Steve Walker

I did and I’m glad I did.

My personal preference is for a uniform black background. My main negative reaction is to the yellow frame. I find it a major distraction. The local art critic of the camera club I belong to always always makes a big deal of the mat for competitions- plain vanilla.

Comparison is not exactly the enemy. Competition is the killer. The phrase “your own worst enemy” is also something to keep in mind. Comparing yourself to yourself can easily result in an infinite dissatisfaction. The line between wanting to “get better” and “never good enough” is fine and shifting. You always have to keep an eye out for…[Read more]

Well, I’m not lonely. I love the quiet of dark and the inviting light. Nicely done.

Love the drama!

Awesome, heart ache inducing view.

I think the blurring on the text is the result of sizing issues inside LS uploads and probably not in your originals. I agree with Federico that your attempt to fix the blurring led to some overcooking the image. I like the first of Beth’s napkin revisions and agree with Graham’s spacing comment. For me, the blue tile’s colors don’t seem to match…[Read more]

One aspect of a forum like this is that it invites me to put into words what might not surface with just a look. I have tried a few still life photos. None as good as this but…..

I like the colors and the choice of objects. They don’t all seem consistent with the title or with each other. It seems a bit of a “mixed bag” gift for a teacher. The…[Read more]

An interesting device. My revised settings this weekend gave me a much better sharp focus result. I need to figure out where to stand that gives me the best chance of photographing my subject while staying out of the way of other spectators seated along the sidelines. I really would like to wind up with pictures that stand on their own and aren’t…[Read more]

I have tried so hard to get the action sharp that I didn’t consider the attraction of blur in a sporting image.

Here’s an even tighter crop. 

Sorry about the smugmug login. This doesn’t always happen and I’m not sure what I do to make it occur when it does.

As to the adult, it isn’t. He is just a big kid- 11 yo. Still, images of soccer for general consumption probably need not to raise that issue, I suppose?

I do have a longer lens. A Sigma 150-500mm. There are times when I need a sho…[Read more]

Thanks.

I do use back button focus. So much better than trying to calibrate the half way down and hold it. I hadn’t used servo but did this week.  I also expanded the autofocus area and upped the shutter speed. The combination worked so much better.

I did not that day. I had used it in conjunction with eye tracking (a new feature for me) when doing birds. It worked well but was slow to find its target. Today, I used tracking (servo) with a faster shutter speed (1/1000), and expanded focal points. Results are much much better.

Judgment- the enemy of creativity. The line between no thought and creative consideration is narrower than we imagine. For me, keeping a sense of curiosity and excitement is key. If my feeling-emotion- is ho hum, so are my images. Caring too much (giving too much power away) what viewers think also undermines my confidence.

As you can tell, I am…[Read more]

Nicely done. The stop action of the water makes this different these days. The cloudy conditions likely made that easier to pull off. I once did a 2 image hdr to handle a bright sky and was surprised and pleased that my software chose to include a bird from 1 of the 2 images in the image it rendered.

She seems so serene to have been beheaded by the disturbed former owner child. 🤨 Most think of this as a “find” but how many passers-by only saw something broken rather than a compelling image?

Thanks, Beth. I plan to use the servo af on my Canon next time. I have used it for some bird photos with its eye detection feature. When it works, it REALLY works, but it takes too long for the camera to find its point. I also plan to expand the number of focal points it uses. I may have to significantly up my iso to get a wider dof. 1/800 may not…[Read more]