"On May 2nd 2008, Madrid was celebrating the bicentennial of Spain's independence gained over Napoleon's troops, thanks to the bravery of fearless insurgents once painted by Goya," wrote Michel Bricteux.

"Although I set out with the idea of covering the military parade, I decided to look backstage for the unexpected, more intimate detail. And there was this little boy, standing at the back of a platoon, dreaming about being part of an invincible army."

Michael captured this wonderful candid with a Nikon D3 - Nikkor 80-200 f/2:8 @ 80mm - f/3:5 - 1/200sec - 400 ISO - NEF format processed with Lightroom 2.0 Beta - Preset: Creative aged photo + Fill light + Highlight recovery + some vignetting.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, technique, Technology, The Digital Story

"While supervising a school trip tp Glasgow's gallery of modern art," said Eric Wyllie, "we visited the Jim lambie installation called Forever Changes. I noticed that my colleague Mr Jewell had an interestingly stripy shirt."

"I pushed the ISO up to 400 as I had to hand hold, and shooting in aperture priority mode on my Canon 350D, I got him to sit. He was unaware of my interest in the shot and just sat very naturally. I think it worked."

Eric captured the shot at 1/80 @ f-5.6 in Aperture Priority mode. No flash was used.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, technique, Technology, The Digital Story

"This is my brother and his girlfriend," writes Robert Gaddy. "With camera in hand, during a lull in conversation, I quickly raised it and took this grab shot just as they began to give me their look of disapproval. My wife said it reminded her of the American Gothic painting."

Robert captured this classic shot with a Canon 30D, ISO 800 in Aperture Priority mode (f-2.8 @ 1/25th sec). His focal length was a relatively close 31mm. Flash was off.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, technique, Technology, The Digital Story

"Saw your post about making the most of scene modes," said Eric Marin, "and had to send some shots from my trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York."

"As you'd guess, I had my compact Fuji in "museum" mode, and I was pretty happy with these results. This first shot is a ceiling view of a light installation by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. A large ring in the middle of the room gradually changed colors, and I caught a glimpse of the green end of the cycle."

Eric recorded this beautiful shot at 1/200th @ f-2.8 using the Museum Scene Mode on his FinePix F20. The ISO was set to 200.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, technique, Technology, The Digital Story

"I took this while on a photo outing with the Denver Photographic Society," writes Mark Castleman. "I found the pattern of the old wheels stuck in the ground interesting, and the texture lent itself to something more artistic. I converted the image to B&W in Apple's Aperture and used the red filter to bring out the texture more while increasing the contrast some."

Mark used his Pentax K10D in aperture priority mode, 1/30 @ f/5.6, with the ISO set to 100. His lens focal length was 55mm.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

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

"I was listening to your presentation the other week and tried out one of the ways of making a photo stand out," said David Hunt. "This example was to get in close."

"So I looked up my camera manual on how to take macro shots, and came up with this shot of cherry blossoms. Camera was an Lumix DMC-FZ50, f/5 at 1/200, ISO 100."

"I also just received your new book, The Digital Photography Companion, and will be putting in to use right away. Thanks for all the inspiration and insights into photography."

Thank you David, and what a terrific shot. Just as an exercise, compare this image to shots in the past of similar subjects. I think you'll be thrilled with the difference.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

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

"This grab shot was taken on a recent trip to San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize," said Neil Martin. This is the most common mode of transportation on the island along with many golf carts and a few van type taxis. Belize is a great place to visit with many photo opportunities from beaches and colorful towns to Mayan ruins and jungle wildlife."

Neil used was a Sony DSC-W90 point and shoot: 1/400 @ f/8 ISO 125.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Now Available! The Digital Photography Companion. The official guide for The Digital Story Virtual Camera Club.

• 25 handy and informative tables for quick reference.
• Metadata listings for every photo in the book
• Dedicated chapter on making printing easy.
• Photo management software guide.
• Many, many inside tips gleaned from years of experience.
• Comprehensive (214 pages), yet fits easily in camera bag.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"I shot this with a Canon 30D on my first weekend out with a new 100-400 IS L. Yes, that's right, the same lens that will have me eating rice & beans for the next 6 months after the Visa bill comes in," says Allan Cunningham. "Years from now I know it will seem a trivial price to have paid for all the neat shots I hope to capture. These dog races are events at a winter carnival held every year here in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada."

Allan set his Canon 30D to Aperture Priority mode at f-7.1 with the resulting shutter speed at 1/1000. The ISO was 200.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Now Available! The Digital Photography Companion. The official guide for The Digital Story Virtual Camera Club.

• 25 handy and informative tables for quick reference.
• Metadata listings for every photo in the book
• Dedicated chapter on making printing easy.
• Photo management software guide.
• Many, many inside tips gleaned from years of experience.
• Comprehensive (214 pages), yet fits easily in camera bag.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"My wife and I were visiting Alexandria and one of our stops was a beautiful fort," wrote Howard Lewis. "Alexandria is a great city, and we found the people to be very outgoing and interesting in conversation. They seemed very happy we were there. At this particular location, there were many young people dressed in the most colorful clothing you could imagine. We stopped and talked with some of them, and I was fortunate to be able to photograph some of them. After chatting with these young women, as they were walking away, I took one shot of them so I could remember our meeting and their wonderful clothing."

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Now Available! The Digital Photography Companion. The official guide for The Digital Story Virtual Camera Club.

• 25 handy and informative tables for quick reference.
• Metadata listings for every photo in the book
• Dedicated chapter on making printing easy.
• Photo management software guide.
• Many, many inside tips gleaned from years of experience.
• Comprehensive (214 pages), yet fits easily in camera bag.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"After lunch a few blocks from work, I saw this tempting view of the Space Needle and the Monorail," said Hai Vu. "Too bad, I didn't have a camera with me, so my cell phone had to do. I fixed up the image in Lightroom and converted to B&W with a hint of yellow for an old picture look."

Hai Vu used a Sony Ericsson W810 cameraphone to capture this image. I happen to have that phone too, and it takes surprisingly good 2-megapixel images, as this shot will attest. As I've said a hundred times before, the best camera in the world is the one you have with you. Nice shot!

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story