POW June 14, 2009

<p>. . .</p><div></div>

<p>That's the aviation spirit we all want R.T!!!<br>

Beautiful DC3s =)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I'm just gonna comment on the images so far. Yesterday I had to shoot a charity soccer game at our MLS Qwest Field for work. After 600 shots, I just couldn't bring myself to even look at any more pictures I've taken this week let alone open the camera bag today. So it is a great pleasure to view all of <em>your</em> work today.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Believe me, I know the feeling, and it's why you don't see many sports shots from me this year. I turned down all but some softball work this year. It was truly sapping the enjoyment out of my photography to come home and have to sort through 200-1000 images per game/tournament. it was partially the reason for my backlog last year, and now that I've sort of caught up, I'm taking it easy and enjoying photography rather than working way to hard at it.Sports are generally considered easy but the layperson, but it's the post shooting editing/pruning that really wears me down. I come home from a good weekend of landscape shooting and even with bracketing I have maybe 100 unique images, with sports 2 periods of hockey gets me the same. </p>

<p>Wow! Another fantastic week. Special thanks to John O'Keefe-Odom for posting in such detail his working process. You're obviously quite a craftsman with photography and the result in your landscape is stunning. I can only imagine how beautiful the acutal print is.<br>

R.T., nice use of wide angle on the second plane shot.<br>

Heather, I know that happy face well as evidenced from the holes in my own back yard. Nicely done.<br>

Arkadiy, Nice use of over-exposed side light on those bottles. <br>

Somanna, Really like the sky color on your night shot.<br>

Scot Tremblay, Um, don't know quite what to think of that which probably means it's worth $20,000 a print in limited edition of 10.<br>

Very cute shot of your thief, Rod.<br>

Darren, VERY nice use of background.<br>

Duane, Nice photojournalism. I would be tempted to post process the first one a little bit to make the subject pop.<br>

Trent, good use of flash. Gives a neat effect that grabs attention.<br>

Ryan, Lensbaby should really use your photographs to promote their product. Was never interested in one until I saw what you can do with it.<br>

Dave, I second John's statement that the shadow on the hawk brings the shot to life.<br>

I really like your shot of the frog, Howard. Proving once again that the DA 50-200 is one of Pentax's most under rated lenses. It was one of my favorites and you put it to great use here.<br>

Sigmar, very peaceful shot.<br>

Patrick, fantastic action capture. That's a great angle and composition.<br>

John, I really like the glow on your rose.<br>

Roger, barrel distortion or not, the creativity of the second shot is a lot of fun. <br>

Grzegorz, I like your bottles. Nice color and composition on both shots.<br>

Mis, I'm glad you've started to put that "paperweight" to good use again. This one really hit me. Great use of 'negative space' with all of that blue sky. Stunning composition.<br>

Dorus, if more people could do post processing like you do, I would be a bigger fan of photoshop. I especially like your treatment of the flower.<br>

Steve, very cool Minneapolis skyline. Next time don't clutter your shot with all of those people ;-)<br>

Bob, it's been a long time since I've been in that part of the world and I enjoyed your mountainscape.<br>

Markus, I like your office shot.<br>

Haig, great golden hour colors. My only complaint is your shadow in the shot does not compliment it.<br>

Leo, I really like your macro shots. You're use of DOF gives those insects lots of character.<br>

Justin, nice of you to continue slumming it with the film shots even though you state digital is better ;-) Yet another amazing landscape. Also always love the dog shots.<br>

Ben, Really nice texture and use of light on those flower shots.<br>

Dave, also like the use of light and the lush green of the leaves on your weed.<br>

Finally, Yvon, I like the plants on your second shot. very interesting and really nice colors. <br>

That's a lot of typing! From now on I'm only picking my favorite three to comment on.</p>

<p>Anyway, my contribution this week is from the Chiefland (Florida) Watermelon Festival.<br>

