That's an excellent set Doc, the A466 shot and tree with crow are my favourite but they are all very atmospheric. great processing too.

The only one I'm not keen on is muddy track, the composition with the trees is a bit central, but the transition from mist to sky is lovely.

A great set of images, and nice variation on themes too!

Merry Christmas to you too! And to everyone else too, have a great day!

They have banned Christmas here in Doha this year. Seriously. No Christmas decorations or promotions allowed in the shops. They have not been able to stop the hotels doing turkey dinners (a couple of the hotels have rebelled and are still calling it Christmas dinner: otherwise its a festive dinner) So they have banned booze on Christmas day instead. We are having some friends round and have a huge turkey and are well stocked up with booze. Hopefully it is our last Christmas here......

Nice one, Doc, I've got the magazine on digital subscription, but only just picked up that you took the cover shot. Excellent shot, well done! And a very Merry Christmas to you!

I just guess and then adjust after having a look. But then again I never use more than two flashguns and I don't do much studio stuff. I'd like to do more though. The only light meter I have is an ancient selenium one I bought in antiques shop; it seems to be incredibly accurate, but I only use it in ambient light, and mostly when using film. I don't suppose it would be any good with flash though?

While at work I have had nail clippers, sunblock, lens cleaning spray and a metal comb (back in the days when I had hair) removed from my hand-luggage on different occasions. Pointing out that I have free access to an axe, various controlled drugs (in the aircraft medical kit) and 80 tons of fuel conveniently loaded into a huge projectile would probably get me arrested....in fact it's happened to two pilots I know.

47mm crop gives you 5mp on a bit more than the equivalent of a 1 inch sensor. 35mm gives you 10mp on a bit less than a 4/3rds sensor. link

With 21mm available with the adaptor and 21mm lens, on the full APS-C sensor, it's pretty versatile for a fixed-focal length camera.

Using AWB, the camera sets the WB each time you take a shot, and small variables in the light hitting the sensor can and often will change the WB.

However, I generally use AWB (except on aerial or night shots, where it's often way out), and adjust it in PP, using the same WB setting on a series of similar shots. Of course, if shooting Jpeg, you don't have latitude for changing WB too much. If shooting infra-red, you don't have much latitude in RAW either.

An extra category (exception) covering the transport of lithium ion batteries was added to transport regulations on 1st January 2013. This exception is covered in the 2013-2014 Edition of the ICAO Technical Instruction for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, and the 54th Edition of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR). They may be transported inside equipment, providing both the factory manufacturing the batteries and the shipper handling them meet the requirements laid down in the regulations. There are exceptions for both lithium ion (ELI: Excepted Lithium Ion) and lithium metal batteries (ELM: Excepted Lithium Metal). Two batteries per package of no more than 100W/h are allowed, or eight of no more than 20W/h. There is no limit on how many can be carried on an aircraft under these exemptions; the captain does not even have to be informed the items are on his aircraft, though they generally are (certainly where I work). Passengers are allowed to carry lithium batteries in equipment, and spare batteries (up to a set capacity)in carry-on baggage. Batteries inside equipment up to 100W/h can be checked in. link

Lithium batteries on their own are Class 9 and have to be packaged under strict guidelines, and there is a limit of 5KG on passenger aircraft, 35KG on cargo aircraft.

The Post Office does not have approval under these regulations, though it's Parcel Force service does.

Gwyn's statement concerning the fire extinguishers in aircraft holds is incorrect. There is no extinguishing agent or system that will extinguish a lithium fire on an aircraft. There are fire suppression systems using foam on some cargo aircraft that will contain a lithium fire for a short while (until it can land, hopefully), but there are no passenger aircraft with these systems, and FedEx is the only company that has this system installed on freighters.