I agree with Carl. Over the past two years I have collected secondhand Pentax lenses - some AF primes (21, 28, 40 and 70) and the 18-135 WR zoom, all in great condition and at about 2/3 of their new prices. The latter is used when the weather is not too good, otherwise there is a prime on the camera. I like the compactness of the k-5 with one of those primes, and the whole set will fit in a small shoulder bag.

Philip

I like the shots, but I would prefer them to look as I imagine they would - nature and natural lighting do a pretty good job of presenting the autumn colours.

Philip

I like both compositions of the bridges, Alan - the acute angles are unusual and work well, in my opinion. I would crop out the lamp-post and clone out the lamp from the second, as it is an unnecessary element (being irrelevant to the subject), and the light and dark halos around it spoil the image for me.

Philip

A big Thank You to everyone for all your kind comments.

Philip

I have posted a couple of versions of this K-5 image in a previous thread. This evening at the Photo Club, this one was awarded 1st Place by an external independent judge, in the Monochrome Print Competition -




Philip

Nice photos, Jules. As well as capturing the wonderful Lakes landscape, you also have some interesting cloud formations here.

Philip

Although I prefer the colour version of the first shot, I would be very happy to see any of these displayed on the wall - they are wonderful images, David.

Philip

1 and 3 are a bit too garish for my taste, particularly the magenta tones in 1. 6 has too much foliage at the top - if it were mine I would crop the bottom to 4:3 ratio, and lighten the shadow areas a bit. I'm not keen on 7 - image or format.

I do like 2, 4 and 5, and they look even better when the lighting settings tweaked a bit - they seem a bit bright for the conditions; also 4 looks better to me after a slight clockwise rotation.

Philip

I agree with David, Nigel. The images still look yellow, but now de-saturated. For comparison, this is your A. ORIGINAL VERSION after applying the white balance tool in PSP X4, using the white paint on the wooden window frames as the reference point:




How does it look on your monitor - and others?

Philip

I like these, Nigel. I agree that the colours look good in all except the penultimate one, where the wall and pathway do look strange. I also like the reflections in the first three - in fact, it would have been good to see the complete reflection of the tall building in #2. The second of the crops is better in my opinion - too much uninteresting water in the other. The only other point - I would prefer them with slightly more brightness, as they appear to be scenes in good sunlight and with clear skies, but that could be a matter of personal taste, or maybe it was the time of shooting. (I don't think it's my monitor, as other images on the forum usually seem OK to me.)

Philip