For sale a Samsung D-Xenogon 35mm F2 - Boxed. This is the Samsung equivalent of the Pentax FA35.

It was bought new in October 2008 but hardly ever used as I already had a DA35 macro.

It comes with the original box, hood, front+rear covers, case and instructions.

£275, including UK postage. UK buyers only please.

Please PM me if you are interested.

[IMG]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/GlynM/Misc/IMGP4104-c1-small.jpg[/IMG]

Glyn

This is the K-x? If so I think it has a dust alert system like the K-7.

It should be in the setup menu, probably screen 4. Once selected point the camera at a blank white wall or a uniformly bright subject (I usually zoom in to a bit of bright sky) and press the shutter.

The resulting display will show if there is any dust on the sensor and exactly where to point your blower . This image is also saved to the memory card.

Glyn

Many thanks for all your kind comments.

There were no last-minute entries this time. If there had been I think my results would been posted at least a couple of hours later.

Glyn

This competition has closed and the results are posted in the "Entries" thread.

Glyn

In setting this competition I hoped that we would see a good splash of spring flowers from the UK and some interesting plants and flowers from elsewhere around the world. I was also hoping we might even see a few landscapes.

I would like to say many thanks to all of you that entered. You all have far exceeded my expectations. It is a stunning collection of plants and flowers any one of which would make a worthy winner. Choosing the winners has therefore been quite a challenge and I have tried to make my choices based on my requirement that I would be looking for something with impact.

While reviewing these pictures a couple of things have leapt out at me. The first was how important it is to manage the depth of field, particularly for the close up shots that dominate here and obviously anyone who used some sort of support for their camera was at a distinct advantage.

The second was with out-of-focus elements being present in the foreground. I found most examples of this a little disturbing. Perhaps it is just me, coming from a technical rather than artistic background. Giving it a bit more thought I decided that perhaps if these out-of-focus foreground elements where restrained to the boundaries they might create a framing effect giving a feeling of secrecy looking and drawing the viewer into the shot. I think at least one entry here does just that.

Just a reminder that I'm no expert at this and everything here is just my personal opinion and the results reflect my personal tastes. I have tried to make useful comments for each entry and hope that I have not upset anyone as this was definitely not my intention. As always it is a terrific collection of photos.


dougf8 – Gunnera

I think this is what I would call a giant rhubarb which I believe in the UK is mainly found in Cornwall so definitely local.

This is an interesting shot as it seems to have been taken around dusk. There is some fairly hard foreground lighting producing some sharp shadows and a dark background. Although I do find it a bit disturbing is does create some balance between the green leaves and the purple tint of what I imagine is the remains of last year’s leaves. I also like the little bits of dark blue sky seen through the shadowy trees.

It is good to see, as our first entry, something that is predominately foliage.


TOZZA27 – Aquilegia Vulgaris

This is a nice shot and I think highlights some of the compromises you have to think about when shooting flowers close up.

Aquilegia flowers are fairly small and even with a 100mm lens you must have been very close to achieved the magnification displayed in this shot and this creates a challenge with the depth of field.

This shot has the stamen in sharp focus as is the right hand petals where little hairs are still sharp. The left hand petals are soft and falling out of focus. I think I would have gone for a smaller aperture, say around F8-F11, particularly as you were using a tripod and would hopefully not have issues with the resulting slower shutter speed.

However the colours of this shot are terrific, yellow, white and purple against a vibrant green of the nicely out of focus background.


MrCynical – “a flower”

I’m afraid I don’t know what these are either. It is though a terrific shot.

I like the composition which the nearest flower head completely in focus but set off centre with other flower heads behind falling out of focus. You get wonderful detail of the nearest flower are also shown that this plant has lots of these flower heads.

I think the colours are very good as well. I love the purple-green leaves that are seen at the bottom of the shot.



Gartmore – Rhododendron
We don’t have Rhododendrons out yet here in my part of Surrey. In this respect Glasgow is obviously well ahead.

It is a fantastic composition. You have solved any problems with the background by not having any at all. The central part on the flower is set below and to the right of the shot and you create a lovely diagonal from the bottom right corner through the centre of the flower to the darker spots. It has a wonderful collection of soft pink colouring and is enhanced with a few droplets of water.

Absolutely perfect, well done.


mecrox – Watermeadow Buttercups
I think this is a really nice shot and does indeed show that it is probably part of a field full of these buttercups.

The colour is fantastic being predominately yellow and green. The shot has been taken low down amongst the flowers. The central flowers are nicely in focus, sharp enough to see a strand of spider web. Between this and the soft green trees or bushes in the background are soft yellow blobs indicating that there is coverage of these flowers. For me the only thing I think I would like to change are the two large out of focus flower heads on the right hand side of the shot. These are obviously much closer. I think I might have just pulled these to one side to get them out of shot.

