My experience with the built-in flash of the K10D is that it is about as powerful as a spent match. I'd invest in an external flash and Mattmatic's flash "ebook". I tend to set my camera on manual when using flash as I find the fancy in-built flash modes more of a pain and less reliable than a bit of trial and error.

The main problem with using flash outdoors is there is nothing to bounce it off, and direct flash is unflattering.

Best wishes, Kris.

Yes.

Many archaeologists in the US swear by it. My lady love's company used to buy it by the gallon!

Is this still available? Thanks, Kris.

I never make permanent changes to my RAW files which is one reason I like Lightroom so much (all edits are saved as an XML sidebar file leaving the original RAW file untouched). I am not sure what BW conversion facilities are available in PSE5. In CS3/Lightroom the BW adjustment layer is the way to go. You can simply drag left or right to lighten or darken certain tones, e.g. if you want the blue skies dark (like using a red filter) just drag the mouse across the sky in one direction and it'll darken all the blues, drag the other way and it will lighten them. It also comes with a set of in-built "filters". John Beardsworth's "Advanced Digital Black and White Photography" is an excellent book on the subject.

Best wishes, Kris.

Excellent shots. You seem (like me ) to have one of the better examples of the kit lens. I agree about the crop with the sunset, great positioning of the tree. The one of the wooden balustrade would work better if you could have got the wood from the front in focus. You'd need to calculate the hyperfocal distance as Pentax doesn't make a tilt/shift lens. On older manual lenses with depth of field markings it was easy. I like the cog photo, and the herb robert is nice and sharp.

Best wishes, Kris.

Nice and sharp, good exposure, good 3/4 view. Excellent if you are interested in planes. Less exciting if you aren't!

One day I'll look up what all these TLAs* mean...

*(three letter acronyms)

My favourite photographs of Durham (of the ones I took) were with the University Photographic Society in about 1986. We were given a tour of the upper triforium levels which were ideal for photographs. Ahh, happy days!

Try it an see but I like it the way it is. Very convenient cloud!

Best wishes, Kris.