Well, Becky and I didn't do too bad at the trial, no QQ's but we did get a MX leg and another 25 MACh points.

Becky- High Eskie in Trial Sunday for 16" Standard


Ashby-
Adorable little girl, sweet as can be- and not expected to live long. She was born with a hole in her heart. She will turn 1 in May, and the odds that she will live to see her 2nd year are very slim. I did some formal portraits of her for her owners.


Trial shots:

D700, ISO 4000, f2.8, 1/640s, 200mm








As this was my first indoor trial with my D700, I was not sure what to expect. First observation was I needed to increase my ISO more. Second, 200mm is just not long enough. Bummed about that. Third, my photos look pretty grainy, they are fine as thumbnails, but full size they look horrible. I am looking into Noise software.

Should I wait until CS5 comes out? I heard that their noise removal has gotten better. The other ones that have been talked about are Dfine and Noise Ninja. I would like to try and get better at these indoor trials, possibly renting a longer lens for practice. The AEDCA ( American Eskimo Dog Club of America) has asked me if I would be the Club Photographer for next year's trial.

What else do I need to fix? Besides a better vantage point. The current photographer that was at this trial is a friend of mine, but he won't be photographing trials any more, so no stepped on toes or hard feelings between us.

I just love that first photo. Such a proud look. Makes me miss my Eskies, both here and gone.

Definitely wait for CS5 for noise reduction. If you download the beta for Lightroom 3, you can see the noise reduction in the new version of ACR right now.

I have been using Noise Ninja quite successfully with my D3 and D3s. The D700 is the same sensor as the D3, so you should give it a try. You can get a trial of Noise Ninja as well.

200mm is about as long as you are going to be able to use indoors at most venues on a D3. A 300 or 400 2.8 might work in some of the brighter ones.