These look great Mike, very sharp and well composed. What are your thoughts on the K-5iis?

Regards
David

These are really good Alistair, different from the norm and full of character.

Regards
David

Hi Matt, the DA*300 is superb, really pleased with it thanks. I don't get much time to use it but it always impresses me when I do!

Regards
David

How on earth did that shot win? I can appreciate the difficulty of getting into the location and tracking the lions to produce the image, but the way it is presented is very poor indeed.

Regards
David

The images are lovely Carl, compositions are great, especially number 8 which is my personal favourite.

There is one thing that although it doesn't spoil them for me I have noticed and that is that the skies are blown in all of them where sky is visible and the exposures look a tad overcooked in the ones where sky isn't visible. I would have dialled these back a stop or so.

Regards
David

Jon Bowles has one for sale potentially, might be worth a PM to him:

link

Regards
David

Great shots Barrie, particularly the last 'cleaned up' one. Have you cropped to get the perfect alignment or did you shoot it this way?

Regards
David

DNG to Adobe Camera RAW, then into Photoshop. I always also use the second card for recording JPEG images, these are easier to sift through on my PC, as my copy of Adobe Bridge will not render the K-3 DNG's. Windows will display them, but colours are off. Once imported into ACR, everything is perfect.

Regards
David

Agree with Andrew, a tighter crop to the rear of the car would sort it out, also this would bring the couple more onto the left intersection of thirds and would lose the distraction of the houses in the top left. I would also be tempted to lose a bit of the bottom.

Details impressive, as is the natural feel of the shot.

Regards
David

Unfortunately my working and home life doesn't afford me much time for photography, much less for perfecting BIF skills. One day, when I have more time to myself, I will dedicate myself to becoming an expert wildlife photographer as I feel I have an aptitude for it. This thread has been very informative and I agree with many of the points made, especially those by the acknowledged experts in this field.

I don't think I will change to another brand, my goal will be to gain the knowledge and expertise to successfully shoot BIF with Pentax equipment. This may be more difficult than with other brands, but as Alan Wennington has pointed out I think it has more to do with the skill of the photographer than the equipment used. Clearly the equipment can give an edge, but it can't take the photos for you.

Regards
David