The 11th UK South-East "100,000 spams and counting" Thread (All Welcome)

just added one from flickr to hopefully show diff in quality

ies photos wrote in post #12015678
Nice capture of the moment, I had a quick look at the EXIF as I shoot a lot of this type of stuff and noticed it was something like 1/2500 F4 and ISO800.

I think you could have easy dropped to 1/800 and ISO400 to get less grain. Maybe worth spot metering the cyclist aswell as the bright sky background will dominate the exposure and lead to and underexposure of the rider.

Maybe clone out the road sign on the left or crop it out to clean it up.

Thank for the advise. I had been using ISO400, but then turned it up to 800 as it started to get overcast, should have turned it back. Usually I have the metering on Partial or spot, but I did not check it.

courier wrote in post #12015833
well i thought everyone would have seen them on FB etc :/
plus i felt a bit of a fraud too as all those pics were taken whilst hammered way too much bacardi! - pretty pleased with the results considering!

If you took them whilst hammered that fact makes me feel inadequate if you can take shots of this quality drunk which I could not match sober.

Ronin Silv wrote in post #12015881
If you took them whilst hammered that fact makes me feel inadequate if you can take shots of this quality drunk which I could not match sober.

+1 I was thinking similar thoughts... they really do capture such a vivid atmosphere...

it helps with creativity lol

Kaben wrote in post #12003866
Bit of a rush to get these edited in time for use by the group so i am not 100% happy with these ( need to work on halos and brights spots in many), but here is what i was working with last weekend.

Really cool stuff Rob, great feel to them. The halos do need a bit of work, but apart from that I really like them.

Pete wrote in post #12005914
I just wanted to let you guys know my wife is in hospital. It's nothing life threatening, but she'll be in there for a while to come. So, naturally, I'll be spending as much time as I can with her.

So, if you see any of my status updates on Facebook that might not make sense, they probably will now!!

Sorry to hear it Pete, I hope she recovers quickly!

ies photos wrote in post #12006098
Hope the wife gets sorted out Pete.

It was dark last night in there so ISO2000 was required to get a decent shutter at 2.8.

Well went to Richmond Park this morning.

Saw the Kingfisher dive and catch a fish and bash it to death but it was in the distance and 1/400 at 800mm just wasn't good enough in the scramble to get set up lol

Best of the rest

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …esphotography/5​519870784/
London Richmond Park by iesphotography, on Flickr

Love it!

TCIK wrote in post #12007040
All the other regulars were posing today at the BWC...

I tried to do something a little different here, as the Fox was so close to the fence...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …elt_tip_felon/5​519603705/
_MG_7779 by felt_tip_felon®, on Flickr

I wasn't sure about the chain link at first, but I think it really adds to the shot. Makes the fox look a bit sad, but a great photo.

ies photos wrote in post #12012241
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm KLM MD-11 and 747's

Nerd.

talea wrote in post #12012731
Hello, just wanted to say hi and ask if I can join in?

I am relatively new to POTN, I mostly lurk and read lots and lots! POTN has vastly improved my photographs but I am still a noob and still have lots to learn.

Hiya talea, welcome to the forum!

TCIK wrote in post #12013267
whilst we're talking about the BWC, here's a few more pics from yesterday...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …elt_tip_felon/5​523878347/
_MG_9776 by felt_tip_felon®, on Flickr

My favourite shot from the past few days. Love his expression!

TCIK wrote in post #12013343
"If you take one more photo, I'll shove that camera where the..."

lol!

hey Kev

yeah i forgot to mention Robs pics aswell - love the PP on them!

souporman wrote in post #12015923
I wasn't sure about the chain link at first, but I think it really adds to the shot. Makes the fox look a bit sad, but a great photo.

thanks Kev - yeah I thought it looked a little sad, but I've got so many Fox pics I wanted to do something a little different...

souporman wrote in post #12015923
My favourite shot from the past few days. Love his expression!

thanks fella it's all about the muse!

Morning all!

Apologies for the totally non-photographic question, but I'm sort of at the end of my rope and don't know what to do. First a bit of back story.

When I moved into my flat in Oct of 2008 my electricity provider was switched by my estate agency to Spark Energy. I used them for about a year, but found their service to be terrible as I was constantly getting double billed and generally harassed about non-payment when I always paid on time.

