Westie

Pip was knocking on your door for ages, just because Tanya said that you wouldn't answer it. lol.

Superb shot, Snatcher - a clear winner from the outset, in my book.

Rabbits have something to do with it. Now he's so trim, he's got half the neighbourhood's chavs after him - I've never seen Elton run before. Can't say which direction he's running, though. lol.

Chees guys and gals - intend to. World is still spinning, but less viciously now. Might be able to post some pics in June, if I can stay upright! lol.

You told us to target the pouting - I'm sure I remember you saying that you consider them to be one of the East Coast's finest sport and table fish... Still, the bacon and sausage butties were a bonus. Shame mine got covered in snotty slime.

Chap at the tackle shop said that he'd caught a couple of sole last week - he was fishing in the area to the left of the pier.

Tis indeed a titan triggerfish. I was attacked by one in the Maldives, after I went snorkelling at 5am to take some pictures of sharks/rays and the like. I saw a chap like this, floated about 20 feet away from him and took a snap. Bloody flash went off and this barsteward swam at my face and then took hold of one of my fins. It left me alone after me swimming backwards as fast as I could for about 40 feet. Titans are tough. They chew up coral for a living and their teeth are pretty terrifying, especially close up. That was the beginning and end of my underwater photography career. Never again. Apparently they only become really aggressive like this when they are nesting. Well that and when you're doing a papparazzi on them.

It's a nice tyre, mick! LOL. I like what you've done here. You're going to be doing some creative stuff, me thinks. Enjoy the new toys!

Hi SW I've been out of action for a bit - raging vertigo and now tinnitus in my right ear - off to ENT I go tomorrow, in the vain hope of trying to get it fixed. Spinning head has not been conducive to either (a) looking at my monitor or ( taking photos. I'd need to have the damn camera permanently attached to a tripod and even if that kept things level, I'd still end up falling over. LOL. On the sweet spot issue, as I understand it, the usual rule of thumb I have used is that a lens will usually hit its sweet spot 2 stops down from its largest aperture up to about f8-11. At around f8, you probably wouldn't be able to see much difference in sharpness between most lenses (consumer, 'prosumer', and pro (max aperture of f2.8 or greater)). You might be able to see differences in colour/contrast, but again, you'd probably need to be pixel peeping at 100% to really see it and not many of us hobbyist photographers will be doing that. On the camera settings, it is more a matter of personal taste. Sometimes you will want colours to be brighter and more vivid. Sometimes, more 'natural'. I've got 4 custom set banks on my camera, with settings defined for "Point and Shoot" (which I use 98% of the time), Portrait, Landscape and Sports. There is precious little difference between most of them, though (hence why I use my P&S settings most). Interesting about you now using centre weighting with more success. I play around with the metering too. Matrix does it well most of the time, but I do use centre weighting and occasionally spot, if I'm taking a picture where there are big contrasts in light conditions e.g. portrait shot inside with face in shadow, but direct sunlight on the wall behind. Not ideal, as matrix/centre will try and even things out to get the neutral grey colour that the camera thinks is 'good' across the whole image. Spot weighting allows me to get the exposure on the face fine, but with the inevitable consequence that the background has blown highlights. It's a question of when it is time to accept that fill flash is needed, rather than just relying on ntural light. Having said that, I much prefer the look of photos taken with natural light. Apologies if that repeats what HB has posted in his link - the screen is spinning and I can't get the mouse to sit on the link, let alone read it! Apologies for any typos or genera rambling too. I can't look at the screen for more than 10 seconds without feeling sick, so I'm boogered if I'm gonna spell check. Glad you have found some custom settings that suit your palette. I've managed to have a quick squizz at the photo comps - some good stuff by the clan in there, as usual. I'll have to pass on my congrats to everyone here in this thread though. Hope to be back soon. Andy.

Hey Mick. Hope you're ok, mate. Here's a link. Pop it in your Favourites. AN Photo Comp

Nice one Snatcher. Congratulations mate - great shots and a 1, 2 & 3 finish is pretty spectacular.

Nice one Fred - clearly was the pick of the bunch to my eye too.

Some cracking shots there.

Night, night. Sleep tight. LOL.

Nice one Mick. Moody lighting. Just a pimple to clone out on the chin! LOL.