[Itsed65]

Gathering of Egrets by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[Josh (PA)]

Eggleston by Josh, on Flickr

[Josh (PA)]

Here's shot from yesterday.

Rain on the Horizon by Josh, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Arsonism

I shoot almost always in Av or Tv but rarely flip to full manual. The only times I really go back to A+ is with quick shots that I really don't have time to prepare for in social environments (once or twice that's happened at car meets when I want to capture people instead of cars quickly and then back). Those there were shot in Av but were also all in the shade where I didn't have a method of lighting the hummers otherwise. Given a different time of day they may have come out much better, unfortunately that is at my grandparents house and we didn't stick around long enough for the sun to hit the backside of their home. I hope to move to full manual, it just seems so tricky especially when you're trying to narrow the focus on such a small subject. That's when the finer points have become so challenging. I do really appreciate your criticism here, I believe it's time to start working in full manual outside of still subjects and expand my understanding of the digital camera platform. Unfortunately I'm going to run out of time for already practiced subjects, but I'm sure other opportunities will come around.

Great shot of a beautiful car.

A couple of tricks that I use for getting my manual mode settings right are as follows:

• ISO 800 is my default. In really bright sun, I go to 400, in overcast I go to 1600 and up from there as I get more and more desperate.
• Default aperture is f/8
• Shutter speed is high, because I'm shooting fast birds. 1/3200 for white birds and 1/2500-sec. for brown birds, 1/2000-for blackbirds.
• HERES THE BIGGY, check your setting by shooting something like tree bark, or grass in the prevalent light. That setting will work for all the dark birds, but you'll need to reduce exposure for white birds.

The objective is a setting for the small, fast bird and the meter can only deal effectively with the general exposure.

[dcstep]

Mountain Goat Portrait by David Stephens, on Flickr

Mountain goat against blue sky.

Shane, click on the image to go to Flickr and see my Manual settings. Just like I said before. The Canon 5D MkIV makes such great files at ISO 800 that I don't worry about going down, even though I could have for this shot. With older sensors, I probably would be thinking more about lowering ISO.

[Itsed65]

Compared to the previous vineyard shot, which were Dry Creek Zin grapes, these are Central Valley grapes, from near Stockton, and will more likely end up in a jug or box on the lower shelves.

Jug Wine Ready by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

Compared to the previous vineyard shot, which were Dry Creek Zin grapes, these are Central Valley grapes, from near Stockton, and will more likely end up in a jug or box on the lower shelves.
r

Wow. They're progressing nicely.

[dcstep]

Marmot mother and child, at 14,000-feet, on Mount Evans, Colorado:

Mother and Child by David Stephens, on Flickr

[Itsed65]

Pintails in the Pond by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Nice goose background for the pintails.

[Terry989]

Busiest creature in Costa Rica - - - the leaf cutter ant. These little farmers are on the move day and night collecting leaves to feed their crop.

[Itsed65]

I was out hunting raptors and didn't get much, but I did see this monstrosity fly out over me

Galaxy Climb-out by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[Terry989]

Wow - - - that thing really is a monster!

View post on imgur.com

[Itsed65]

Yes, they are huge. This is a shot from the last overseas mission I ran in the Air Force, at Tak Li Air Base, Thailand in 2003.

105_0546 by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[Terry989]

Dowitchers feeding in the marsh - Fremont, CA. Not sure if these are the long or short billed variety?

[Ickdeep]

F22 from the SeaFair (Seattle ,WA) airshow. Disclosure: I was in the passenger seat while on the freeway taking rollers so I had my 18-55mm lens on. I'm gonna try to go up and see them in better view

[cb804]

Mackinac Bridge... Mini on the Mack 2017

mackinac bridge by Carmen B, on Flickr

[Itsed65]

3 Pelicans by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[cb804]

Weekend trip to Mackinac island...

mackinac island by Carmen B, on Flickr

[gary88]

Lamborghini Huracan - Red Rock Canyon by Gary Hebding Jr., on Flickr

[Josh (PA)]

I messed around with some water shots a while back. Finally getting some time to go through them.

Eggleston Glen by Josh, on Flickr

[Terry989]

Male orb weaver spider in the light. Taken from the parking lot of Yahoo's corporate headquarters building this past weekend.