I love the 180 f2.8 D. Much smaller than the zooms, great image quality, less expensive. Great lens. Needs a body with the built-in focus motor for AF, like all AF-D lenses.

That photo looks pretty nice to me. I wonder if the photographer just added some grain in post processing and it's not noise at all.

Just curious - what is it you think I was having trouble reading? -- Dave

>>Oh, figured out it may be your post "BTW, who asked for critique". Sorry, that post wasn't showing for me yet when I replied.

>> I was just trying to help you improve in your future work.

>>Here's maybe something to think about: are you equally upset at the people who provided 'nice job, love the photos' critiques?

I would just suggest you tone down the flash a bit. In my opinion it's too overpowering in most of those images. -- Dave

Looks like everybody likes it but me! In my opinion, the severe haloing and desaturation going on in the background spoils an otherwise nice shot... -- Dave

White House Custom Color (www.whcc.com) is a great resource for this and will drop ship to your customers. Fast, good quality, excellent packaging. I have nothing but good to say about them.

Not sure what you're thinking about the signature duplication thing. But if you have a scanned signature you can include that element in the file you submit, just like any other graphic element.

-- Dave

One other thing to note is that it appears the whites are blown out. You may want to consider dialing in a little negative exposure compensation in the future when shooting bright whites in the sun like that. If you're shooting raw you may be able to save it, but when they get totally blown out there's no help for it... -- Dave

It has a graphic quality to it that's kind of interesting. If you like it, it's good.

Personally, I might back off a bit. The dark halos around the players' legs bother me a bit.

-- Dave

Yes, sounds like edge sharpness would be a moot point for you using it on DX sensor. And you might even want to look for the previous version of the 70-200, which vignettes on FX sensor but works great on DX, and should be cheaper yet. -- Dave

Dan -

Also, remember the layers part is optional. You can do all the light painting in one take, and you'll have a single image in camera just like any other photo.

I think it's rewarding in that it really puts you in touch with lighting and how applying light from various directions affects the final image.

-- Dave

Hey Dan - One way that I think is helpful to think about layers for those of us of a certain age is to think back to school days and overhead projectors. Do you remember the transparencies, sheets of clear plastic that you could write on, and the image was projected on a screen? And you could stack multiple transparencies and the projected image would reflect the combination? That's basically how layers work...

-- Dave

Here's a light-painted photo of a portion of a toy steam engine. Looking at the shadows you can see light was applied from various directions, including back lighting. Again, this is done in darkness with the exception of the illumination light, which you move around to paint light on the subject. I had this model sitting on a black velvet backdrop.

This is an example where I took multiple frames and then combined them in GIMP, allowing me to vary the light ratios. This is fun stuff!

-- Dave

(Download)

As an idea for future shots like this, you might consider light-painting to get a more pleasing photo.

If you haven't done that before, the basic process is to put the camera on tripod, turn all the lights out, open the shutter in bulb mode, then paint the model with light from various directions using a small flashlight or similar, then close the shutter, turn on the lights, and review your image.

There is creativity involved in doing the actual light painting, which is fun. Results can be very dramatic.

For another twist on that, take multiple frames. Maybe illuminate from the top in one frame, from the front quarter, from the back, from the rear, then composite them using GIMP or photoshop. This lets you balance the illumination from the various directions, and takes away some of the stress of getting it exactly right in one take.

-- Dave

I believe constant aperture' in this case refers to the fact that the maximum aperture does not change when you zoom the lens. Based on that, this is a constant aperture lens. -- Dave

Lots of good saguaro and other cactus with mountain backgrounds in Usery Mountain Recreation Area, Mesa Az. Easy access north on Ellsworth Road. Take the Wind Cave hike out and back, or go around the mountain on Pass Mountain Trail (approx 8 miles). -- Dave