iamsam

must remember that line next time I meet a pretty girl who's feeling a little hoarse but what do I know

I cant ever remember impacting in a deam, until I started skydiving. I've bounced a few times now, always a streamer, just get up and walk away

The king is dead, long live the king ! Really must go do some work now... but what do I know

No no, I am the king of procrastination, 33 years and counting . The king is dead, long live the king! but what do I know

Since I've been on DZ.com for fuckin hrs last night and today.. I'm gonna 'fess to this one, though I have been known to post but what do I know

I sympathise. I'm having root canal tomorrow It's a bit freaky to use, but have you tried clove oil? The old ones are the good ones.. edit for spelling its 4.30 in the morning g-o t-o s-l-e-e-p but what do I know

some funny pics and some truly awful captions and then there is the attached from about 1/4 way down the page but what do I know

same as always, excercise more, eat less hope that helps but what do I know

I use photoshop, but most other imaging / resizing programs will do the same, when you 'save as Jpeg' you are offered a sliding scale of compression, 1 for maximum compression = smaller file =worst quality, up to 10 for minimum compression=bigger file size=best quality. It's woth noting that you get better results with a smaller file minimally compressed than a big file to which you've appled lots of compression.. Search the web for 'fee image resizing software', see what you get. Applications have been discussed in previous threads, search the archives. Hope that helps

I was first in line for the BSBD T-shirt, so I'll start the ball rolling again

As has been said, privacy and © laws vary from country to country. You need to find someone who knows. Post in the french forum on DZ.com , or find french professional photographers forums or you could try www.dpreview.com a US site or robgalbraith.com a Canadian site. Model release is not needed for editorial use, i.e in magazines, but if it was taken on private property (your DZ) then technically, you need verbal permission from the passenger too. But that's in the UK.. From what I know of French © laws, they lean quite well in favour of the moral author, i.e you the photographer. In the absence of a contract stating otherwise, I'd be surprised if the rights weren't yours. At least thats how it'd be in the UK... Je'ne sais pas en France

Apple really need to sort themselves out.. I had a 3rd generation ipod that pissed the bed regularly until one day it shit the bed and locked up, the buttons didn't work at all so all you could do was play the 5,000 tracks in sequence. Then it got stolen. They're welcome to it the fuckers..[;) This is a problem that seems to apply to all apple products. I'm writing this on a g4 ibook, which was sent back to apple twice in its first year, for a new mother board then a new cd drive. Just glad it happened while still under warranty, replacing the hard drive last year was not covered.. I've used macintosh computers for work for over 10 years, and they built their reputation in the media industry based on the ruggedness and durabilty of their hardware, especially the laptops (and the operating system but lets not get into pc v mac os .. a losing battle for you windows lovers..) In their rush to flood the world with groovy looking little mp3 players the quality control seems to of gone out of the window.. go to the apple store helpdesk (sorry.. 'genius bar') in London and see the hoards of hapless punters qeueing up with dodgy pods. Rant over. Having said all that,despite the price difference compared to PC based machines, I still want a Macbrook pro with intel dual processor. but what do I know

In my experience T'ai Chi will help with flexibility in the less advanced stages too. It's about being soft and relaxed which is a good thing in the sky. Yoga or Pilates I'm sure would help as well, but can't speak from experience. Hope that helps.

Seconded. Vegemite is but a poor relation to the king of all yeast extract spreads, my mate, your mate, mar fuckin mite !! (though it dont taste so good out of the squeezy jars) but what do I know

Congrats dude, go get that B!!

but a terrible little photographer but what do I know

At less than 50 jumps, I'm still more a photographer trying to skydive. I've also 5 years as a picture editor, so here be a few thoughts concentrating on composition, which is key.. What stefB said:avoid to cut ther body parts. A big no no I'd agree. An ankle or arm cropped out doesn't sit nicely on the eye in a still image. It's good to give your subject room to breathe and you can always crop in afterwards if you want to go tighter. Your camera gives you enough resolution to tolerate this and still get a nice big print. What stefB said:centre the jumpers in the frame Not necessarily. A commonly used rule of composition suggests you draw two imaginary lines, dividing into 3 equal parts, vertically& horizontally across the frame, so 9 squares. Anywhere the lines cross is a good place to frame your subject. It can make for more interesting pictures, and you see it in art as well, but of course it's only a guide. Whatever works, works. Good visual is visceral. If I was shooting small-way RW (patience grasshopper, patience..) I definitely consider backing off to give a lot more background, and think about framing them using the rule above. I'd also consider how you frame them against the background. Could you spot it /fly it so that the group are framed against the water? A nice clean background is good, and then you can use the coastline as an element of the composition. Here's another 'rule' of composition(again, made to be broken) the rule of thirds, which suggests that if you were photographing a landscape / skyscape you place the horizon line at either one third or two thirds up/down the frame. It applys to everything, and on the vertical as well as horizontal. Your pics look sharp which is good. And they all feel like a nice angle, maybe IMG_5278 when shooting that close maybe a little lower see more of the faces? Try for your best pictures early morning and golden hour before sunset, when natural light is at its most beautiful. Depending how else you use your camera, this might also help - the high apertures I guess you'd be using mean it's important to keep your sensor clean, ideally by never taking the lens off.. but if you do, don't do it while the camera is on, as the charge in the sensor will attract the dust and crap. If you ever keep it with a dustcap on the body, stick some double sided stickytape on the inside to trap what you dont want on your sensor. Have fun Hope that helps

Why not? Spectres have nice slow openings. Mine takes 800 - 1,000 feet. Obviously I'm not qualified/experienced enough to go advice, so talk to your instructors, but DO NOT get into a low pull contest with anyone on any canopy but what do I know

nice one pilotdave thats more owed to you.. but what do I know

Dear Mr HH You have a very good eye and I'd buy your postcards. Agreed about Croatia. A wonderful country with wonderful people. Thanks for sharing. Sam but what do I know

You do seem to hear 'I've always wanted to do to that' a lot, and it's a silly thing but in the back of my head there's always a little voice saying what if they go in or seriously injure themselves, so I always tell people, friends or acquaintances, how much and why I love it, but that there's always a very slim chance you might die, just as there's a chance you'll die on roads to the DZ.. but if they're really serious call me and I'll drive them there... they get to share petrol costs and I get a free jump ticket if I turn up with them but what do I know

They looked like they enjoyed it. Isn't that what its all about? edited to add quote, anal fucker but what do I know

Thanks Yoassarian, read your post, turned on the telly and caught it just in time. That looked to me like a great advertisment for our sport

Can I ask why? I've got one allready, but was considering asking a rigger to change it for one of those stupid round orange plastic handles - I've heard they are the lowest profile of all the options. but what do I know

Yes, that's one way to go about it. I usually reserve the right to use whuffo for the blatantly willfully ignorant who clearly express a derogatory attitude towards the sport. Without meaning it in any way derogatorily (?) how about calling non-jumpers 'groundhogs'? Get in the sky and make some space dude While recognising the accepted definition of a whuffo as a non-jumper, I've always saved it for the blatantly willfully ignorant too. Its origins come from somone asking 'why do it?' , someone who doesn't understand, and even after being told why, still can't recognsie that while it may not be for them, you don't do it because you're birdshit or a fucking idiot but what do I know