Very sharp, well exposed and focused. You even got the little highlight in her eye. I'd have to say it's technically perfect. I'd not be a fan of a vignette for this pic. The simple composition obviates the need for it in my opinion. I don't know what the rest of the frame looks like, but if you have the room, off-centering the subject to the right a bit would add impact to the shot. In any case, congratulations on a great capture. Those little buggers don't stay still long enough for you to fiddle much with your camera.

Plowed under after 14 days, the impermanence of the art cried out for documentation.

[quote=Rongnongno]Trying to get into 'stuff' instead of gear...

You guys probably already know everything I'm going to say, so if you are a flash guru, go to NEXT. But if you're a newbie, or a teacher, check it out.
When I started with flash I did everything wrong. I studied all the technical stuff, bought a light meter, filters and modifiers. Then I realized that after all my hard work and buying all that expensive gear, I couldn't take a decent picture. Could alll the tech data I poured over for weeks be wrong? Nope, just not pertinent to my practical situation. At some point I saw a presentation, on KelbyOne or whatever they called it back then, by a pro shooter who didn't EVEN use a light meter, but taught a simple system. I've modified it a little over the years, but it goes something like this:

1. Take a no flash shot in AV mode at the lowest pactical working ISO and use the exposure info as a base.
2. Set your camera on manual using whatever parameters you think will work based on the test shot remembering to shoot at or below your sync speed.
3. Set the flash to auto (til,ettl or whatever your system uses) if the subject is incorrect, use flash compensation to yield an appropriate brightness.
4, If you need to separate your subject from the background, adjust the SHUTTER SPEED up an f stop (double it). Double again if it's still too bright.

If you're shooting in a studio, use manual flash to get best frame to frame consistency, Start with f8 and 1/8 power. and adjust the POWER as needed to get a good exposure. Play with this outdoors too. Its a little more advanced, but results can be really great.

This simple 4 step process is a great way to teach beginners. They will br shooting stuff they are proud of before they know it.

SO MY POINT IS:One of our reasons for being is education. The technical discussion we are having is okay for experienced shooters, but not useful to new shooters. Way above their level. Lets try to include more simple, practical procedures for the newer of our members so they can get up to speed faster.

I was taking shots of the sunset. The day was almost done. Seconds after the sun set a pod of dolphins showed up off shore hunting for dinner. Hmmm doesn't look as bright here.

Go to. YouTube and search for "Joe Macnally.speedlite" He is acknowledged to be the master of professional speed lite shooters and he is a super educated.

I've heard the quote attributed to Leonardo DaVinci, "Everything that lives has beauty." It's our calling to show the way we recognize that beauty, and, in my opinion, it you don't see the beauty, you have no business taking the picture.

It was just that kind of a moment. You almost couldn't screw it up. Some recent tutorials from KelbyOne were very helpful to the post processing. Thank you for your kind evaluation of the work. You have a great eye to catch that slight tilt. Obviously I'm kind of a klutz and couldn't tell the difference of one degree this way or that. I think I'm naturally a little bit crooked. ;)

A very classical presentation. Could be a cover shot for a magazine or book.

Nice composite. It seems the bear chose the road MOST traveled. Probably not a poetry reader. I love the idea, and I'd like to see something on the theme where the bear plays a more prominent role in the image. Please keep at this. You have a flair for situational humor.

I was at the beach near Tarpon Springs, FL watching a blah sunset develop, and about ready to go home. There was a bad T storm behind me, and I was thinking of running before things got nasty. Suddenly some heavy storm clouds blew in from the north, and it was a game changer. I got a little soggy fleeing the scene just before the deluge, but here's one of the shots of the wildly changing sky.

Thanks for the encouragement . I think I lost some blues in the upper sky highlights, but I got to a point where more editing was kind of over the top.

This time of year we see some pretty sunsets along the west coast of Florida. A couple of days ago conditions were setting up for a special show. There were lots of small storms, low clouds, and Saharan dust high over the Gulf of Mexico to provide color. Im not a big sunset shooter, but the possibilities looked too inviting to pass up. I set a tripod mounted Canon 5D MK III with a 70-200mm zoom near the water line and parked myself on a rock. I shot a few straight shots then shifted to panoramics of from four to nine exposures in vertical (portrait) format. The horizontal finals ranged between about 30 to 55 megapixels so processing time was long. It was my first attempt at this technique and I was surprised at the amount of distortion I ran into. Horizons had to be leveled before stitching, Lens correction filter was applied after stitching, then a final leveling of the horizon. The brightness range was very broad so global brightness adjustments didn't work well. Either I blew out highlights to open shadows or blocked up shadows to bring in highlights. I had to use luminosity masks to adjust contrast/brightness levels in the various ranges and still hold detail at both ends of the brightness range (another first for. me.). I'm excited that the project opened some new areas for me to explore, and eager to see the suggestions of those more experienced in these areas.

(Download)

I've been told that there are some problems with shooting that lens fully racked out. All of the foregoing advise applies, but it may be characteristic of the beast.

I've shot digital since 2000 so I have cards of many different sizes. Newer cameras allow me to shoot two cards at once so I don't worry about a card failing. That said, I only once lost a card, and it was because I ejected it while the camera was still writing to it. It was corrupted beyond full recovery. Just no cure for careless. But he cards are amazingly robust. I put some of mine (SD and CF) through the laundry several times with no bad affect. I still have functioning 512 MB (Yes, MB) cards older than any of my cameras. On a trip to China I shot more than 100GB of RAW, about 8000 images with a 24 MPX camera. Based on these experiences I'd say buy the largest chips available at speeds around 95 MB/s to yield your anticipated volume. I think the SX50 takes SDXS cards so something like a Sandisk Extreme Pro 128 GB should work fine.

You did a really good job of panning with the #3 horse, and your choice of shutter speed is spot on. Unfortunately you don't get to choose the positioning of the others. I'd crop out as much of the yellow hat guy as possible getting rid of the distracting background blobs at the same time; change the helmet of your subject to yellow so he stands out; change the helmet color of the rider behind your subject to a drab blue, complementing the yellow but not competing; and finally, blur the background jockey to set him apart from your subject. Sounds like a lot of stuff, but you have an excellent capture so I think the extra work will be well worth the effort. It's a hanger.