Ring Necked Parakeet - very common around south west London. Maybe it's on holiday?

Phil

At that price you can't go wrong - at worst you've got a reasonably cheap paperweight!

Phil

An interesting and varied set. I particularly like the Steps, balloon Man and the portrait of your wife, I think that they are excellent.

Phil

Mine spends more time on the camera that any other single lens, and I'd agree with all that everyone above has said. It's a super lens, extremely competent and good value and it's WR!

Phil

2, 3 & 4 for me (all for different reasons!). I'd guess that the Beetle didn't win.

Phil

You have PM

Phil

As very few modern DSLRs produce 'poor'images , for me the key advantages of Pentax are the ergonomics, the weather resistance and the sheer quality feel compared to the canikons, which IMHO feel cheep and plasticy in comparison.

Phil

John - in the colour original the marks on the door are OK and add to its character, but I know what you mean in the B&W version. I might revisit it and see if I can tone some of them down a little.

I was after a 'severe' effect, in fact the first version was even more severe with almost no detail in the shadows underneath the head. In the end I decided to lift them a little, while keeping a lot of contrast around the eyes and between the two halves of the face.

Phil

I was really taken by this door knocker found in the town of Volterra (Tuscany). I've gone for a high contrast 'silhouette' look and I would welcome comments and (constructive) criticism of the approach I've adopted.

Phil

+1 - really lovely composition.

Phil