More images... because I can...

It's a bit unsharp, it's dirty... it's still good. I can clean it up later. It was a 35mm slide, scanned and saved as a .jpg. In essence it was a relatively slow shutter speed (guessing 1/100th or so) and a longish lens (I recall standing on a bank above this corner (what I called 'Volvo corner' because the Volvo club president stacked his Volvo against the tyre barrier here), probably 100m away. I could have/should have panned a bit more, but I do like the framing. Sort of pouncing on the track in front of the car, poised just apexing the corner. It's an Alfa GTV in a touring car race at Amaroo Park in Sydney (now developed into houses), circa 1979 btw.

Some more images...

I can't help but play with Photoshop and its ilk... (ie the GIMP and Paint Shop, to cite but 2). The filters are a ball of fun and of course cutting, pasting and playing with light are a joy. So much easier than the good old bad old days ;-)

Another image

How about this one? Again, an old 35mm image that has been stretched to 3000 pixels wide and manipulated using the watercolour filter. It adds new life to old shots, surely? I have been taking photographs for 40 years, from Box Brownie to Nikon D50 and I have never had more fun than now, playing with images on the computer rather than dodging and burning in the darkroom. Don't forget to crop hard, to choose your framing with care and don't be afraid to experiment. Never, never forget the basics of interest, composition and lighting. Get close, use available light whenever possible and avoid stark direct sunlight - unless you want that effect.

More imagery

I've been busily ruining some old photos - or photoshopping some images if you prefer ... it's like being in a darkroom but you don't have to wait for the prints to dry... and there are no nasty chemicals or thermometers to worry about.

This one is an old 35mm shot that I had scanned much earlier. It was small and grainy, so I made it bigger - 3000 pixels wide - and applied the 'watercolour' filter. I have deliberately put the flowers off to the right. OK, so I like it anyway!

Nikon's D80 reviewed

OK, I was a Pentax SLR fan for 30 years or more. When the switch to digital was finally made I had a chance to switch brands with little pain. My 35mm cameras were all manual, so retaining the lenses was not a strong reason to stay with Pentax. So I bought a Nikon D50 to get started (OK, the family had a 2 megapixel Panasonic before that, but that's not an SLR is it?). The D50 does just about everything I want. I am almost totally converted to screen-based viewing and web publishing so 6 megapixels is plenty. But if I want to get paid for my work 8 megapixels is the minimum... and 10 is better. So along comes the D80, replacing the D70. This CNET report is worth a read.