"My niece was just leaving from visiting us before heading back to college," said Mark Gale. "As she walked out the door, I stopped her and said there was a beautiful photograph for her to take right behind her. She turned and didn't even see this hawk sitting on our fence until it flew. After my niece left, I grabbed my 30D with a 300 on it, and went to the back yard and crouched. The small birds came back in to the feeder, and I knew the harrier would try again. She dodged in and tried but the small birds once again eluded her. She perched on the fence slightly behind a evergreen chest towards the setting sun."

"After looking at the black and white images, I thought it would be fun to do a selection in Photoshop around the eyes, inverse the selection and then apply the layer style, and that is how I got the above. Just a simple round trip from Aperture to Photoshop and back."

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

You're Not Ken Burns -- But FotoMagico slideshows are so good that people will believe that he helped you.

"I live in a small apartment in New York City," said Shane Woodall. "This shot was taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi on Thanksgiving in my parent's back yard. It was the fist time my dog was able to run on the grass off his leash. As you can see, he rather enjoyed it."

Shane set his Rebel XTi to 1/500 in Shutter Priority mode. ISO 100 and the focal length at 90mm.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

You're Not Ken Burns -- But FotoMagico slideshows are so good that people will believe that he helped you.

"I recently purchased a Canon Rebel XTi (Merry Christmas to me!)," said Eric Simon, "but owing to the horrible weather here in Denver, I haven'’t had much of a chance to get outside and take pictures (and man am I itching to take pictures!). As a compromise, I’ve been bugging my family by taking pictures of them engaged in various activities (... they’re itching for me to get outside too!) This picture is of my two-year-old daughter, Makenzie, reading a magazine."

"Her mom usually wears her glasses at night, and our daughter has picked up on this fact. Since she obviously doesn’t have prescription glasses to wear, she often puts on her sunglasses to mimick her mom reading. The magazine she is perusing is an issue of Time magazine. She is sitting in her little brown arm chair."

Eric used a Canon Rebel XTi equipped with a Canon 50/1.8 Mk II lens, wide open at ISO 800 using aperture priority and no flash. He converted the shot to black and white in Photoshop 7.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

You're Not Ken Burns -- But FotoMagico slideshows are so good that people will believe that he helped you.

Cruelles de Ville: "Septegenarians peruse antiques in the market at the Cour Soleya, Nice," says Simon Saunders. "The furs, diamonds and crocodile- and snake-skin accessories are real, as is the blonde hair (although even that may not be their own). I followed these ladies and hid behind an arrangement of clothes to catch them with my Nikon 18-200mm."

"The image screams luxury, and decadance, although what it doesn't convey completely is the warmth of the day; temperatures on the French Riviera in January can reach the high 60s, which is why it's such a popular destination for the wealthy and especially the elderly. So the thick furs are entirely, as they say in those parts, de trop!"

"They are handling crucifixes, I discover later. One points a taloned finger to a selection shown them by the marketeer."
Combien? "How much?"
"This one?" he replies.
Non - touts. "No - all of them."

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

You're Not Ken Burns -- But FotoMagico slideshows are so good that people will believe that he helped you.

"I took this shot while walking along the river bank one Saturday afternoon," said Carlos Fernandez. "I noticed this cafe worker taking her smoke break on the river bank. She was oblivious to my presence which gave me time to frame up and grab the shot."

Carlos captured with a Nikon D80 at F5.6, 1/125, ISO 200, auto white balance, and 135mm focal length. Then converted the image to black and white.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

You're Not Ken Burns -- But FotoMagico slideshows are so good that people will believe that he helped you.

"I took this shot while waiting in line for the keynote address by Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo," said Kevin Miller. "I got in line at 4am for the 9am presentation. Many had arrived earlier than I, in order to get a spot at the keynote. This faithful follower took a break in the middle of the anticipation."

Kevin captured this moment with a Canon 30D, 24-105mm f4.0 lens, f4.0, 1/125, ISO=800, Expodisc for custom white balance.

If you want to see more pictures from Macworld related events, take a look at this gallery I've posted.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story

"Here is a shot that my wife captured of me and the kids celebrating after I opened the new 20” iMac," said Ernie Hagenow. "This was our family gift for Christmas. Our oldest son was so happy he had tears of joy."

"The motion blur was recorded because this was the ninth shot in a row and the flash fell behind in recharging."

"I look forward of going to the next level in my digital photography with the iMac and Aperture. My kids love Photo Booth, and as you see it in the background the M-Audio keyboard has been used a lot in GarageBand."

This fun grab shot was captured with a Canon EOS 30D set to ISO 200, shutter speed was 1/13th and aperture at f-3.5, exposure compensation +1/3. And yes, the flash didn't fire.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

It's true, there will be no podcast for this last week of 2006. But don't be sad, I'll have plenty of interesting posts on the web site to keep you busy. Plus, you still have a few days to finish up your photo assignment for December, pool of light. I'll be back on the air on Jan. 2 with a brand new podcast to kick off 2007.

As for today's grab shot, it was captured by Christopher Thompson. He recorded this great image while taking pictures for friends. Here's what Christopher had to say about it...

"I snapped this pic while taking Christmas photographs for a good friend's family. The four kids were pretty wound up and excited about getting dressed until it was time to settle down and sit still. Once I had set up the lighting, I stayed put and started framing up the kids while checking exposure."

"It's funny how adults have preconceived ideas about how things should go. The parents apologized to me for putting up with the wild ones, but I found that if I just kept patient, opportunities would present themselves. The kids make all the magic happen; I just try to capture a bit of it on film er flash card. You might say this was an unhappy accident."

"The Lighting set up consisted of a Lowel Omni-Light 500 Watt Focusing Flood Light as the key, a Photoflex 22" Silver LiteDisc as the fill, and a Lowel Pro 150 Watt as hair light. All lights borrowed from school. As for the camera... Canon: EOS 30D, ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/60 s at F/2.8, Exposure Mode: Manual, Lens: EF50mm f/1.4 USM, Shot in Raw + small jpg, color corrected and sharpened Photoshop CS2, Mac OS X 10.4.8, Powerbook G4"

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

The tradition is that Denver was the first city to embrace outdoor lighting in a big way, and the City & County Building is a wonderful example of this," says Mark Castleman. "It's become a holiday tradition to come down to see the lights, and there is often a line of cars, buses and carriages passing by on Bannock St at night."

"I really wanted to get both the building and a feeling of the people coming down to see it, and that's why I did such a long exposure so that the cars (and carriages) going by would render as streaks of light. (The -0.5 ev compensation was because I am still getting used to the K10 and forgot to reset it.) I did a little straightening of the image in Aperture, but other than that I left it alone. The building stays lit until the 1st of January, and then it is also lit for the duration of the National Western Stock Show staring on the 6th."

Mark used a Pentax K 10D in shutter priority mode at 6 seconds. The ISO was set to 100.

Note from Derrick

I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone in the Digital Story virtual camera club a happy holiday season. Knowing many of you has helped make my 2006 a wonderful year. Peace on Earth...

"I was on the Huntington Beach Pier recently when I spotted this bird flying by with something in its mouth, so I grabbed a few shots," said Allen Rockwell. "When I got home, I was able to see that it was carrying a whole cracker and was being careful not to crush it."

"It's shots like this that justify the cost of the Canon 100-400mm IS L lens!"

Allen used a Canon EOS 30D, exposure set to 1/500th @ f/8, focal length: 350 mm, ISO: 100

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story