edumoto

not sure i'd agree on the no win no fee consult advi as a first option. it seems you do have a case which they will spot, but i think (only an opinion) firms like this are more likely to cause problems with your relationship with the school. it's an option, but i'd approach the school and or your union first. think the advice about taking the picture is a great idea, particularly if it's still broken and still not signed as such.

[quote name=CHR1S;666927Love your HDR work' date=' someone else who likes high contrast colours [/quote] Thanks Chris, I'm going to have a poke around your bits later. The guy that got me into it has a flikr feed, "clearinnervision" although he doesn't do so much HDR any more. He's a good buddy and a prolific photo taker. You'll see a lot of his poor GF Nat, in a corn field, dressed like kill bill. Are you using a photomatix plug in?

Josh, yes there is a fair bit of HDR in some of the beachhut stuff. i tend to over process if i'm using hdr. no point pretending and tbh I like the look. The blue landscape shot, or any of the blue shots are long exposure shot in near darkness. It's been tweaked but its the colour my nikon records the light at. at night, the only light coming through the clouds is the part in the blue spectrum and yes, if you shoot raw you could adjust the colour temp manually. for creative effect, you can try shooting with the white balance set to one of the presets, "cloudy" tends to give a blue hue. Books? Maybe, none off the top of my head but there are a million and one in print (or on line). I'd say, get something covering photography in general (rather than just digital as these tend to be focused on post processing) as although they will cover film stuff as well, they usually cover the basics better. Photography 101 I'm not an expert BTW, just further along the same "muddling along curve" that you've just jumped on. if you get stuck, mail me at "anything@ and then my url. happy snapping

HI Josh, Just read the start of your post again and you were askign for constructive crit and here we are talking data format!! RAW+Jpeg = good plan. to cover a couple of points you brought up before moving onto pics, lightroom is a stand alon bit of software that does basic editing, but also allows you to keyword, manage, export and do a load of useful other stuff. Possibly the single most useful bit of software you could own and not terribly expensive. try the 30 day free trial from adobes site. I have CS5 which I do use for more complicated edits, layers etc but unless it's wedding pics or a pro shoot I've done, I barely open it now. The latest version of it includes a shed load of lens profiles and if your lens is in there, you can set it to apply corrections on import, or batch correct once in rather than working files individually. It's designed for workflow and it's brilliant. Finally, it's non destructive meaning it doesn't touch the original image, it edits a preview which it creates a siecar file for, then when you export the image it calls on the original data, (raw or Jpeg) and applies the changes to the output file. Tips, Chris has given you a lot of useful info about cameraskills to master, these are all ace and as you master and understand each one, you'll find new ways to be creative with them. It can get confusing as everythign inter-relates but concentrate on one aspect of a function and learn it well. Read too, i learnt most of what i know from magazines. I'm no expert by any stretch but there's lots to learn from reading. My tip would be effort. I went to see David Noton a few weeks back and he said it best, "you don't take great pictures from the car park". what he means is, being in the right place at the right time with the right light doesn't happen by accident. If you want landscape stuff, be prepared to get up early before it gets light, and go home late after it gets dark. the "Golden hour" for landscaping is an hour after sunrise, and the hour before sunset. If you are out and see something you like but it's midday, make a note to go back another day when the light is right. Factor in where the sun rises and sets, for example most shots of durdle door are taking in the evening as the light at sunset shines in the right direction. Sun rise doesn't work as well at that location. Related to your images: The pub, difficult to shoot with the distracting surroundings and contrast in the scene. why not try going back at night after it's rained. used a tripod to shoot a longer exposure and use the lights from inside the pub reflectin on the wet ground for foreground interest. Bracket a few exposures so you can cut and past the windows in to avoid burnout or hotspots (PS layers good for this) It'll add atmosphere and maybe even help tell the story of the buildings role. Shoot lots too, different angles, crouch, climb on something. digital is cheap and the more versions of you a scene you have, the easier it'll be to visualise what works next time. i don't mean get trigger happy, think about each shot but work the angles. often what worked in the viewfinder looks different on the big screen. when i look through the view finder i try and distance myself from the scene and pretend i'm looking at a postcard. do the lead in lines work? is there a focal point? anything distracting in the background. I find it easier to compose doing this. Relate: your panda shot, currently a record shot of a panda with too much depth of field and the subject is getting lost against the background. A higher vantage point would have made a feature of the volume of the panda's there (think or google Arlington cemetery and lookat the way the gravestones have been captured). Getting closer would have decreased the depth of field at the same aperture, or open it up some more and moving round the subject would have helped you isolate that one as the subject. Also, in the leaf shot, if you had got lower and put it against the blue sky, it would isolate the subject. The current image uses depth of field nicely but the background is such a similar colour the leaf is getting lost. Shoot less. (A contradiction I know ) set yourself a target of x images so you really have to think about what you are trying to capture. Relate: Your building in HDR, it's an ok shot, the light is pretty good but with a bit more thought you may have spotted the horizon is wonky. You can crop this straight but the school of "camera craft" says get as much right in camera as possible. As the lens is pointing up, you can't do much about the converging verticals but alwaus make sure your horizon is level Finally, as i need to do some work, think light. All the images on your flikr site could have benefited from better light. That's not a dig, I have hundreds of grab shots taken where i was, when i was there. My point is, to improve your images, put some work into being "there" at "the right time" Mostly though, enjoy taking pics and learning from your successes and failures. Worry more about what you think than what others do. Plenty of people love David Bailey's work, plenty don't. Take advice/crit on board, but never to heart (easier said than done). I recommend subscribing to chase jarvis's blog. He's a commercial 'tog based in seattle but he shares info, technique and advice like no-one else I've ever met. I'm not sure what my flikr username is. I think it's motothephoto but i've never uploaded much. My site is down (trying to decide on a wordpress theme atm) but davidshepherdphotographic.com will show you some things I was recently approached by an image library to buy (shows you don't have to be great to sell), there's some wedding stuff hidden up there too, i think it's /wedding_gallery don't expect to be impressed though Have fun Moto

