[CauseISaidSo]

Awesome! Best of luck. Getting paid decently for doing something you enjoy definitely makes for a happier work life.

[CauseISaidSo]

In the short run, it is probably cheaper to have a lab do my prints, but paper and ink aren’t terribly more expensive than normal inkjet.

That’s why I gave up on inkjets altogether. On the infrequent occasion that I wanted to print in color, I’d find that the ink had dried and I’d either have to replace the print head or run several cleaning cycles. I use an old LaserJet 4+ that I can stick a $99 toner cartidge in and it lasts more than a year.

That said, if you want instant gratification and/or total control of the output, I’ve seen the quality of prints those things put out and it’s pretty amazing, so congrats!

I’d be interested in an update a few months down the road to hear your feelings on actual ink & paper costs or other unexpected hassles (or lack thereof).

[CauseISaidSo]

Nice shots, and looks like you picked a great day to skip work.

[CauseISaidSo]

For fireworks:

• You’ve got your camera and tripod, but you’ll also need a remote shutter release cable. You’ll be taking lots of long-exposure shots so you don’t want to touch the camera during exposure.
• Lens: It depends on how far away you’re going to be and how large the fireworks are, but most of mine are in the 50mm range, so all other things being equal, the 18-55 is probably the one.
• ISO-100, there’ll be plenty of light and you want the least noise possible.
• Set your lens on manual focus and adjust it to infinity. Remember that that doesn’t mean as far as the focus ring will turn, but rather to the infinity mark on the focus indicator.
• Start at f/16 but review your first few shots and adjust down or up as necessary. Mine run from f/11 to f/22 but most are f/16.
• Open the shutter when you see a shot go up and keep it open until it explodes, allowing for multiple bursts as desired and depending on how far apart they are. Keep in mind that after too many bursts they’ll start to blend together; generally, 2-4 is best.
• Endings are usually multiple-burst extravaganzas that will overwhelm your current settings, so when you’re ready to shoot the finale, stop your lens down some.

Here are my shots from past contests and their settings (all are ISO-100):

From All Night Long, 50mm, 29s, f/16

From Sparks & Arcs, 47mm, 6s, f/16

From Sparks & Arcs, 52mm, 5s, f/22 (this was the finale so I stopped it down)

From Me Love You Long Time, 47mm, 11s, f/18

[CauseISaidSo]

powerfulkatrinka, I see that quite a bit. Evidently the “already voted” indicator is only good for a short time before it reverts back to the normal vote box. However, your votes should still be there and if you try to vote for the same entries again, you should get a message saying so.

rav, thanks for the callout, but the bus shot is really just a matter of luck in already having a shot that fits well in this contest. I took it as a humorous entry for the end-of-camp slideshow that we made for the parents. Your entry, on the other hand, created just for this contest, is truly inspired and ought to be doing better, IMHO.

[CauseISaidSo]

That’s is pretty cool, U-Man. I’ve seen a few instances of that before, but not a site full of them. Some of them are photos of post-WWII devastation against the rebuilt modern world, which is always neat to see. It’d be interesting to do something like that, but you’re right that it’d be difficult to make a contest of it as it’d require quite a bit of planning and access to much older shots.

[CauseISaidSo]

Well, you’ve come to the right place. I’m a lurker by nature; this is the only forum that I regularly post on and it’s mostly because of the gang here.

// Oh, and glad to see you joined in. I can’t tell yet ’cause I’m just a ‘liter.

[CauseISaidSo]

Over Macho Grande?

No, I’ll never be over Macho Grande.

// This could probably go on all night. Seriously, clouddancer, I’m surprised you’ve been able to survive on Fark without seeing this one. It’s one of the most quotable and quoted movies I know of.

[CauseISaidSo]

Cool shots, and welcome!

Do you use the same username on Fark? If so, I see that you posted one entry waaaay back in contest #5 and nothing since, so consider this an invite to join us there as well.

[CauseISaidSo]

Haven’t seen Airplane! yet, or I probably would have gotten the reference. Should I put it on my Netflix queue?

Surely you must be joking.

// Since you haven’t seen it, I’ll answer for you – “No, I’m not joking, and don’t call me Shirley!”

[CauseISaidSo]

I wish I could say the same. Haven’t had time to do anything new for this one and I’ve gone through all of my archives and flipped them, and guess what – they just look like a flipped photo. Got a couple that I’m going to use (with low expectations) and an idea that I might try tonight, but that’s about it.

My prognosis – the winner will be someone who has an awesome landscape shot with a near-perfect reflection in water so that it’s difficult/impossible to tell which side is up. I have no such entries, so it won’t be me.

[CauseISaidSo]

Pretty cool. I’ve seen them a handful of times; they’re definitely not a regular sight here.

[CauseISaidSo]

We’ve now got live data and charts, both refreshed on the quarter hour. Next, I’ll move on to some of the cumulative stats pages, like recent top 10.

[CauseISaidSo]

We appear to have live data now (cross your fingers). No live charts yet, but the contest results page updates every 15 minutes (check the Last Scanned time).

[CauseISaidSo]

Scarlet R: MattSac0’s entry was previously used in Travel Photography

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