I feel deeply offended by the "dear boy" appellative...

Yet, my discomfort was created not by the acronym, but rather by the following sentence, which, IMO, is incredibly 'out of the blue'.

And yes, like Pentaxian I am also not english, and the five languages that I speak often confuse my understanding...

And to leave you with an interesting (and easy-to-understand) query, how about this.

"There is a lamp inside a photography darkroom. When the darkroom door is closed, it is impossible to tell from outside the room whether or not the lamp is on. There are two switches outside the door of the darkroom. One or both of the switches may control the lamp. It also could be that neither of the switches control the lamp. All you know is that the light bulb is currently off and that the lamp and bulb are in working condition. The darkroom door is closed and once you open the door you cannot touch either of the switches. If you can only open the dark-room door one time, how can you tell which switches, if any, control the lamp?"


Regards,
Nathan

Honestly,
read the manual before listening to stupid rumors, always.

What?

what?

uh?

seriously?

you've got way to much free time.....

I am in the same position, and this is why I question my taste, and skills, by asking you guys what you think.

I don't do much artistic work recently, and if once I used to experiment all the time, now it is only when I don't have too many shoots to work on that I get time to play with camera and designated lenses.

I really like the above photograph, I find it interesting, and different. I have never seen anything similar, and I thought that the shallow depth of field made it a 'good' photograph. I also find that it is hard to know when a piece is complete, and even if pp on this was kept to minimal, my innate lack of imagination doesn't allow me to make it an artistically challenging shot.

So, I decided to re-shoot the photograph, and follow the advice of John and Mongoose, which, IMO is lacking artistic imagination, but indeed results in a very pleasant image!

What are your thoughts on this?

[IMG]http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u332/nathanever82/SideEye2.jpg[/IMG]

I haven't been around for a while, and I missed it so much that today, after a week in bed for food poisoning, I took out the camera for the first time, and shot this.

Its something between macro and abstract - what do you think of this? (Again, I like this photograph and I am looking for ideas to make it a cracking shot, because right now I am not sure it is! )



[IMG]http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u332/nathanever82/SideEye.jpg[/IMG]

K10 - Pentax M 100mm Macro - 1/125 f4 ISO200

I have raised the issue in each one of my posts!!!

No, it doesn't.

In that specific case it is probably the Auto-Focus tracking system, and in case of not bright light, the high ISO performance, up to ISO 2000 for example on the nikon D3 is perfectly usable, and gives 3-4 extra stops.

Lens Aperture value is constant, as much as shutter speed is. All lenses will allow the same light in, at a given aperture. The image quality will vary, if the lens used is a better one.

So the combination of fast lens (f1.4 / f2.8 for telephotos) / high ISO performance / fast accurate AF / distance from the subject (because of depth of field issues) / flash or studio lighting for close subjects / and definitely fast shutter speed - will result in the photograph you mean. Compromise on all of these is possible, and results can often be achieved with non-professional gear.

Hope this helps

Gwyn,

I am sorry but I completely disagree with your position. In fact, in all my experience working with children in Italy, France, Germany, the US, and now England, I can say with a lot of confidence that the 'abnormally picky and paranoid' British system is actually the most advanced one.

Other EU countries simply don't have the cultural and social standards that Britain has, and this is reflected in the care taken in every institution that has to do with minors. Britain is incredibly advanced socially, and (as much as english people like to criticize their country) definitely much more advanced than most other EU countries, not to talk about other continents.

I understand that its a pain to even consider working with english minors, but I, as a youth worker, much rather be checked, and work safely and be protected, rather than work in america where I can be sued for no reason and have my career destroyed, or in Italy, where I have no protection what-so-ever, from the educational system, and my career is at risk every time I come in contact with minors.

And to reply to the situation of your Son. He is surely the most reputable person, and this should not be put in question; but I am not sure I would send my children to a vacation on a boat with other kids, and 2 adult men that sleep in the vicinities of the youth. With this, I don't want to give the impression that I don't rely on human beings, but honestly, I would prefer a police check on the person before my kid is abused.

Nathan

I have an issue understanding your question, and also the answers given.

Your question has very little to do with lens choice, or at least there are many other parameters that you might wish to consider.

If you want to freeze action you will need a fast shutter speed. Now, it is obvious that a fast lens will give you an advantage, but this will only be a partial advantage of 2/3/4 stops.

Any type of photograph you wish to take, you have to know what shutter speeds you will need in order to freeze the action. So if you shoot a walker it will be 1/30 sec, if you shoot a runner it will be 1/100 sec, if a motor race 1/250 to 1/2000 sec. - This is the choice you have to make, and different equipment will allow you to change various parameters around your choice, but ultimately, only make a certain difference.

Say you decide that you need to shoot at 1/500 of a second, you will need enough light to illuminate the scene, and you have many options.


- Flashgun with High Speed setting, which allows you to shoot at any shutter speed.
- Higher ISO - With compromise on noise, and IQ
- A faster lens will only give you 2/3/4 stops advantage, which might be enough, but not surely
-Studio lights will work
- Outdoor shooting on a bright day - and on a not so bright day
- Good timing, and maybe a remote shutter, so that you can catch the right moment without having to look through the viewfinder.


Please let me know if you have more specific queries, and many here will be happy to help you!

Regards,
Nathan