"Masters of photography?

What are they doing so tampering with the image they photographed?

That isn't art! "

Didn't Ansel Adams do a lot of "retouching" (dodging, burning-in, cropping)?

Oh yeah, but he was no artist.

It's easy to remove a dust mote from the lens. Don't try to remove dust from the sensor.

Oofah! (But I'm sending these to my mailing list.)

One of my film SLRs is "Match Needle." With it, I can play with shutter speed and f-stop and see what under- or overexposure would result. I don't see how to get this information on my DSLR, which is a Canon Rebel XTi.

The manual reads like Greek to me, anyway.

Am I missing something that is really in plain sight?

Thanks, ABC. Talk about "Senior Moments." This was a beaut, lasting several days.

V

Thanks for all the replies and help.

However, color me red. Deep, deep red.

It turns out that when I said I used to fire the 430EX II remotely from the camera flash I was lying!

All the references to slave flash talk about "wireless." My camera is a Reberl XTi and does not have wireless capability, so it could not have been used as I thought.

While I was playing with the flash, my wife asked me why I was so frustrated. When I explained what was going on, she observed that the 430 EX was NOT the flash that I used for a remotely-activated (via camera flash) fill.

Slap the head. Several times!

I was using a Digi-Slave 3000, which Idug up and tried. It works.

Embarrassed, but hoping to have a Happy New Year. I wish the same for all Uglies, especially those who offered help.

Vince

I used to use the Canon 43oEX II as a remote slave flash that was activated by the camera's flash.

It appears that "someone" has been messing with the settings on the Speedlite because the flash-activated slave no longer works, and I can't decipher the instruction manual so that I can return to the flash-activated remote-flash mode.

This is getting really frustrating. Detailed help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

Vince

Whew! I'm very glad to see it was a joke.

What had me a little concerned was that even though UHH is a fantastic site from which I have learned much, I am aware that there are many true neophytes (Of course, I never was one myself.) who just might try the dishwasher trick.

That approach was seriously suggested as a way to clean a computer keyboard, which, strangely has a chance of working, depending on the keyboard's construction.

So, forgive me for being too "jumpy."

Smile for the birdy.

Vince

I don't know where my previous reply to this suggestion went, so here it is again: You have GOT to be kidding!!

You have GOT to be kidding!

Great! Now I have to sell my camera, knowing that I never could get a picture this good.

Awesome.

Barr,

Earlier, I forgot to ask what the focal length was, and also that it is remarkable that you could get such a shake-free picture with a hand-held camera.

V

Impressive! Nice work.

Would a haze filter and/or a polarizer be usaeful here to improve contract?

VR

MM,

Yes, I would like to see the web site. Do you know if the batteries are made in USA?

Thanks,

Vince

Let me add my agreement that the new Li-ion cells do not need to be totally drained. Li batteries do not suffer from the "memory effect."

Older NiCd technology did show memory effects, so if a battery was not delivering full performance, it was advisable to deeply discharge the cells. That would allow full use of the stored energy upon recharge. Even so, it was never wise to COMPLETELY discharge a NiCd because of the possibility of polarity reversal of one of the cells, which would in turn cause total failure and perhaps leakage or overheating.

Further, NiCd batteries have a limited number of permissable recharge cycles so the way to extend battery life is to let the cells discharge nearly completely. Charging after only partial draining will activate the "memory."

For more than you probably want to know, see: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries/, and http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries.

Vince