It was a gray drizzling day. Both of these shots are on Ektar 100 film though they lose a lot in the interpretation of being scanned at Target. A good film scanner is probably in my near future. The color was not quite as bright and cheerful as the mood because Ektar, if anything, is an honest film and if it's an overcast day, the shots REALLY look like it's an overcast day. <br>

This first one is from the parade and features a contestant for the Chiefland Watermelon Queen throwing candy to the crowd. It was taken with the zoom with the creep I complained about in a previous post.<br>

<img src="http://www.realfloridaphoto.com/photos/563688771_X2syr-M.jpg" alt="" width="321" height="450" /><br>

<strong>Takumar A 1:4 70~200mm Cropped</strong><br>

...and the Watermelon eating contest<br>

<strong><img src="http://www.realfloridaphoto.com/photos/563691148_XF8bZ-M.jpg" alt="" width="563" height="450" /></strong><br>

<strong>Takumar 1:2.5 135mm</strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Going to stick with Morgan's idea and pick my favorite three from the postings so far, which will be extremely difficult! <strong>Great photos, everyone</strong>!<br>

Leo's Ladybug, Grzegorz's bottles, and Arkadiy's bottles are my top favs!<br>

Here's my contribution; three from a recent photo shoot of some of my favorite subjects, the children of one of my teaching colleagues;</p>

<p> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_BNid0N9R6rFizb-roAcOA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_QwbDuwpRCRA/Sjc4ohwXUyI/AAAAAAAAEPs/o567wlEoX9I/s800/IMGP5733.JPG" alt="" /></a><br>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Zfl8EBrrftSGFA_2JPx2Ig?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_QwbDuwpRCRA/Sjc6lP2y3VI/AAAAAAAAEQc/TYD2e8nr6uY/s800/IMGP5601_0750.JPG" alt="" /></a></p>

<p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JewcEM6u8sCJs0bYYdGnGA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_QwbDuwpRCRA/Sjc4qKwK3BI/AAAAAAAAEPw/dobl_Y4hSEE/s800/IMGP5502_0651.JPG" alt="" /></a></p>

<td > </td>

<p> </p>

<p>Hey Lisa!! where have you been? Good to see you back :-) Nice shots, and great, nailing the exposure on the first two.. they turned out really nice!</p>

<p>It almost seems unfair to comment on only a few shots but this thread has grown so much and the shot quality has improved so much that it's hard to comment on everyone's work. So having said that I'll just pick out a few favourites.<br /> Yvon, the 3rd shot is very nice. Great start to the POTW<br /> Ben, interesting look in that second shot. Nice.<br /> Love Justin's shot of Caney. Perfect<br /> Leo. cool first image. very sharp too.<br /> Haig's second shot of the beach. Great stuff with the guy in the upper right.<br /> Markus, I like the perspective of the 2nd image. Nice series.<br /> Bob M. Nice mood in the first shot.<br /> Steve T. Nailed the sunset. Nicely done.<br /> Dorus. The first is great. Has something of an old faded postc.ard look to it.<br /> Roger's second shot is fun and adds interest with the people. Nice exposure too.<br /> Mis, I like the stark look of that shot, nice bold image.<br /> Grzegorz. Love the first shot of the bottles.<br /> John B. Perfect colour in the rose shot. Nicely captured with one water drop.<br /> Patrick. Tough to do and you nailed the action. Well done.<br /> Howard T. Love the second shot. Perfect colours and look.<br /> Dave H I like the hawk shot (3rd one) has a film like quality to it.<br /> Sigmar. Nice shot and light captured here.<br /> Ryan, I like that shot even though I'm not a Lensbaby fan generally. Nice mood.<br /> Trent I gotta comment on that coffee stand. How much plastic did they use to promote 'organic coffee' Kinda defetes the purpose I think. Fun shot though. Bet you could clone the flash/stand out easily.<br /> John O. Love the B&W waterfalls.<br /> Duane, The DW shots sure capture a power broker. He does a great job as Premier but doesn't inspire 'warm fuzzies'. But we envy someone who at least has the balls to stand up for the Island.<br /> Darren S, there's something about that shot I really like. Impressionistic I think. Usually a busy background hurts a shot but this one works somehow.<br /> Rod H. great capture of the squirrel. Love it.<br /> Scott. yeah that's just plain odd.<br /> Somanna, very good night shot. Nicely captured.<br /> Arkadiy. Love the light and colour in that shot.<br /> Heather. He sure looks happy in that 2nd shot. Mouth ful of dirt and all.<br /> R.T. Like the second plane shot. the silver and blue just jump out at you.<br /> Morgan, that's a fun shot of the kids and watermelon. Love it.<br /> Alisa, I think you nailed those shots. very nice and if that's you're saying, I'm impressed!. Very true.</p>

