Couldn't agree more.
I have a solar filter for my telescope and have never been able to bring myself to use it. A friend of mine has a specialist solar telescope with hydrogen alpha filter, unfortunately, I haven't been to see him since he got it..but I will take my camera when I go.!

Or you could use a pinhole camera.
A large piece of card with a pin hole through it, another piece of white card behind it. Project the image of the sun through the hole onto the screen and photograph that. That will work until totality and give quite nice results if you get it right, ( a friend of mine did it a few years ago when we had a partial eclipse ). I could never get it right.

This method also ensures no damage can possibly be caused to camera or retina.

Nope...and I've actually already got an idea for this one

The Final Dormitory.
[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/sleep.jpg[/IMG]

I fully agree. I came here, not for the look of the site, but for the people and advice...which is great.
I much preferred the look of the old site, but I'm sure I'll get used to this one, given time.


I presume the people working behind the scenes are doing so unpaid and in their own time, as with the other forums I use?
If this is the case, then I say let's give them some slack, at least they are prepared to put themselves out and do this work.
If I've got that wrong, then I apologise. Having not been on here long, I am not fully aware of who does what etc.

I love number 4

Ooops

What an interesting topic!

Can I add a newbies point of view?
I came to this with an un-founded belief that the photograph should be right in the viewfinder, as Henri Cartier-Bresson. ( Not that I can do it yet ).

Having said that, I was amazed by Lilly's manipulation of, ( I think) my first posting, to bring out the colours. I think things like colour picking are great and Lilly's mono pictures, well they just blew me away.

I've just read a book on photography, ( can't remember by whom ), and was shocked when he said he'd cropped the sky out of a picture and added another one which looked better. In my mind, that would be a step too far.

But I know, that no matter how much I can do with Paintshop, what I need to do is learn how to take a good photograph first. Without that, it may be art, but it won't be photography.
Which is why I'm now reading a book called "How to look at photographs". I figure if I know how to look AT a photo, I'll learn how to look FOR a photo.
( Well, that's my humble opinion)

I've started using GIMP, but I have a copy of Paintshop Pro 9 and I find the layers in that easier to use. But that might be lack of practice with GIMP.

No-one has mentioned the *ist DL.

How does that compare? I ask because that's what I bought.

Oh and I got mine with kit lens for £140 off ebay. I had to watch for months to get that bargain ( at least I hope it's a bargain ).