Your problem may be your lens and extender combo. I shoot a D70 with a 100-400mm Tokina and get pretty good results. You do have to be very careful about shutter speed though, any vibration at that distance and you get blurry shots.

Well, in my humble opinion, you are in the best place to learn right now. The work I have seen on this forum compares to or beats any I have seen anywhere, ever. These people are smart, talented and friendly. You get no certificate but some of the best one-on-one instruction available. OK crew, I will pass out my paypal ID for those checks you promised.;-)

good eye. I thought that made it more abstract.

You MODS ROCK ! ! ! Give it up for the MODS . ! . Woooo .... Woooooo .... Wooooo ..... Woooooo

They tell me, if you play with it too much, it will fall off.

I'd like to see a combination of sure and real with a tad of ism tossed in for good measure. But hey, that's just me.

Interesting, but what is that top 20 images thing all about? Are those poser images? In the Photography Community?

It's the ghost of John Lennon blowing a feather.

I scanned your gallery and commented on the Cobalt Blue Room. To me, that is the best of the lot but that is simply my personal preference. Some quick thoughts on photography and art in general. You can do the work for your own personal pleasure or you can do it, in hopes of pleasing other people. Your choice. I've made mine. Photography, as any art, has a technical side and an artistic side. Right brain, left brain thing. You can follow either trail as far as you like and achieve great results from either perspective. You can combine the two, with any quantity of mixture. Or, you can abondon all and just let it happen. Ironically, you could lay your camera on the floor and have the cat step on the shutter release and simply by chance, take a better picture than any you have ever taken. If it makes you happy, it is worth doing. If you are only happy when other people approve of your work, forget it.

If you took this at night, you'd have knocked out the past 3 month's challenges all in one shot. (which may be a kind of fun thing to try as a year end thing ... all challenges in one shot.) Notice the gap between the 3rd and 4th marbles as they progress from the second row from the front to the back line. It staggers one marble, each row. What's up with that? The word surreptitious comes to mind. I don't know what it means, though.

pieces of eight river runs late over there, I see my fate strange name all letters, the same join them, in this foolish game air in her nose nipples pose ice crystals, shaped, like a rose a wiggle, a waggle straight twist of fate smoke rings fade into oblivion

I dabble in the physical sciences, if you know what I mean. Matter, energy ... time and space .... all toys for my amusement. But, even with all that, I can't get no . . . satisfaction.

When you pass away, please donate your brain to science. You have a talent that is both rare and phenomenal.

My gallery is full of excellents... gee, what a problem? :-) I do know what you mean though. My approach to ranking other people's work is simple, I usually only rank what I really like. I look at a lot of gallery images but unless it appeals to me personally, I seldom rank it. But, what that means is that I rank based on personal preference, not on quality or expertise, which I am not actually "qualified" to be ranking on anyway. So, when I rank a posting, it is done just to let the creator know that I liked the work. On the flip side, when I get a ranking on one of my shots, I take it the same way. I figure that that person just likes my image and I must admit that I feel a certain level of "achievement" when I get an excellent. Good question, I'd say, take it for what it is, a general compliment for your work. Doc

This thing is awesome. Very techno-something. I'd love to turn it into a house and live in it. I could build androids and frankenstein monsters. It needs lightning bolts and maybe a more forbidding ground to rest on, a mountain or rocky area or maybe an ocean scene? Love it, please take more.