Cuban Ashtray
This is a shot that helps you to remember what it looked like. Typical for holiday snappers and the like, where the photograph is only a tool for jogging the memory when you think back at the time.
This one is a little bit more with the cigar placed in it.

For it to be a 'photographers' photograph more care should be taken on the background and, more crucial, lighting. The right side is too dark.

Still Life Composition Of Fruit
If this is the result of a long compositional effort then you should re-think. Look at some photography forums and find some still life shots you like. Analyse what you like in them. Try to figure out what the lighting might have been.

This here might be just ok on the composition and it is in focus. All other things are bad. The light reflexes in the bowl are awful, the colours look off and the bottom corners sink into black nothingness.

Daffodils
It is a shallow DOF image with flowers all right but far from being impressive. I do see some merit in the blown out daffodils, it's an idea one could work on. But here the composition is lacking, why do you have cut off the one on the right? It shouldn't be in the frame. The background also would be better if you had looked a bit more from top, i.e. having only the grass in the background.
Great demonstration that it is not that easy to take impressive flower shots.
Even if it doesn't thrill you it might be a good exercise for you to try and reproduce some of the better flower shots you stumble across.

Cat
Again, there is some merit in the idea to go high key with this cat shot. As it is it looks more like an accidentaly overexposed shot. It has been mentioned that the background here also is sub-ideal.

I think you made your life at PU forum a bit difficult with your entree. We are really a helpful bunch unless we feel that someone is pulling our legs.
If you are really serious about wanting to learn photography, you are at the right place, even if it doesn't feel like it.

Prieni

This is an observation that might be true or not. Don't know what the percentage is.

It's quite simplified and could easily be said with the same credence of any subject matter.
Street photography, people photography, landscape photography, ....(favourite or non-favourite genre here).

This is, I think, where you are wrong. It might seem that way until you try.
Also, as you remarked, there are loads of flower and insect shots around, so to get something out of the ordinary you
do have to use your imagination.

Well, as has been demonstrated impressively in this thread the £££££ are not necessarily needed.

Ok, you said it's just your opinion, and as such I do respect it. But I think you see it a bit too simple...

Prieni

P.S.: I don't think that a critic has to be an artist so whether he does or doesn't show any pictures is irrelevant. I don't play any instruments and yet I can voice my opinion about a piece of music. A sports journalist may not play football at all and yet can analyse a game.

Thread for discussion of the weekly competition. Once the first submission has been made I won't look inside the thread.

Have fund!

Prieni

Hyram, you mastered it perfectly. It's a great entry and certainly had me going "wow"!
Well done!

Prieni

Alien,

the first one is the strongest of the three, I would say. However, the halo on the top of the left building is a killer for me (and I guess this was the killer all around).

On the second I think that the empty space in the bottom area is too dominant.

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/_RDP5221.jpg[/IMG]

Prieni

SilkyPix Developer Studio can. I think they have a 30 day trial version.

I like that one best. Goes to show that the camera is not the most important... How long was the exposure on this one?

All three of them are very nice, Peter.

Prieni

Well done, Steve! Sweet little bugger...

Prieni

I was just about to agree with you when I thought: Well, couldn't that be achieved just by tweaking the JPG?
Here's my quick try. It's not as good as your RAW-tweaked version but I'm sure one could get very close to that.
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Pentax%20user/Raw_1ps.jpg[/IMG]

Having said that, I still agree that it is sometimes quite useful to have the RAW. With the K20D I had to change WB quite often in the RAW converter, I find the K-5 much better in that respect.
So double shame that it hadn't arrived. Something to look forward to!

Prieni