I take cloud pictures, too. A few random ones from dog walks in 2019, all straight out of camera. And lots more in the archive...

1. 28 Jan 2019, Q + 06



2. 12 Apr 2019, Q-S1 + 06



3.14 Jun 2019, K3 + 18-55mm



Steve

OK, here we go... On a business trip to the USA about 30 years ago, a colleague and I decided to have a drink at a place that had a microbrewery which claimed to brew English-style ales. We tried one. Ice cold, fizzy and tasted nothing like real beer - in fact, it had very little taste at all. Half way through the pint, it was warming up and tasting a bit better. So we did an experiment. Hold the glass with both hands, swill round vigorously, warm it, drive out the gas. The result was perfectly decent English-sytle beer. And it had been ruined by pandering to the strange American taste (or lack of it...) for ice-cold, alcoholic fizz.

Steve

Never tried it myself, I'm always impressed by people who make the effort to photograph the cosmos. So the photo gets a . (Would have been if the road hadn't been in the shot).

Interesting to see different different colours among the trails. Is that due to the stars themselves being different colours (white dwarfs, red giants etc.) or an artefact of the camera and processing?

Invite SWMBO along - romantic walk in the twilight, ask her which patch of sky is her favourite, then photograph its star trails 'just for her'. What girl could resist??

Steve

And to be replaced by brand-orientated websites, which sounds like there will be a Pentax website. A single worldwide website for Pentax, just select your language, all purchases through the same website wherever you live? Sounds OK to me, if that's what it's all about.

Steve

We took the grandkids to Abbotsbury swannery a few days ago. It's the only managed colony of mute swans in the world and dates back to the 11th century. All the swans are wild. Mute swans do not normally gather in large flocks, but they know a good thing when they see it and are willing to put up with each other when there is plenty of free food and good nesting available.

I took the Q-S1 + 02 lens. Small, unobtrusive, not likely to intrude too much on a family day out. But brilliant white swans on a very bright, sunny day... it pushed the dynamic range of the camera to the limit and beyond. Still, it produced some memories of a good family outing and with care and thought (under-expose, save as DNG and recover shaded areas in post-processing etc.) some reasonable photos emerged. So here are a few, the first three taken for the family, the fourth taken for me.

Thoughts, comments etc. welcome as always.

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Steve

Mrs L has hidden the bottle of rum. She says it's hers and needed for the Christmas cake. And all because I added a spoonful of the rum to a fruit salad...

Steve

It will be for people who use a K1.

Steve

Interesting. The dedication of the employee who used his own time to start improving the design is indeed impressive. But equally impressive is that Ricoh/Pentax seem to have been willing to take up what he started and run with it - they didn't say 'it isn't in our strategy/plan so we're not interested'. Not every company would have done that.

Steve

Probably the same as what mine would - whatever that might be...

Steve

Some of your Mario series were merely scary. These selfies reach the heights of terrifying . Keep up the good work .

Steve