2007 Photo Contest... What camera did you use?

I have seen a few of her posts and always got the feeling she was trying to stir something, most likely that wasn't the case but that was my initial reaction, one never knows what the real intent was or what went on behind the scenes. She may be a wonderful giving person to others and to you Kim and that is very commendable in any person but as ecrane put it

So .... anybody take any great photos this week? Or figure out the peskiest settings on their camera?

I've been pleased to see a lot of level-headed conversation going on concerning this issue. ecrane3, summerkid and Calif_Sue are on the right track. There are many factors involved here and this thread had very little to do with my (always difficult) decision to remove a member. The decision came after privately dmailing between the member in question and me, and seeing her reaction and follow-up actions to our dmails.

Kim, I really appreciate your dmailing me. You really sound like a very kind person and I appreciate that very much. There's just a whole lot about this situation that you're not aware of. I'll be replying to your dmail tomorrow morning.

best,
dave

I was sorry to hear Gail has been removed. To be honest, I have been on several threads where she has posted some pretty controversial remarks, but I certainly don't doubt those of you who say she was a very generous and kind lady. In Gail's case, I think her main issue was that she did not always think before she typed. I don't think she ever intentionally tried to stir the pot. She just had strong opinions about lots of things and didn't always think about the best way to voice them. Anyway, I'm sorry to those of you who considered her a friend.

On the flip side, one of the things I love about Dave's is that it is such a warm and friendly place. I am certain the reason for this is because Dave and the admins are so vigilant and protective. I have visited other forum-based websites and ALL of them contain negative, rude, inciteful, etc. posts on a regular basis. Dave's is the only site I've been part of where this is truly monitored and dealt with when necessary. We may not always understand or see the whole picture, but I'm pretty sure we can trust Dave to do what's right for the community. Thanks Dave and all the admins for making this website the best! I know the job is not always easy - but you truly excel at it!

I know Gail as a very sincere, giving and vocal friend. She has been wonderful to us all on the AV forum, and I'm sure since she apoligized here that this had nothing to do with her dismissal. After all, after one has misspoken, all one can do is to offer an apology. It had to be due to her inability to express herself to Dave, and his inability to know her as we do. This has been a great thread about all of the contest entrie's,s cameras. I did not enter this year , as I have a new camera that I have yet to master. I have appreciated all the feedback on the various cameras, and then to be able to see the results of each camera. Congratulations to all you winners. The contest held hours of great viewing for me and I really enjoyed all your entries. Lou

The photos were truly exceptional and the information about which camera took which picture is so interesting. So much of any good photo is being at the right place at the right time.

Sometimes I think we are all like plants ... different colors, different growth patterns (tall, short, thin, wide), different personalities - some happy, some pretty sad at times. Yep, I think my plants have personality! And, what a hard job it is to keep the proper conditions in check.

Administration does have a hard job trying to keep everyone on all these forums in check. With all the thousands of different personalities in the Garden, there is bound to be conflict at times and it wouldn't take much for it to get out of hand. DG is a business and Admin. must run the business accordingly. I think people just forget sometimes how the typed word comes out on the page and we become so comfortable with chatting we forget how we may come across.

This is the only forum website I visit. I did check out one other, but found it too confusing and difficult to navigate. The Garden here is very easy to maneuver and I find it very enjoyable to sit and chat with everyone, like friends and neighbors. I have learned so much from so many of you!

I will miss my friend Gail on the African Violet forum but I will keep in touch with her through home e-mail.

Now, back to the subject of this thread:

What camera do I use? It's a Canon PowerShot A630 - whatever that means! LOL. I am not a technical person at all ... I just want to point and shoot and have my pictures come out looking perfect! Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to happen often! I am so technically challenged I can't even figure out how to get the red eye thingy turned on/off. I even have trouble with the flash. I was photographing everything in the Auto mode and now it's on P - hubby did tell me what that was for but I don't remember. I got the manual out and can't figure out what's-what reading it either. I guess I need a camera 101 class! Or else someone needs to manufacture a camera with a brain. One I can just point and click, one that will automatically keep my hand and the camera still and stop the wind from blowing and have the colors exact and NO red eye in people or glassy eye's in animals! Now, I know that the majority of you are like my husband and don't find camera's or other machinery at all difficult to operate - I just have brain envy here! And, I wish someone would invent an easy camera for those like me .... maybe like the old Kodak Brownie, but without having to load film!

I really wanted to enter a pic or two in the contest but after viewing last years winners I just felt mine were not good enough. The entries all looked so professional, but after reading that a lot of you are amateurs just like me I will give it a try next year! Congratulations to all the winners of this years contest .... and to those that did not win. It was so hard to choose but in my opinion, they are all quality photographs worthy of a prize! A couple of my picks came in and there were some winners that I never even viewed - like the Scotty dog crossing the bridge! (So cute, It would have gotten my vote too!) I guess there were more entries after I had voted!

