a few more

ef-s 60mm
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28-70

85mm

Happy you discovered the forum. Very nice photos. Love the first color photo of the bridge to the light house. Chipmunk and fish is great too.

Hope you hang around and post often. Every new poster brings new interests and skills to share.

Marnie

Cool shots!! Like the squirrel!

Great pics, but what is the first one, I'm puzzled?

Welcome. The more the merrier.
Great loon picture.
Where is the lighthouse?
Ron

* Posted by bigack (My Page) on
Thu, Dec 20, 07 at 14:19

Great pics, but what is the first one, I'm puzzled?

That was taken at Discovery Kingdom amusement park Sunday evening. It's one of the spinning rides the vertical instead of horizontal, that's my son and his cousins in the shot. Took me 15 tries to get them in the frame with the look of movement, not to mention shooting straight up.

* Posted by ronf (My Page) on
Thu, Dec 20, 07 at 17:48

Welcome. The more the merrier.
Great loon picture.
Where is the lighthouse?

The lighthouse is located on the Marin side of the Golden Gate Bridge at Point Bonita.

your photos are lovely and neat, looking forward to seeing more of your great photos!

Nice shots! How close did you get to the bat? And what was he doing out during the day?

* Posted by alisande (My Page) on
Fri, Dec 21, 07 at 15:10

Nice shots! How close did you get to the bat? And what was he doing out during the day?

I was in Wisconsin in July and was going kayaking early one morning to capture the Loon out on the lake. When I moved the kayak from the beach the bat was under it hiding, thought it was dead till I made some noise and it turned it's head. Got a couple of shots before I headed out, when I came back about an hour later it was gone.

Taken with 70-200 f4 IS with a 20mm extension tube

Great photos.
Those are something I would like to learn how to shoot.
Thank you for posting them.

May I ask you for advice?
I have a point and shoot digital camera for 4 years and would like to upgrade. I am debating between a Sony DSC-H9 8.1 with 15X optical zoom and a Canon Digital Rebel.
For photos similar to yours, what would you suggest? An advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

* Posted by pitimpinai (My Page) on
Sat, Dec 22, 07 at 19:08

Great photos.
Those are something I would like to learn how to shoot.
Thank you for posting them.

May I ask you for advice?
I have a point and shoot digital camera for 4 years and would like to upgrade. I am debating between a Sony DSC-H9 8.1 with 15X optical zoom and a Canon Digital Rebel.
For photos similar to yours, what would you suggest? An advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks pitimpinai!

1st, a digital SLR cannot possibly be compared to a point and shoot camera, no matter how fancy. You're trying comparing apples and oranges.

2nd, the camera is only a tool, it's your eye, technique and lots of practice to get good photos.

I had P&S cameras for years and was great for static objects, like portraits, landscapes, or some not fast action. I missed many shots due to the camera being to slow to get the next shot. Another reason I went DSLR was flexibly to get extremely close macro to extended range telephoto.

Then there's your budget SLR lenses are where you spend lots of money, I have about 6-8,000 in Canon glass! P&S are usually more portable, no matter what the size is. I have a large back pack to carry all my gear, 20D and 3-4 lenses, not very inconvenient.

You have to decide where you priorities are.

These were taken with my old Olympus P&S

These sunrise/sunset shots were taken in July at my Aunt's and Uncle's house, they both have lakes in their backyards. The spots you see in some of the photos(sunrise) are from gnats that were swarming every morning.

Thank you very much for the reply. Those photos are beautiful. I like the composition and the lights.

I would like to learn to take close up photos of flowers & animals and landscape as well as some family photos. Maybe later on I'll try portraits as well. Taking sharp & crisp photos is my goal.

I took photography in college many years ago, but could not afford an SLR camera after the classes. Now I am thinking of giving myself a present with a budget of about $1000.00 to start. I have been reading up on digital cameras for a couple years and trying out friends' cameras. I also read people's reviews on different cameras on various
websites.

Some people are not as happy with a Canon Digital Rebel xti as their Nikon D70 with 28-200 mm lens. They said the Canon's photos were not as sharp. I found a Nikon D80 with 28-300mm that's close enough to it. I will have to learn everything from scratch of course, but I have time. :-)

Please give me more advice.
Thank you much again.

Here are some from my P&S. As you can see, the sharpness is a hit or miss most of the time:

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It's a miss more than a hit with people and landscape:
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Regarding your P&S:
Are you doing these handheld? a few look soft due to camera shake.

I have never had a problem with sharpness from the camera or lens(checkout the insect), it was/is always operator error, ie; camera shake, wrong focus point, aperture,bokeh(background blur) and lighting.

* Posted by pitimpinai (My Page) on
Sun, Dec 23, 07 at 11:59

It's a miss more than a hit with people and landscape:

The 1st four the focus seems off, the background is in more focus than what the subject should be. The last one is in focus but your eye is distracted by clutter in the background.

If you look at mine the background is cluttered but out of focus so you eye isn't drawn to distraction.

Super! Gorgeous! Those insects are a dream photography for me.

I rely heavily on the auto focus and average aperture on the P&S.I know I need to play more with my camera. Practice & practice & practice is in order.
Yes, all were taken hand held. So the answer is a tripod, then?? And more playing with what I have.
I also missed out a lot. I wish I had a zoom for these guys:

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Oh, you posted at the same time I was writing.
Those people pictures are what I try to achieve too. Can I try for something like that with my P&S? And how?

Sorry for all the questions. I do appreciate your time and advice.

What P&S do you have? does it have manual settings?

These from the Alaska cruise in '05 using a P&S with manual settings

Not a landscape but used the same settings

Alaska. What a beauty, those pictures. And did you use a tripod with your P&S? Mine never came out like that.

My P&S is a Panasonic Lumix - a beginner's digital P&S. I had no idea what I wanted. I bought it on a friend's recommendation for a beginner. I can adjust some features but not much.
Here's the newest. I still can't get the background clutter out.

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I am planning to go back to Alaska in summer 2009. That's why I want to improve my photography & close up photos.

My son has a Lumix, while it's a great P&S you can not lower the f stop to blur the background.

One way to blur the background using your Lumix is have you subject stand 8-10ft in front of whatever is behind him. Focus on the face then compose the shot. Sometimes a low intensity fill flash can help seperate your subject from the background.

Thanks much for all the responses and tips. Thanks also for the comments on Canon 40D on another thread. I'll go check its weight at BestBuy or Circuit City. If it is not too heavy, I'll get myself a Canon 40D for New Year. :-)

Alaska here I come. :-)

40D will be here today!!! I'll follow up with some photos. We're going up to our mountain cabin for a few days Saturday, should be able to get some nice ones up there.

Yes, please. Would like to see photos and photo for your 40D.
Am going out today to check it out. Have fun.