There is a lots of free editing software around that is worth looking at, eg

Photoscape, Paint.NET, Irfanview, Faststone, GIMP.

Dave

It was a surprise (and a relief) to have such a calm evening after a day of severe gales and rain in Dumfries and Galloway.

All comments welcomed

Dave

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Solset2.jpg[/IMG]

Good photos, especially the crab and the ship. I think the darker tones on the ship could do with a bit of a lift, but it is still a great shot.

Dave

BTW the "cormorant" is Frigatebird - a Great Frigatebird or a Magnificent Frigatebird.

Also have a look at PrinterInks.

http://www.printerinks.com/10435/2p-n-013/inkjet-cartridges/canon/ix6550/

Dave

Thanks for the comments.

I did try cropping, but the limitations of the lens (or more likely my limitations) resulted in poor shots.

Don't understand your comment about "full colour", George. These have had a few PP tweaks but the colour is as it was at the time.

But to the most important question. Yes I did visit the Bowmore distillery and all the others apart from Caol Ila, which was closed.

Dave

That is a really good shot, Snappy - excellent definition and tone.

Dave

Recently returned from a second visit to Islay. If you don't know the island then it is a wildlife gem, especially for birds and is the lazy birdwatcher's paradise. We did visit one bird reserve but saw more species of bird from the front garden of the cottage - though seeing the arrival of several hundred barnacle geese and watching a hen harrier upsetting loads of the smaller birds at the reserve was pretty good.

The storms drove some of the usually more distant sea birds close to shore. These were taken with K5 and a 25-30 year old Sigma 70-210mm zoom. I'm relearning manual focus and think I have more to learn. The garden wall in the last one shows just how close the gannets came.

Islay is also home to some great distilleries.

All comments welcomed.

Dave

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/G1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/G2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/G3.jpg[/IMG]

Agree with all of the above. Autumn (and winter) can provide some foul weather that can give great landscape photos. IMO there is no closed season for landscape photography.

A couple of things I find very useful, if not essential, for landscapes are the relevant OS map and this http://stephentrainor.com/tools

Dave

Thanks for the comments.

I did a plain wall test with an old SMC 1.8 55mm lens too and the mark was still there.

Dave

I have had my K5 for only a few days now and enjoying playing with it.

This morning one of shots showed an odd artifact in the centre -

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Photo1.jpg[/IMG]

I did a test shot against a plain wall and it is clearly visible again -

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Photo2.jpg[/IMG]

My first thought was a sensor stain, but all the examples I have seen on the Web are like spots. This looks more hair like.

I used the K5's dust removal routine which had no effect and the dust alert option showed nothing in the position of this problem. I tried to use the option to raise the mirror so I could blow air across the sensor, but the battery did not have enough charge to do this. So that may have to wait until tomorrow.

Also tried a few shots this evening and it is still there.

[IMG]http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/Whindley/Photo3.jpg[/IMG]

The retailer will happily replace the camera, but only after Pentax have confirmed there is a problem (the retailer has been caught out in the past by replacing faulty equipment where the fault had been caused by the user)

Problem is in the next couple of weeks I'm going to some special places and I don't want to be without the camera, so it looks as if I'll have to work around it - not impossible but it will be a bit of a bind and obviously it needs fixing.

So any suggestions on what this may be and how to remedy it will be appreciated.

Thanks

Dave