Wow great stuff! very well observed!

Regards

Hello all. I was idly passing my bank holiday morning in the park and (as usual) fired off a load of shots of the ducks... the light this morning, however, made for some pretty funky backgrounds (well I thought so anyway), so here's a couple:

First up, a Mandarin Duck in the process of shedding it's grey feathers in favour of some nice bright whiskers:



A Mallard doing something similar but looking a bit threadbare in the meantime... (and also looking to imitate a steam engine from the looks of him...)



and a Mandarin a bit further down the line... looking a bit punky to my mind



Hope you like them. Any C&C welcomed as usual. i seem to have taken a ton of pictures at the duckpond this weekend... If you like ducks, there's a load more on my flickr...

Regards

I use the 540 flash but I imagine the 360 controls are pretty much the same. To adjust the power I use the 'S' button which is within the rotating dial control to select the parameter to be adjusted (the parameter flashes on the LCD display when it is selected), then make the adjustment using the rotating dial, clockwise or anti-clockwise, then press 'S' again to stop it flashing and establish that setting. So if you are in P-TTL mode you can press 'S' to select the amount of exposure compensation (there will be a scale similar to that you might get on the camera for doing exposure adjustments in manual mode) and you can dial the flash down to, say, -0.5, or all the way down to -3. Can dial up a little as well if you wish I think. If you are in manual mode, you can use the same procedure but instead use the dial to make the output 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 or whatever. The default in Manual, I think, is 1/1 so you'll just be changing the denominator of that power output expressed as a fraction on the flash display.

Hope that makes sense

I agree - a great set and looks like a great place to go with a camera! I really like the 'blue city' with the cat at the bottom of the steps and the first one.

Regards

I second the tip to get a diffuser. I don't use flash a huge amount, and I don't feel I have quite 'mastered' it myself, but I tend to get much better results (a) using a diffuser and (b) using the controls on the flashgun to dial down the flash power to avoid getting blown highlights (especially if close up) - same is true when using the onboard flash as well. Echo the advice to go and have a play and see what seems to work

Regards

Excellent work Tim and well done indeed on getting 100 in the PPG - I also really like the Green Stem from this latest batch.

Regards

Yup that's right - I use a Mac and have to hold down the command key with the apple logo on it I think (or it could be the ctrl key... - one of them will certainly do it)

Regards

I agree; I sometimes find instances where the shots don't quite fit into any category well. In the case of a dragonfly I would fudge the issue and highlight both Nature and Wildlife in that instance, I think. I am not certain what the distinction is but the website says to 'highlight all that apply'...

Regards

And me - although I rather like Little and Large as well - some extraordinary colours. Very nice set.

Regards

Thanks for the link Jack, there are some cracking shots on the front page there (which refresh if you hit the text link at the bottom).

Regards