This is the one that I bought here.

The only down-side was that the back-clothes are made of the same material as the tent so are a bit thin and look a little shiny although this has not caused any problems.

Glyn

I recently bought one of these photo tents via ebay and it does seem to work quite well. We use it for photographing things for ebay.

It came with red, blue, black & white back-clothes and a front closure with a slit in it. The back-clothes are a bit thin and because they are folded are creased. I've not yet had the courage to see if these creases can be removed with a cool iron. (I would need to sign-up for a training course).

I also bought, but not from ebay, a pair of daylight lamps to illuminate it.

The tent & back-clothes came in a smallish, flat, round bag and as the tent has a spring frame it sort of explodes into shape when unpacked .

It did not come with any instructions, particularly on how to get it back into its bag .

However a Google search found some instructions here. Even then it takes practice and is the subject of some hilarity in my household .

Glyn

Many thanks Mark.

Just for your amusement I did try and capture the focus mark by pointing another camera at the K-7 viewfinder. It was a lot harder than I imagined and this is about the best I could achieve :

[IMG]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/GlynM/Misc/IMGP4080-c1-vsmall.jpg[/IMG]

Glyn

Mark,

I don't have any recent experience of Nikon or Canon DSLRs so I can't comment on the comparison. My K-7 looks very much the same as my previous Pentax DSLRs.

On mine the centre focus square has fairly thick lines, say just under a 1/4 of the size of the square. It is also diffused a little by the focus screen but although only illuminated fleetingly appears to have fairly sharp edges and the same thickness all the way round. It is of course only an indication of the focus point and I think becomes more subconscious as I'm usually concentrating on the image.

I think you are probably right that you need to show it to someone with experience of Pentax and other cameras.

Glyn

I think my K-7 looks fine.

Do the framing lines in the viewfinder look sharp?

If they don't then I just wonder if you need to adjust the diopter. This is done using the slider at the top of the viewfinder. This is best done pointing the camera at a plain white background so you can concetrate on the framing lines. See page 55 of the manual.

I hope this helps,

Glyn

Many thanks. I can see why you made the decision to go B&W. I do think, though, that the colour adds vibrancy to the shot. I think I could live with the bright red signs but agree about the guy with the trolley. It must have been very difficult to decide whether to wait for him to go and risk missing the girl with the stripey top who is even more dominant in the colour shot.

Glyn

Ok I have just heard Big Ben strike 6 on the radio news so this competition has closed.

I knew when I chose people as the subject for this competition that it was going to be hard. It is strange that we live and work with people around us but they seem to be the most difficult things to photograph. I’m hopeless at this and I guess that it requires sensitivity and negotiating skills that I don’t have and carries a risk that you may also upset the subject that many of us don’t want to take.

So I would like to thank and congratulate everybody who has submitted a picture. I would love to say that you have all won. You have certainly all done much more than I would have achieved in the same circumstances.

However some of you have to be more of a winner than the others and this gives me a very difficult task. I’m no expert at this so I have approached this on what looks best to me and have tried to provide some constructive comments. However please remember that these are just my personal views and I hope that nobody will be upset. Just remember I could not have taken any of these shots, you are all far better at this than me

So here we go:

GivingTree

What a stunning picture for the first submission of this competition and many thanks for confirming the exif information.

I think the lighting with the sun off to the rear and left plus the use of fill-in flash is almost perfect. I particularly like the way the hair is illuminated by the sun. There are no shadows at all and my only, very, very, small, lighting issue is the slightly over illuminated bit of the back of the shirt you can see under the arm on the left hand side of the shot.

The subject is also very good and well posed looking towards and drawing the viewer out of the top left corner which is enhanced by having the camera low down. I also love that shirt!

The sharp focus on the subject and the soft background is also very good. Something looks just fractionally odd with the edge of the arm and hand on the right-hand side of the picture. I wonder if you may have just very slightly over sharpened it although this might just be a natural effect from using flash on a subject well in front of the background.

However it is a brilliant, well thought out and executed picture and I hope you are very proud of it.


darlene

This is a wonderful opportunity shot of something that we all probably do but is rarely captured.

Even with luck I think it must be difficult to capture this shot with the clarity that you have achieved here. The lighting is very good with no hard shadows. The focus and depth of field is excellent. The shot is enhanced by the out of focus branches on the right hand side giving a nice feeling of distance I expect from an outside shot. I love the way you have captured the pattern on the hanky and the state of what must be a well loved hat. I think I might have just cloned out the logo on the jacket but it really does not detract from an excellent character shot.


nathanever82

I guess from the file name of this picture and the exif date that this depicts someone celebrating the Jewish Festival of Purin which, I believe, took place over 27th/28th of February. I know very little about this but I understand that this is a religious festival where amusing behaviour is positively encouraged.

