Nicely done, and a lovely flower . If I were being really picky, I'd point out that highlights are blown on the right hand side of the flower. Tricky with a reflective surface, but worth experimenting with ways of reducing bright reflections.

I'd go with the first (less 'manipulated') version. The reason is that the background and rear petals (or are they something else?) in the second seem rather too sharp for me. Personally, I like a bit of not-so-sharpness, even softness, in a stacked macro because differences in sharpness help to guide the eye through the photo. In fact, one of the things I try to think about when making a stack is where to start and stop the stack to get the effect I want. Others, however, prefer razor sharpness everywhere and regard any hint of softness as a defect. Each to their own .

Steve

You said earlier on that your interests were landscape, anything a bit quirky and thinking about street photography. On that basis, the answer to the question "Is on-camera flash that important?" is "No". I've very occasionally used the K3's flash for filling in shadows and for family snapshots indoors, but that's about all. If it didn't have it I wouldn't miss it.

Steve

Superb. Mono really suits the period feel of the buildings and furniture .

I bet you didn't use your new DA150-450mm for these - and all done without the aid of a K3iii mono, too .

Steve

Or develop a suspected mild case of long Covid - nothing severe, just enough for you to be not quite well enough to return to work for a few more weeks .

Mrs L. and I have just returned from having our flu and Covid jabs. Done by the little girl from across the road who goes to school with our daughter. Well, that's what she was before she and my daughter grew up, went to medical school, became GPs, found husbands, had kids of their own and now those kids are the age that they were when they lived across the road from each other. It's things like that which make me realise that in spite of how I feel, I'm not as young as I used to be. (Mrs L., of course, is as young as the day we first met.)

Steve

In which case your sign-off list of lenses is incomplete. You need the DA10-17mm fisheye. Definitely quirky. And a very good lens .

Steve

Seems like there's some doubt there .

There's a lot to be said for having two cameras. In particular there's less chance of missing that great but fleeting opportunity if each is fitted with a complementary lens. For example, a long lens on one, wide angle on the other. Or macro lens on one, long lens on the other. It's worked for me on holidays ('bird' lens on one, landscape lens on other) and in the garden (macro lens on one for bugs and bees, long lens on other for butterflies and birds). And now the dark evenings have arrived I'll soon be setting up my desktop macro rig with K3 (original) festooned with cables and attached to focus racks while the K3iii is the 'carry around' camera for everything else.

Steve

Definitely atmospheric. And rather threatening, too. Will the cloud or sun win in the end? I recognise the feel of the photo from the years that I spent living near the sea. Sea surface looks OK, but better be prepared...

Did I forget to say that I really like the photo?

Steve

Stereo?

Steve

Ouch! That's really, really dreadful . Hard to know what else to say.

Thanks for letting us know - I wonder how many of us will now be doing that offline backup we've been putting off for too long...

Steve

Definitely, absolutely, certainly, without a doubt. Perhaps because it has a very similar structure and feel to a painting which has pride of place in my living room and I find to be ... calming!

Steve