[John Bennett]

nice guys 🙂

Trust me. If you start “hunting” elusive game like WTs with your camera it is seriously addicting. The “challenge” is you will is rather large. There are alot of days I’ve come home with nothing, there are alot of days I see nice Bucks but cant get close enough..either the winds wrong, or theres no cover, or theres cover but too much dead fall and Im crackinling and popping worse than rice krispies.

But on those days some luck and perserverance pay off, its an incredible rush…no mater how good or not they turn out.

Wes…can I come visit 🙂
Seriously, Im so hooked after this fall I’m thinking about hiring an outfitter in Kansas or Iowa next fall…Wts show after WT show after WT show those tow states have “alot” of Big bucks.

[John Bennett]

Mike can you take 2 shots 1 raw and then 1 jpeg using a tripod and cable release of something with some texture and post downsized samples here. Dont take them from minimum focus distance

I wont go so far as to say, its impossible..but ive never heard of anyone having a problem where raw files are out of focus.

[John Bennett]

So the dude is a bit of a magnet huh ?  😉

All the great wildlife shots come from hours and even days of personal sacrifice and hardship, truding through mud & snow, climbing great mountains, fording mighty rivers and sometimes fighting lions.  😮

It’s why I shoot people.. 😉

Great shot !

Lmao D.A.

Brian.
Would love to get out. I think I have 1 more day to burn, or theres the Sundays between New Years and X-Mas. Shooting of some Shooting sounds good 🙂

Mike when I have time later today, I’ll see if I can find a succint explanation of the Scoring system used here. You could google Boone and Crocket. But yeah the 17 refers to te “points” on the antlers.
I’ll have a couple more pics of him sometime in the future that show his rack a bit better.This came just a couple minutes after the above

[John Bennett]

In that range there are a few bodies you can look at. Im Canon so I’ll stick that..its what I know. Nikon is every bit as good.

If you want to push the upper limit of your budget you can look at a 40D. For your first body, it will be alot of camera for you. With care it can last quite a few years and is for the most part…. current  technology.

If you want to save some money on the Body, that can either be banked or saved for additional puchaces (like a lens, flash, whatever) than you could look at either the XSI or XTI. Both very capable bodies, not quite as current and you might find you “outgrow” them a bit faster.

Meaning as you learn different things about photography, you start to feel like the body is holding you back a bit. For me and my first body, it was a year before I felt that way, for others it might 2,3 or 5 before they feel an itch to upgrade and advance from them.

Which to do?
Both have their merits. The 40D is a hell of alot of camera and wil likekly serve for years.

But a common recomendation (its good wisdom) is to put your money into good lenses first. One way to do that intially is to buy a less expensive body that you use to “learn” on, and with the saved money, get a better lens, or another lens.

J

[John Bennett]

Nathan.
My 2c.

You’ll be better off with a high end “Point n Shoot”, many of which allow you to take full control so you can learn the foundations of photography than an entry level DSLR and “kit” lens.

Both will cost about $500.00-$800.00

Reason being.
To take advantage of your DSLR you really need invest quite a bit more. No you don’t have to have the most expensive lenses and accessories…But its like buying a bass boat and nothing else.
Your “investment” doesn’t stop with the purchase of a body.

So for less $$ (quite a bit less after you add accessories like extra batteries, cards, lenses, bags) etc

You have a high end PnS that can pictures that in many cases are just as good…and it can do macro (without spending 500+ on a macro lens) and with optical zoom you can do wildlife/sports without buying a 500+ mid range telephoto….and you can take video clips..

Some you can drop in the river, without having to call your insurance agent( providing your DSLR is insured)

etc,
etc.

DSLRs are great.
Less noise ( although high end PnSs are getting better here to)
Little shutter lag
Faster frames per second

And they are most certainly the way to go if you want to learn photography but more importantly “grow” and advance in it.

But an entry level body, with a couple consumer grade lenses so you have a little focal range coverage (from 17mm to 200mm) and a macro lens plus some much needed accessories your still looking at probably a couple G.

Compare that to a $500.00 Canon G10 PnS which here is loosely being compared to a $40,000 medium format

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/kidding.shtml

[John Bennett]

New release from today.

