Ken, you're clearly setting out to provoke me there ... I love the composition and the contrasts, textures as well. But please, where's my blue, green, yellows, oranges and everything else? This just NEEDS them all please ! ....

Probably deliberate again, but I think we need a little more room at the very top, and quite a bit less of the right side.

So now we finally know for sure ... Great photography is not about the photographer, it's all about the CAMERA! Seriously, well done, there is something to see there, a difference. It seems to have a wider band of distinguishable tones in the low mids to deep shadows. This is where sensors of course usually fall down, as the record a fairly small proportion of the total range in these zones, but here there is a cheat advantage.

Glad to see you coping so well out and about with your new beast, and great work with your fab shot there!

Pre-flash still happens with bounce, but its effect would not be so direct, so bouncing it's likely to reduce any issues. Without an umbrella you're not really able to bounce outdoors, so its more a'fill' type of lighting ... You can use something like the Gary Fong lightsphere pointed directly at the people for a soft diffused effect (In P-TTL you'd have some minus flash compensation set), our in manual I'd underexpose the ambient light a little and use manual power on the flash for a subtle effect. If you need very controlled directional light outdoors then a snoot is required, and you probably want that off camera in wireless mode, on a stand maybe off to one side to give a side directional quality and some decent contrast on the faces.

Moving rapidly along , I think its time to press ahead with my next offering from the Jurassic Coastline ...

But firstly folks, I am very pleased to tell you all that I will be handing the Five-in-a-Row baton, or passing the buck onto our very own redbussa99, otherwise known as Joe, for the next 5 photos challenge .. thanks Joe for accepting and I'm looking forward to seeing your 5 photos after I'm finished !

OK - here's the next photo, and all in time for the evening rush


No 4) Studland Bay, Middle Beach , east looking.

K7 & Samyang 14mm f2.8, at f13 ISO 100

Don't we have a ' size transition advantage' over the other brands that developed smaller mounts for their aps-c dslr ranges? Our mount, and presumably the space inside the camera, mirror box etc, it's already FF sized isn't it, and on nice compact bodies? The others retained much larger mounts and mirror box areas for their FF dslrs, which took on the dimensions of the existing pro model film slrs.

Fair enough guys, I appreciate the honesty! As the boat was moving along quickly there wasn't chances for a lot of consideration and organising. I was really interested in the colour contrasts between the white and yellows, plus the textural detail ... Was trying to feature that stuff. Oh well, I accept it may not all add up to a ' total' of much!

Matt, do you concur with Ken though on the issue of the P-TTL pre-flash causing problems? I must say, I have found my wife always ends up with slightly closed eyes when using it ... Seems to react very quickly to the flash. Manual plus the lightshere sorts it though.

I have the Gary Fong Lightsphere kit, and its excellent for indoor group portraits. Outside you can aim the flash with the lightshere straight on to the subject for a wide and soft fill. Manual is probably the best mode, I agree, although you will have to' chimp ' a bit when moving around and the distances change.

It certainly is ... The amazing Pentax wireless flash system, using the pop-up as an instantly available trigger, is a superb feature I will never want to lose.

Time for the 3rd photograph .... Thanks Michael, David and Phil for your thoughts there, and to Joe again for the alternative versions of No2



No 3) Headland Caves & Cliffs, Swanage Bay eastern headland

This is taken from the boat again, a little later than the rocks one - K7 and Pentax 'M' 75-150 f4.0, at f6.7, ISO 400, approx 100mm