More pics...

And a hat! It makes all the difference!

Oh yeah...forgot the hat. But remember; it's not an expensive hat either

I still use my ME Super and my original 50mm f/2 lens... Many of my best shots are taken with a SMC Pentax-M 100mm f/2.8 lens which is from the same era as the ME Super. I don't know how much it cost as it was in a bundle of kit when I bought it. My longest lens is a K series, even older than the ME Super, as is my widest lens.

Most of my "most popular" images on Flickr were taken with a Russian Lubitel 2 TLR which was free, has no light meter, relies on a Judas window for winding on, and the focusing is pretty much guesswork.

Why not treat your K10D as an ME Super? Set the film speed to 100 or 400, use Av mode, set the metering to centre weighted, manually focus... Just because the K10D has all sorts of bells and whistles it doesn't mean you have to use them.

K.

Thanks Kris that's encouraging for me.
I take on board your recomendations.
I think I have allowed myself to become bogged down with all the techno wizzardry the K10 offers at the expense of my shots and consequently reputation,

Thank you for your kind input...and also Pironi! from earlier

This is all too much for my tiny brain

What have I missed :::

Ok so far it seems that some people don't like some of PE's comments - I can't be bothered hunting them out to be honest - some people think that PE is taking the piss - others are being more constructive

I am undecided to be honest so I won't comment on the photo's, I make a rule to always be nice but could someone please do two things -

1. Kindly tell which points I have missed and
2. Put a link up for one of the Les Dawson piano routines as I have not seen one in ages and I reckon it's about time my 7 year old met Les

Cheers

Stu

Les Dawson

Thank you Blythman

My son has now watched a little bit of Les for the first time - he's off to bed now

Expert
Ex --- has been
Spert --- drip under pressure

Right, constructive criticism time...

Cuban Astray. An interesting subject, but not really showed off. The lighting is dull on the right hand side, the dark triangle in the top left is very distracting. I quite like the worn surface the ashtray is on. The composition itself is nothing special, but because it's an interesting ashtray the shot is ok.

Still Life. If this took a while to set up, I'd like to know what took so long? The light reflection in the bowl jumps out at me first, so my attention is pulled away from the actual subject matter. The whole shot is fairly dark, so it might be an idea to rethink your lighting. The fruit you've chosen doesn't look that special, and I always think it's better to shoot "top up", with stalks and the tops of fruit facing up - your bananas are upside down (and a tad over-ripe). All in all a disappointing shot that needs work and maybe a re-shoot with better lighting.

Daffodils. Mmm. If your intention was to capture bright, block colour without detail, why didn't you get closer to the daffodils and leave out the white fence and hedge. I personally like side on shots of daffodils, their trumpet shapes are lovely, but the composition here doesn't work. The flower head on the right has been chopped off, and there is no real contrasting colour to make the most of the yellow. I would re-shoot, facing the flowers more, think carefully about the ones you want to keep in and the ones to leave out, and try to get a less distracting background (sometimes I use coloured card). Yes, it's easy to get shallow DOF, but it's knowing how to use it effectively and creating a stunning image that's key. You haven't done that here.

Cat. Far too over exposed, part of the cat has been chopped off the shot in favour of the wheelie bins in seems. I would re-shoot to try and improve the exposure and maybe put you cat somewhere the wheelie bins cannot be seen, and get the whole cat in the shot (unless you're doing a close-up of the face).

All in all, good effort, but I think you need to take more time to plan and compose your shots before taking them - even the daffodils! You've got a way to go as these do seem very "point and shoot" in appearance, but I look forward to seeing your next efforts.

Fiona

I've never seen them in the same room together.

Sometimes, I jes' shakes me head...

Thank you Fiona. It's refreshing to have some positive and useful feedback for a change.

However all is not good, I think I might be regretting rushing into the fortnightly competition.

I like em all, they have an artistic quality in all the shots.

They remind me of photos I see in art galleries... keep plodding away, the best photographers are always the most controversial. Even if this post is just for a laugh I have very much enjoyed reading all the comments ))

Father Ted, Womble, I'm going to give your a suggestions a go today and I'll let you see how I get on.