Spent a very pleasant morning yesterday with Carl and Barrie and learnt a lot from Carl about getting the most out of the locality - thanks, Carl, for playing host on your local patch! I didn't stay for the evening light show, but no doubt Carl and Barrie will have something to show from that. Here are a few from around the abbey first - nothing original (it is Fountains Abbey, after all!), but I hope an interesting question about colour or B&W - which best suits the subject? I just caught a brief period of sunlight which produced some lovely shadow effects and would be glad of opinions. All K-5ii and 18-135mm lens
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and without a colour version, the inevitable

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Hope you find something you like!

Brilliant stuff, Alan, rounded off with a superb wildlife shot anyone would be over the moon to have in their portfolio!
Thanks for a super five!

Like them all, Nigel, though I'd go along with Alan's comment about space in front, not behind. But really sharp images with good strong colours that are not over-cooked. Lovely!

Thanks for all comments - very constructive and helpful, giving plenty to think about. Not sure I see myself as the next Derry Brabbs though, so may have to sacrifice some picture quality in order to do the mountain walks with a bit less weight! Hope that's not a sacrilegious thing to say in a Pentax forum! Seriously, I do understand Alan and David's comments in particular and am am grateful for the advice. In fact I'm thinking of going shopping for a ball head to replace my pan-and-tilt one which is very frustrating to use on sloping ground.

Thanks, Alan - that will clearly make a massive difference to the useable ISO. It goes on the list of things to do next time I'm out with the camera!

Cheers!

Hi Alan, don't mind at all when people demonstrate what can be done and explain it - all part of the learning curve. I did adjust contrast myself to bring out more sky detail, but could clearly have taken it further. I chose not to because I thought the images were getting very noisy, so reined it in. Your version has certainly got better definition of the hills, making them stand out better as separate from each other. I'll have a go on the original raw files again and see what I can do. Thanks for taking the trouble.
I didn't have a tripod with me for any of these Lakes shots, so thought a faster shutter speed would reduce the danger of camera shake, but maybe overdid that. I'm never sure how slow a shutter speed I can get away with hand-held in a situation like this where I'm forever rushing to catch up with walking companions and not able to take as much time as I might like!

Fantastic, Alan, everything so unbelievably clear! Newcastle by night is more photogenic than Huddersfield, that's for sure.

Maybe a homesick farmer from down under?

Visible across the lake from Keswick, Cat Bells is probably more photographed than any other peak in the Lakes, but still irresistible. Hope you like these.

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4 is Rowling End leading to Causey Pike



and just to show we did get a little higher than the shoreline, two along the ridge from Whiteside to Hopegill Head and Coledale Hause just before we got soaked:

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All taken with K-5ii and Pentax 18-135mm. All comments welcome as usual.

Thanks,

My favourites here are 5 and 7, because of the lovely soft light on the cliff face. The colours in the others are too strong for my taste, especially the blue clouds in 6, though the pinnacles make a great subject for the image, contrasting nicely with the background.
A lovely coastline, Nigel - thanks for making us aware of that!