BoC= Bank of Canada…..basically our “Fed”.
*******

Thu, December 11, 2008

BoC warns of possible mass home foreclosures

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada is warning of severe economic turmoil, including the risk of many Canadians losing their homes, if the financial-market crisis worsens.

The central bank’s December financial systems review says the “most likely outcome” is for markets and credit conditions in Canada to gradually improve as extraordinary measures by central banks and governments take hold.

But that outcome is by no means certain, it warns, saying uncertainties remain about how long it will take for credit markets to return to normal.

And if global financial conditions deteriorate, the bank warns the repercussions for Canada could be serious, including a deep and prolonged recession, slow income growth and severe trouble for Canadians already carrying heavy debt loads.

“With household balance sheets under pressure from weak equity markets, softening house prices, slowing income growth, and record-high debt-to-income ratios, a severe economic downturn could result in a substantial increase in default rates on household debt,” the review states.

Canadian banks are among the best-capitalized in the world but would not emerge unscathed, the central bank’s analysis concludes.

Much as has happened in the United States, the document says household debt woes could be a channel of contagion spreading through the banking system and cause even greater tightening in the availability of credit.

Banks are somewhat insulated by mortgage insurance, but the Bank of Canada says a severe economic downturn would nonetheless put pressure on their capital ratios.
******
should have kept mouth mouth shut ( or in this case my fingers) and not voiced my thoughts 🙂

Tim, while mutual funds and MF managers do without a doubt impact the markets as does Johnny Q public. I don’t think they have the same kind of impact as “Hedge Funds” who are highly leveraged, where MFs arent.  A few bucks in capital, controls alot of interest in the markets. (see above statement about Reg Cap). On any given day back when my books were in full swing I could buy/sell/short hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equity or futures. Leverage at its best (or worst depending on how you look at it ). really at the end of the day, were just a small player. meaning compared to other institutions our daily volumes are nothing, a drop in the ocean.

On the other hand in normal times that “fickleness” as people move in/out, buy/sell, long/short adds liquidity…a very good thing.

thats what credit markets worded another way are lacking right now. Theres little liquidty, atleast compared to yesterday.

[John Bennett]

Its like anything Dusty, it just takes time and initially commitment to dedication on our parts.

There are worse behavorial problems. Most dogs even if not dilengtly trained do come get the message on their standing in the pack…And they are happy with it…they jsut want to and need to know where it is they stand.

When my wife finally agreed to a dog we went with a rescue Greyhound. Sweet wonderful dog….with me…To everyone else it displayed fear aggression…Had nothing to do with Alpha, this, Alpha that…and everything to do with getting agressive when it was unsettled.

Came home one day and found my wife and youngest had ocked themselves in the library and the GH roaming the house.

🙂

Got our Basenji mutt a few months later. The girls and I went to obedience classes…mostly for the girls…Those aren’t to train the dog, they are more about training us humans how to train them 🙂

My wife didnt attend one class. Not part of the deal. *We* wanted the dog, *we* would bear all the responsibility that came with that. Wlaking, cleaning, training, yada,yada.

She and the girls (occasionally) did however, feed the dog..not sometimes…every day, two times a day and when Id spend time working on basic training she would occasionally join in and get her sit, stay, whatever.

Dogs work for food..no ifs and or buts. If your wife does only that dollars to donuts things will improve alot.

[John Bennett]

I’m so reminded of the adage.
“Put two economist in a room, ask them to answer a question and you’ll get 4 different opinions” 🙂

Like what you said Bob, but it’s number 5 that raises alot of questions. It will likely be 20 or 40 years before people can really weigh in on it.

5.

[John Bennett]

I may be speaking out of line here, and someone defiantly correct me if I am wrong. Is it just me or have we all gone from having a little, to having everything we could possibly think of and pushing payments on mortgages, credit cars, ectect?

I don’t think it’s out of line at all. Will said much the same and they’re fair and pertinent comments. However, if not for the solid growth and booming economies over the last 25 years (powered by spending at all levels) would we have the same quality of life today? Im no economist but I don’t think so.

A couple years ag we shook at our heads at all the people buying Hummers …But the reality is/was people were buying/leasing Lexus, , Audis, Beamers, huge homes, over priced condos…going for bottle service at restaruants (400 a pop) and travel vacations on and on.

