Thanks Philip - they were shot at about 7-30am, which is why the lighting is a bit less, but I've tried to bring out the tones as well by not pushing the exposure at all.

I know the penultimate one has problems - this is caused by a really massive shadow correction in the RAW converter, and the resulting bleed over into the brighter areas causing contrast loss. I might have to make two conversions and blend them in PS Elements to get it better.

Thanks for you input!

Hey, don't panic I have no doubt there will be others who will find the exposure spot on!

You hit the mark for me with the last one! Thats a great sharp menacing close-up. Nice colours and exposure in tricky lighting conditions.

Some of the others struggle a bit in very high contrast conditions, so it may have been better to isolate a smaller part of the animals if possible. But I'm sure there were plenty of obstacles making it difficult.

Really inspiring image, well done indeed! Something to aspire to, and great to see that even an older Pentax model can 'produce the goods', (when its in front of the right person )

He's not looking too pleased with you, or maybe its just an itchy eye - you must have made it home though as you managed to upload the photo !

Thats a great sharp image, and I like the receeding depth of field behind. I do feel that the very bright background distracts though - its not the composition as its good to see the surroundings, more of an exposure issue I think. Its a pity that most of the subject is in shadow. It looks like the metering is biased towards the lighter mid tones on the deer (the face), and this would be good if not for the much brighter background.

I'm only assuming, and correct me straight away, but I'm guessing you didn't shoot on multi-pattern mode, or if you did you may have had some plus EC dialled in. This is one of those times I think multi-pattern would be best, but with shadow correction active. For now I'd select the deer, then inverse the selection, and use levels to pull the exposure down a bit on the surrounding grass.

But we don't have to 'get away with ...' - there are plenty of upgrade and higher quality options for the low ISO / landscaper to invest in.

Its true that it often hard to identify in spec lists and sales talk exactly what benefits there are at ISO 100 in the latest camera model, as most of the emphasis is on low-light autofocus 'performance' and reductions in noise at increasingly high iso's.

I know that for many of my shots the K7 and lenses I have (when used on a tripod with carefully considered settings and technique) will give extremely high IQ, and that just having a newer model camera would not make a significant difference, or at least would probably not be worth the money for me at least. That doesn't mean a newer camera would not be worth it for some shots though.

The newer sensors and higher bit-depths will give greater dynamic range, which will benefit any landscaper and reduce the number of shots needing HDR or filters, in theory. And higher quality lenses (particularly primes) will always reward and be worth the outlay IMO.

For you, if you've got money to spend, then a better solid tripod and high quality ND grads are an obvious positive move. I know there's been good advice here on using grads and which ones - there are many scenes where they won't work, and they're not effective beyond 80mm I believe, or for ultra-wides, but the best ones will not reduce image quality and allow you to avoid the downsides of HDR processing.

I'm glad the colours have reproduced well on other monitors now John, as its been a bit frustrating. I had a good look into my monitor settings, and saw that the 'grey balance' was really rather cool in tone, so I managed to adjust that to bring in a warmer 'hue'. I can only assume that this coolness from the monitor was affecting my images and causing me to compensate with extra warmth in the white balance and more yellow saturation to get what I wanted. I have not changed any of the software or editing techniques used for these latest images from those used previously, so hopefully this is the cause.

I'll need to re-process a few shots of mainly grass and trees to be sure, so I'll put a few up for testing when they're ready. But thanks for the feedback at this stage, that is encouraging.

As always Smeggy, I appreciate the detailed (Nigel-esque ) critique, and will try and get that right side brain fired up some more!

None taken If by 'doing a Nigel' you mean looking both at the immediate impression as well as many fine details when critiqueing someones photos, and then identifying what is positive and should be used in future as well as the issues and things that could have been done differently, then that is exactly what I try and achieve when writing about someones shots - positive critisism, with practical advice. If thats 'doing a Nigel' then lets have some more of it!

Thanks for the useful comments you made above also. Compositions can be frustrating - there may be constraints to adjusting the viewpoint or focal length that are not apparent to the commentator (like having only a prime lens, or being on a bridge, or worries about other people with you). Its always worth pointing out alternatives of course, and encouraging the photographer to go back and try again with different lenses, in different light and if possible from a different position. Its just that those options may not have been possible on that particular visit

Stopped off early one morning after a night shift heading home. I only had the Pentax 'A' 28mm f2.8 and Pentax 'M' 75-150mm f4.0, so worked from the bridge to get what I could.

I was attracted to the special lighting, a mixture of warm sun tones and deep blues in the sky and water. You don't often see much blue in the Thames!

I look forward to any thoughts and suggestions.

















This one was taken with the 28mm prime from the bridge, so I couldn't get closer, but I've tried a couple of pano type crops - which one is best?








1st Crop :







2nd Crop :






Very impressed with the resolution available from the K7 and the 28mm to get these crops with hardly any quality loss!

All very evocative, I like the exposure control - No 4 is my favourite for the sense of space and highlight colours.

I love the colours in No 1 but not keen on the 'time warp' effect - have you got a version with a shorter shutter speed?

No 2 is strong compositionally I feel, but I'd love to see the colours!

The last has well balanced objects throughout, but the very bright yellow distracts I find, I want to look at the boat and around the windmill, but just keep getting pulled away upwards - could you try pulling up some shadow detail maybe to even out the DR here?

Thanks for sharing, I've enjoyed seeing these

Any assumptions can lead you astray - I believe the name or renown of any individual is less valuable than the writing itself and what it encompasses.

For example, when I was writing about my comparisons of two images from the K5II models, I did not hear (after the reporting actually began) any dispute or questioning of the validity of what I was saying - yet this acceptance could hardly have been based on my own reputation for this sort of thing, as such a reputataion did not exist.

Instead this acceptance was based on the description and detailing of the methodology and processes I was using (in 'Nigel-esque detail' to coin the latest Smeggyism), which reassured that there was an applicable basis for what the conclusions were.

But even if I was a professional writing in a respected magazine, I would not expect the readers to unquestionably accept only my conclusions and recommendations, without the details and descriptions, based soley on my being a professional writing in a respected magazine. To have validity there always needs to be an understandable context and method, in whatever format or medium, or whoever is writing.