Hard to pick a favourite, but #5 probably just shades it for me (apologies for the pun!). This would be a good location to track in different seasons and times of day.

Phil

#5 for me as well - fantastic!

Phil

Andy

Zero minutes!

I 'cheated' by putting a hot wheat bag in my camera bag for about an hour before I went so everything was already warm when I arrived. I got the idea from a local photographer a couple of years ago and it works a treat. Without it, it would take 15-20 minutes depending on how cold it was outside.

Re. the Indian Leaf, their wings are a beautiful blue and orange when open but I couldn't get a decent shot this time. Hopefully I'll get lucky next time I go.

Phil

The butterflies are out in the glasshouse at RHS Wisley until 4th March. If you want to go, I suggest that you avoid the school holidays and the weekends if you can as the queues to get in can be large! There aren't a large number of butterflies out at the moment and it might be a little better in a couple of weeks.

They were taken with my K-5iis and either a Tamron 70-200 or Pentax FA 50 F1.4 and all with a little bit of bounced flash - all handheld.

1 - Autumn Leaf - 50mm




2 - Blue Banded Morpho - 50mm




3 - Great Mormon (male) - 130mm




4 - Great Orange Tip - 200mm




5 - Indian Leaf - 200mm




6 - Tree Nymph- 50 mm




Phil

What a fantastic set - I think that the exposure setting that you chose for #1 was inspired. You should be really proud of these.

Very hard to choose a favorite and I suspect that on one day I would pick one and on a different day another.
They all have something special about them, but for me # 1 just about shades it.

Phil

Neil

Thanks for your observations.

There are a variety of reasons why I have done this with these images, but the principle one was that the foreground was rather uninteresting shingle. As a result I cropped to give either a (strongish) lead-in line, or to put the horizon at a level that was pleasing to my eye.

The limited tonal range was also something I was going after, and I have others from the same shoot where this is probably even more pronounced. This is something that I'm still just playing with as I have previously tended towards much more saturated colours.

Phil

Apparently the pole marks the remains of one of the Mulberry Harbour elements from the war. That's one reason why I kept it in, the second was that the rocks formed a perfect 'lead in line' to it. But as Peter notes - "to pole or not to pole...?"

However, I'm pleased that you like the conversion.

Phil

A few from a recent shoot at Pagham (W.Sussex). All shot with the K-5iis.

1) Pagham tidal pool, shot with a Vivitar 28mm F2.8 MC Close Focus (A) that I bought in the mid 1970s, and a grad ND filter




2) Rocks & Groynes, shot with Pentax HD DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR & Haida 10 stop ND filter




3) Pagham Rocks, shot with Pentax DA* 16-50 & Haida 10 stop ND filter; converted in Silver Efex Pro 2




4) Pagham Rocks, shot with Pentax DA* 16-50 & Haida 10 stop ND filter + Cokin Grad ND filter




5) Pagham Rocks, shot with Pentax DA* 16-50 & Haida 10 stop ND filter + Cokin Grad ND filter + Lee Coral Grad Filter




All comments and suggestions gratefully received.

Phil

A really great set - shows what can be done with a bit of dedication and a great deal of skill.

Phil

Fantastic!

Phil