well i must say thank you to all who have sent me email and posted commemts about my Poser art and my Photography. Colm ask me to join the photography fourm. Some of you have email me and asked me where did i get my sunsets, wildlife shots. some have ask what did i use to get my shots, what flilters, what lens, what type of camera. in short, i shoot with a Canon A1, i have several lens that range from 24mm wide to 7200mm lens. ( all lens are Sigmas ) as for filters,, don't really use them, unless i'm creating a speical effect of some sort. All my skys are nautral, ( except for maybe 2 or 3 where i did use filters) i have so many photos from the 25 years or so of shooting. i was taught by the best for 15 years. i have more than skies and wildlife. i have movie stars i shot years ago, plants, flowers, micro shots, cloth, metal, glass, ect.. i have everything. ( except porn). i use my photos in my Poser maps. which gives the a realistic look. i know more about photography than i really do 3d art. i experiment a whole lot. with cameras, lens. there isn't any test i won't put it thru. My lighting shot.. well beleive this or not,, but that was my very first lighting shot,, it blew up 2 transformer up the street, and killed my SONY. that bolt of lighting was about 20 yards from where i was shooting, ( 50 mm lens, F1.4 B) when shooting lighting,, always set F stop to 1.4 or what ever the lowesr settings are, shutter speed set on B.(or shutter open) depending on the storm,, if ou have the sky lighting up the whole sky,, i suggest settingthe Fstop to F8 to F16. but if there just ramon streaks,, leave it open until you get what you want. MY skies, i shoot with a 600 to 3200 mm lens,, make the sun bigger. but to protect my eyes and get a bit more depth in the sun. i put a 2x or 3x or 5x converter on it to cut down on the amount of light coming in. i always shoot sunsets, early in the morning till 9am.. and in the evening i shoot from 5 till its down. i always makes sure that there some clouds around, for as you all know when the sun goes down colors pop out. i'm new the digial camera,, i'm still playing with this puppy. and expermenting with it. even though the lens is quite small, i can make special effect filters for it. to all inspiring photographers out there i can give this advice. don't quit, no matter what. get a stock of photos up, ( takes time, not a over night thing) shoot slides and prints, ( i use Fujichrome and Fujiprint,the best , well to me that is)i know the biggest pain of a photographer, is going thru his own stuff picking out the pics. so what i do, is i do pick the one i think are cool, but i let my freinds and family to let them choose. i submitt my stuff to stock photo agenices, magazines, golf/hotel resorts, record companines. the works man the works. you should do the same. its a tough and mean eating market out there. you have to be good to capture ones attention. when you shoot, think before you shoot,, dont be shooting everything the eye sees,, plan out what you want to, if your looking for tree textures, well go out and just shoot close up shots of trees, scann them at a high dpi ( 600 and up) and there you have your textures for your maps. most publishing places require you to shoot slides. some don't and some want both. so do both. i wil be posting more of my photos (only allowed 3 a day:( ) i will ask anyone who like them if you wish to use these in any of your art email me and ask, all my works are copyrighted by law. if you ask you will get. its just a law thing:) you who are all members of this forum, i will be posting work that has never been published nor seen by the public( like the Lighting shot). i asure you all, your eyes will fall out. and you will gasp for breath. if you have questions you will like answered or want to know some of my tricks email me. and i'll try to get back with you as soon as possbile. to be the best you must never give up.:) MG Brooks (aka Sarge)

A very big welcome Sarge. I look forward to more of this. Colm...

There are some great tips in this, the forum here is making me want to get outside and get some pictures again and get away from this computer, thats definately a good thing :)

Sarge, some impressive gear there...need a fork lift to go out on a location shoot...good to have you on board.

Thanks, Sargebear, for your hints and advice. People like me really need it! Looking forward to seeing your work.. And a 7200mm lense? Whoa! That's something it'd be fun to play around with...

welcome aboard Bear, dig deep into those boxes of your pics and show us everything you can. From what i've seen so far, you've many exciting photos to share. BTW, are you a real sargeant? :-)

welcome SargeBear. thanks for your comments on my pics in the gallery. you are a true lover of photography and i look foreward to seeing more of your photos. you have incouraged me to reserect more of my pics from my travels around the world. Thanks for joining us.