates as and when. i'll go for 10 when out, maybe wait until after Christmas so they can sort out some of the bugs. now i'm used to it (in my own way) I find it fine for my uses. it's like everything else, the more you use it the easier it becomes. geoff

from my daughter, of course I disagree. geoff

Why did you not just print the copy off yourself? do you not have a printer? geoff

I took some jumping pics years ago for a friend at work. his daughter was into horses and had entered her first comp. after a few poor jumping pics of other riders I decided to pre focus on the fence and when she approached I just clicked away, most were in focus of the horse and the daughter, he was well pleased as I had managed to get her first jump. it was quite an interesting day as I had never done anything like that before. geoff

I use the 40d, wanted one for ages, got one and i'll keep for ages. I find 10mp enough for my use. 6 & 3 frame per sec come in handy. also use raw. quite heavy with a lens on until you get used to it. geoff

my bit is- if you use strong flash you may get a lot of red eye back, dogs are prone to the light reflection from their eyes, but if a dull day you may have to use it, if you do and can lower the output of the flash I would try that. try to metre on the coats of the dogs to get a better balance. use a long end of the lens and try to keep a distance as not to distract them. take loads of shots. get low down so you are the same height as the action. take a cloth to wipe away any splashes from the dogs. have fun. geoff I'm sure a few more will have some good tips for you.

I went to the 40d from the 350, I took me ages to use it on a regular basis. it is a lot heavier and bigger than the 350, then when a lens is added the weight increases. I now use it all the time, but I think it will be too heavy for a youngster. if you are happy with the price I would buy it as a second body but look for a smaller, lighter body/camera for the lad. geoff

hi annie, ef lens is the standard lens mount on the canon eos slr film & digital range of cameras. ef = electro-focus. automatic focusing on ef lenses is done by an electric motor built into the lens. efs lens is for digital cameras only. red dot & white square - these are used to match up the lens fittings to the camera body quickly. red dot - ef lens & white square for the efs (digital only). so basically you can use ef lenses on digital and film slr cameras, but the efs lens can only be used on a digital camera. hope this helps geoff

Brummy land, a bit too far. geoff

re format your card and take a few shots, take a few more shots using a different card, if it happens again on the first card but not on the 2nd then the card is faulty, if it happens on both cards then the camera is at fault, if it is the camera then you need to check out the settings to try and sort it. geoff

well done, this could have been entered in the last few competitions. geoff

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2013/11/16/gerry-coyle-died-trying-capture-picture-sunset-mount-snowdon/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk-hp%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk4%26pLid%3D223509 found this, take care geoff

I do my own calendars and offer them for sale at work, I charge £6 but £1 from every sale goes into the company charity of the year. images include st. Mary's lighthouse, north east scenes, flowers, wildlife, arty type (d drops/smoke etc). they can have a mixture of images or all from the same subject. I also include special dates (birthdays, anniversary's etc) for them to make it more personal. I also offer to print their own pictures if they want (pets, kids etc) the equipment to make an A4 calendar wasn't cheap, binder/hole punch, thumb cutter and metal ring binders came to around £75, ink, photo paper, time, electric and getting images if they ask for certain locations (if not in back catalogue files) all adds to the cost. the reasons I offered the calendars are, I enjoy doing them, it gets my name out there so people can see what I do and the standard of images taken, and hopefully it will bring in a little bit of business, weddings, christenings, portraits etc. so far I have produced and sold 6 with a further 7 or 8 on order. geoff

when i was bad and off work for a while i bought an extension lead and wired the camera up to the laptop, took loads of bird photos while they were feeding at the table, sat indoors and watched them, also i set up a mini table top studio and looked around the house for different things to shoot up close, using different light, sunlight, candle, desk lamp etc, just to keep my interest up and to help pass the days. with the help of the goos ole pills i feel that i can manage to get out and about after 14-18 months. stick with it. geoff

i think a lot depends on which type of bag you want. for the field i use a lowepro 4 aw shoulder bag, i can get dslr, macro, 300 zoo and a 50mm lens in it with no bother, also at a push the external nissin flash. pleanty of room for cards, battries, drink and a few bickys or bag of crisps. been using it for 3-4 years now. the only downside ihave is when doing macro/close up's and bending forward the bag moves forward as well with the weight, if dry and safe enough i just put it on the floor so it's not a major problem. i am now going to try out a back pack bag. it is just a 7 day shop cheapy but i got it so i can put all my gear in it for when i do weddings so i wont be carrying it around much. i didn't get a back pack bag for the field because i think when you want to change lenses you have to take it off, whereas the shoulder bag i can change with the bag still over the shoulder, using it to rest the camera body or lens on and the lens slips into the bag when changed. geoff

depends if she want's to look natural or Barbie dollish. you will gather I am not a fan of this type of make over. prefer the original. geoff

had 3 published in the dslr user mag, one won a competition. received a silver award in a north tyneside libraries & museums (northern shores comp) and had commendations for 4 other images. they used my image in a local freebie paper article about the comp. one chosen and printed for the age uk (north east) 2013 calendar. sold numerous images to work colleagues. I have a booking to photograph images for a charity calendar for cancer research, body builders at the local Harley Davidson outlet, should be interesting. I enter competitions as and when I feel the mood takes me. the hardest part is that you never know what the judges are looking for. I have seen winners where none of the images have anything to do with the terms and conditions or brief of the competition rules. so all I do is enter and hope for the best. used to be in a camera club which was ok, it was starting up so a little slow and boring, no one knew the way it should take form. also it was around the time when my health went down hill so I stopped going, went to one other but didn't like it so never went back. geoff

what I think you should do is, ask your lovely young lady to help you practice, get her to stand in front of a window or doorway with the light behind and using a pillow in the normal place try out all your lenses and using different camera settings, some shots by hand others using a tripod. trying different poses and angles will give you the confidence when you go to do the real shoot. I think it is easier to do a shoot like this when you don't know the person, as long as you know what type of shot they want. geoff

a lot of fiddling going on there. geoff

I use canon raw to do whatever I need to do to the image, convert & save to jpeg, then I use photoshop to adjust, add borders, re-size etc. geoff

it will come back, when i was unwell (well un-weller), i couldn't lift the camera never mind take a photo, when i did get a little better and stronger i just couldn't be bothered to make the effort to go out anywhere. ended up in the back garden shooting the odd plant or bird. after a lot of months i decided to start taking indoor shots, water drops, smoke effects etc, this was because i still could not manage or even be bothered to go out for 2-3 hour walkround and take pictures. even now i have to force myself to go out but have to wait until the 'good old pills' kick in. i don't go far, coast mainly as it is very close to me, i haven't managed to get out into the country for the 5-6 hour wanders like i used to do, but still the bug is coming back. with the darker colder days/nights approaching i won't be going very far but intend to keep at the indoor shots, flowers/ water/ still life etc. happens to us all, the time where things are not right, but give it a little time and eventually everything will come back, might not be tomorrow or next month but give it time. in the meantime make sure you keep in touch on the site and we will look forward to your new images in the Festcu part 2 post geoff.