Excellent, as always Shaun! It was a great day, I'll post some of mine later this week, been so busy since Saturday so had very little chance to go through mine yet.

Regards
David

I like this much better Vic, it's nice to see the spider in its natural environment.

I think you are on the right track, just keep practicing at it! This one is sharp in the right places, the background is natural with good colours and the insect stands out well.

There are a couple of things I think you could look at; the shot is from underneath the spider so it's not possible to see the eyes and also there's a fair amount of noise in the image background, not sure what ISO was used but I'm guessing it might be quite high?

There's always a difficult balance to find when shooting macro, you need a decent shutter speed but often the light is not very good, especially as we draw nearer to Winter! Did you use any flash? If not, it might be worth giving it a go, especially if you can diffuse it.

Thanks for posting this image, I hope I've not been too harsh!

Regards
David

Well done Steve, the praise is warranted - they are both lovely but the Waxwing one in particular is outstanding.

Regards
David

Excellent images Will, thanks for showing them to us. Only thing is, now I want a 50-135 even more than I did before!

Regards
David

Hoya Pro1 are excellent polarisers. They can be a little more pricey, but I paid £25 for a 67mm and £45 for a 77mm from ebay; you have to hunt around a bit to get the best prices. Both were new sealed box units and well worth the money. Another bonus with the Pro1 series is that they are extremely thin so they reduce the risk of vignetting.

Regards
David

PM sent.

Regards
David

Simply magnificent.

Regards
David

I'm only interested in the performance of the lens and its condition. Original caps are nice, especially on the vintage lenses, box is of no importance to me at all.

Rarity is also a nice commodity, especially if the lens has been bought at a good price! I don't buy and sell lenses to make money; I only ever sell if I no longer have a use for the lens but I've never lost money on any older lens I've sold and I've made a profit on almost all of them.

In some ways, the older the better, as it is easier to pick up gems for a good price.

Regards
David

They should have made clear to you any rule they wanted you to abide by before they asked you to take the pictures. It is unfair / unreasonable to complain afterwards.

I think you're in a very difficult position, you clearly want to help the charity as much as you can. However, I think if this were me, I would politely tell them that is the end of the free photographic services for them and I would take no more.

What are photographs for if not to be viewed? Why did they ask you to take them if they were not to be seen? A charity needs publicity doesn't it? They must have been 100% aware that children would be in the images before you took them.

Regards
David

Looks like it was well worth the trip Russ! You'll be able to go back again and take some even better shots now you know the lie of the land!

The third one is my favourite and for what it's worth I would lose the frames.

Regards
David