Did you try a few different aspect ratios before this then ?

A literally tasty looking photo, I can feel the late summer sun on the hillsides. It should be in a posh cook book, page open on the coffee table in the lounge room .... That's where posh cook books should be, right ?!

I still enjoy that age-old challenge of photographers, to take only one prime lens out and try to "work" a location with it. You know, the old "zoom with your feet" thing! Also If I'm trying to squeeze some photography in around work then there is the added advantage that I can tuck the camera and one lens into my work bag, no need to carry a camera bag on the trains as well.

Last week it was the Tamron Adaptall 135mm F2.8 (the version from around 1974) that I put up to the challenge, at the V & A Museum (mainly around the new Exhibition Road entrance). This lens is always fun to work with, as when set to its auto-aperture setting it functions as a K or M type, so green button metering all the way ......

The Exhibition Road entrance is a extreme mixture of old and new, modern and classic in design styles .... so much variety in such a small area....

All with the Pentax K7, gripped, most at f2.8 or F5.6, ISO 200-800 .....


1. On the way along Exhibition Road






2. The entrance to the museum, Sackler Courtyard (the modern)






3. The Classic







4. The Modern again








5. A Mixture ....







6. One for the Visitors







7. The Visitor








8. A Portrait .... or is it a selfie? Who's the subject ... :






Thanks for your interest and any reponses that come to mind

Brilliant low viewpoints, I especially like No 2 for that. Some gorgeous tones in the rocks and grasses as well. Where is the light coming from right in the extreme foreground? Or is it just a dash of dodge...?

This continues the powerful impression of an America we don't often see …. these bring something of the feeling from "The Walking Dead" with a powerful sense of time and decay, as well as a kind of lingering gaze that soaks up the atmosphere. I like your subject choices and viewpoints very much (eg 6, 11, 16, 20).

I think I would probably end up preferring straight versions of those that you have processed with the "effects" …. for example I don't think 16 or 20 benefit at all from the blurred vignette thing. I'll accept the oldy worldy styles though, sort of conveys some history, eg 9,12 & 13.

A beautiful area and some nicely laid out compositions, bringing depth and a sense of space. The best in this way for me are 1, 2, 4 & 10. I like the lighthouse one also, an imposing angle there.

Hi Rob, just in case you're not aware, when reducing image size for the web you should include an automatic algorithm that preserves quality. If you use a dedicated tool for sizing (eg Photoshop's "Save For Web") this will include choices for the scaling method. The one to choose is "bicubic sharper". This should produce an image that keeps the look and sharpness of the original

One other thing. .... If you are working straight from your full sized K1 files the scaling might just be too great, and causing quality loss. Even with my K7 I always produce a full size JPEG first, with quality number 11 .... That produces a file around 5-7mb (reduced from the RAW size of 12-14mb).Then with that JPEG open in Photoshop I carry out the further process of Save for Web.

So it's a two stage process, not jumping immediately from a big camera file.
I keep both JPEGs .... The bigger one for archiving and to use if wanting to get the photo printed, and the smaller one for web display, phones and iPads etc.

I set an output size in the save for web dialogue of 65% ( so chopping 35% of the resolution. .... You would have to chop a lot more) ...
Then with the quality slider I aim for a file size of around 500-700Kb ...I have not seen any visible quality loss with these figures for any of my photos when displayed on any screen.

Great clarity and impressive magnification! You've got in and filled the frame and the points of focus are spot on, so technically great captures.

As photographs I think they could be improved in presentation ..... for example, I find they are mostly all about 0.5 - 0.7 stops overexposed, plus there seems to be a rather fluorescent quality to the colours. I would suggest looking at the yellow colour channel and making some adjustments towards a more natural tone.

I like No2 where the light just brushes the buildings beautifully, and the composition is nicely balanced. The last one (although it has dull light) has depth because of the sort of compressed look caused by the distance, and the eye is tempted to zigzag through the scene.

I would suggest you looked at the processing & boosted contrast a bit, plus they look a little soft, perhaps extra sharpening would help?

I like the really low viewpoints, in particular the ones with the sandy beach. Otherwise they all have a soft and sophisticated tone, as said above a very polished style you have developed. The best for me are those that have a classically strong (very close) foreground interest and "rule of thirds" layout eg 3, 6, & 9.

It's the light that makes it, lovely how it catches the roof and just seems to spotlight the lighthouse. Nicely timed obviously, and the exposure is very good.