Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

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mcddeb
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Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by mcddeb »

Hello! Missing David's fantastic advice on dpreview! I don't visit dpreview as often as I got so tired of reading the backbiting and negativity. But really got some great advice from members there so can't complain too much. Sometimes it just gets redundant on those boards. But looking forward to "meeting" everyone here!

David I hope I had thanked you previously, but your advice on how to shoot interiors(nightportrait mode/ISO at 200) revolutionized my photos, just recently lost my real estate photo job, RIF, so am now going out on my own. Of course upgrading my camera to the A700 helped a lot with shadows and now that I have Photoshop CS3-shadows are no problem at all.

Thanks again and I am excited to be here.

Debra
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Dr. Harout
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

Hi Debra,
I understand and totally agree with "upgrade"-ing to A700.
Welcome. :D
A99 + a7rII + Sony, Zeiss, Minolta, Rokinon and M42 lenses

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David Kilpatrick
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Sorry to hear about your job. Here in Scotland, in one of the areas least affected by house price falls and mortgage squeeze, my estate agent friend (biggest in the area) says he has sold nothing in the £150-£200,000 bracket for 3 months. That's $300-400,000 and is the average price - typical family home or retirement/young couple flat, next step up after first time purchase. Both our son and daughter are trying to sell properties in this range and getting no viewers. Our daughter and her boyfriend agreed to buy a larger flat back in February and have signed 'missives' (Scots law, firm deal), now they are in trouble - dropped their flat's selling price by 20 per cent, can't drop further, no sign of any possible sale.

So it's pretty rough here now.

David
david antony
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by david antony »

Welcome Debra..

I'd read your (how to shoot interiors) post and tried it, I too was amazed with the results. I'm not a realtor but take a few interior shots. Davids advice is on going for me. Good luck with the going out on your own venture!

Just loved those peaches, pecans & people when I was down there.

David Antony
mcddeb
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by mcddeb »

David A.- isn't it amazing the difference that makes? I love, love, love the results I get.

David K. - I thought the mortgage/real estate crisis was just a U.S. problem, it never occurred to me it's a worldwide problem, at least our news service is focused on U.S. problems, the upcoming election garnering most of the news stories, not much mention of U.K. and the rest of Europe, all we hear of other countries is the situation in middle East for the most part. I will be very glad to see the end of this down cycle. The development I worked for has over 300 resale listings, with maybe about 10 under contract, some of those are just lots and a few are homes in the 1+ million US dollar range, nothing much in the middle $300-800 hundred thousand range, very bad ratio. Alas, I was the highest paid hourly employee on the floor and when they changed supervisors-well things just didn't work anymore. I should have kept my mouth shut, but stupid is stupid and I had a hard time letting it slide. My own fault I guess. The only things I know about Scotland is it is the birthplace of golf, it's very cold and whatever I learned from "Monarch of the Glen" a BBC show that we used to watch!!! For years my husband and I have wanted to come across "the pond" to visit, maybe the economy will get better and we will get to go next year.I hope things work out for your daughter - been there and done that, hope I never am in that position again, very nerve wracking. Again thanks so much for your generous and expert advice.

Dr. H - once I updated the firmware on my A700, I have never looked back.

Debra
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

All correct, except that Scotland isn't cold (well, it is compared to Georgia). South of Edinburgh we are lucky to see a few days of light snow in the winter, most of the year I would not bother to put a coat on to walk into town. We now have mild winters (the ski resorts have taken a serious hit because of the climate change), generally sunny but not too warm spring, overcast and rainy summer, and a warm sunny fall. I would recommend Sept-Oct as the best months to visit Scotland now, though the autumn colours are right at the end of October and often better in November.

We have butterflies which never came this far north, birds which have not been seen regularly before, and our biggest problem is vegetation; things grow so fast you can't keep up. I am told that if the countryside round me was allowed to revert to nature, we would have a 'temperate rain forest' environment. Some locations can go the entire year without frost.

David
mcddeb
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by mcddeb »

Well, you learn something new everyday! Scotland sounds gorgeous, I had always thought of it as extremely cold and rocky. As a matter fact a friend of mine way back in the 1980's had been and said to me how cold and bitter the wind was, it just freezes your face. Do you think this is global warming or just a weather cycle?
Javelin
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by Javelin »

Maybe he was wearing a kilt? ... might tend to change your opinion of what's cold
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Hey Ya'll - New from Georgia, USA

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

If you are unlucky enough to be in the wrong place (up a mountain, far north, winter) of course it's cold - cold enough to kill you. This week for example we went to see Leonard Cohen at Edinburgh Castle, which is on a hill but has walls which shelter the huge parade ground where the concerts are held. By 9pm it was cold enough for anyone who had not brought a coat, hat, blanket for their legs or whatever to be uncomfortable but most people (like me) were wearing just a T-shirt and a normal sort of coat. It started raining five minutes before the concert ended, but we have had torrential rain for the last two weeks and my area is actually cut off from the south-west direction for heavy vehicles. 60 metres of road fell into the River Esk when one month's rain fell in two hours.

I used my Konica Minolta Dimage A2 to get one reasonable video clip of the concert - I actually took it just for a few stills, and I wish I had taken the A700 because they were allowing DSLRs in and people were taking photographs freely with no interference from security. It's probably the best concert I have ever been too for sound quality, civilised audience, and reasonable security without huge queues or crushes. Here's the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5QKnX6krc

But sure, in Scotland though it rarely gets to low temperatures now in Edinburgh (below freezing is rare), rain and wind plus cold nights in summer can surprise visitors. It can feel so warm during the day you assume it's going to be OK after sunset, but it gets chilly quickly. The best thing is that in summer, you can be shooting hand-held at 10pm outdoors. I was testing the Canon 1000D and wanted to do some fairground shots, but the fair had closed at 9.30pm, so I walked back slowly shooting buildings with their lights coming on as it got darker. I was using 1600 ISO but getting quite decent hand-held pix:

Image

David
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