N. Thailand through a REBEL (dSLR)

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Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Just thrown my camera in the bin. Between you and bobCOCK, there doesn't seem but point in using it any more.

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no patience some people

if you want good pictures consistently, you have to be a nutter like Bustak

take your camera everywhere, take lots of pictures of everything, take more pictures, throw most of them out

as for this

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26% luck
10% equipment
11% Photoshop talent
53% pure talent

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I am not sure how accurate that is, but Bustak, you haven't mentioned persistence and patience, as well as having no worries about what people will do to you if they don't want their picture taken..... (like girls outside bars etc)

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Originally Posted by lovethai

bustak do you take your pics in full resolution of your cam so you can later make larger prints or just shooting in something like 5mpx resolution which is more than enough for web use?

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I shoot [at] full jpg resolution/RAW format.

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Originally Posted by DrAndy

if you want good pictures consistently, you have to be a nutter like Bustak

take your camera everywhere, take lots of pictures of everything, take more pictures, throw most of them out

as for this

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you hit it on the head. snap - snap - snap : don't think too much, if you do you'll miss the shot.

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Originally Posted by DrAndy

Quote:

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26% luck
10% equipment
11% Photoshop talent
53% pure talent

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I am not sure how accurate that is, but Bustak, you haven't mentioned persistence and patience, as well as having no worries about what people will do to you if they don't want their picture taken.....

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I just hang out in an area for a while, at 1st people look at me w/ suspicious eyes, but I just pretend like I'm texting, or talking on my cellphone. Eventually people stop looking at me, then I start snapping away, the downside of the dSLR/SLR is it's noisy as hell.

There's a southern Thai restaurant a couple of minutes from where I live, that my gf & I frequent a lot. Well there's this dog who lives at the garage next door, we really love her, she is a sweetheart. We affectionately named her Striper.

Here's a few pictures of her:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/819.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/820.jpg

A couple of nights ago, I found out she was pregnant. I was a little worried, because she's such a skinny little dog. But she's pretty much a street dog, so I figured she's a strong one, who could handle herself.

Today my gf & I stopped by to see if she had her puppies yet. Well long story short, the people at the restaurant & garage felt that the babies died inside of her. :(

We asked where she was, & they said "out back." We went to where they said & she was laying under the porch, looking really bad. My gf said she smelled really bad, & there was brown liquid coming out of her. :( The "owner" said he would probably take her to the vet.

I was like "f*ck this," she has to go now, so he drove Striper, myself & my gf to a private vet near the Chiang Mai Cultural Center.

I'm apparently not that hardcore, I didn't snap any pictures of her laying in pain, I couldn't do it, it did cross my mind, but I just wanted to pet her & talk to my gf on what we needed to do.

In the hospital I did fire off a few shots:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/821.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/822.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/823.jpg

Well the diagnosis was she had some dead puppies inside of her, because apparently there's some kind of suppository that acts as a birth control for dogs, & I guess if it's inserted after the dog is pregnant, the puppies can die & an infection develops. In a lot of cases the Mother & the pups dies, lucky for Striper she got to the hospital in time.

The doctor broke down the costs & she said hopefully it'll be under 6,000 baht. I was really shocked, & she said I could take Striper to a government animal hospital, it would be cheaper. My gf said we should do that, so did the doctor. There was some English man at this hospital, who works w/ homeless dogs in CM, well he said if the government hospital was at ++ University, be very weary. He said there's medical students who work on the dogs & some have done a really bad job.

I asked the doctor which government hospital I should go to, & she said at ++ University! :(

I'm not going to mention the university name, because this is 2nd hand information.

The doctor couldn't say how much cheaper, my gf was saying "no problem, we can take her to that hospital," well Striper started to shake, because they took the IV out of her, & the fever made her cold, I thought my head was going to explode!

So I said "f*ck this" again & said "Striper is staying here, I don't care if it's free at ++ University, I've came across this situation, so I have to deal with this situation as best as I can & saving 2-3,000 baht over someone I care about is ridiculous to even ponder."

So I went home & brought back 3,000b as a down payment. Striper will get operated on tonight & will stay at the hospital for a couple of days to recover! 700b a day, that's more than I pay for a hotel in Thailand! :)

So after we got everything squared away, we went back to tell the owner he has to give her some medicine when she comes home. I'm going to get her neutered when she is better & also my gf & I are going to try & find her a proper home.

Unfortunately I can't have a dog at my place. If anyone is interested, send me a private, she's 3-4 years old. We would have to check w/ the "owner," I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind.

Poor thing. Maybe you should give the owner a suppository and use a baseball bat to make sure it's in far enough?

^^ Bustak, pm me. I'll get in touch with a rescue org in Chiang Mai who have helped us with our dogs & may be able to rehome Striper. Can't promise anything. If they can't take her, if you can get her down to me in HH, I'll take her. I'll try to rehome her from here via BKK Post etc.

^ we might of found a home in CM for Striper. Maybe 60%, but I'll still send a PM, thanks NR!

I got a call from the animal hospital & Striper is doing really good!

If my gf & I came 1-day later, she might of died. So Striper is lucky to have us as friends & I'm lucky to have money to share w/ a friend in need. :)

a few pictures taken at dinner:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/827.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/828.jpg

Well today Striper left the hospital, she looked great!

The vet hooked us up w/ an excellent organization called Care for Dogs
Care for Dogs - Dog rescue centre, Chiang Mai Thailand

She'll be there for a week getting the care she needs, then after that she's going to live out in San Sai w/ a friend of a friend!

Not only is she a sweet little dog, but she's very lucky!! The doctor said again, if she was to go to the vet 1-day later, she would of died.