When I grew up our parents drove their vehicles into the ground and then bought used ones. Over the last 12 to 15 years people drove their cars for 3 to 5 years and then bought new spiffy ones, whatever the price point they happened to be in. Wave your hand if in the last 5 years you’ve replaced a perfectly serviceable CRT television or monitor for an LCD or Plasma.
/wave

Balance is key.

Coporations, industry expanding, municpal and govt pending. It *all* gets financed and it all leads to jobs and growth. Take Scoot rods for example..I’ll go out on a limb and guess that their recent expansion ( to meet demand and ease repair lags) was…you guessed it..Financed in some shape or form.

Problem is “financing” is hard to come by these days because a number of very prominant institutions went belly up. Other instituions who had exposure to those institions took hits (big hits), and those that didnt started sweating about the their “credit risk”. Ripple and Domino effects..Everyone and I mean everyone is scrutinising risk in particular Credit Risk ( the risk that the party in  question is going to default)

this is greatly oversimplified. Poeople who lend monies and securities to “us” are scaling back in some cases cuting off. We in turn are doing the same to others. So my sources are drying up, and I in turn am doing he same to others

ie: I have a counterparty willing to lend me $500 million (cash/securties), lets say I want to collateralise that with senior debt from Bank ABC…. Is it good enough “credit” for them…If Bank ABC has problems 3 months down the road…Say it can’t renew financing for 20 billion in maturing bank paper or goes tits up…thats collateral is worth…….. . Or maybe Im not allowed to buy ABCs debt anymore because we arent comfortable with their risk profile.

That forces ABC to seek financing elsewhere or it cost more to finance their operations. They have to pay higher interest to borrow, or offer more attractive rates if they are issuing debt to entice buyers to buy. Keep in mind, they finance

[John Bennett]

what is a bit newer is that folks have been allowed/encouraged to become more leveraged/suscepitible than ever before therefore the  downside  is all that more ominous.

Simply said, people spent and spent well for 2 decades. Hence why for the most part there hasnt been a serious downturn in 2 decades. Think about that.  Alot of young people who are just getting started in life or recently just got started by moving out/graduating/whatever have never experienced anythin like this before. Really for anyone 30 and under they were just newborns the last time around in the early 80s.

Hard part is knowing that anyone who does lose their jobs, will likely be out of work for a looong time. I dont see this turning around anytime soon. Being in the financial industry, theres been alot of layoffs over the last month..I wouldn’t be surprised if theres more yet.

Credit crunch isn’t showing any signs of easing and I’m frontline. You can’t get squat done. Its everythingwe can do to keep our credit lines (those we have left) and we’re in good shape financially, very good shape…

collateral: institution are nervous about that to ( Credit risk) so even if I have room to borrow a couple hundred million the collateral is such that it makes the trade unprofitable. So instead of doing a farily safe vanilla trade, where both parties make a few bps and money flows so people and institutions can fincance things…………

Nothings done.

Royal Bank of Canada had to issue treasury shares this week (secondary offering) in order to raise money insteead of issuing debt (par for the coarse). Which also has will dilute book value for existing shareholders by a sidgeon…….

Until that starts easing and money starts flowing and people start extending some credit, there simply wont be enough buying power or capital expenditures ( like upgrading manufactoring plants, building oil refineries, infrastructure, and on and on and on) to kickstart things.

Tried to buy a few tens of millions in US Ts today. I was qouted a yield of – 20 bps….Meaning Id have paid a 20 basis point premium for what that would be worth face value a month down the road. In other words Im better off sitting on my money and not earning anything, rather than buying Fed bills (and hence supplying money )
 
When the crap hit the fan back in Sept I had to close what we call books that accounted for billions in business. I went from having a rather large book, to not doing anything as we try to whether the storm. I can count on 1 hand the number of new trades/deals/structures we’ve put on since Sept.

