Some great images in this thread. Swans were some of the first things I took photos of since I can pop out and find tons of them on the canal in minutes. Would almost be rude not to join in!



Sinuous: Redux by Chris Roughley, on Flickr

No lighting equipment with me at all in the bag (except for the built-in flash) - but I really could have done with a reflector, and might well look to get something easily portable to fit in.

The lighting inside the main room was a nightmare to work with (the white balance was impossible to determine once in there), so I need a WB card as well! Sadly Alton was cut off as a result of this - the right end of the photo was very yellow, but the Alton end was almost violet as there was a doorway next to it letting natural light through. I found it particularly difficult to get the two ends balanced in PP, and I eventually gave up and cropped it. I might return to it in the future, who knows!

By heck, those rhomboidal clouds on the first picture are all kinds of odd

This arrived this afternoon:




and will be put through its paces over the next week or so.

First impressions are good - well built, weighty, and no barrel-wobble like on the 18-50 RE. The zoom ring is a bit stiff and sticks a little at 100mm, but it probably won't be that noticeable when mounted.

If anyone want anything in particular looking at, let me know...

Final versions of the two others above:



Control by Chris Roughley, on Flickr



Wiring by Chris Roughley, on Flickr

And two others which I edited somewhat but wasn't happy with, and gave up. Gives a bit of a better feel for the location, though. A 1930s art-deco building, retrofitted repeatedly, then really frozen in time in 1997 when it was shut down...

Thanks for the comment - but sadly there might not be any more of the location. The interior is terribly lit with weird colours, and there were a fair few people milling around limiting the time to take decent shots. There might be a close-up of one of the breaker boards and possibly one other to come, though...

There's no flash at all in any of the shots (I actually probably could have used some in the second one, since it looks a bit flat). Number three was a bugger because it was facing a nice bright window, but all the electronics were recessed, so everything around overexposed, hence the big glowing pillar!

Cropping out the column makes the picture dramatically unbalanced, but I've been playing with tighter crops since posting, and think this may be a better result:




Luckily the 18-135 is pretty great at 48mm, so no issue with a severe crop. I just wish I'd had the presence of mind to shoot this with the 50 1.8 from a little closer!

The first three of what may be 4-5 from a visit to the British Railways Woking Electrical Control Room on its annual opening for the Heritage Open Days scheme:

1.


Old Electrical by Chris Roughley, on Flickr

2.



3.



Criticism welcome for all three - but I'm particularly interested in any comments on number 3. I've stared at it for so long that I've given up editing it. I've also started to hate the teal column on the right, and feel like it significantly weakens the image. Sadly none of the other control panels had the perfectly arranged and lovely coloured wiring, so it was that or nothing!

Another quick bird one - and a shot/editing combination I'm particularly pleased with:



Eagle Owl by Chris Roughley, on Flickr

A few more, including some of the only bird-in-flight shots that turned out okay!

A present from the in-laws for my 30th at Millets Farm Falconry Centre - not really a type of photography I'd normally be interested in, but the getting to do up-close portraits was quite fun Happily representing the Pentax fold in a sea of CaNikon-wielding photographers.



Russell the Burrowing Owl by Chris Roughley, on Flickr



Optimus Prime the Northern White-Faced Owl by Chris Roughley, on Flickr







Probably more to come once I've finished wading through the 700+ shots I apparently took during the day...