Following on from recent (superb) forum posts by darkskies, Dr O and CharlotteF, I've been on a massive learning curve this past week or so and I've also been busy building myself some home-made kit that will do justice to what I'm trying to achieve. I'm still waiting for the final piece in the jigsaw to arrive (Nikkor lens), but in the meantime I've been practicing with the best I have.

Please let me know what you think, especially in comparison to recent images I posted, which took a bit of a battering!

All shots with the K-3, a butchered FA28-80 zoom, a reversed Pentax-A 50mm F1.7, a Neewer TT560 Speedlite manual flashgun attached to the hotshoe and a home-made softbox, cobbled together from a 2.5 litre screenwash bottle (the rectangular type), a Pringles Tube, tissue paper and some Duck Tape. The softbox has made a massive difference to the lighting and avoids the black backgrounds on most shots, whilst spreading the light very well. The zoom is set to F32, the reversed lens to F1.7, based on excellent advice from the aforementioned PU Members.

Edit: I forgot to mention, please bear in mind these are all shot 'in the wild' so to speak, in breezy and dark outdoor conditions, with the stems of the plants waving about quite a bit. With this level of magnification, this makes it extremely difficult to get sharp, in focus shots.

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All the best
David

Very nicely done, love the coastal ones in the rough weather, especially 6 and 7.

Regards
David

Try creating a separate layer with a darkened exposure. Then carefully rub out all areas except where the halo is around the tops of the trees. If you have photoshop or similar software which allows for the brushes to be softened, opacity reduced etc. it will be easier to do this. I think Gimp will do it you don't have PS. The blown area around the church would be more difficult, but I don't think you would want to change this part?

Regards
David

Very nice set of images, I don't think the reds are overexposed in any of these? At least not like they were in the one I posted.

The fox through the wire is my favourite too.

Regards
David

Colour for me too, although this isn't one of your recent best Alistair. There's a lot of moire on the jackets and this isn't a K-5IIs (hope we don't get into pointless discussions about that again)!

Regards
David

I'm glad I started this thread as it has stimulated some sensible discussions and interesting points of view. I hope it doesn't descend into bad feeling and farce like some of the other recent threads have. I do think we have collectively managed to inject some more vigour into the Forum, some positive changes may also occur, so thanks to everyone who has contributed. Thanks also to the mods for letting this one run, it wasn't intended to provoke any extreme reactions and I don't think it has.

Regards
David

These are great Mike, the timing on number 3 is sublime! I also love the one you've linked to, great stuff.

The blue sky and bright red of the arrows works really well and the clarity / composition of your shots can't be faulted.

Regards
David

These are lovely Alan, I marvel at your ability to capture the birds in flight so well. Exposures are spot on and compositions are too. The only slight negative for me (nit picking) is the dark spot on the last one to the right and just below the Spoonbill's beak. I'm not sure if it's a dust bunny or something on the water, but it distracted my eye a little.

Regards
David

Thanks Dr O, I don't perceive you as a complete amateur when it comes to anything photography related

I have a home made flash diffuser that fires from both left and right simultaneously; it's easy to diffuse it more so that doesn't worry me. The aim with it was to reduce unwanted shadows and get rid of the black background which it seems to do OK.

I'll have another go next weekend (weather permitting) when I should also have the Nikkor.

Thanks for your help and advice.

Regards
David

I've just sold my Siggy 150-500 to a fellow forum member, not because it was a poor lens (quite the contrary, it was excellent). Reason being, I have the DA*300 and 1.4 HD AW TC. OK it's not a zoom, but my 55-300 gives me the flexibility at the lower focal lengths and up to the point where the DA*300 takes over.

So, I won't be selling the 55-300, it's a great lens for what it costs and easy to carry too. Why anyone sells their 55-300 lens is a mystery to me, I love mine.

Regards
David