[TadhgN]

September 25, 2009 at 5:51 am

Did you spot this in Ireland? If so itmight be an idea to send details of the sighting to Birdwatch Ireland or the Irish Wildlife Trust as they are trying to establish if woodpeckers are now breeding in Ireland.

[TadhgN]

October 1, 2008 at 7:10 am

Heres a link from a company called Cokin, a well known manafacturer of ND (Neutral Density) and many other tpes of filter.

http://www.cokin.com/cokin-data/Brochure/Neutral%20Density%20Filters.pdf

This seems to be a reasonable straightforward explanation of how they work.

[TadhgN]

August 16, 2008 at 10:15 am

Awesome.

[TadhgN]

August 2, 2008 at 7:11 am

[TadhgN]

June 27, 2008 at 3:25 pm

Red : Did I ever tell you about the time I had my mouth open and a cat jumped straight into it?

Lab : Only a thousand times, jackass.

[TadhgN]

June 23, 2008 at 9:44 pm

I quite like number 4. It would eb an interesting pic in the event of a win for Bangladesh. The bowler looks quite smug in this shot while the Irish batter has a deflated look about him.

These all look to be nice and sharp. Good going considering the miserable weather.

[TadhgN]

June 21, 2008 at 8:31 pm

Keep taking pictures with the camera you have and do some research on the cameras available at the moment. As you take more pictures you will get to know the types of features you need in a camera and can make an informed decision on which model / make to go for. Once you make an investment in lenses etc for the make you initially choose you will probably stick with the same brand for a few years at least. Best to give yourself some time to make the right choice. I convinced myself when I started taking pictures that I would not be able to take good pictures until I spent a load of dough on fancy gear. Don’t get sucked into this way of thinking. You can take good picture with pretty much any camera, and upgrade when you know what you’re looking for.

[TadhgN]

June 17, 2008 at 7:05 pm

I have the 100-400 which is great, but it uses a funny “push-pull” zoom system which is kinda weird. You do get used to it but it could be an impediment in situations where you need to zoom in and out very often or very quickly. Try it before you buy if you can.

[TadhgN]

June 15, 2008 at 10:02 pm

I also have the Tokina and am very happy with it. I spent some time looking at comparison reviews and it seems to have done better overall than the sigma. I find it to be very good.

[TadhgN]

June 15, 2008 at 9:48 pm

Great dogs. Pic # 3 is fantastic.

[TadhgN]

June 15, 2008 at 2:34 pm

I think freezing motion is a combination of shutter and the direction in which the subject is moving. I don’t know what settings you used for this phot or the others that were unsuccessful but this one may have worked partly because the doggies are moving more or less in the direction of the lens. Have a look at the article below. You will certainly find better articles on the net about this but it gives you the basic idea.

http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/freezing-and-stopping-action-by-manipulating-shutter-speed/200189

Remember also that if you do use the maximum F1.4 on the lens the depth of field will be very shallow, so don’t confuse blur caused by shallow depth of field with blur caused by the motion of the subject.

Doggie number 1 on the left looks evil!

[TadhgN]

June 15, 2008 at 2:21 pm

In my opinion all of these are very good.

I don’t have any experience of selling photos but I think that there are two ways of looking at this – as a photographer pictures 7 & 10 are the strongest because of the foreground interest and general drama. (Number 10 is particularly good)
But as a tourist, I think #s 8 & 9 would be the most likely choice as they do have a picture postcard feel.

If picture # 10 appeals to the market I think you will do well with it. Nice job and best of luck with this.

[TadhgN]

June 6, 2008 at 8:14 pm

I’ll second Petes comments. Great advice from all. Thanks for taking the time.

[TadhgN]

June 6, 2008 at 7:55 pm

I upgraded last year from a 350D to the 40D.
I believe that the new 450D is more substantially built that the 400/350D models but at the time the larger build and in particular the larger grip on the 40D were a revelation to me. I felt the 40D to be much more solid in my hands and the controls less fiddly.
The frames per second rate of the 40D was a huge bonus for me as I quite like trying to take pictures of birds in flight. The 40D fps rate is almost twice as fast as the 450D. If you have any interest in photographing sports or wildlife, and can’t afford the EOS 1D MkII or MkIII, the 40D is the way to go.

[TadhgN]

June 6, 2008 at 6:57 pm

Thanks for the kind words. This guy was doing some very convenient low level hovering and was not bothered that I was around, was quite surprised myself that he was not either buried in the undergrowth or in the stratosphere as usual.
Thanks again for the comments.