Hey guys, I completed the shoot, and it was a very interesting experience! Here's the results: https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/tobinobin/sets/72157649021919997/

Problems that I encountered: I used my 50mm 1.8 and 35mm 2.4 wide open which meant not everything was perfectly in focus. Low light was also an issue, as I wanted to get pics with bokeh, but had to amp up my ISO to 1600 to do so. I would love some critique of the shoot, as it's my first and I haven't got much of an idea. Thanks,

Tobie

Hey there, I'm looking for advice. So on Friday I've arranged a shoot with a work friend. It's going to be outdoors and in the city, so location/lighting will be important. I've listed my gear below:

Pentax K-30
35mm 2.4
50mm 1.8
18-55mm 4.5-5.6
Helios 58mm 2.0
Tokina 50-200 4.5

Manfrotto 190 XPROB Tripod

Apart from that, I have no other real mentionable gear, including lighting equipment. I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions, most importantly about lighting naturally, and lens usage for portraits (what works best for what kinds of poses/shots). She's photogenic, and really enjoys being photographed (confident)! I was thinking of some glamour-esque photos, perhaps utilising heavy shadows/cigarette smoke, and trying to use Christmas lights in town for stylistic bokeh. Any advice will be very welcome!

Thanks.

The 50-135 is far too expensive for me sadly. The 50mm was a consideration, however 50mm doesn't seem as great a walkabout lens as the 35mm, although the speed/price is attractive (seems like a brother to the 35mm, which I love and use all the time). The telephoto lenses are certainly an idea which I'll consider. Any thoughts on a wide/ultrawide, such as the Sigma 10-20mm, or the Pentax 12-24? Seems like it could be fun for urban photos, and landscapes/astrophotography.

Hey guys, I was wondering if you could suggest a next lens for my K-30. I'm currently using a 35 2.4, 18-55 WR, and a few old lenses (helios 58mm, some 28mm and a push-zoom(?) 50-200mm). I generally seem to take pictures in the city at night and with a tripod these days, but it's really nature that interests me, I just don't have the opportunity very often. I would like to expand to doing portraits/weddings in the future. I realise now these two pursuits are pretty different within photography, so feel free to suggest what you think!

myles, to control aperture, or simply to shoot?

Thanks guys, problem solved! It is a shame that it's stuck wide open...I'm guessing there's no way around that?

Hey there, I bought two old lenses (RMC Tokina 80-200 4.5, RMC Tokina 28mm 2.8 ). The lenses themselves seem in fine condition. They are both old manual focus. However, the shutter just simply won't fire when I have them attached. I'm sure they have the right mount, but my camera doesn't work when they're connected. Any ideas?

Thank you guys for your comments, I really appreciate them.

@Dodge - I'm not sure what CC is, but I understand what you mean with it being a challenge. I'll look into filters, and perhaps not always having to include the sun in my shots. I'm also planning on buying a tripod to allow for exposure bracketing and HDR. So many things to buy!

@David - It's a bit mince that there's this telegraph pole in the middle of an idyllic Trossach's field, but how would I go about editing it out in lightroom? There's spot removal, but I didn't think that would look up to scratch. Is cloning a photoshop tool?

Yeah, the glow on the roof seems to be from clumsy brush use, when I tried to increase the exposure solely on the boat house. I'll fix this, thanks for pointing it out. Thanks for your comments

A happy accident then! I dub it 'burl amongst ferns' I actually prefer it to the daffodil picture if you don't mind me saying. It's not that it's a bad picture, I just feel like you see quite a lot of daffodil pictures amongst any photography community.