ABCP and Subprime. It was the start.
We saw it coming last summer, fairly heavy buyer of abcp but we were smart and didnt get stung at all. We waited almost a year for the other hammer to fall. its just fallen alot harder than any of us expected 🙂

default, after default, after defalt, writedown after writedown after write down and still no word of credit card defaults………….yet

Captial Markets.
If you were or are 1 to 10 years away from retirement and you’ve just watched the bottom of your nestegg dissapear. You spending in the next year? Probably not at all until you recoop some of the maket valuation and can start thinking about retirement again in 3 to 5 years.

Persoanlly I hope this is about the bottom and from here things go sideways for the next 8 to 12 months although deep down I tihnk its goin to get a little worse yet…

[John Bennett]

I’ve done two weddings for cousins just getting out of school. Suffice to say both weddings were on tight budgets. It was either me, or what ever they could compile from guest with the PnSs.

Thats the only way, I’d ever agee to do a wedding. You couldn’t pay me enough to accept one. Waaaaaaaay too much stress and responsibility for my liking.

That said.
Absolutely shoot in RAW.

The hardest part (imo) in doing a good job of it is capturing all the whites without blowing them *and* having them turn out white with accurate skin tones.

Being able to adjust your WB in post and remove colour cast if neccessary is a god send to wedding photographers.

[John Bennett]

lol, I know exactly where he took that shot. First thing I noticed was the “Red Rocket” ( streetcar) and said, “thats Toronto”.

The shot actually does nothing for me, compositon seems boring if at all existant, and the lights are over done. All it really does is convey the mood a bit.

That said.
Thats my subjective view and one reason why I like photography. You never really know whats going to appeal to the general audience. It’s also why I never enter contest, aside from being rights grabs.

Used to follow a few contest closely and 9 times out of 10 shook my head at what the “expert” judges picked. Just gave up trying to see what they see, theres no accounting for it 🙂

[John Bennett]

Well said Brian and welcome to IA.

You may not give up your G2, but I for one will be more than happy to take it off your a hands for a spell anytime we’re dipping our toes in the water 😉

[John Bennett]

Mike I know it’s not cheap and while propiety raw converters are great as they are free and often handle their colors better ( more accurately) you really can’t beat the power of PS.

I’m not talking about the power to radically change your photo as in composites, or painting, etc….All the basic photo editing tools are so much more flexible and sublte…thus more powerful.

Whther you use CS2,CS3,CS4 or even Elements which is 80% functionality I really recomend you give it a go. Theres a learning curve..its like stepping from the cockpit of ultralight to a 747 but it comes with time.

[John Bennett]

Dusty.
If your wifes a little reluctant, at the very least have her feed the dog and replenish its water as part of her daily responsibility.

Talk to a dozen trainers and you might get 6 on one side and 6 on the other with regards to positive and negative reinforcement. The one thing they will all agree on is Food.

If she doesn’t want to do any hard core training, get her work with the puppy occasionally with basics…Sit, heel, stay, down and use treat based rewards when the pup behaves the way you want.

It will get the message that moms the hand that feeds, and that should ease some of the dominance problems that are starting.

[John Bennett]

Still think the 40D represents the best value for the buck for DSLRs currently.

Have some friends that upgraded from the 40 to the 50. All are happy, however you really don’t gain much except the extra MPs and a little more ability to crop, if cropping is important to you.

Were it me
I might go the 40 as well and put the price differential towards some better glass. In 12 to 16 months we’ll be chirping over the 60D.

[John Bennett]

Sometimes when Im bored and theres nothing to shoot, but mostly its just experience (still ongoin) gained over time.

Lately Ive been trying to capture an image of a Duck coming in to land directly at me in vertical. Hundreds of images later I’ve learned.

If the ducks too far away, I dont get the detail I want nor fill enough of the frame. DoF is fine, nor do I clip wings

if the ducks too close my DoF usually isnt large enough. In order to “freeze” them I want to be above 1/1000th. Depending on the strength of light stopping down for more DoF is difficult, if I want 1/1000th or more. Also, if its too close the wings get clipped, …often extend off the frame. Again, Im shooting vertical with for a potential cover. In Horizontal this isnt a problem

So balancing getting close enough to fill 30%-40% of the frame without clipping wings, using a focus point thats a little below center (vertical framing) to allow for headlines and logos, having high enough SSs *and* large enough DoF.

Unless Im lucky early in the process, the only real way to know when to take the shots and when not to…is to take hundreds…Trial and error.