Of course I snapped a couple of photos of the dog post-op area of the animal hospital.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/842.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/843.jpg

here's some other dog who recently got neutered (poor guy):
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/844.jpg

there was this crazy little cat hanging out in the dog post-op area sleeping! You can tell it's a Thai cat, Thai's can sleep anywhere/anytime! :)
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/845.jpg

Here's a shot of the car that took Striper & the other lucky pups off to Care for Dogs out in Hangdong:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/846.jpg

These dogs seem like they were getting some top notch animal care, the staff at Purpoon Animal Hospital were excellent! The vet speaks very good English too!

Next Monday I'm going out to the Care for Dogs to visit Striper and get a tour of the facilities. I'll snap some photos, & write about my impressions, I'm sure it's a great place, the vet spoke highly of it, & the 2 people I meet from there seemed like good folks!

when I said this, I was incorrect:

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Originally Posted by bustak

Well the diagnosis was she had some dead puppies inside of her, because apparently there's some kind of suppository that acts as a birth control for dogs, & I guess if it's inserted after the dog is pregnant, the puppies can die & an infection develops. In a lot of cases the Mother & the pups dies, lucky for Striper she got to the hospital in time.

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I guess in the rabies shot, they sometimes mix in a birth control solution. That is what kills the puppies and makes a pregnant dog at risk of death.

took this today, after I dropped my girl off at work:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/09/848.jpg

I love this camera, the man on the left was really dark, but w/ a RAW file I was able to increase the fill-light on his face in Photoshop. :)

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Originally Posted by bustak

I guess in the rabies shot, they sometimes mix in a birth control solution. That is what kills the puppies and makes a pregnant dog at risk of death.

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That's not it, Bustak. It's a different shot & I wish to God people wouldn't bloody well use it. It's an injectable contraceptive. It's very cheap - about 20bt per dose per dog & it lasts approximately 3 months. The problems are: very hard to judge (or easy to forget) when the time is up - so, you either end up with a pregnant dog, or if you give it accidentally (or worse, wilfully) during pregnancy, you end up with stillborn pups or pups which are dead inside the mother & can't come out without surgical intervention. Even if this doesn't happen, there is a very high incidence of pyometra (a life-threatening womb inflamation) with using the drug. Before we took over our center, the founder used these injections instead of surgical neuterings. We had several litters born in the first couple of months, due to miscalculations. One of them (litter) was stillborn & the pups horrifically malformed. When we started to neuter surgically, one third of the females had pyometra. Horrible, horrible drug. It should be outlawed, IMO.

^ oh OK, that is horrible. :(

Thanks for the correction & the information.

Bustak I've been following this thread and kudos to you for the fab pics. I have the same camera as you but nowhere near as good results. Oh and if Canon isn't paying you for the good promo they should be, very very well executed shots.

^ I saw the pictures you took in China, they're amazing.

We have different styles.

:( You have 'the eye' for a good shot. I think I'll join a photography club here, was thinking about it since I got this camera, half my stuff is embarassing. Keep up your wonderful posts, I'm sure many others get a lot of pleasure from your shots. Well done.

Hey Bustak, I have a friend here from China and she wants to go camera shopping today. If you had a choice between the Canon EOS 450D and the Canon EOS 40D which is the better camera? About HK$ 2000 difference and she's looking for a Canon DSLR. Thanks in advance.

^ well that's around 8,800 b difference.

The only thing that is appealing about the 40D & for me is a biggy, is the manual focus. From my understanding the 40D has a lot better manual focus than the 450D. The manual focus sucks a$$ on the 450D.

The 450D uses a more standard/smaller storage in the SD card, you get 2 more megapixels w/ the 450d, & it's a lot smaller than the 40d. I THINK the battery is better & smaller on the 450d, not 100% sure about this one.

Most of the other things are the same, here's a side-by-side comparison:
canno_40d_450d_400d_by_canon-450d.blogspot.com.jpg (image)

The 40d has a 3200 ISO, & the 450d only has 1600, too me no biggy.

So I think she would be better off using that 8,800b on buying a nice lens & getting the 450d, I'm glad I did.

My next dSLR will more & likely be this one:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II Hands-on Preview: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

This blows the shit out of the 40/450d, they are mere toys in comparison. The Mark ii can take HD video, & is full framed, amongst other professional features I have no idea how to use at this point.

Hope this helps, happy shopping! :)

I'm counting the days to the 5D Mk II

Guaranteed purchase here.

Thanks Bustak. She opted for the Canon 40D. HK$ 10 250 with an 8g memory card, lens protection filter, blue filter, spare battery, he also threw in a snazzy 'KATA' bag worth almost HK$800 a Samsung USB and a 10% discount voucher on future purchases.

I thought it was a good deal.

^ yeah, sounds like he sweetened the deal.

Hope she enjoys it!

bustak, any chance you can write something about what you do with your pics once you transfer them from your cam to pc? like how you resize and sharpen them, any tips and tricks with that?

^ OK, this weekend I'll show the process from beginning to end.

I'll also show what I do to make B&W's & what color filters I use.

I'm sure people will have suggestions on how to improve this process.

Good idea, thanks!

took these of a poor dog at the Maejo University mess hall:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/10/114.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/10/113.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/10/116.jpg

the blue pen on this pup's left eye is similar to the dog in pickle's photo competition submission.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/10/153.jpg

last night my gf & I made dinner. Guess who made what:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/10/154.jpg

:)

for all aspiring photographers, found this amazing site, reviews of gear, lots of tips and tricks and how to do stuff explained: KenRockwell.com

downloaded some very good photoshop actions aswell, which resizes, sharpens and does all magic things to make your straight-from-cam pics look better and more professional.

^ GREAT website!

I've been rather busy to put up what I do in photoshop, when I get a chance I will!