I agree with what Flan has said. Thank you to Tracey and Rick for trying to re-create the Pentax User style across all Camera Brands.
Not many camera club photographers seemed to join, which was a pity.

I would recomment having a look at ITCSALES. I bought a 27 inch Dell Supersharp from them and it is excellent. They have plenty of other models.

Hello Rocket Man

You've lightened the day.

Best wishes with your treatment.

Graham

Many Camera Clubs in the Midland Counties Photographic Federation have announced their closure until September. My bookings for Judging and Talks have been cancelled. I have agreed with 2 clubs to judge downloaded images, to complete their seasons competitions.

Lets hope that this situation clears sufficiently for them to re-open in the autumn.

Graham

Your image is 1 metre x 1/4 meter in size? That is 40 inches by 10 inches.
What resolution have you scanned this at and what file format have you saved in?
This will be a very large file size. Can your computer, version of elements or printer, cope with this size of file.
You will need a printer with an extended print length capability, to cover 1 meter in length. My A2 Epson would not do that.

O. Winston Link - Hotshot Eastbound. This is a photo that I find remarkable.

I have an Epson 3800 and use it with a Permajet ink system and Permajet Ink. It gives a big reduction in operating costs and colours as good as Epson inks.

The Pentax 55-300 is an excellent performer and I would recommend it for a wildlife starter lens. The Sigma 150-500 is a good lens for wildlife, especially if you want the photograph small birds. Technique with steadiness and balancing high shutter speeds, aperture to control depth of field and high ISO and noise, are all necessary at long focal lengths, where good quality photos are required.

I have always found that the Perntax 18-55 is a good performer and certainly ok for up to A3 prints.

A good alround replacement for the kit lens is the Sigma 17-70. This lens performs well and will close focus.

For real close up work you need a proper macro lens. To work at a reasonable distance from the subject a lens in the 90 to 105 mm focal length is a good choice. An old Tamron Adaptall 90 mm manual Macro Lens is a good starter choice. There are 2nd hand 2X Macro Converters available, which coupled with a 50mm manual lens, make an effective 100mm macro set up.

Photography is what you personally want it to be. You can do as little or as much processing as you want to. If you want to produce authentic records, then do just that.

I visit many Camera Clubs and Exhibitions. The winners of the competitions and exhibitions are nearly always Old Fred's who are also good with Photoshop. Years ago the Old Freds fiddled and diddled in the darkroom to produce winning pictures. Now the same Old Fred's have a digital SLR and Photoshop. Old Fred and Billy Whizz are the same person. Rarely ever does a young Billy Whizz get the winner. Don't write off old Fred, he's smarter than you think.

Some people say that Photoshop users are lazy. In my opinion the people whose only part in making the print, is to press the shutter button, are the lazy ones. Press the shutter button and hand it over to Snappy Prints, to do the rest.

50 x 40 cm is the required mount size for most Photographic Alliance of Great Britain ( PAGB )influenced Competitions, Exhibitions and Society Competitions.

50 x 40 cm is in fact 19.7 inches x 15.75 inches, so is almost the same as the old 20 x 16 inch standard.

I visit lots of Photographic Societies. Very rarely do I come across any Photographic Society where the mount sizes are any different to 50 x 40 cm or 20 x 16 inches.

In my opinion, the standard mount size does give all prints an equal footing and concentrates the judge or viewer on the print image. It also helps with displaying prints on easels and print stands. Small mounts can also cause damage to prints on large mounts; when they rattle around the storage box.If there was no control over mount size, some photographers could submit prints that were much larger than their competitors.