<p>Now a couple from me.<br /> First is an old abandoned farm in the pouring rain. It's a double exposure in camera designed to look soft.<br /> <a title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting" href="http://img7.imageshack.us/i/potw3.jpg/" target="_blank" title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting"><img src="http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4079/potw3.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="682" height="455" /> </a></p>

<p>Wedding on Saturday and I did a baby shoot on Sunday for the first time. Up to my eyeballs in PP work!! Thinking of adding kids to my portfolio. Whew, this is the toughest form of photography I've ever tried. Challenging subjects and lots of waiting around while the kids do whatever they want. But a few shots worked and I'll do more I hope.<br /> <a title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting" href="http://img200.imageshack.us/i/potw2.jpg/" target="_blank" title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting"><img src="http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3601/potw2.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="681" height="485" /> </a> <br /> Cute kid though<br /> <a title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting" href="http://img31.imageshack.us/i/potw1.jpg/" target="_blank" title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting"><img src="http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7690/potw1.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="679" height="486" /> </a></p>

<p>I really like where you were going with that double exposure, Peter--the texture of the grass and pump is great and I think you placed the focus<em> </em> perfectly.<em> </em> I'm not sure about the shed, though--it's so centered and the roof is so bright. I think I'd have gone for just the pump and grass but of course my shooting style tends to the myopic. Great baby shot, btw. <em> </em></p>

<p>Pentax LX + waist-level finder + Pentax 20/4. TRI-X 400.</p>

<p><a title="AiKoDai Guard, 1985 by Alex Es, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2225/2102404229_a6cdbaf66d_b.jpg" alt="A<mce:script type=" /></a></p>

<p>Hey, Haig! Thanks for the warm welcome back! Between my full-time teaching, being a mother/wife, and the part-time photography that I've been doing, I haven't been able to participate in P-net, but I've missed it so much! This is such a great community! I actually thought about you as I drove into Arizona last weekend! Maybe I'll be able to find some great Arizona landscape shots in the near-future! You always have such good luck!<br>

Peter, that's not my saying at all. I found it on a quotes website and thought it was perfect for that photo, particularly knowing my friend and her dedication to her children.</p>

<p>For future reference, I'd be delighted to visit with anybody passing through Arizona.. So please give me a holler!<br>

Morgan, thanks for the comment about my shadow.. now that I've managed to learn a few more of the PS tricks, it was real easy to get rid of.. never thought about it! </p><div></div>

<p>Joining in for the first time. Picked up an M42-EOS adapter to burn off an Amazon certificate that I had lounging around. A friend got an S-M-C Takumar 35mm f/3.5 with a whole bunch of old Nikon gear, and had nothing but F-mount bodies, so I was the lucky recipient. These aren't all strictly from the past week, but all within the last 2 weeks, so I hope you'll forgive my breaking of that one rule. Body was Canon 40D, processed in Lightroom 2.3.<br>

I live in San Diego, CA and these are local.<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/3622891088_f8d3e87269_o.jpg" alt="" width="518" height="800" /></p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3658/3621241434_8bc2da3402_o.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /><br>

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3603403959_41e0fb2176_o.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p>

M.E. in "Fiesta" the flash was inside their kitchen, bounced off the walls and ceiling, giving a softer, but still directional,

light. Was this what you were referring to?