I can't wait for the calendars to go on sale. Hey Dave & Co .... any potential time frame for them yet?

I agree it is sad that anyone would have to be removed. But since one can't see your face of hear the inflection of your voice, you really have to think about what you type and how it affects others here. I have been zapped by some a few times on DG, but I never react in a negative way. Always try to think they meant whatever in a positive way. I agree that this is the best site I have ever posted too. If I ever do post anything that could be taken in a bad way, please dmail me ASAP! I would then just go edit the post and dmail apologies. I don't feel it should be made a big deal on the forums!

I did figure out a feature of my camera that I had not done before. I have a voice memo that I can add to photos. It would have been very handy when I was photographing roses at the Albq. rose garden! Oh well, now I know how to use it. Reading that instruction manual is the key! LOL!

LOL, Cactus: I read the instruction manual but it's like a foreign language to me sometimes, and I don't understand it! Sometimes I have to learn just by playing around with it, just like the computer .... and at times I screw something up and have to have my technical hubby fix it for me!

I am reading the manual in one hand and the camera in the other. It has to be the mix of both to put the camera to its best use. I love digitals and how you can take so many photos. I mean it makes it so much easier to learn than years ago when I would take 12 shots,keep a notebook of what each setting was, send them off to be processed, have to look at the photos with the notebook to figure out what I possibly did wrong. And there were so many variables then with lenses and which film you bought or if the lab really messed up your photos. So to me this is way easier!

plantlady - when I got to the page with the heading, "Recharging Dischargeable Batteries", page 17, I thought I'd never be able to follow the directions but when it came to the point where I had no choice I read it again, followed every word and it worked faster than reading the directions.

Yeah, I do like the digital camera better than having to load film .... I just need a camera that can "think" and only needs someone to point it and click the button. LOL. Maybe I will get out my manual and have it right with the camera for the next time I decide to try and take a picture of something!

Years ago (early 70's) I signed up for a Beginner Photography class at our local Community College ... lasted about 3 weeks and a few of us dropped out ... the instructor was talking with students about so much technical stuff from day one ... even lengthy discussions about developing photo's and dark rooms! It was not "beginner" enough for some of us! I even commented thinking I ended up in the wrong class. I think it was the beginner class - just happened that the instructor had a lot in common with some of the more advanced students in class and every class the discussion veered towards more technical stuff. It really threw me when they were discussing at length, dark rooms, development, chemicals etc.

Ok ... I'm going to find my camera's manual now.

Hey, I love that you can find manuals online now, I misplaced mine and was able to find it. Just take lots of photos and you will catch on quickly! ; )

http://www.zazzle.com/davesgarden*

I just noticed the calendar.
Yipeeee

Thank You GGK!

Great job, Dave!

Would you look at that! And we can customize it a little. I'm old enough to continually be pleased at the ways computers change our lives.

Remember what it was like planning a long trip to Europe before the Internet? It took months.

I have never been to Europe, but am constantly amazed at how easy life is now and how dependent on computers we are. Thanks for that link GGK. I didn't even know it was there! Gotta go back and look at all the goodies on there. What fun!

And again congrats to GardenGuyKin, now you is a coverboy! LOL,

well, the shrooms are anyways!

I voted for luvsgrtdanes roses too! I have a Canon EOS camera and it ain`t helping me much. LOL!!! But I have had big fun trying and getting better and better pictures as time goes on.

Is there a top ten? I thought a top ten for each category would be fun. Karen

My hat is off to each and everyone of you that entered the contest. I didn't get a chance to look and vote for all of them, but the ones I did look at were all beautiful. I wish I could take great pictures, I don't think the most expensive camera in the world could help me. But I do love to take them even if they all don't turn out.

Oh yes I have two Fujifilm cameras and I really like them.

hardly any of my choices made it! i guess i'm not into butterflies the way everyone else is, dang.

I looked again and there are 7 places with the winner,second,third and runner up. I just discovered I made a runner up in the roses! I`m thrilled!!! I`m having trouble finding my entry picture but this one should ring a bell. It is one of the same pictures I took that day.

I think I didn`t have my Canon EOS when these were taken. These were taken with a $150 2mg Sony cybershot camera.

I love all the pictures and feel proud I voted for some of the winners. I voted because the colors and shapes were very artistic and balanced in the pictures. There is a Lot of talent here on DG!

Karen

Well, looks like I get to be the first to congratulate you Karen. Lovely roses, glad you went back to check the winners! ; )

I just loved everyone's pictures! I used an olympus c-765 that I bought a few years ago. I love it, very easy to use and does great closeups.

