nice ones guys, Im going to be all diplomatic, I like Zpyders "possibly emperor in flight" and Binarys "big mother" with the downdraught ripples.

Several of Binarys look a bit overexposed to me, perhaps because the ISO was so high the camera was hitting its maximum shutter speed?

Ive always found Av to be all I need, all the scene modes do is bias the program line towards certain apertures or shutter speeds so once you get the hang of appropriate settings for a given target Av is as automatic as it needs to get.

Saying that though, I did find full auto a useful learning tool while I was trying to get my head around what apertures/shutter speeds to use. Just make sure you keep an eye on what the camera is doing.

Tbh Id be annoyed if I won or even drew as I think Binaries are better by far, over exposure or not.

I remember at the start of the day Binary commented on me taking a few shots pretty much as I got my camera out, to which I explained I dont really do photography properly, I was just taking shots at different settings till I was getting the lighting sorted on the camera.

If Binary shot in RAW I think the overexposure could easily be sorted in post processing, if he could bring himself to tweak his shots

camera raw in the photoshop suite takes the hassle out of it. 9/10 times all you need do is click "auto" and it adjusts things slightly, adding a bit of contrast and/or upping or lowering the exposure. Every now and again other things are needed, but its hardly hassle

I dont know what software comes with the Canons, but with my camera if Ive shot in RAW and cant be bothered/dont need to make any adjustments I can just batch convert on camera settings to get the JPGs I would have got in camera.

If you ever shoot indoors or under strange lights RAW is a godsend for fixing white ballance, thats what I use it for most. TBH I dont think Ive ever set my K10D to JPG.