tdierikx

They are coming along really well... and look way too cute for boots! T.

I hope you at least called a vet last night... what you have there is NOT normal, even after surgery for a retained testicle. There is way too much bleeding from both sites for my liking. At the very least I'd be at the vet's door this morning as they open. T.

IS and AF on - no editing apart from resizing for posting online. I'm still very much a beginner... *grin* Seriously - I leave all the manual stuff well alone - just point, focus, and click... on one of the presets (Sports is my fave setting). I figure that if I've spent that much on camera gear, it can bloody well do all the hard work for me... lol! T.

All handheld Roova... and it's a big heavy lens with a slide in-out zoom system. They may be my first photos with this particular lens, but I have had lots of practice with my older and smaller lenses. It's going to take me some time to get a proper hold on the zoom on this one while panning around methinks, but I'm pretty happy with my first foray... *grin* Please also note that I took a lot of really crappy blurry photos today too - but funnily enough, I only posted the really nice ones... lol! For each focused flying shot, I got about 10 more that were completely off. I did manage to get a swallow diving into the water and a couple of him flying - all in reasonable focus, but the framing of the shots was sub-par, so I haven't shared them. This weekend is going to be fine apparently, so I'm off to the Zoo, and maybe even go to Manly and try to get collision pics of the seagulls... they are funny as! T.

I changed the link settings on Photobucket to only post the IMG - no linkbacks... Went to Update Link Options (on the right), then unselected everything except the "IMG code" one. T.

Don't cry Kirislin - you still get MUCH better photos than I do... *grin* T.

We used to get $20 for "top and tail" (ears and tail basically) of foxes and dingoes when I was a kid in the country... no way one can mistake either for a domestic pet. T.

Oh - no cropping on any of the photos - that's what I actually got. T.

Ummm... you would REALLY like it Kirislin... it takes nice pics... *grin* I'm definitely going to need some more practice with tracking and keeping/getting focus, but I think I got a few nice pics at the pond this afternoon... Check these out... ... and this one's my fave - at 400mm no less! I think the Zoo is going to be tres fun with this lens... *grin* T.

Snook's notes are brilliant! I urge you to take up the offer... T.

I think I might just toddle off to the pond in the park up the road - and see if I can get any decent bird shots... T.

At 400mm... Handheld no less... and a bit of shake because I'm such a noob... lol! T.

Feck it's BIG! And it zooms differently to the twist style I'm used to... Here's just a sample of the 2 mins I dared to take it outside... At 100mm.. Images a bit big... next post for the 400mm...

Kirislin, if you bring your Whippets up to Sydney for a fun day, I'll happily lend it to you... but only if you let me cuddle your babies... T.

I've just got home with a brand spanking new (still in the box) Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM... I think I'll just look at the pretty box for a little while before I get up the courage to take it out, attach it to the 60D, and have a play... feeling a little bit intimidated by the size and weight of this bit of kit just now. I'm planning on taking it to the Zoo this weekend, so I'm going to have to get a bit of practice in, don't you think? I also got a nice new backpack that will fit the camera, lenses, and a few other odds and sods - oh - and a bloody expensive UV filter for the new baby (it's HUGE!)... *grin* Can anyone say "she's excited"... lol! T.

Kirislin's going to be an Aunty... *giggle* T.

Oh my! She IS a little full, isn't she? T.

Contact Les and Christine Speerin from The Grooming School if you want great groomers and grooming advice... they are great, and are usually very happy to help out with events like this... http://www.thegroomingschool.com.au/au/contact-us-dog-grooming-course/ They are the organisers of Groomquest - http://www.purinagroomquest.com/ - you could maybe even meet them in the flesh there in August and have a chat. T.

Nope - no actual governing body to keep them in check... The best part is that they get to police their "competition" - like rescues and shelters... makes you think, doesn't it? T.

Big hugs Teebs... T.