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>My first post - an American Bald Eagle that occasionally stops off near my house in Calgary. Taken with a K20D and the Sigma 100-300 f4. Wasn't too happy with the Sigma, so I have traded it in for an old but still good FA*300 4.5.<br>

<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YM-zE7u7f9U/SgJ33ll6dQI/AAAAAAAAAFc/KjpqqTCMf6w/IMGP0440.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="800" /> <img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YM-zE7u7f9U/SgJ33l3FcAI/AAAAAAAAAFk/iRY5NmBtF3M/s640/IMGP0470.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="512" /></p>

<p>Well done, Andrew! Interesting that you didn't like the Sigma--I've heard good things about it. I don't expect you'll be disappointed with the FA* 300mm, though.</p>

<p>Here are my picks so far (was the 2 shot limit supposed to shorten this thread?):<br>

Yvon - I would have opened at about 1 am but I was too tired to post. Unusual lighting on pics 1 & 2; I like #3 really subtle but bright.<br>

Justin - How do you stand in the middle of rapids and get such a nice shot?<br>

Leo - Wow! fantastic!<br>

Haig - beautiful light, well composed, would never have picked out the shadow as you.<br>

Bob - Very painterly shot, esp clouds. Glad the weather broke for you. Do you have lichen growing on you yet - it's still raining!<br>

Steve - Buildings look like they were built in the 1950' -60's. Antique is '50-'60's? I now feel old!<br>

Dave - Flower looks internally lit - great shot. Fabulous bird shot. I want a longer lens!<br>

Grzegorz - The internal light on the window shot is beautiful; a little careful work in PP could take down the overexposed outside. I like the shot.<br>

John - the rose is perfectly beautiful.<br>

Rod - I hope that's @ 300mm, otherwise, if he knocks, don't answer!<br>

Scot - Think of the movie 2001, man-ape tosses bone into sky and scene goes to space station. That was the best segue ever made cinematically and intellectually, compressing 100,000 years of human history into a split second.</p>

<p>Duane and Morgan - the 50-200 also took the following about a year ago garnering 2 exhibitions and an organizational postcard:<br>

That's all folks!</p>

 

<p>oops</p>

<p>again</p><div></div>

<p><em>Wonderful</em> photo, Howard!</p>

<p>Great shots Yvon, and basically all of you.<br>

Here is my almost aLive Histogram :-D<br>

<br /> <a title="K20D aLive Histogram by levyfulop, on Flickr" href=" title="K20D aLive Histogram by levyfulop, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2470/3612858603_05025417db.jpg" alt="K20D aLive Histogram" width="500" height="340" /> </a> <br /> Have a great weekend!</p>

<p>Lets see if I can slip in here at the end!<br>

My favorite this week is Howard's latest posting of the frog.</p>

<p>This picture was at sunset near Destin, Fl close to the ocean.<br>

-Jon</p><div></div>

<p>Peter, Jon, Dave, Duane, Morgan,<br>

Thanks for the thumbs up! The frog was too surprised to move when I emerged from below in my scuba gear LOL! Actually he sits and poses for who knows how long.<br>

Peter, the flowers are wet because has hardly stopped raining for two weeks, so they (the colors and flowers) are literally saturated.<br>

Howard</p>

<p>Dave,</p>

<p>The Sigma 100-300 was ok.... at f8 which is the f-stop those two pics were taken at. Wide open longer than 200mm there was a real fall off in contrast. Blacks bleed into whites and everything looks hazy. This started to diminish at f6.3 or so and isn't an issue at f8. In order to justify the bulk of that Sigma when trekking around the countryside I would need to use all of the glass, not just the middle quarter. <br>

The Pentax FA*300 f4.5 has turned out to be really excellent. Good size, pretty tough, usable at 4.5, sharp at f5.6 and above and nice contract across the board. Sure wish they had used this set of optics in the new DA* 300 because the weatherproofing would be handy.</p>