Padge

Download Gimp, its a free photo editing software tool. http://www.gimp.org/

My wife has a 400D, I have a 30D, the 450's predecesor it is a great camera. Just compare the specifications and see if the extra is worth the cost. Major differences I see are 12M pixel against 15M pixel, if you don't intend printing above A3 you probably won't notice much difference. ISO range up to 3200 (expandable to 12800) as against 1600, you would need to think if you would use that range and how much noise does it produce. On the subject of noise the 500 is supposedly less noisy in shadow areas than the 450. Shoots HD video and has a live view screen. If you are not bothered about video (if you are it has no socket for an external mic) The 450 is a lot cheaper I would be tempted in that direction and spend the difference on a decent lense.

Here are a few of my recent efforts. View from our hotel in Edinburgh for the Magic Weekend. The Directors Cut Cat Truro Cathedral Stuff in jars

Depends on what sort of photography you want to do. Circular polarizer, neutral density and graduated filters are very useful for landscape. A lot of filters have been made redundant with modern editing software. A general UV or Skylight filter can help to protect your lens and helps to cut through mist and improve skies. Remember everything you put in front of your lens will do two things 1) reduce the exposure (ND filters deliberately) 2) reduce the quality of the image.

Try not to position the main point of interest in the centre of the frame Jim. There is a general rule (there to be broken of course) that points of interest should land on an intersection of an horizontal and vertical third. In the second shot if you had been able to move to the right a little you may have had been able to lose the large green canvas and tree branch on the left. On the third one you could crop out some of the empty space at the bottom. All the shots you posted could stand a bit of sharpening.

Try GIMP its free (unless you want to make a donation) and it is very powerful. You can find it HERE

Will be heading out there in a couple of months with as much camera gear as I can get away with. The most photgenic of Greek Isles, in fact nearly all Greek postcards are pictures of Santorini. Nice shot of the place by the way. Not easy to get the right exposure with all the white and bright sunshine. Considering you used a fully auto setting the camera did well to balance the picture well (unless you adjusted the exposure in post processing).

Did you have police permission, I believe a stagecoach once stopped there on route to York.

I don't have inside knowledge, but I do know that SW Scotland sits right on the gulf stream and has some impressive botanical gardens. I worked a lot in the Dumphries and Galloway area in the past and my parents used to have a caravan on the banks of Loch Troon.

South West Scotland?

Just had a winter break in Cornwall, here's a few from Mevagissey The view from our apartment.

I have one, its an absolute gem of a lens, costs but its worth it.

A few from St.Judes last weekend.

Stayed at the Britannia Hotel Manchester over the weekend.

450D is a cracking camera, my wife uses one and has an excellant spec for the price. You get the choice of full range of canon lenses, as opposed to the limited Nikon choice, which come in a wide range of price brackets to suite am or pro specs and pockets.

Here's one I took way back when?

Shurely shome mishtake, action shots.

St. Judes v Thornhill (46-22) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The Rochdale coach at one point gathered his troops behind the sticks and bellowed at them "lets see if we can at least stop them scoring in the next set of six".

Here's a few from St.Judes recent 96 - 8 thrashing of Rochdale Mayfield. St.Judes v Rochdale Mayfield 1 St.Judes v Rochdale Mayfield 2 St.Judes v Rochdale Mayfield 3 St.Judes v Rochdale Mayfield 4

Just been to Crete on holiday, while we were there we took a 10mile walk down the Samaria Gorge. Here is one of the shots I took during the 6hr hike.

Th picture is 'middley', I would prefer to have it cropped with more space in front of the car than behind, gives the car space to move into and drop it lower onto one of the thirds. Great capture though. Here's a quick crop to show what I mean (hope you don't mind)

A few shots of some Gulls that followed our ferry from Kavala to Thasoss taken on my recent Greek adventure.

Ta Lisa.

I have just been here ... on one of these... and one of these...