[John Bennett]

Capture/low pass sharpening is a step thats implemented to offset the blurring imparted to your image by the low pass filter or AA filter. All DSLRs have them, some are stornger than others. A body with a weak AA filter will produce images that look sharp right out of the box, over time all manufactorers have been strengthening it.

So alot of people (and Im one) use a little sharpening to the master file that restores the softening of edge contrast that occurs as a result of the low pass fiter. When to apply it differs, some apply it before any other adjustements, other apply after tonal corrections but before resising/resampled, most concur it should be done after any noise reduction.

Again, sharpening adds edge contrast.
Amount= How much contrast to add to edges
Radius:= How many pixels out from the edge will be effected
Threshold= Defines the edge, how much variance between tones equals an edge.

As a general rule of thumb I use
Amount: 200
Radius: 0.3
Threshold: 0

As my capture sharpening

the key is its a light touch that restores softening imparted by the AA filter done to your master file. So before any resising or resampling that occurs for “output”.

So your workflow employs two stages of sharpening.
Low pass: Restores edge contrast to the master file
Output: dependant on the files end useage (print size/web display/etc)

[John Bennett]

The dog is fighting for second place in the family, and this might even be worse when you are around since she’s got someone to impress.

[John Bennett]

Mike to expand a bit on some of the things David has mentioned.

Your DoF is determined by three things.
1) Aperture
2) Distance to subject
3) Focal length.

Thus an image with a subject at 15feet, shot at f5.6 with a 200mm will have considerably less DoF than the same variables shot at 100mm.

Many people really underestimate the DoF when using longer focal lengths. If your DoF is really narrow, even something as simple as changing the plane relative to the subject can throw parts of your image oof (out of focus).

For illustrative purposes only. Heres a nice shot I ruined by missing my focal point ( the eye). This shot was taken at 560mm, about 15 feet to subject and f8. Note how the body is nice and sharp but the facial features, in particular the eye are a bit soft. The DoF here is quite likely less than 1 inch

assuming you shot those at f5.6, 100mm and 15 feet, your DoF is approximately 1.5feet.
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Same parameters but at 200mm, your DoF would have been .35 feet. Thats 4 inches. Nailing your critical focus point is extrmely important when dealing with fairly narrow DoFs.

I much prefer the artistic look to narrow DoFs. All else being equal I try for as little DoF as possible. Lok through most of the pictures I take and you’ll find all kinds of examples.

I am not fan of focusing and recomposing for these reasons.
When your dealing with narrow DoFs theres very little margin of error.

Place your camera on a table top, and draw a straight line out from the lens thats perpindicular to the element. Actually somewhere on your body there should be a something that looks like a T sqaure. Now assume your DoF is 6 inches out at 20 feet. Change the plane of your body by swinging 20 degrees left/right ( the act of recomposing).

Youve just greatly changed whats within the DoF and what isnt.

Take the time to lear to use different focus points. Mine has 45. Its abit much at first, having to train your fingers to quickly dial in the one you want ( i need to use two wheels).

But it pays dividends in the long run.

Shake.
At 100mm its not overly hard to avoid shake, however regardless of your focal length, there is a point (SS) at which each individual will start encountering it. Being capable of shooting at slower shutter speeds relative to the focal legth and hand holding takes alot of practise. To get a sense of what your tolerance is set your lens at 100mm or 200mm in less than ideal light. Typical indoor flourescent light should do it. Adjust your ISO and aperture until you shooting at 1/focal length. Take a dozen shots….Change your settings by opening the lens such that your at 1/ 2x focal length…take a dozen shots.
Compare results.

Sharpenening.
As others have noted, how much to apply is largely dependant on final output. At the end of the day, sharpening can be thought of as applying contrast to edges. Play around, after awhile you start to develop a feel for how much or how little is needed.

As a general rule I apply two applications. The first is a light dose to my master file. Then if I copy that image for web display or a smaller print (upto 8.5 x 11) another light dose.

Perhaps the best way to learn is to intentionally over do it. So you cna see the artifacts, and other effects heavy handed sharpening results in.

As for RAWs.
I do get RAW files that could probably pass muster with little to no adjustments, however if they are improved with light touches.

[Author]

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