That's interesting Chris, particulary if you work a bit with HDR stuff. I'd have to say I can see why you say it, jpeg does seem a bit less intimidating, but I'd advise always shooting RAW for anything you plan to post process simply because of the extra data you retain which might come in useful for "rescuing" things. Personally, I do struggle with the volume or processing assocaited with RAW shooting, I have 120Gb+ of family/holiday photos, Bournemouth Air Show etc etc pictures that I've never really fully processed down to jpeg or tiff for archive but I just can't bring myself to go back to jpeg'ing and throwing all that data away as there is always new software or techniques coming through that will sometimes allow you to do something new with a shot. I am a bit of a hoarder though.

We've used laptopsandspares a number of times. Really good, friendly and efficient. Speak to (I think), David or Charlie. 0800 231 5000 Pricing is pretty good too. Moto

is there a diagram on the back of the psu that will tell you? there is on most laptop adapters (centre pin positive set up), but i might have misunderstood the question.

i got my VW diesel battery from my local scrappy, charles trent for £25. sounds a lot but it's a monster, £80+ from halfrauds. That said, my other half being the internet demon that she is, picked up her megane battery for £35 delivered with a 3yr warranty on-line. I can't remember who from and it's not a big name brand but it's been good for the last 2 winters. I'm sure google could find some options for you. The only rason I didn't get mine on-line was I needed it on the day as mine had given up under a foot of the recent snow. They are not complicated components, it's one of the few items I'd not be overly concerned about getting a good brand on. just keep an eye on the capacity, make sure it's up to the task.

I'm not sure if it will help but if you want it, I have a .pdf harware ref manual for the hp530. PM me your e.mail and I can e.mail it to you if you want, or google "HP 530 manual" and you'll get a link to the HP Site to download it. I had a quick look at the memory installation section and there's nothing special listed. i.e. you don't have to be stood on your head drinking a glass of milk while you do it!! on some of the old compaq's i used to work on, you had to save configuration changes after an upgrade. maybe swapping out one stick and plugging in two new ones has thrown out the integrated graphics allocation but my money would be on it being the wrong memory. Good luck, let me know if you want the manual.

out of interest maniac, can you remember roughly what you paid for the Tosh stuff direct from Tosh? whenever I've tried them directly they have wanted £150-£250 + Vat for standard 15" screens. I've not had to do netbook stuff yet (touch wood), but the third party 15"/15.4" are generally between £60 and £90. (£90 tends to be for the dell speific models that have the inverters hard wired.

On the understanding that a broken screen won't be picked up by the warranty, the manufacturer is the last place I'd go for a new screen for all the reasons above. Sooooo many people offering replacement panels now there's really no need and I've never had one yet that didn't come out of the housings etc for just a screen swap. bit off topic though so I'll leave that there

Me too. When we met she looked like Nelly Furtardo, now she looks like Nelly the Elephant!