The AWL usually have the same investigative powers as the RSPCA - so I'd probably try them first if you had any evidence that an RSPCA shelter was dodgy. They can and will investigate each other if pressed hard enough... T.

Holroyd council put on Petfest each year - and it's got a bit of everything going on... might be worth a call to see if they'd be happy to share some of their contacts with you. Flyball always pulls a crowd... I'd like to see more pure breeds and breeders represented at these things too - they seem to have lots of rescues, but very few purebreed fanciers to share the wonderfulness of owning a well bred pedigreed animal. Do NOT get Don Burke or Dr Harry... they are usually not as great as their PR says they are - and they cost a bit more than they should too. Steve Austin gives great talks/demonstrations and advice about dogs and training - and he's usually really good with talking to people one on one too. Steve is also great for compering dog/owner fun "competitions" - he can be very funny, but well enjoyed by all. T.

Funnily enough (my own perception here), I find that if I do a course in something that needs a creative edge, my creativity actually suffers for all the trying to apply the physics of the thing. I wouldn't know jack about aperture, ISO, f-stops, etc - but I'm still managing more decent pics of my subject choice than not... and therein lies the rub... do you want to be technically brilliant, or just to be able to take nice pics resonably consistently? When all is done and dusted, what really counts is learning your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to framing the shot, getting it in some sort of focus, and producing a pleasing result that you are happy to share with others. I certainly wouldn't call ANY of my photos technically brilliant, but I DO know that I'm getting enough that are very pleasing to the eye - even someone else's eye... *grin* If you are becoming overwhelmed with the technical stuff, just ignore it all for now and just play around with what the camera will already give you with it's preset modes. Pick a subject matter that you like, and it will be easier too. The best equipment in the world will still give you crap results if you don't practice a bit with it and find out what works best for the type of photo you want to take. The only people that really *need* to take so much technical stuff so seriously are those that need to make a living from it - yes, it's nice to have the technical ability and to understand all of those manual settings - but for the average Joe like me, it's more about what pleasure *I* get from the end result, rather than pleasing someone else because they are paying me to. There is the bonus when others like your stuff too, but my primary concern with my photography is actually in pleasing myself... T.

I need an Idiot's Guide to shooting with a fixed length macro lens... zoom I have a handle on just fine, but I have a feeling I'll need to use a completely different technique for macro with the 90mm lens... errr! We all have stuff we just can't seem to get to get to grips with... and it's really lovely to have some very helpful people here to point us in the right direction. I love taking pics of animals doing their thing, so zoom is a no-brainer for me - gives me some distance so I'm not intruding too much on my subject matter. I also like natural light, so I've kinda restricted myself to a specific set of conditions for the type of photography I like doing. But when it all comes together... it's happy dance time when checking out the pics on the big computer screen... *grin* T.

For some of the shots it looks like you needed more light, and maybe a tripod to hold the camera steady while it took the shot. Some of the focusing looks a little haphazard - how many focus points does your lens have, and have you tried dropping it to only 1 or 2 points so you can get better focus on what you are really wanting to, rather than what the lens thinks you want? That said, I actually really like the one that focuses nicely on the foreground streamers with the people out of focus in the background... *grin* I haven't done any courses myself, and am still deathly scared of taking my camera off the presets - so don't think I'm any sort of expert. What I have found is that when you have a type of photo you are really interested in doing lots of, practice, practice, practice is the only way to end up with any consistency. I use the Sports mode setting and continuous shooting mode - take enough pics in a burst and you'll more likely get 1 or 2 worth sharing... hehe! I like taking pics of animals - dogs, animals at the Zoo, birds in flight, etc - so I like shooting with a decent zoom lens in good light. I have well over 10,000 photos of various animals under my belt (possibly even more than that) - and a good number of them are complete shockers too. I only post the really good ones - so it makes me look a better photographer than I really am... honest! If it makes you feel any better, I take revolting indoor shots with my Canon 60D... mostly because it doesn't really interest me to take indoor shots or shots of people and I thusly haven't given it much practice. T.