hey there, I stumbled upon your post and saw the pictures you took your 500d. I recently got myself a 500d as my own very first DSLR and was somewhat doubtful of its ability to take quality pictures -- until I saw the ones you took. holy crap, those are some gorgeous pictures! from one 500d user to another, would you care to please share some tips and tricks on how you go about snapping such clear and pristine photos?

I'm particularly curious about how you achieved those beautiful wide aspect ratios on your photo of the birds flying over the ocean and the other photo of the hammock. were these pictures cropped in post to achieve those aspect ratios or is it something you configured beforehand? And also, how have you managed to capture movement without getting any motion blur, such as the one with the flying bards or the one with the splashing water from the surfer?

As regards lenses, I have three:

(1) Canon Zoom Lens EF-S 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS II

(2) Canon Zoom Lens EF 28-80mm 1:3.5-5.6 II

(3) Olympus 50mm 1:1.4

Personally I like the 50mm the most, haven't played around as much with my zoom lenses (haven't had much faith in those but having seen those of pictures of yours, I'll have to give them another shot). Much appreciated if you could share some tips on how to use these lenses to their potential and take pictures as good as yours!