Ashanali

Having worked for a camera wholesaler in the past, they will open it up, look at it and send back a report that says, "Impact damage - not covered by warranty". They can tell. Then they should give a quote for repair at this time also. Impact damage can often be an easy fix... you're lucky it isn't sand or water damage. You have no idea how often people would try to claim sand and water damage under warranty and tell you that they haven't been anywhere near sand and/or water.

You've got the right idea. That's what we sort of do ;) We will walk right up close to the subject, do a meter reading and see what the camera says (eg, camera might show f8, 1/250th, iso 400 )... then set the camera to manual and put in the settings f8, 1/250th, iso 400. Step back and shoot. You're background may be slightly under or overexposed but your primary subject should be correctly exposed. There are more complex tricks for shooting entire scenes that are predominately black or predominately white but I'll go into that at another time. ;)

Either that or shoot in manual and set the camera down one stop.

Because unless you are spot metering or metering manually, the camera will try and meter for the 'average'. The spider takes up a small amount of space and the background is usually darker. Camera meters for the background; spider comes out over-exposed. In Montall's case, the spider was being hit by direct sunlight but you would find that the background was in the shade, hence the spider looks like it's glowing.

See, this is where I liked pentax. Alot of gear was backward compatible. Damn canon!

That's great vickie!

If the mount is the same and it fits you can use it. Just don't try forcing anything. If it feels like it isn't going to work, then don't try and 'make it'.

Taurus - I just added you also (my flickr name is Alicia @ savvy studios) It's not too late to join in to this challenge if you like. The challenges are for those who want to learn more about their camera, OR for those who just want to practice and have a bit of fun. We are a pretty social group in here. TO EVERYONE: I hope you have all enjoyed the challenge so far. I've been a bit slack this month but hope to take some photos while out and about tomorrow. I hope you're all ready for April as it is going to delve a little further into other technical areas. People with point and shoot cameras will still be able to participate so don't be scared.

Or 'O' is for 'oops'

C is beautiful. Don't listen to lea... she's just jealous ;)

lea - you can get a free trial online for 30 days. You could also look into getting Photoshop Elements which is a limited version of photoshop and only costs about $80 (compared to $1000+ for the full version). ;)

So textures... how do you use them (this will be the very basic version of what to do) Well, the first thing you need is an image that you love The second thing you need is an image of a texture. Textures can be anything. They can be a photo of a mouldy concrete wall, crinkled paper, pages from a book etc. You can even jump onto flickr or photobucket and search 'free textures' and there will be thousands for you to choose from. Heaps of people create textures and allow people to use them. Now you open both images in photoshop, click on your desired texture and drag the texture image over the top of your original image resize your texture image and drag the corners so it fits your original image Now you can play around with the texture layer and do all sorts of magical stuff. In the layer palette, you can change the opacity of the layer if you like. Also change the mode. It should be in 'standard' mode but go through and change it to anything you want. Multiply, screen, hard light, linear dodge - all of them have different effects on the texture layer. Find the one you like. From there you can brush back area of the layer to show through images of your original image underneath that you want to draw emphasis to. Thats it really (in a very simple version) - just play and have fun. You can get lost playing with textures for hours! There are also some really good flickr groups for textures where you can go and see what other people do and post your own samples. Creating a texture The best textures are lighter in colour and don't have a huge variation in tone. There are always exceptions to this though. If you are interested in creating textures, there are so many way you can do it. Here are two easy versions. The photo texture: It's as simple as noticing something like a sandstone wall that has some nice cracks and rippling appearing on it. Or maybe you have opened an old book and the paper texture is starting to yellow and mould a little. You might even wander down to your back shed and notice an old empty picture frame sitting in the corner that looks interesting. So what do you do? Take a photo of it Head home and open in photoshop crop out any 'information' you don't need correct the levels/curves so that the image will work as a texture layer. (keep in mind that lighter is better for most images) Done! Try it out over the top of one of your photos and see how you go. The 'created' texture: Some people like to create textures using the range of brushes in photoshop. To do this it's as simple as... Open a new blank image choose a background colour choose a 'brush' with a slightly different colour to the background you might want to use the brush in a different mode to normal (maybe 'overlay', 'hard light', 'screen' etc) Play! Have fun! Experiment! Some people like to dodge or burn the edges of textures to create vignettes. This is all personal choice. When you think you have created something you like, try it out over the top of an image and see how you go. The 'merged' texture: Most great textures are a merging of both techniques. One of the textures I use quite often is a photo of clouds, with a photo of linen placed over the top and faded back, then there are brush marks over the top of it and the edges are burnt in. There is no limit to the extremes you can go to to create textures. I have seen people even photograph object like rulers and staplers to create a very interesting texture to lay over the top of an image. Experiment and enjoy! ETA: I forgot to say that there are MANY texture sharing group on Flickr. You can either use their textures or look to them for inspiration when creating your own. ;)

For those who are interested, I'll cut and paste the bit that Rocco is talking about in a new thread titled 'textures' up in the hints and tricks area. I know some people have finished this challenge so if you wanted to try something new until the April challenge starts, you could look at creating textures? I'll put more about how to create them in the 'texture' thread I'm about to start. ;)

Ditto!

Great photos everyone... but Cordie's "Idiot" needs a special mention

LMAO @ Jazz Hands

Leopuppy - your 's' for sad is just lovely. It's a great capture. Well done for someone who is new to it all. :D

I am so impressed with how good everyone is getting. Ruthless - love those last three. Well done Aquaticmal and CM - great captures. :rolleyes:

Yes, we have one that I make Alex carry when we go to weddings (camera gear weighs alot :rolleyes: ). It's great because he can keep shooting without having to put the bag down. We are changing to a bag with rollers though. With the amount of gear we are accumulating just for weddings it's all getting a bit much to carry. Tess - I'd love that lens but I'm a wuss and have unsteady hands. I'd need a monopod.

lea - the moon is a bloody hard subject because it is constantly moving. Your shot is brilliant - well done!

Love it!!! Very clever use of the letter 'J' ;)

Rocco has done an EXTREMELY good job with her shooting on Saturday. The photos have far exceeded almost all other second shooters we have had with us - including trained and experienced photographers. Nothing beats having a natural eye for composition. Rocco rocks!

Bindi - I was wondering what people were going to do with 'X'. So far we've had Xray and 'eXit'. I wonder what's next

ILTBY - you are going to love next months challenge...

Lea - your photos are just getting better and better. Great work :rolleyes: