rabster

Cheers Newt.

Well done to all who entered & to the chosen three. For what it's worth, my top three would've been GB's old lifeboat station, Paul Mc's Cavern Club & Frantics bizarre planter phonebox - I've never seen one used like that before, they've even hung 'em on the door, it's not your phonebox is it frantic? As for my entries, I had a couple of ideas in mind of what I was going to shoot, but stumbled across the old guy on the tractor & the old motor parked next to the crappy Renault, so grabbed a couple of opportunist shots. Steve - I shot the old car in colour & later converted it to B&W - Was I allowed to do that??

GB - I love that shot of the boat stranded on the sand bank. I noticed on the comp thread that you use a Zenit, was this shot also taken with that? My first camera was a Zenit E, my parents bought it for me approx 30 years ago & I still have it, I love that camera, I really must stick some film in it & give it another try. Pete Mc, the squirrel shots are terrific given you took them with a 18-70mm lens. Den, "both Egrets". There are only two of them?? I knew they are scarce, but it's worse than I thought. Cracking shots Den, I like the composition of the beach one. I spotted this fisherman yesterday relaxing on the canal bank, but sadly chopped off the top of his rod.

You built a wasps nest in two days?? Excellent photos Charlie & a website to be proud of!

I'm sending my positive vibes Cliff. It's so good to hear that Hazel is doing so well & I hope the people watching from the boat was relaxing for you both. Regards Cliff (the other one)

I think that's a cracker Andrew, it's got a mystical feel to it. Nice one & thanks for sharing!

Any news on the Grebe front Ferret??

Nice shots Mat. Damn shame about No. 3 that would've been a cracker, I suppose you could try & clone out some of the offending leaves in the foreground, but it would be more fun to go back & try & get the shot again. It looks like Mrs Mallard is going to have her hands full with that lot. There's not much chance of seeing any young 'uns round our way if these two are anything to go by.

Jaybee - it's a lot less Bovver with a Hover. Cracking shots mate.

Nice shot Steve. re the gorse though, ours has been in flower for a good while now, certainly since mid Feb as I have a photo of it dating back to then. I'm looking forward to seeing more shots Steve, PPPlllease some lakeland landscapes.

Progress By Cliff Exif data Camera make: KONICA MINOLTA Camera model: DYNAX 5D Date/Time: 2006:05:06 15:28:21 Resolution: 700 x 474 Flash used: No Focal length: 50.0mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm) Exposure time: 0.0063 s (1/160) Aperture: f/13.0 ISO equiv.: 200 Whitebalance: Auto Metering Mode: spot Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Funnily enough I've never heard of Simon Barnes. Tubularbelle you nutter, you do make me laugh. Jan, that lizard is a beauty, I bet you don't have much of an aphid problem when you've got stuff like like patrolling the garden undergrowth. I'll just add my only decent photo from the last couple of days, a commmon enough bird, but I quite like the effect of the out of focus trees in the background.

Photo Challenge #13: Food & Drink (Or more precisely Food &/or Drink). Theme Definition: I've tried to come up with a subject that's easily accessible for all to photograph. I'm looking for pretty much anything connected with what we eat/drink, be it a photograph of a juicy piece of fruit or veg, a family meal, someone eating an ice cream or downing a cool beer(or just the bottle of beer itself), a BBQ etc etc. Good luck to all. Criteria. * Color or B&W photo * Crop, Contrast/Brightness and levels are only done in digital photo manipulation..Further editing is discouraged * Framing is not allowed * 2 entries maximum/person * 500 - 700 pixels length down the longest edge of the photograph, 150KB maximum file size Your posts must include the following information: Title: Date: Camera Used: Photographer: Where possible please also include your EXIF header (if you know what one is) to help check dates. Open Period. Open period is from 11.59pm Saturday, May 13th, 2006 Deadline: Saturday, May 27th, 2006 Midnight GMT. All images must be shot and posted within the "open" period If you have any questions please post them on this thread http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=55943 this keeps this thread easy to view because it just contains entries. Have fun and good luck to all! ============= Challenge Rules ============= New Photos Only The competition is only for photos taken during the "open period" as defined in the Challenge announcement. You may post only two entries in each Challenge, and you may also replace with newer version anytime before the end of the challenge. Photo size & dimension Photo should be limited to a max dimension of 700 pixel for the longest dimension, and the file size to be less than 150KB in JPG/jpg format. If the photo needs to be replaced by newer version, you can do so by clicking Edit. Presentation & Content Entries should provide, the title, the date the photo was taken, and the author. Frames are NOT allowed. Digital manipulations All entries should limit the use of digital manipulations to only file conversion, level, curve and sharpening. Adding elements to the original image that were not there are NOT allowed. Voting & Comments During the "open period", please do NOT enter the comments in the thread, this way we will have all the entries together without interruption and it's easy to view. Comments are welcomed during the voting period. The Judge will select the top three finalists' work to include in the Poll for all members to vote on. VOTING will follow after the end of Challenge, for one week only. Registering multiple user accounts to vote is not allowed. In the event of a tie, the judge will make a decision between the tied finalists. Chief Judge The winner of current Bi-weekly Challenge will serve as the Judge for the challenge after the next, for example, the winner of Challenge #1 will be the Judge for Challenge #3. By entering the Challenge, members agree to grant anglersnet.co.uk a perpetual non-exclusive world-wide royalty-free license to modify, publish and reproduce that material for the purpose of operating, displaying, distributing and promoting anglersnet.co.uk. However, anglersnet.co.uk will not use Your materials without attributing them to You, without Your agreement. Failing to comply with these rules will automatically disqualify the entry. =================== END OF CHALLENGE RULES =================== All of the above is proven to stop abuse, unfortunately even when NO prizes are offered, some will still try pull the wool over peoples eyes and win for winnings sake Remember any questions....ask them here http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=55943 Good Luck!!!

Is that a Cuckoo Ayjay? I've never even seen one, so would be made up with that shot. The "celeb" is Martin Platt from Corrie, not a programme that is watched in our house, but I have seen him on a few bird watching programmes. Mr Wiggly, he's a colourful character, with all that gear he wouldn't have much chance of doing a runner when the police arrive. Frantic - "In Alnmouth today - it's a while since this was working!" You could probably say the same about Wigglys busker.

WooHooo I've won, Happy Days! That's the first thing I've won since a booze fuelled Tug of War that we cheated in & had an extra person in our team, Oh & I once got third place in a fishing comp with two foul hooked carp that weren't even hungry. It's certainly the first time I've had a photo voted first in anything. It was a very close vote, so I count myself very lucky. Well done to all who entered, there were some cracking photos entered by all. I notice I'm currently favourite for the next challenge, given that I'm the only one who's entered it so far. I now need to get my thinking cap on & come up with the next challenge, when do you need to know that by Steve? Regards Cliff BTW - Is Patrick at Printbiz still doing the mousemats etc, I'm so excited - I can't settle.

Dunno Ayjay, but my book says the Natterjack has a "conspicuous yellow stripe down its back" I don't suppose you got any showing its back did you Ayjay?

I wish, it's just a snap shot Pete. I spotted a field of the stuff, pulled over, snapped it & moved on. I think in my favour was the fact that I was at the bottom of the field as it sloped upwards. Another snapshot from earlier today, a celeb the RSPB were using to promote their Spring fair at Leighton Moss RSPB. Can you guess who it is yet??

Den - I really like both of them, two superb shots! Just one more from me from today. Six months ago I'd have found it hard to watch these without trying to put some bait inder their noses. This was taken in a small pond, there must have been a dozen or more carp cruising around in it.

It's hard to believe that was taken in the North East, cracking photo Peter! I hope one of the Crocs didn't get you? Cameraman, you got that Polar Bear in a terrific pose, nice one! I think it would look even better with a bit more processing, I've had a quick go(but would really need the original file to mess with), do you think it looks any better? (I hope this works - photobucket seems to be playing up at the moment) As for my POTD, the fields are looking so striking at the moment I had to pull over & take this shot: -

I've only just spotted these Ayjay, cracking photos. It looks a great place to visit for wildlife sightings & photos. Well done spotting the lizard, I don't think I've seen one in this country, it looks quite a biggun for the UK?? My fave is the first seal shot, although that Redshank is different to the normal 'shank shots I see/take, I really like that one.

My fingers are crossed for you & yours Cliff. Very best wishes go to Hazel for a speedy recovery. Regards Cliff

Some more beauts added. n4lly, I was hoping to get a shot like that for the water challenge, but conditions up here never got bad enough to allow it. Frantic - it maybe just my monitor, but I think your two harbour shots would benefit from a bit of Shadow/Highlight tweaking in photoshop (something Steve Randles introduced me to & I'm now a big fan of). Peter mc - cracking silhouette shot, it certainly conveys that it's freezing. I hope you treated your daughter to a coffee to warm her up after posing for you. Judy, you visit some terrific locations, I love the harbour shot. Bobj, you got the parakeet in a great pose, but I notice you were shooting at 1/30th sec shutter speed, you're going to need a very steady hand AND a very still bird to get sharp results at that shutter speed. Right - off to work, have a nice day all.

It's a shame you didn't enter that one Wriggly, it's a cracker. - also, your other entry "Self Portrait" was my favourite for this challenge, what a superb effect, it would make a good desktop wallpaper. I'm made up to see my garden tap has made the top three as it's one of the few shots I've taken when I bothered to use a tripod. Well done to all those who entered & to the two other finalists.

The middle one is a real beauty. I bet there was a Turnstone on those rocks as Jaybee started to press the shutter release.

Yep, colour one for me also. I think the other two take something away from the image when you can't see the colour of the fields & sea. It looks a grand place Judy.