I had to go Amsterdam, on business, for a couple of days and was lucky enough to stay in the Hilton Hotel which is right next to the Central Station.
I managed to squeeze my K3 and 18-135 (I am now officially in love with this lens) in my bag and went out for a few hours one evening.
I tried to capture some 'non-touristy' images of the city. I mainly used Aperture Priority with the exception of No. 12 which was a 30 second exposure propped on 3 bar stools on the hotel roof bar.
Click for Full size images and, as always C&C is welcome (although I am aware that I need to do something about the purple and green fringing).

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There full album can be found here: link

Thanks John. You're absolutely right. TBH I chose black because it was more of a lighting challenge and I think Gareth's point about edge lighting would solve the problem.

The biggest difficulty, in lighting this, was to avoid 'light spill' onto the background whilst still lighting the guitar sufficiently.

With a bit more time I shall definitely try a white background as this seemed to be the generally accepted style for the vast majority of stock images.

I have registered with several libraries and, once I feel practices enough, I shall choose which one, or ones, I shall upload to. I don't expect to retire on my earnings but, hopefully, I could earn something to subsidise my kit.

Gareth. I must admit that I am loving playing with the lights and I have plenty more subjects I want to get 'just right' so there will be more to come. Thanks

Just in case any of you technophobes are interested here is the setup:

No. I just haven't taken them yet

I have previously uploaded my portrait images for comment on here and may well do again. However I have another route for critiquing my portraits as I am currently enrolled on a portrait course and homework is 'marked' by a recognised professional.

I'm trying a wide range of photo styles and subjects and will regularly ask for comment.

Gareth, thanks for the comments. Yes I think you're right it does need a bit more 'effort' with the lighting. I do have a 60 x 90 and a 60 x 120 softbox that I could use. For my Saki bottle shot (link) I 'masked' off some of the softbox to produce the thin edge lighting. I will probably have another try using a similar idea.

Unfortunately I'm away for the next 2 nights and I have some portrait sessions booked for the weekend so it may have to wait

Still it's always handy to have something to do when its raining

PS. I've never been very good at sucking eggs

Yep, as I thought I have 2 CF cards:

1. Sandisk Ultra II 4GB 15MB/s
2. Sandisk Ultra 4GB 30MB/s

Both it their little protective cases. They haven't been used for, at least, fourteen months and were previously used in my Olympus E520 for a couple of years. TBH they may even still have some images on them.

Let me know if you're interested.

My 16-50 has had terminal sdm failure and so has gone back to SRS, under warranty, for repair. With my K5iis and 12-24 also away I am a bit 'light' in the wide angle department. As such I have bitten the bullet and bought a 18-135 as a backup lens. It will also serve my wife who will use it on the K5iis on our next expedition.

Anyhow, having converted my garage (sort of) into a studio I want to start shooting some stock images and build up a portfolio. The QC can be very strict and so I need plenty of practice before I submit anything.

I thought I would share some of my efforts here for your 'entertainment'. I took the opportunity this evening to take few shots of my acoustic guitar.

The lighting was one elinchrom D-Lite 4 fitted with a softbox, set on medium power, mounted low down to the left. The guitar was laid on a cardboard box (to lift it from the ground) which was in turn laid on a roll of black background paper. Below the camera was a silver reflector and to the right was a white card to provide some fill.

Camera was K3 with 18-135 with DA 18-135mm WR, ISO 100, f10 @ 1/100.

The images was tweaked in LR5 (clarity, white balance and saturation) and I used the local correction brush to darken a few areas of the background. Finally I finished it off in Photoshop CC to remove a few dust specks and blemishes.

All in all it took about an hour from setting up to finished.

I still need more practice and this image still isn't good enough to submit but I am interested in any comments you may have. Hopefully you can click on it to see it full size.

Mine does the same thing but I have it set to send RAW to one card and jpg to the other.
I would guess that this is probably the issue

I might be able to help you out there. I have one or two left over from my Olympus days.
I know that they are sandisk ultras but I'll check the capacity when I get home this evening.

That's all well and good but you don't get the hotdogs if you have it delivered


PS. don't forget the meatballs, it's the one saving grace of ikea is the meatballs