Well, here's being hopeful for the good weather to continue! Photos where the sun plays a large part, and I'll leave that to your interpretation.

Closing date: Wed. 8th June. 18:00 BST. Rules

Good luck!

Dan

Thanks for that Mark, I have to say I was inspired by someone's entry to the Self-Portrait comp a couple of weeks ago...

Unfortunately, there's no way I could have kept any detail in the sky, the contrast range was way too high. Nice train trip though, and it kept us out of the rain for a while.

Right, will have a think about the next theme!

Dan

No, took some more earlier today.

Cat-like agility!

Would be a nice way to go. Getting the shot of a lifetime I mean, not being hit by a steam train.

Puller, actually. So it's going backwards, and the carriage I was in had a handy 'balcony' bit at the end that you could stand on and get a face full of smoke.

Took loads of shots, this, I think, was the best of the bunch. But there were a few nice ones, pity the sky wasn't blue.

Dan

K10D + 16-45mm @ 16mm, f/6.7, 0.3s, ISO200.

Taken last Wednesday, 17th June 2009, on the 15:45 from Llanfair to Welshpool. No photoshopping, other than usual post-processing and resizing for here.

Dan

Peter, you're welcome.

Dan

On its own? Not good! With tubes? Probably okay, but I've never tried it. When I say not good, I mean I always find I want to get closer than it will focus. Other than that, I love the lens.

Dan

If you use

[ link=Pentax]http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/index-flash.jsp?#section=ARTIST&subSection=138... Photo Gallery[/link ]

that should just make the words 'Pentax Photo Gallery' into a link. You'll need to remove the spaces from the link tags though.

Dan

Ahhh.

Dan

Sorry Lilly, I don't see the connection between the "35 & 30mm on my 18-55" and the 21mm lens? You haven't mentioned any 30mm or 35mm lenses.

Dan

I'm guessing you'd do a test strip first and then expose the print using the best timing? At least when you first started out, perhaps then settling on a processing/printing regime that worked for you?

If you're wanting to use jpegs straight from the camera, there's no alternative (I believe) than to take test shots, varying the saturation, sharpness and contrast settings, along with the exposure compensation, until you achieve results that please your eye.

On my K10D, I have all the settings quite high, and that gives me punchy jpegs when I need them (I shoot RAW 99% of the time).

It's exactly the same process that you would have undertaken in the days of film when deciding what film type, processing and printing options best suited you. Just a lot cheaper to experiment!

Dan