TTQ B4U

visible ones. but I trust you'll pull down the trolled image regardless.

If you're interested, here are a few shots. I tend to make them fit the average 24" monitor which seem pretty common now a days. I'll add more as I go. Ben, enjoy the watermarks. :gabe: http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145220076/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145220077/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145220604/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145221334/original.jpg ^^ If you like that one, here's one that's 4x the size so you can get a better look. Link here: http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145221336/original.jpg

While on vacation last week, I couldn't help but snap a quick pick of this while thinking about all our Two Wheel Road Warriors on CR. I was surprised to see so many folks battling the hills down there on bikes. Hell, cars, vans and trucks lugged up some of the roads these crazy people were riding on. Not to mention you're on narrow often one way roads with people sight seeing and not watching the road. :no: http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145206399/original.jpg

Cool. There was another HUGE one inside, moved really slow. Looked more like the typical garden spiders here in Ohio though. He met the bottom of my shoe. Lastly.....these hornets or ?? were around the cabin too. Would fly solitary hunting ants during the day. In the morning there would be 2-3 of them camped individually on the outside of the cabin on the walls like they were very groggy / sleepy. I caught this one and killed him for the photo. He's big. 2x the size of a large honey bee. Wicked sounding when they come near yoiu. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145218633/original.jpg

^^ The ugliest most dated look........Typical GM. Blah.

Found one of these on the deck of our Cabin in TN. Being down there, we saw some gianormous bugs and this was no little fellow. FAST as hell too! I couldn't smash him. He got away and I'm glad he stayed outside. Any Idea what kind he is? http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145209079/original.jpg

Here's the horrible pic of what the ranger that came out later said is a 300-400lb female bear. Not much here to give scale to it but she stood as high as the mailboxes when on all fours. It was big and at a distance of about 100' behind our van as we were about 150' in front of it at some picnic tables. I was more than a bit shaky and was trying to calmly rush the kids to the vehicle. She didn't seem at all aggressive and took a moment here to scratch. I snapped a handful like this as we walked towards the van. My camera was in completely the wrong mode / settings and I wasn't about to mess with it. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145206795/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145207046/original.jpg

I don't know if I want to know the real answer :gabe:

Yeah.....I'll have to post those pics later. Certainly not my best as I just grabbed a camera while shaking like a leaf and totally messed up all but one while hoping she wasn't going to make me piss my pants. :no: We saw about six on the trip. One smaller one was right outside the window of my car on a trail. I could have hit it with the door if I opened it.

Mental Health is a profession that will always be in need. I'm going to make my kids watch this so as to really get a good view of the crazies in the world.

We rented a very nice 3 Bedroom Cabin at the very top of the mountainside facing the park The view was great and the cabin really more of a beautiful house. Pool table in the loft, Jacuzzi tubs in the Master and guest Suites (kids loved it) and an 8 person hot tub on one of the two decks facing the Park (south) which was great as no blinding sun hit us head on. Here's a shot of the cabin from the drive up 2 sweeping curves below our place. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145198131/original.jpg

Stabilization on the newer cameras and lenses offers up to 4 stops of hand-holding ability. Works amazingly well. You should see the results at 35x zoom which is 840mm. I'm really liking this camera. 24mm http://www.pointandshootphotography.net/storage/IMG_0069.JPG?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1344007777315 840mm Full 35x Zoom http://www.pointandshootphotography.net/storage/IMG_0070.JPG?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1344128087628

So while on a family vacation to the Great Smokey Mountains in TN, I thought I would use my New Bridge Camera, a Canon Powershot SX40HS as much as I could in place of my DSLR's. During the day when we ventured into the Forbidden Caverns, a trip that takes us down 600ft + below ground, many people had their DSLR's and stabilized lenses, yet I didn't miss leaving mine in the car as I'm more than pleased with the results. All hand-held shots. It does a great job! Check out the shutters speeds. 1/2 second at times. Yeah, I'm pleased. Reflecting Pool http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145198107/original.jpg Underground River Yes, we sampled the water which filters through hundreds of feet of limestone and originates from an underground lake and tests 99% pure. Cold, crisp and refreshing. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145198105/original.jpg Looking Straight Up http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145198104/original.jpg

Bring a rod or make one. Your kids will have a blast. Here's my son with his first Rainbow Trout caught with mother nature's own rod and a worm. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145197045/original.jpg His sister didn't go empty handed either. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/145197579/original.jpg

Was one heck of a fun trip. Will have to post details later. Copying some pics from the camera cards and iPad over to my PC now. Here are a couple teasers from a cloudy but hot afternoon at Cades Cove to get started. http://i541.photobucket.com/albums/gg378/pdqgp/Streamcopy_web2.jpg http://i541.photobucket.com/albums/gg378/pdqgp/Housecopy_web.jpg

Another example that any gun is better than none. Even if you can't shoot.

I leverage that cool factor at shoot and settings like this just for that reason. When people have money in hand and see something cool it peaks interest. Sprinkle a little salesman on it and you can capitalize nicely. I had to be a little careful though as some of the venues down here have photogs on site and I didn't want to get into a situation with a park ranger either. However, they were far and few between most of the time.

All in good fun but true... ^^^ the above goes to add where Nikon's weeknesses are at in terms of lens options. To have a 35mm prime that is only a DX lens is crazy. I'm sure there has to be a 35mm prime that works on both without issue? I met someone with an D800 here too and to know that it can only shoot at 36mp in RAW is crazy too. Canon offers a smaller version of RAW that allows me to shoot my 5DMKII and even the new III at 10mp size.

To help you and others: To make the Eye-Fi work: You just need to put your iPad and Eye-Fi SD Card on the same wireless network. I carry a 4G Verizon Card in my Bag or can tether my iPhone 4s when needed. You can also Jailbrake your iDevice and use MyWi too. I'll let you research that if applicable. I do like that as if you're remote like I was and don't have ANY Signal, it doesn't matter.

I shoot wirelessly to the iPad 3 using an Eye-Fi SD card all the time. Trish already mentioned the release forms. I picked up 3 family shoots this week while on vacation just by using it in a public setting. My wife was holding the tablet at the picnic table as she ate lunch while I was shooting the kids playing in the river here in TN. Other people saw my work and what I was doing. Both grabbed their tablets from their cars and asked if i could take some shots for them yeah...I out on my selling cap........Tetethered right to them and shot their family on the spot, got cash in hand and walked away with basically free horseback riding sessions for us all Setting all this up will be way over you target dollar but if you're going to run a photography business I wouldn't skimp. I'm biased though as my business is on-site work only.

50mm on the 3100 is a decent portrait lens and outdoor walk around. Inside it's a bit long. Get a good 24-28mm, not sure what Nikon offers or a 35mm. I like 35mm as it gets you to the traditional effective 50mm focal length and is good for indoor shots where you don't want to lug larger glass. A good external flash will come down the road. Remember, photography is painting with light.

Have seen several this week. Saw one from across a large venue so I yelled OH twice, but I got an IO and then a Go Bucks as crowds of people looked as if we were crazy.

I - O

^^ looks like complete shit. like a bastardized photoshop job only sadly, it's likely real. ^^ looks great, but 50% of it is the post processing of the photo. narrow DOF but the additonal added fake DOF was done poorly and the glamour glow effect, while I can appreciate it, a bit over done. Blacks are too soft and whites are blown. We can do better shots of your car when it's complete.

YouTube and Google are losers. Block access all they want, it won't keep me from using a screen capture utility to pull them down. I can copy streaming netflix or blockbuster movies with ease to.