This shot certainly has impact and well conveys an English meadow in spring.


darlene – Purple Bicolor Daisy
I wanted impact and this shot certainly achieves this. I think the composition and quality of this shot are fantastic.

I love the way you have shot this flower slightly to one side creating depth. I also like the way you also create progression from left to right with the soft leaf detail on the left through the nicely focused flower to the very soft background on the right hand side. I like to find diagonals and the aspect of the flower creates these in abundance with the petals.

The colouring is also brilliant from the green background through purple to white petals to a wonderful dark crimson centre and then all again in reverse.

I think it is a marvellous shot. Very well done.


JudithAnn – Cherry Tree Treasures!
What a lovely surprise to see cherry blossom from Canada.

I think this is a very nice shot. The light and colours are perfect. The detail of the blossom and young leaves is terrific.

While I think the diagonal aspect of the branch in the foreground is excellent I find the branch going out of focus on the right hand side of the shot a little disturbing. I think this is a shame as on the left hand side we see some beautiful detail on the bark and I think the eye is naturally drawn to follow along this branch and it would have been nice to have this detail all the way.

Therefore I think I might have gone to F8 or F11 and if these caused problems with the slower shutter speed perhaps gone back to your F6.7 and moved the camera to make that branch more square on to try and keep it all in focus.

I think otherwise it is a very well presented shot.


DrOrloff – Buttercup, Evening Light.
This is a nice peaceful shot of a single buttercup stem in the evening sunlight.

I like the way the sunlight produces a sort of halo around the buds and highlights the petals of the flower. Composition wise I like the way the flower stem points towards the top left corner. I love the soft, dark, almost neutral background and the unusual aspect of shooting the flower head from behind.

I also like the way that the horizontal leaves on bottom left of the shot are catching the sunlight. However I find the out of focus stem and buds on the bottom left, which I think are coming toward the camera, a little disturbing. I really don’t know what you could have done about this other than moving the camera which would have probably spoilt the subtle lighting and aspect you have captured.


Pentaxophile – Bluebells near Kenilworth Castle
How great it is to see some Bluebells. I’m hopeless at shooting these. They never seem to come out the right colour and I don’t seem to be able to capture the impact that you actually see.

You have done a much better job than any of my attempts. I like the way that you have shot this low down. I love the colour contrast between the flowers and background. I also like the hint of white light source in the top left corner.

The only thing I have a little trouble with is that there are some flowers in the foreground that are out of focus, particularly those in the middle of the left hand side of the shot which are masking some of the in-focus flowers. Perhaps I’m just being simplistic in liking a clear path to the dominant part of the shot. I guess it has to be a compromise particularly if you are amongst these flowers. I think I might have just tried to pull the closest flowers just a little to one side, not necessarily out of shot but on the edge possibly creating a soft framing effect.


i-Berg – Eucalyptus
What a stunning picture. Although not native we do have Eucalyptus here in the UK, there is one two-doors down from here that dominates the sky-line, but I have never seen anything like this. It looks almost alien.

I love the way you have captured these flower heads. I like the way they come in from one side and love the way the central head is illuminated giving a spot of creamy yellow with some sort of spike. I like the way the lower heads are pointing down. I don’t know what is creating it but I think the blue colour in the bottom of the shot is terrific.

I think it is brilliant shot. Very well done.


whelmed – (Iris)
What a brilliant shot of a fantastic plant. I’m guessing this is an Iris.

I like the way that that you have shot this level with the plant. I could grumble about the depth of field but here I don’t think it matters. You have achieved a shot that I could imagine as a Triffid. The lower petal is in lovely sharp detail and looks like some sort of tongue that your eyes follow up and are swallowed in. The left & right petals look like ears and the upper petals create some sort of crown and it does not matter at all that these are a little soft as by time you have noticed this it is too late and you have been consumed.

A great shot, well done.



HenriTeine – Caltha palustris (Kingcup, Marsh Marigold)
I think this is a nice shot. I know that via your title you were concentrating on the yellow flowers toward the bottom of the shot but from my direction I think it is a nice tight little landscape and as such it is good to see here.

Composition wise I think it is very good. I like the way the leaning tree trunk points diagonally into the top right corner. I also like the way you have set the water line around a third of the way up the picture. I also think the water reflections are brilliant, not just for the kingcups but the tree trunk and green foliage as well. Altogether, particularly with the young leafed trees, you have captured the essence of spring.