Congrat's everybody! The photo's are so incredibly beautiful and I never expected to ever place in the top 3 in a category. I just love taking pictures and have my camera handy at all times. Anybody who knows me on this site knows that I take pics of "everything". This was so much fun. I have an expensive Sony that I don't use and delegated to my office for real-estate pics. I just love my litte Sony Cybershot 10.1 megapixel tiny camera! It's so easy and takes really good pictures...

Congrats Kat! I love that photo, just love bougainvillas and have to bring them inside here to over winter, so I gave up on them. Taking lots of photos is the key to learning I think. I carry my little Finepix Z5 everywhere. Take shots every day of the yard or my cats.

KatG, yours was one of my faves!

Plantladylin,
I just bought a Canon A630, cause I dropped my A530 and it popped open a seam around the top and 1/2 of the battery case. I love the flip, and HAD to have another like it. Bought if for $199 at Sam's Club, and I'll be taking that Camera 101 class pretty soon, for real. Leisure Learning offers a course where you can show up with your camera and they teach you about what it does. Also, I googled Canon Powershot A630 and a site came up that offered a DVD on how to use the camera! It costs $24.99, and I'm thinking of getting it. I'll let you know what I discover if I do.

Now. Can we get Dave to put a time limit on how long a member has to be in "time out?" I'm all for suggesting maybe a 3-6 month timeout period, and then reinstating the remaining membership. After all, when we have a plant in the garden that's not performing up to expectations, what do we do? Prune it back. And, after a while, it returns, and gives us better blooms! So. I advocate Plant Therapy 101 for our members who may need a pruning here and there....IMHO...

i belong to the "restoration" camp of thought....

I was thrilled to have even placed!! There were so many awesome photos. Congrats to all of you winners! You deserve the honor! I have already placed my order for calendars. I know they will be stunning!
In keeping with this thread's subject, I will simply state that my "winning" photos were taken with my Fuji FinePix S7000 - a point and shoot camera. Others that I entered were taken with my new Canon 30D - an SLR that I love, but am still learning about. Not that I ever learned the Fuji. LOL!
Oh - what the heck - here goes: I have learned that it takes a lot more than an expensive camera to take good photos. It takes a lot of luck, and sometimes planning and skill enter into the equation. I never got to vote in the contest, but when I looked after the winners were announced, I realized it would have been impossible for me to choose among the top (IMHO) photos. They were so obviously well thought out. Clutter and distracting background were not a part of those photos. Perhaps an ugly insect eaten leaf had been removed first. And I'm sure there was a lot of cropping - a very necessary part of photography. When I was taking my shot of the red bridge, a tourist stepped into the picture on the right side - and had to be cropped out. My photo of the kitten in the pot was taken at a greater distance (or there would have been no kitten in the pot anymore) and so extraneous outer edges had to be cropped out. But that is a tool that anyone can and should use to make a more effective photo. There were photos that I thought could have been contenders, if only... Oh dear, I think I'm preaching to the choir. Never mind. :-)

CEEjaytown,
Was that YOUR red bridge?!! I LOVED that picture!!!!

LOL Gymgirl: I love the idea of a "Time Out" for breaking the rules of courtesy in the Garden!

What a great idea. We put little kids in time out when they are bad, sometimes as adults we also could use a time out. I have to give myself time-out's quite often! :)

oh DAVE?????

well, i'm under the impression that people are given two warnings in no uncertain terms. i can't speak about gessie, but everyone i "knew" rather well who got booted was on my list of "steer clear -- craziness ahead."

so i think people have to consistently step out of line to get dismissed, meaning that they've already exhausted their time-out.

i've gotten in a few fistfights in my time on DG, mostly in the early days when i hadn't figured out there are a lot of nutjobs on the site just as there are in real life -- and despite my outspokenness, i've never gotten smacked on the hand, so i can vouch that you REALLY have to cause trouble to get IN trouble.

Yes, there seems to be many different categories of "personalities" just as there are plants. :o)

I agree with the luck of photography. My photo that placed was entirely due to luck. My dh called me outside to see the storm. As I took several shots and decided to take one through my gate, the sky turned a golden color. I didn't crop or do anything but snap the shot. I took about 20 shots and was shocked when I saw how this one turned out. In my mind it was all God and I just happened to be the one with a camera standing there.

Amen.

Woo Hoo ... Then there's a chance for me, huh?! I have gotten so I take 20 pic's of the same exact thing in hopes that I can get one that it's possible to tell what it is. LOL. With me and my lack of camera/photography skills I feel so happy when I get a halfway decent picture! I always wonder why what I see through the viewfinder isn't at all what shows up on the photo. :)

I do admire all of you talented photographers! The contest had some really, really beautiful photo's! I enjoyed all of the photo's in every catagory and am going to go back and look at them again! The winning ones are in the calendar, but there were so many that didn't win, that I would really love to have framed and hanging on my wall!

DH and I thought there were many that would make fantastic jigsaw puzzles.