Nice Photos.

What a fantastic photo. Love it so much. I'm not too good on copying things off here - is there any chance you could maybe email me a high def copy of this to print off large for the wall? Thanks if thats possible.

Street Food Lamp.

Thanks Tony, My wife loved this photo and posted on our behalf.

Ill read the rules again. Regards Doug

Living in the South of France has its drawbacks (tax, ludicrous bureaucracy, idiotic driving, wrought economy), but sometimes when a day in January looks like this, it feels worth it.

Antibes (iphone pic)

Spending two days on the Alps.

Some colour.

Lucky Pups. Both of you.

The Music Room, heart warming, much appreciated with the arctic temperatures (-18C) outside.

Here's a few (more) from my trip to Beijing and Xi'an.

Rose Tea

Lotus

Young-looking

Wall

Modern building. Traditional cleaning.

Blade Runnery

One survived

Works both ways

Dawn

Smells good

Mind your 漢s and 字s

Warriors

Incense-d

Brushes

Which direction?

Melted snow

Bus residue

Great set Rod - love the "Young-Looking" one. What camera do you use?

Nice book as well.

Thanks Kevin.

Just a Nikon D90, with the good all-round 18-200 lens.

(A few in the book were from the i-phone.)

It was exceptionally cold in Beijing/Xi'an in December, but I was very lucky to see only blue skies (and low pollution), except one day in Xi'an, where we had the first snow of the year (which is very auspicious for them). The Chinese people were absolutely lovely. This was actually a work trip (!) But when my host discovered that I had never visited either city, he organised - and paid for - the whole trip. So, for three days work, I got ten days of exploring, in the company of locals, with the language and knowledge. And fortunately, they have offices across the country, and want me back this year! Can't wait!

Rod

Stunning pictures. Really superb. And now a real ignorant question from  a complete amateur. Do you get those exposures largely off the camera or do they involve some level of later processing with Lightroom or Photoshop?

Thx

Clay

Thanks Clay

I do play in Photoshop (and the camera delivers NEF files, where you can do a lot more), but I use the camera manually almost all of the time nowadays. I manually focus more often than not, and I alter the exposure compensation settings, which is almost invariably quite a big minus number (except at night, and sometimes even then). The Nikon default settings (many of which you have no choice about if you do everything automatically) seem to lead to somewhat bleached photos to my taste, and setting the picture quality to vivid, tweaking ISO sensitivity and white balance etc can all make this a lot better. You really need to play around, and I'm sure it's the same for all DSLRs.

I'm really super-amateur, but I think I have learned a lot in the last two years (in no small part due to some of the terrific photographers who post here). It's really satisfying to begin to get more and more from a bit of kit (and a D90, good though it is, is a relatively inexpensive camera).

I have no intention of buying a better one until I feel I have mastered the limits of this, and I'm no-where near that yet...

The advantage of digital cameras is that you are not wasting film, and if you learn from it, you're not really wasting time either. Good to remember to delete the unwanted attempts at the time though, otherwise your storage gets clogged up (both on the camera and at home) and it makes going through after them seem a chore rather than the delight it should be.

I got the 300 for the book from about 1100 on the memory card.

But I have no problem upping the contrast in photoshop if I think the end result looks better. I don't really play with the colours at that stage though, although I wouldn't be averse to it.

I know lots of people dislike his occasional dogma, and quite a lot of his photography, but Ken Rockwell's site is a really good place to start getting to know your camera better, well it was for me.

Oh, and for the nighttime stuff, a remote control and a gorilla-pod will change your life for minimal outlay. I took a proper tripod to Greenland (because the Northern Lights was one of the main attractions photographically) but otherwise a gorilla-pod works just fine (if you're happy with landscape photos anyway).

I also think having the photos printed (in a book or even loose) is a great idea. It makes you more selective, and you end up with something that you actually look at, and others are interested in. If your job involves looking at a screen most of the time, and some of your leisure does too, then you're unlikely to derive much pleasure from looking at your pictures on a screen, and you end up not bothering. Which is a shame...

Can't believe I'm offering photography advice, here of all places!

Cheers.

Thank you Rod

Your time spent on this response is much appreciated and very helpful. I actually attended a local photo club meeting in early December where Ken Rockwell was the guest speaker. I was very impressed. He is very down to earth nice guy. He's really big on it's not the camera, it's the photographer. Also big on "less gear is more".  Keeping a photograph simple was another point. You want to pull the eye into the photograph not search the photograph. Got everyone laughing by saying if you want to learn composition look at the posters, paintings, and photographs in restaurants and bars. It may not be great art but it is there to draw your attention.

Anyway, I'm about two years behind you but I am going to give it a shot and have some fun.

Early star for the farrier.

Awesome!

Rod,

How do i view your photobook?

Clicked on link and it takes me to a page to buy the book at 112.27

Im sure thats great value but can we view for free?

I like that one even better....

Another freezing cold (-4c) morning in Cambridge shot

That is very good indeed.