You are a real fighter Pete

ASDA

Online, brilliant service, the cheapest on the market, very easy to find, and delivered at home.

Strongly advised also on a photography magazine a few months back.

Hope this helps

I am very very happy for you, and I hope you enjoy your new gear to the fullest.

And I am happy i've helped a bit.

I am very envious of the 50-135, and a little of the K20, but I know that something else will come up soon...

Enjoy your feast!

Nathan

Hello there everybody,

Interesting topic, so before I answer I'll tell you a bit about where I come from.

I am a youth worker, have worked in an informal education setting for more than 10 years, and have taken photographs at hundred of events, camps, sports, both to do with young people and their parents.

When I am at work I occasionally take photographs of the youth clubs I run; I obviously have a CRB check, and because I have been in post for some 3 years, I am trusted with the photographs I shoot, and these are NEVER shared with the public, but only strictly with the community I am employed by.

Last summer I took a job as camp photographer for an association of summer camps. THey also asked my to fill another CRB check, and the arrangement for those photographs was even stricter, because of the nature of the job. I was given a personal laptop, hard drive, software, and memory cards, in order to shoot all the photographs exclusively on the kit they provided me. I signed a contract that stated that the photographs would not be shared with anyone, and the process worked very well. I felt safe.


I understand George's position, and the others', but I also think that often photographers don't have a choice of what jobs do take and what not, and at the same time the cheerleader group will have concerns regarding the future of the photographs. And this is not dependent on the nature of the 'sport'. its american, and useless, and this doesn't make any difference, because its a recognised sport, and under 18's should be able to participate freely, and still be concerned about indecent photographs which shouldn't be shared with the public.


So the advice from me would be:
- Reassure the employer that you are not going to share any photograph with anybody, and have a written contract for this.
- Provide the employer with all the photographs shot, and let them choose which ones they consider appropriate, for you to do any post production work on, and delete the rest in front of them.
- Make sure that all the cheerleaders have written and signed permission to be photographed (in their cheerleading clothes, and whist performing) by their parents, and keep for yourself a written copy of all the parental permissions. No permission, no photo.
- If this sounds too complicated, than don't bother. But if you go for the job, I suggest you protect yourself in any way possible, because as much trust there can be (and should be) somebody can turn to you and put you in the shit, if you haven't covered yourself properly.


I hope this helps,

Regards,

Funny, yesterday I wrote a long email to a photography magazine just about this, and their wrong rating of the 2 cameras.... THis is what i wrote!

" Dear Digital SLR Editor

I have been an avid reader since early 2007, and I still find your magazine a very interesting read, and source of information and inspiration for my photography.

I was reading your latest issue, and fell upon a very disturbing fact:

in the Digital SLR buyers guide, on page 141 you present a review of the Samsung GX-20 and give it an overall rating of 89 with the sequent break-out
Handling 22/25 Features 22/25 Performance 22/25 Value 23/25

In the next page, you list the Pentax K20d, which is (as you surely know) the exact same camera as the Samsung, with the overall rating is 87:
Handling 22/25 Features 23/25 Performance 22/25 Value 20/25.

Now I think that various considerations should be made here.

- The actual cost (both RRP and Street Price) of the 2 cameras is exactly the same, both in your review, and in real life. You should consider though that the Pentax camera has a £100 cash back, and (as you know) better value for the used market (bringing it to £499 with kit lens...). I therefore struggle to understand the 2 points difference in VALUE for Money, as they are listed with the same price. And are the same camera indeed.

- The two cameras are exactly the same in every component, apart from the fact that the Pentax can save RAW files also in PEF format, which is slightly compressed RAW format unique to Pentax. (I presume that this is why the features have 1 point difference)

- I understand that you couldn't possibly rate a Pentax product as a "best buy" or "Highly rated" product, because of market issues, and the fact that obviously, the 3 big guns (Nikon Canon and Sony), invest much more than other brands in advertising in magazines like yours, and this needs to be reflected in the 'supposedly non-biased' buyer's guide rating. Yet, this example is a really frustrating one, because instead of giving the real value of a camera, your review represents it in a wrong way, not allowing readers to make an informed decision when buying the product.


I have been really happy with your magazine for a long time, but I find this issue very upsetting, and would be mostly interested in the reasons behind such facts.

Thank you very much, "

Alan, you have written exactly what is in my mind. And you've perfectly understood the reasons behind my OP.
Don, I don't think the crop changes much, to be honest, I agreed with your first post, and convinced myself that even if it is a pleasant image, its nothing special, and that's it

And I completely agree with your comment for newbies; I am very relieved that you guys really understood my personal concerns with the image.

THank you all, very much

Alan, I'm not a monster!!!!

And you really describe me as one...

and I really appreciate your advice.

So come out of the corner and say something appropriate!!!!

THank you all for the suggestions.

I really like Liam's and Martin's versions, both improve the impact of the landscape.

John, I really don't understand your point, as I consider the sky to generally be integral part of a composition, in nature landscape photographs. as much as it might be distracting, I think that it is essential for the composition to have a "place of rest" where the eye is free to wander and rest after having followed the strong lines that make the composition itself work.

ALAN (Found your name ), funny that you say this, because in this photograph, the only part that hasn't received any correction in photoshop is actually the sky. THe photo was shot with an ND grad, .06 (so 2 stops) but from the moment it was dropped on photoshop, I haven't changed one bit. If it looks dramatic, its because it was indeed, very! At the same time, I find the sky very very interesting - and mainly the gorgeous light rays that come from the top of the clouds, and the smoke of the fire that rises from the middle of the trees.

Very interesting comments though, thank you all very much for your help. I very much appreciated Terry's advice of adding colour to the foreground. I did that, and also worked on the curves and other small things.
this is the result i've come up with. Comments are more than welcome!

THank you all,
Nathan
[IMG]http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u332/nathanever82/Autumn2.jpg[/IMG]

Hello there,

This is not a question for the great beginners of the site (even though advice is always welcome), in the sense that it is a bit of an advanced photoshop editing...

I shot this the other day, and I am trying to make the photograph stand out a bit more. There has already been some photoshop work, but I think that it lacks something.

Any advice and comments, would be welcome,

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

Hello there!

I am about to buy a set of bowens Gemini 200, because i've read a million reviews and all seem very very positive.

Will keep you posted on results.

I haven't heard such good comments on elinchrom though.