"I took this shot on a visit to the Budapest Zoo earlier this year," said Ruan Viljoen. "I'm not sure what kind of animals these are, but the couple did put up a very good show! The signs were all in Hungarian which is very different to English or Afrikaans, which are my native languages.

Ruan captured this make-out scene with his Canon 350D using the 28mm - 135mm lens extended all the way to 135mm. Because there was plenty of light, he was able to use ISO 100 and still shoot at 1/250 at f-8.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"On a warm, bright, sunny day in Santa Monica, I was shooting promo shots for Jenna Phillips of Mission Possible when three warmly dressed, umbrella carrying ladies walked right through my set," said Joshua Targownik. "I stood up as they passed and waved them through, but kept my finger on the shutter release. When they were in frame, I snapped a shot and startled all three of them with a loud pop from my studio strobes. They laughed it off and kept going, and it turned out to be one of those photos that I couldn't have planned any better."

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"Walking back from a favourite photo shooting haunt, I saw these kids collecting crabs in the mud with their dad, whilst their mum looked on from the beach," said SD for Australia. "A few minutes after I walked past, I heard their excited yelps as they ran back to their mother relaxing on the beach ahead of me. I didn't have time to raise the camera to my eye, but rather went 'from the belt,' as I have read about many times in stories of how urban photographers get their best grabs. I just love the blur of the young boys foot, and that, even though you can't see his face , you can tell that he excited to show mum his new pet crab."

Steve captured this grab shot with the ISO set to 400 in Normal Program mode. The settings worked out to be 1/160th @ f-8.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"Dia de Patria, Santiago, Chile -- Figured I´d stroll around and find a festival," said Capn Scott. "I ended up in Parque O´Higgins… Yep.. a good old irish name for a spanish park… (though, doesn´t beat the chinese restaurant in David named Don Jose). There had to be over 10,000 people here. And yes, I want one of these."

Capn Scott used a Canon PowerShot G7 ("Didn´t want to break out the 20D in a crowd of 10,000") set to 1/80th at f-4.0 with the zoom on its widest setting (7.4mm).

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"The Bazaar Cemetery is located on the Scenic Byway 177 in the Flint Hills of Kansas," says Jay Hunt. "I couldn't resist grabbing a shot because it seemed so...well... bazaar."

Jay used his Canon PowerShot Pro1 in center-weighted average metering mode with the aperture set to f-2.8. The beautiful cloud-filled sky didn't hurt any either!

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

As part of my PhotoPlus activities, I was invited to the Digital Photo Masters Event last night, which took place on the 22nd floor of the AT&T building on the Avenue of the Americas in NYC. The atmosphere felt very New York trendy to this California boy -- loft with high ceiling, lots of artwork, expensive shoes, dispassionate DJ, and an air of importance.

Among the highbrow activity was a nicely-booted mom with child in tow. It was odd to see a child in this otherwise very adult setting. At one point the child had a clothing malfunction prompting the mom to do what mothers do best... quickly remedy the situation and get back to business.

I set my Canon G9 on the floor and peered down into the LCD monitor to line up this shot. Settings were ISO 400, flash off, 1/8 of a second at f-3.5, image stabilizer on, using Raw capture. Having my camera out and ready to shoot enabled me to capture this grab shot.

Photo by Derrick Story

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"I attended my daughter's gymnastic competition last weekend and managed to get some great action shots with the new Canon 70 - 200mm f4 L," said Paul Merrett. "Typically gymnastic halls are dark and make action photography quite a challenge. I was lucky this time as the place was well lit with lot of translucent sheets in the roof."

"I grade my photos according to the usual filters such as composition and aesthetics. Then my wife decimates my gym photos with correct (gymnastic) technique. Comments like "non-pointed toes," "bent back," and "wrong shape" come fast and furious. Plenty of shots I love get demoted because of incorrect gym technique. I can understand. Nobody wants a photo of themselves hitting a tennis ball with the wrong end of the racket! Needless to say, in this photo. My daughters back is correct, feet pointed, etc. (phew) She scored well on this run too."

Paul set his Canon 400D to f4, 1/500, 200mm, ISO 1600 for this terrific shot.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"Me, my camera, and my tripod hung out a hotel window above a small canal in Venice, Italy," said Joan Hall. "The camera was a Canon 350 XT with the 17-40mm L Canon lens.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"I saw this at a construction site while walking through Downtown New York," said David-Emil Wickström. "It's not too often that you see construction workers dry their clothes in the sun..."

For this texture extravaganza, David used a Nikon D70s and a nikon 18-70 mm zoom lens at a focal length of 70mm. The settings were f/4.5 and 1/400th at ISO 200.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

"Following in the footsteps of a recent grab shot," says Peter Norby, "I thought I'd throw this one your way, taken out my hotel room window after settling in from a long trip to San Francisco. I'm not sure if I'd want a job where I could take a break with a view like this or not."

Peter used a Canon 30D with a 135mm f/2 L telephoto. The gritty look was created in part by the ISO 1600 setting.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story