Three from this morning

Firstly with the incredible SMC Pentax-A* 200mm f4 macro





Then these are both with the SMC Pentax FA* 400mm f5.6 and the DA 1.4x rear converter...







All taken with the Pentax K1 MkII. Hope you enjoy them

I do indeed!

How on earth do you manage to get those perfect backgrounds? Everywhere I look in my garden there seems to be something distracting behind it, even when it's wildly OOF.

Steve

Wot he says.

Thanks guys - when I started dabbling in semi-professional photography many years ago I was fortunate enough to meet a seasoned wedding photographer who was more than willing to share his tips and techniques (he went on to be a good friend to me for many years) - I can remember him telling me that at a wedding there would nearly always be one or two guests with more expensive equipment than me and there were 3 things that would make my photos stand out from others -

1. Background - always be aware of what is in the background and change composition (or ask someone to move things/people) to make the best of it.
2. Angle - a small stepladder for group shots gives a different angle and can include more faces, equally some shots taken from a low angle can accentuate a dress or floral displays.
3. Flash - very few guests would use fill-in flash on outdoor photos, but a little burst of flash will often brighten up shadows and add some punch to a photo. Indoors a hammerhead flash with a bounce board above would provide great illumination and soften the light to prevent the harsh light that many would get with their direct flash.

I rarely use flash nowadays, but I'm always thinking about angles and most importantly the backgrounds - here endeth the sermon for the day

Was that in the days when fill flash meant a pile of magnesium powder and potassium chlorate??

Steve

Bad, Steve! Made me laugh out loud. (I am so not going to heaven.)

'I rarely use flash nowadays, but I'm always thinking about angles and most importantly the backgrounds - here endeth the sermon for the day '

That's known as a masterclass, John. Verily a maven.

Lovely especially the first Beautiful colours and background 🙂