I had some difficulty switching from them a year later in Oct of 2009 and continued to get bills from them for about 3 months after switching but eventually got it all sorted out.

Fast forward to about a month and a half ago and I receive a bill for approximately £600 from Spark as my 'final bill'. Due to the issues I had switching from them, I know I had paid my account up in full (which was a requirement from them before switching) and having spoken to them on countless occasions I'm positive I don't owe them anything.

Now comes the problem. I call them every time I hear from them (which is about every 2-3 days and comes in the form of a letter, email, text or automated phone call) and am ALWAYS told the same thing. 'The department you need to speak to is unavailable at the moment, but I can take your details and someone will call you back within 5 working days'.

I've been told this about a dozen times now and have never once received a call back. I try to force the issue and insist on speaking to someone but the best I can ever manage is the supervisor of the department that can't help me.

Now I've been told (despite several assurances that it wouldn't get to this stage) that my account has been passed to a collections agency. I haven't heard from them yet, but I have no doubt that I'll be getting calls/letters from them this week.

Is there some sort of govt office or utilities management board or something I can contact? I'm completely fed up but totally clueless about my options on how to take this further to get it resolved...

Neal wrote in post #12015970
Morning all!

Morning Neal, how goes it?

souporman wrote in post #12015995
Apologies for the totally non-photographic question, but I'm sort of at the end of my rope and don't know what to do. First a bit of back story.

When I moved into my flat in Oct of 2008 my electricity provider was switched by my estate agency to Spark Energy. I used them for about a year, but found their service to be terrible as I was constantly getting double billed and generally harassed about non-payment when I always paid on time.

I had some difficulty switching from them a year later in Oct of 2009 and continued to get bills from them for about 3 months after switching but eventually got it all sorted out.

Fast forward to about a month and a half ago and I receive a bill for approximately £600 from Spark as my 'final bill'. Due to the issues I had switching from them, I know I had paid my account up in full (which was a requirement from them before switching) and having spoken to them on countless occasions I'm positive I don't owe them anything.

Now comes the problem. I call them every time I hear from them (which is about every 2-3 days and comes in the form of a letter, email, text or automated phone call) and am ALWAYS told the same thing. 'The department you need to speak to is unavailable at the moment, but I can take your details and someone will call you back within 5 working days'.

I've been told this about a dozen times now and have never once received a call back. I try to force the issue and insist on speaking to someone but the best I can ever manage is the supervisor of the department that can't help me.

Now I've been told (despite several assurances that it wouldn't get to this stage) that my account has been passed to a collections agency. I haven't heard from them yet, but I have no doubt that I'll be getting calls/letters from them this week.

Is there some sort of govt office or utilities management board or something I can contact? I'm completely fed up but totally clueless about my options on how to take this further to get it resolved...

sound like a bunch of clowns... I would probably recommend "Trading Standards" they might be able to offer some advice or possibly "Citizens Advice" - if you know you've paid and have the paperwork - they don't really have any comeback, but these sorts of issues can be thoroughly frustrating...

jeez that seems like a bugger Kev..i would echo Lee's advice
Never heard of spark energy before - instantly the fact they are not one of the larger providers rings alarm bells for me

try the Citizens Advice Bureau kev, they will know exactly who to talk to.

Edit----- just seen Lee recommended them too!

Nearly afternoon now! beautiful day here. I was out on the heath for 3 hours this morning - one of my dogs was very naughty and wanted to carry on hunting for bunnies I should've picked up my camera when I came home with the others and went out to get her - saw a beautiful woodpecker and loads of bunnies.

Welcome Talea - I'm fairly new to the SE thread too. So far the locals seem pretty friendly I had no idea men (it's mostly men) could chat this much. And they do a lot of shopping too

TCIK wrote in post #12016006
sound like a bunch of clowns... I would probably recommend "Trading Standards" they might be able to offer some advice or possibly "Citizens Advice" - if you know you've paid and have the paperwork - they don't really have any comeback, but these sorts of issues can be thoroughly frustrating...

Cheers, I'm doing my research now

courier wrote in post #12016045
jeez that seems like a bugger Kev..i would echo Lee's advice
Never heard of spark energy before - instantly the fact they are not one of the larger providers rings alarm bells for me

Yea, I had never heard of them before either but it was part of my contract when I moved into my last flat.

Their reviews echo my issues exactly, so it's not just me. I'm not sure if I feel better about that or not.