Congrats to Mike, interesting contest. I also had trouble coming up with an entry and having two weeks work in Venice didn't help (no bad days at the office encountered there...).

Martin, well done on judging and setting an interesting theme. It's not your fault that some of us couldn't come up with a good idea. (I assume that this is because we only have good days at the office.)

Prieni

Alan,

take it easy. There are intelligent people who, during six years of me working in Britain, couldn't (and still cannot) bring themselves to spell my name "Ralf" instead of "Ralph". And that wasn't a once-a-year affair and I signed all my emails with Ralf...

Just be proud that they think you are the inventor of the "Allen key" (which for me would be the only logical explanation)

Prieni

Great shots, nicely caught action (though I think in both pics the feet are a bit too high for comfort of the other players).
I like the spray of mud from the players boot in the first one. From that I deduce that the ball had left her foot again, right?

Speaking of womens footy, congratulations to the England squad for coming second in the Europeans!

Prieni

Thanks all,

no desaturation in the first one, it's shot against the light, that's why the colours are not that stark.

I was looking through some more of the shots yesterday and there is more wave action on it's way. Might take a while, though, as I'm off to Venice on Tuesday (the hardships of a scientist's life, workshops and conferences in boring places...)

Thanks again,
Prieni

Marvellous shots Alan!

The robin and lazy days for me, but the pheasant and church windows are also great shots.

Hope you get back to strength in good time and can enjoy going out taking such wonderful shots again.

Prieni

Can't get enough of waves. As I was sifting through shots from last years December holiday I came across some wave action...
All with K20D and Sigma 70-300 APO DG

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_RDP5229fc.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_RDP5231fc.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_RDP5331fc.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_RDP5371fc.jpg[/IMG]

All taken in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a bit north of the Playe de las Canteras (for those of you who ventured out to this island before).

Prieni

Congratulations and I hope that there will be many shots following this one.
The first one is always the most exciting one (not that it gets boring down the road; it's hard to predict and therefore the excitment is kept).

This certainly is a well deserving shot, good start to the PPG collection!

Prieni

Hope you don't take exception on this one but rather accept it

I think the desaturation does work very well here. However, I would make the green a bit warmer (i.e. less blue, more yellow). And I would follow Aiki's crop here and take off a bit of the bottom.

Prieni

Marvellous shot, exactly as I like it. I agree that the colour version does look very good and I can well imagine that in the b&w version you loose a bit of it's appeal.

Well done!

Prieni

I do use this combination quite a lot and cannot second Technoblurbs comments from my experience. However, Sigma is known to have quite a bit of quality scatter...

Some examples taken with K20D and Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro
At 70 mm, A6.7
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/gallery_image_4402122.jpg[/IMG]

This one also at 70 mm, A8:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_RDP3693fc.jpg[/IMG]

This was taken at 210 mm, A8:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_RDP5083.jpg[/IMG]

This is a night shot at 108 mm, A8:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/A_RDP0261fc.jpg[/IMG]

Whilst I agree that it is not a 'special' lens I think it is much better than ok.

Prieni