I think I might have given it a different title but it is a wonderful picture and a real pleasure to find here in this competition. Well done.



mivoligo – Somewhere in Edinburgh...
I think this is a very well put together shot. I love the way you have found one pink tulip amongst all these yellow flowers and then cleverly set it off-centre creating an excellent composition.

There seems to be a hard transition between the lower green background and the upper black background. I’m not sure how you have achieved this but for me it does not feel quite right.

The other problem I have is with the out of focus tulips in the foreground on the right of the shot. I think I would have liked to have seen these in focus or possibly have cropped a little off the right hand side to leave just the one, on the edge, that would not be creeping toward the middle of the shot.

I think your conception is very good and think with a little bit of tweaking would produce an outstanding shot.


Hyram – Dandelion Seed Head
Why am I not surprised that you have presented us with some weeds . Not only do we have a beautifully captured dandelion head but I think there might be nettles, brambles and other weeds here as well. Hipperty is already rummaging in the garage for his flame thrower!

It is a terrific shot. I love the way this dandelion head looks like it is just about to disperse. The depth of field and lighting are absolutely spot on. I must also congratulate you on going out with a tripod, however small. I think this shot was definitely worth getting mud on your trousers to capture something that is the essence of English pathways and lanes that would be taken for granted and ignored by most people.

An excellent presentation, very well done.


Belinda B. – Riverbank Flora
Where Hyram just gave us the weeds Belinda B. has given us weeds with context and done it beautifully as well.

It is a lovely shot taken in the recent very warm weather here in the southern UK. It could almost be summer and I think this picture exudes this feeling.

We have all sorts of things here including buttercups and nettles on the bank of a river. I love the composition with the tree trunks on the left hand side and the lower bank in the bottom third of the frame. The lighting and colour is very good. I like the way the sky is reflected in the water and where we have shadows, from trees out of shot on the far bank, we get to see foliage under the water. We definitely get the impression that water is gently flowing along this river.

It is a great shot, has a nice calming feel and captures the transition from spring to summer. Well done.


thoughton – Pink Flowers
I think this is a beautiful example of well controlled depth of field. It is used to create a nice dome shaped foreground with a soft background that maintains context and tells us that these flowers are in abundance.

The composition looks brilliant and the lighting is also very good creating s dark background that emphasises the subject.

It is the sort of photo that I would use to brighten up a dreary day. Well done.



Aiki – (Dandelions Everywhere)
This shot is a revelation to me and changes my previous grumbles about having out of focus elements in the foreground. I think it is a wonderful composition.

While there are some out of focus elements in the foreground they are kept close to the edge of the picture and I believe create a framing effect with the right and upper background that emphasises the in-focus subjects.

Again the background provides wonderful context that immediately indicates that these cover a large area. I think this has been achieved by having the camera just slightly above these flowers creating a feeling of depth and keeping the shot to lots of variations of just two colours.

I like the way the core of this shot just a little off to the left so that the eyes travel left to right across it.

It’s a great shot and I love it.



Cardiff_gareth – New life!
I don’t really know what this is. I’m not sure if it is an exotic flower or perhaps a stalk of young cereal but I think you have created a nice pleasing shot that emphasises the vertical aspect.

I like the way you reinforce the vertical aspect with the leaves up both sides that also create some framing. The lighting is very good creating some wonderful, green, colour variations which also highlight the lines and striations in the leaves that also reinforce the vertical aspect.

I think there is a little issue with the depth of field. I would have liked to have seen the uppermost head in focus. I think the viewer’s eyes are drawn up the plant and at the top it goes soft and fades away creating a bit of an anticlimax. I guess that this uppermost head is actual curving away from the shot making it somewhat harder to keep it in focus.

It is though a very interesting and unique shot. Well done.


mikew – (Lensbaby Daisies)
This is a very striking shot of a couple of daisies. The few people that I have shown it to fall into two distinct camps. They either love it or hate it. I rather like it.

I have no experience of using a lensbaby but I assume it must be a bit like a shift lens but perhaps much less formal. Here you have used it to have one daisy in sharp focus and another, almost identical one, well out of focus. With the dark background and the careful, diagonal, corner-to-corner composition I think you have created a relationship that seeds the imagination. While they must really be separate flowers I can imagine that perhaps we are seeing the same daisy in both a real and ghostly plane.

It does not matter if the viewer loves it or hates it. I think it is a terrific thought provoking shot.



bforbes – Red Campion
This is a very well presented shot. It has a perfect depth of field all achieved with a hand-held shot.

