Football Club Team Photos

[tba20042003]

Thanks Karen, much appreciated. I know I have decent kit but I also know I have lots to learn about how to get the very best out of it, which is what I ultimately want.
Kind regards,
Tom

[donoreo]

Moderator Tone - Last warning!

Karen, that makes me sad top hear that I see it too, up at the lake at events, I saw someone with a Nikon D3 and they had it in full auto.

[karenoliver]

I'd never go back to auto now, manual just gives better results and it's not difficult to master.

Karen

[donoreo]

I do not think I ever put my camera in auto, even when it was new and I was new to DSLR's. At the most I would use is Program mode. I tend to leave it in that mode in case I need to whip it out to get a shot of an alien or something

[tba20042003]

I tend to use aperture priority or manual mode, depending on the situation I am in - I have never used auto mode!

[rbarry]

Hi tba20042003 and welcome to the forum!

I imagine this thread was your first posting in the forum. With the amount of spammers and trolling that seems ever present on the internet, this site being no exception, I can see why jimmyosram had his suspicians that you may be one too. Whenever I see a post count of one, I am immediately on my guard if the original post looks "odd". An unconventional name doesn't help, and it's easy to go down the wrong route.

Generally I get it right, but I have wrongly assumed a few people in the past of wasting member's time and effort for the kick of stringing someone along. Reading the way this thread started off (I know I have the benefit of hindsight having seen 14 posts to your name and not just 1), I was surprised to see the rapid escalation of vitriol that your initial post attracted. I've already said I can understand why jimmy may have had his suspicions but I didn't expect such an early "set to"!

If we were all the same it would be a very boring life, and what may seem plausible to me may seem fundamentally flawed to others. I have a good friend who has to have top of the range goods of the best quality. He has worked hard to be able to acheive this lifesyle, but unless you knew the person you would not be aware of his success as he is neither flashy nor pompous, just a really nice guy.
Just because someone can afford the nicer things in life, irrespective of whether they will get the full benefit from that purchase or not, doesn't make it wrong for that person to make that choice.

The fact that you have the equipment you have chosen shows me that the person who made those purchase decisions must have researched the market and chosen wisely. You could have bought twice as many lenses at half the prce, or half as many lenses at twice the price, but you didn't and what you have is a great collection of kit for most occasions. You have shown by your posting that you want to expand your interest in what I assume is a relatively new hobby, and if you can afford it, what better way to start. It isn't illegal for you to own this equipment, and if Canon want to include an auto setting on the mode dial of their top of the range equipment then that shows they recognise the diversity of their target market.

[tba20042003]

Hi rbarry,
Many thanks for the welcome and well thought out and interesting message.
I was a teacher for 21 years in secondary education - in that time, the job changed beyond all recognition, and ended up being something I hated, rather than the career I loved when I started out in 1989. To cut a very long story short, I managed to get a package to get out of teaching; I have had a love of photography for some time, and now, due to the package I got from school, I was able to afford some excellent gear. I did, as you correctly surmised, spend a long time researching and going to events like SWPP conference and Focus on Imaging and talking to people , and I ended up with the gear I mentioned in my initial post. I am thoroughly delighted with what I have, and am determined to eventually get the very best out of it. I am the first to admit I have lots to learn, but boy am I enjoying the learning process - not worrying too much about mistakes, but learning from them and making progress that way. I started out doing a lot of wildlife photography, especially birds and have tried landscapes, macro and portraits. I have set up a little studio with some basic flash heads and soft boxes etc, so that in itself is a huge learning process - but a highly enjoyable one.
So yes, I'm looking forward to learning new skills and techniques, and hope my photography will improve as a result.
Thanks again for your message.
Kind regards,
Tom

[rbarry]

It sounds like you are well on your way down the photography road with skill sets that I imagine certain seasoned members here may not have mastered yet!

Sounds obvious, but not being afraid to ask the question is the best way of getting the answer.