Messages

1

Sports / Re: Hurling

« on: April 27, 2013, 04:52:43 PM »

I think these are excellent - it can be pretty hard to get the ball in shot and in focus in such a fast moving sport. Number 3 is also my favourite

2

Sports / Re: Horses / Horseriding etc

« on: January 30, 2013, 04:50:30 PM »

Nice effect but looks like a montage - is it a single frame or has the horse and rider been added ?

Looks like a very frosty Irish morning !

Thank you - appreciate the nice comments

Single frame
Very hurried shot - and the shutter speed was not high enough (taken 5D2 24-105 1/320 f4 ISO200 - fairly heavy crop) - some post in Aperture and Niksoft - may be I was a little heavy handed with my post processing (which was mainly to lighten the foreground) which is why it looks like a composite - just for interest a very down-scaled jpg of the straight out of camera is attached
If we have a similarly beautiful dawn I would love to retake with my brand new 70-200 2.8 and be smarter (or quicker) setting the camera up

3

Sports / Re: Horses / Horseriding etc

« on: January 30, 2013, 07:03:32 AM »

One I got in December

4

Canon General / Re: Why did you choose Canon?

« on: January 26, 2013, 05:59:38 PM »

Quality and Range of Lenses.

5

Contests / Re: Gura Gear Giveaway!

« on: December 07, 2012, 11:57:38 AM »

I want to win!

6

Lenses / Re: do image stabilisers decrease image quality?

« on: November 07, 2012, 04:35:45 PM »

EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II
Image Stabilization & a very sharp lens

7

Animal Kingdom / Re: Zoo Pics

« on: October 24, 2012, 11:54:51 AM »

mine is a bit different, but i find myself spending time looking at it, and it's interesting IMO.

I was at the zoo, and took this shot of the two griz bears playing....what I caught in the reflection of the windows made the shot much more interesting.

this image is not edited other than a little bit of exposure/sharp/sat/contrast.

i'm curious what others think of this shot...comments welcome.

This is reminiscent to me of the 2003 winner of Wildlife Photographer of the year -
Gerhard Schulz -  Gorilla and Boy
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125653861.html

8

1D X Sample Images / Re: Any Thing shot with a 1Dx

« on: October 24, 2012, 08:15:49 AM »

Is it just me or do gary's shots of these animals on the previous pages just don't look "THAT" awesome. They seem grainy, a bit blurry here and there and the bokeh is just not beautiful. Compared to other shots posted here, these look more like rebel than 1dx. No offense, but I really want to know what's wrong cause that is not what you await from a $13000 setup (1dx+200mm 2.0)

Couldn't disagree more. I keep revisiting this thread specifically to see Gary's animal shots, which are simply amazing. Your comments and the photos I see from Gary simply don't match.
Having come on and been so rude with your first post, you now owe it to the forum to post examples of your own amazing work.
PS - how to tell when someone is going to cause offense - when they preface their remarks "no offense"

9

Lenses / Re: Portrait Lens

« on: October 01, 2012, 03:53:36 AM »

I have both the 24-105 and the 100L Macro
I absolutely love the 100L - but still take many more pictures with the 24-105

If I had to get one, it would be the zoom, even though I prefer the 100L

10

Animal Kingdom / Re: Need help - photographs on dull days

« on: September 25, 2012, 08:42:18 PM »

Having carefully looked at everyone's fantastic edits, and using them for inspiration - I tried myself
This was done with Aperture and NikSoft

I would appreciate honest opinions
Thanks

11

Landscape / Wicklow Mountains National Park

« on: September 22, 2012, 06:33:10 PM »

Both 5D2 + 24-105L

12

Animal Kingdom / Re: pics from uganda and tansania

« on: September 12, 2012, 04:46:54 PM »

Looks like she had an amazing trip and is a quick study
Hope those hippo photos are tightly cropped - not sure I'd want to be close enough to get those photos at 250mm

13

Animal Kingdom / Re: Need help - photographs on dull days

« on: September 09, 2012, 10:38:32 AM »

With flat light I sometimes use split toning in LR4.  On your pic I gave highlights a yellow cast and shadows a blue cast.  I also cranked the clarity slider up to 70, darkened the sky and added a blue cast, turned down the green and yellow channels and added some vignetting.  It probably took 5 min.  Clearly all these things can be done with the software you have but maybe not as quickly.

I like many of the renditions - but I really like this one

Thank you to everyone for their advice and excellent manipulations of my image

14

Animal Kingdom / Re: Need help - photographs on dull days

« on: September 08, 2012, 11:12:28 PM »

Thanks to everyone who has answered so far... and I am beginning to think I need to invest in Lightroom or perhaps learn to use what I have better? (I have Aperture, NikSoft - full suite, Photoshop CS3)...

I am afraid that flash is out of the question for this (could scare horse and rider....)
Also need a color image if at all possible

Thanks again - and be glad to hear any more advice

15

Animal Kingdom / Need help - photographs on dull days

« on: September 07, 2012, 12:11:59 PM »

I need help....
For work I have to take photos and can't choose the weather
I was wondering how to make the best of photos taken in flat light like the example I attached

I find the areas of the picture where the subject is against the sky particularly problematic

Any advice on post-processing or exposure (preferably without flash) would be gratefully received

RAW is here:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/61771147/Exercising%20ECG%20Gallop.CR2

5D2 24-105 @105mm 1/800 f4.5 ISO800
Shot Raw - curves and black point in PP