Think about soft focus lenses!

Cheers,

R.

Don't focus as close.

Cheers,

R.

Fast 35mm or 50mm (or equivalents for crop formats).

If you need more, you need to work harder on your compositional skills, and on capturing the moment.

Cheers,

R.

Another classic Tarkus post.

"Anyone who doesn't think EXACTLY like me is wrong".

Cheers,

R.

Not really.

Cheers,

R.

Exactly. And someone has to pay for our Social Security one day...

If we don't try to help one another, what sort of people are we? And if an established photographer feels threatened by a newcomer, what sort of photographer is he/she?

By the same argument, no-one should be allowed to go to school, let alone to a school funded by the taxpayer. We're only breeding competitors!

Cheers,

R.

Source?

Cheers,

R.

Well, it's the best I've even encountered, including (when I was a boy) military health care, courtesy of the Royal Navy. Yes, it is bureaucratic, and yes, there are strange quirks (such as ambulances), but my sister-in-law is a doctor in the USA and admits that the French system is better, and not a lot more bureaucratic (she has to deal with insurers). Oh: and it's cheaper, and a lot less capricious, than US private medical insurance..

But hey, what do I know, compared with someone who knows only the USA? I've only lived with UK, US and French medical care (and of course Navy). And what does my sister-in-law know? After all, what does a doctor know about medical outcomes?

Cheers,

R.

Unlike almost every other country in the world, the US requires (and has always required, as far as I know) ALL its citizens (and indeed green card holders) to file tax returns every year; and they tax or attempt to tax unearned income (including very small pensions) over about $10,000 a year. The earned income allowance is something like $90,000 a year. I don't remember exactly, because my wife, who is a US citizen, don't earn more than a tiny fraction of that. But each year, she dutifully file taxes. The only way to get out of it is to give up US citizenship; or, in my case, to return my green card, which I did as soon as I found out about this ridiculous requirement.

I paid every cent of tax that was due when I lived in the US, as I have in the other countries in which I have lived, but you need to be a lunatic to pay tax in a country where you don't live, and of which you are not a citizen. Here's a simple message to those who wish to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, which applies in every country in the world, regardless of where you choose to make your home: GO AWAY. WE DON'T NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU.

Cheers,

R.

Thank'ee kindly, sir. If you're ever in rural France, within 100 miles, I'd go out of my way to meet you.

As Mike suggested, my opponent should re-read what I wrote: that there is as big a difference between Nazis and the broad right as between the communist party and the broad left. Another big difference is that the broad left seems better able to understand such undemanding distinctions than the Tea Party.

Cheers,

R.

Not sure. A lot depends on how you define 'far left' and 'far right'. From both an historical and a European perspective, today's Democrats are at best middle of the road, and arguably rather right wing: Eisenhower was a lot further to the left than Obama. The American left, even the moderate left, is tiny. The American extreme right (Nazi) is even tinier but the broad right (Tea Party) accounts for rather more of the populace than in most countries.

But then, Americans of a Tea Party persuasion, or those still further to the right, are so afraid of any comparisons with the past, or with any other part of the world, that they whine and snivel at the views off anyone who does not hold their own views, and resort to personal insults. Some are so frightened as to maintain that no-one who is not a US citizen should be allowed to express any opinions about US politics. This sounds to me like a fear of having any of their cherished beliefs challenged.

(Note: this is intended to be a general observation, not a personal attack. You've no doubt spotted this but there are those on the right who won't.)

Cheers,

R.

If you already know how to use manual, there's nothing to change -- and you have an instant, free 'Polaroid' on the back of the camera, supplemented by the histogram.

If you don't know how to use manual, select either aperture or shutter priority, and look hard at what the camera can't do, i.e. when you need to expose manually or give exposure compensation (I find manual exposure easier).

Cheers,

R.

The standard for photomechanical reproduction is 300 dpi, and an inexact but fair approximation is 1 pixel/inch = 1 dot/inch, so 3000 x 4500 pixels (13.5 MP) is 10 x 15 inch.

200 dpi is normally reckoned adequate for ink-jets. But as others say, why not ask?

Cheers,

R.

Fair point, but I'd have thought that the proprietors of these place would warn you about that before you take pics. I'd prefer not to insult someone by assuming that they're too senile to give informed consent.

Also, if it's free pics for the people who live there, you'd soon get an idea of the relatives' reactions when they saw the pics. Publication is another matter.

Cheers,

R.

It is? What about DNG and JPEG? I don't think any of my cameras can produce a DCIM.

Cheers,

R.