The composition is great. Again there are some nice diagonals. The lighting and sharp focus give us the hairs on the plant and strands of web all emphasised against a nice soft, dark background. The colour combinations are also very good.

While I’m no expert I believe this is an exemplary example of plant photography. Well done.


Bill_And – field of yellow, sky of blue
It is wonderful to see a nice, broad, traditional, landscape.

Here we have a brilliant contrast between yellow field of oil seed rape and a mid blue sky. The shot is enhanced with some partially silhouetted trees and a small chapel on the horizon which have been carefully set to one side of the shot. I like the way, particularly in the foreground, that the yellow flowers are merged in with the green foliage.

I am having a little problem with the sky of blue. There appears to be a halo effect in the sky around the trees and chapel which I find it a little disturbing. To a much lesser extent there also appears to be a lot of small darker blobs in the sky, particularly on the left hand side of the shot just above the horizon.

However it is great to see our first proper, wide-scale, landscape.


matwhittington – Build me up...
Buttercups seem to have been popular in this competition and here I think we have a very striking example.

I think the lighting of this shot is tremendous. It provides a wide range of yellow hues from almost white to a rich gold which are complimented by the soft green background and stalks.

This shot does have a shallow depth of field but within this we get fantastic sharp detail most obviously displayed by the central flower. We also get some sharp details of a few stalks. There is an interesting mixture of flower heads both in and out of focus and I found that I was drawn to hunting out the sharp ones which I think creates an extra aspect to the shot. We also get to see a little of the buttercup life-cycle.

This shot does have some foreground element that are out of focus but here it does not seem to matter too much and I think this is because there is such a random spread and mixture of sharp and soft flowers. I think I might have removed the out-of-focus, non buttercup, stalk that is coming up the left hand side of the central flower. It cuts through some nice sharp parts of the shot but is no too obtrusive.

It is certainly my favourite buttercup shot. Well done.


maxgorilla – Here's mine...
I have to admit that I don’t know what these flowers are but it is a very nice shot.

I really like the colour combinations of the pink flowers and clear light blue sky. To achieve this I guess that you have shot this from low down.

The bottom of the shot is dominated by a soft out-of-focus foreground and while I have grumbled about this is other comments here I think this works providing a sort of baseline.

I think I might have had a go at cloning out the soft stalk on the right hand side as I think it detracts a little from the emphasis created by the clear background in the upper part of the shot.

It is a very nicely presented shot demonstrating good skills with a manual lens. Well done.



So this is it:

1st - darlene for Purple Bicolor Daisy

2nd - i-Berg for Eucalyptus

3rd - whelmed for (Iris)

Commendations, in no particular order, to the following:
Gartmore for Rhododendron
Hyram for Dandelion Seed Head
Belinda B. for Riverbank Flora
thoughton for Pink Flowers
Aiki for (Dandelions Everywhere)
bforbes for Red Campion
matwhittington for Build me up...

Special Award: mikew for the most thought provoking shot.

I think this completes my responsibilities here and hand over to darlene for the next round.

Glyn

Ok I have just heard Big Ben strike 6 on the radio news so this competition has closed. The results will be up very soon.

Glyn

I have no problem with that. I used "local" rather than "indigenous" to sort of hint that it should be something that was available where ever you are currently living. I was really just trying not to disenfranchise our international members by saying something like "Spring" .

If you think about it many of the plants that are currently bursting into life in the UK, including Hipperty's carrots, were once introduced from elsewhere.

I hope this helps,

Glyn

He is not big or strong enough to use my k-7 .

The LX3 was my choice of compact for when I don't want to carry the Pentax DSLR about. It is restricted to a 2.5 times zoom but can do F2 at 24mm. It also allows quite a few manual settings and will operate in a raw mode. I considered going for a GF1 with a 20mm lens but I know that would have just lead to another dose of LBA of which I'm currently cured.

The Lx3 certainly comes out well in reviews and is often used as the reference for testing other compacts. It is a little expensive for a compact and is probably going to be phased out in favour to the micro 4/3 models.

In my defence the shot was taken with the K-7 & DA*16-50

Glyn

The trouble is that Hipperty is biased. From his direction the winning picture would have to be of a carrot, lettuce or cucumber plant .

I am trying to get him interested in photography but from his direction the garden, particularly at this time of year, comes first:

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Glyn

I thought it was time to have a wide open, traditional, subject to see if we can encourage some new contributors.

Perhaps naively I'm expecting the requirement to shoot entries during the competition period will impose a little constraint on the numbers but I have polished my reviewing glasses, cleaned and calibrated my screen, frozen my diary, added a few siege-like comforts to our weekly shopping list and am hopefully ready to meet the challenge .

Glyn