This guy looks like he is enjoying himself and he must certainly be proud of that hat! You have created a terrific character shot. The depth of field has not only emphasised the subject but left enough of the background to indicate that the subject is part of a gathering and that there is probably something else going on somewhere off to the front left. I think you have managed to achieve an intimacy with the subject that draws the viewer into the shot.

I also think that this shot must reflect a huge amount of skill in getting all the camera settings just right to capture an instant moment of opportunity.


davidtrout – Wilderness People

I wanted people and not only have you provided these but a tremendous landscape shot as well.

I guess that at 58mm this must be close to 1:1 magnification. Therefore you have cleverly solved the embarrassment of having negotiate with your subjects by being a very long distance behind them so that they may not even know you are there let alone capturing an image of them. Even if you are suddenly noticed you have manufactured an excellent heads start for your escape .

It is undoubtedly a terrific landscape and creates a feeling that your two people are alone in it. From my direction the white expanse, which I guess is a snow covered
frozen lake, splits the picture and creates a separation between the people and the wilderness that perhaps the shot would have been better without. These people can see but can’t experience the wilderness without crossing this white void.

However full marks for a clever interpretation of the brief.



TOZZA27 – …bring me no more blues

What a brilliant idea. A picture of a Welsh Postie on St David’s day. While it was obviously a cold day he looks happy with his work.

I think it is also well crafted and obviously required some negotiation. You have a nice sharp focus for your subject which is enhanced by the soft background. The lighting is also very good with a complete absence of shadows. Perhaps it is just a fraction over exposed but this might just be the bright reds, which always appear to be a challenge to digital cameras, and the white of the building in the background. I think I might have just cropped off some of that white building at the top of the shot.

It is however a well thought out shot and captures an example of an often forgotten hero of our communities.


Dr. Mhuni – Elephant Man

I always enjoy seeing your contributions to these competitions. They are often of an environment completely alien to my own but always have something I can relate to.

This is a great shot. There is obviously something amusing going on out of shot on the right and from your description I guess it involves an elephant. The viewer is drawn into the fun without really knowing what is going on which I think is brilliant because it seeds the viewer’s imagination.

I love the colour, sense of purpose, and the fun captured in this shot. I can’t work out if it is the DOF that puts the rear most guy slightly out of focus or whether he is a little blurred because he is moving but I think it would have enhanced the shot if he was a little sharper. I think you also have a small challenge with front guy who, by bending over, is a little in shadow and I think we have lost some of what is going on in his facial expressions. I can’t tell if he is part of the joke or sharing the joke with rear guy but perhaps this adds a bit more mystery to the image. I certainly imagine that this shot could be used to seed a whole load of story telling.

I guess there must always be some compromise in capturing street life in real-time and I think you have done well to encapsulate the purpose and humour in this shot as well as the colour and lighting of this wonderful environment.


pnjmcc – Café Culture

This looks like the sort way I have approached street photography on the rare occasion when I have had the nerve to try it. I find a nice location which includes a building or feature I can use an excuse if challenged

I think your location composition is great. I like that you have picked a street corner and set this off-centre. I like the curve in the foreground pavement and the line along the pavement that draws the eye along the street. However I’m not sure about the guy with the trolley. He looks in a hurry and is obscuring someone behind him in the entrance to the café. I think I would have waited until he had gone but then may have lost the girl with the stripes which I think is a significant element of this shot. I do also like that you can see people in the café on the left hand side of shot and the lady on her phone on the right hand side.

I would like to know why you choose to make this shot back & white. From my direction I think the people, apart from the girl with the stripy top, are being lost in the background. I had to hunt them out. I have obviously not seen what it looked like in colour but I think in removing the colour you may have given prominence to the architecture over the people and have come a little off brief.

You have certainly captured lots of people going about on their day-to-day activities and are to be congratulated for presenting a street photo here.

As an aside while you have added the exif data you have not said when the shot was taken, an import aspect in this competition, and I have not been able to extract it from the shot.


gartmore – Freya

This is a lovely formal portrait. There is no argument here about the use of black & white. You have used this really well to bring out the textures of the clothing, hair and those piercing eyes!

I ‘m no expert but to me the composition looks perfect. I love the subtle extras, like the way the ties of the hood are twisted and emphasised by the lighting.

My first impression was that it was a little too dark, loosing the texture on the right hand side of the hood, but having come back to it a few times I think this dark background is probably necessary to create the facial intensity that you have achieved.

The lighting is very well done. I guess that you have done quite a bit of post processing. I’m a little worried that the dynamic range appears to have been compressed. In a couple of places, like the right-hand side of the face and particularly the gap between the top of her breasts, there seems to be slight edges, or steps, in the grey transitions of the lighting.

As an aside I’m not sure why you choose to use the frame effect around the picture. I can see that perhaps with the little, partial, highlighting of the frame edges you have created a little more depth but I think at the top I would have liked to have seen just a little separation between the top of the subject’s head and edge of the frame.

It is a stunning, well planned and crafted formal portrait and must be a significant addition to your portfolio.


womble – Washington Square on a cold day

I think this is a well composed picture of a young lady wrapped up against the cold with her back to a light but biting wind.

I like the detachment between the photographer and the subject. The subject is staring, slightly disinterested, to something off to the right. Her hair appears to be caught in a light wind coming from behind.

The subject is nicely sharp and lighting is very good. I like the halo effect around the edge of the fur hat. I think this sort of emphasises the cold.

The background is well out of focus and this does enhance the subject but I think it would have been better to have shown a little more detail in the background to create a bit more context with your title.

I believe, however, this to be a very good, well constructed and executed portrait.


mikew

Many thanks for your support for what I knew was going to be a difficult subject. Your shot certainly has people in it so I think is a worthy contribution.

While I can see that people are not the primary subject for this shot I do like the way the eyes is drawn along the breakwater towards a couple of people with their dogs. The dogs are certainly enjoying themselves so I think it is safe to assume that the people are as well.

I think the black and white works well here. The texture of the sand in the foreground, with footprints, is very good. I also like the way the nearest person is silhouetted against the light reflected off of the wet sand. The icing on the cake is the faint depiction of the waves in extreme background. The whole picture sort captures an English beach on a good winters day.

Ok so not really a prime people picture but still a very nice shot and a joy to see and comment on.


thoughton

I don’t think you should grumble too much about this shot. It is an unusual, but interesting, composition. I have managed to extract the exif data and date from the shot.

Obviously taken from above, I like the way you chose to create a diagonal aspect. I like the diagonal lines of the paving and windowsill. They draw you across the picture and enhance the sense of purpose in this photo. This lady is moving across the shot and has no intention of waiting for any number plates

I think the level of detail in your subject is terrific. The hair colour and matching hand-bag are a real bonus. This is also another shot that captures the cold weather we have had over the last couple of weeks.

The lighting is very good and brings out a lot of detail, particularly the metal fittings on the handbag.

There is a little blurring of one shoe but I think this is because of the movement of the subject and is therefore probably a bonus in creating movement and purpose in this shot.

It is an interesting shot and I like it.

I do hope you son has recovered and is feeling happier.



Now to the results:

1st - TOZZA27, who must owe his postie a pint .
2nd - nathanever82, for the fun and intimacy of this shot.
3rd - gartmore for a stunning formal portrait.


Commendations to everyone else but particularly Dr. Mhuni for such a brilliant story telling shot.

I think this completes my responsibilities and hand over to Tony for the next competition.

Glyn

I have recently started using Elements 8 on a mini mac but I have been using Elements 2,4 & 7 on a PC for a while.

One bonus is that the mac version comes with Bridge, from CS4, rather than the image organiser found on the PC versions. There are one or two things missing, like the meetings function, but nothing that should be a problem to the home & enthusiast market. Bridge gives access to the full version of Adobe Camera Raw although the simplified version is also still in Elements itself.

One of the big down sides is that Elements no longer appears to come with a printed manual (I think I last had one with Elements 2). On-line access to a manual is provided and I got a CD manual with my version of Elements 7. Invariably I think you need to budget for a printed manual. I'm currently using "Photoshop Elememts 8 for the Mac - the missing manual", around £20. I've only had it for a few days but so far I'm very pleased with it. It is certainly useful for using Bridge and the full ACR which are new to me.

Glyn

I have noticed that the dust alert menu function is greyed-out if the camera is set to manual focus or the mode dial is set to video.

Glyn

I only looked as far back as when the weekly competition migrated into the gallery (at #55) but I suspect that as the gallery seems to have a wider readership than the formus I think it is safe to say that the existing recorder holders are in this set.

On this basis I think the existing record holder is Hyram for #121, Windows with 56 entries followed by Johnny-rino for #81, Flower power, with 49 entries and davidtrout for #113, Textures, with 48 entries.

Glyn