FD photos for June...

[ridinhome]

<p>Lastly - great shots all!<br>

<strong>Stuart</strong> - I love the posts, but the portrait with the Hoya Softening Filter is also great.<br>

<strong>Igor</strong> - beautiful subject very well captured. Especially like the last picture. Something about the way she looks at you is chilling, yet you can't look away.<br>

<strong>Rick</strong> - You've made fantastic use of that Soligor!<br>

<strong>Michael</strong> - you've really captured the atmosphere in these shots. Especially Heading Home.<br>

<strong>James</strong> - I said this in the FD 500 thread, but I'll say this again - fantastic photographs! How close were you when you took the picture of the lion. The Masai walking home is...superb. <br>

<strong>Louis</strong> - its almost trite for me to say this, since you're such a great photographer - amazing work. How did you desaturate so perfectly in the first picture? Every time I desaturate, it comes out looking flat.</p>

[james_turner6]

<p>Kayam, thanks. Pretty close, but still in the jeep! Love your first flag shot in particular. Sorry about the lens.<br>

"Snap" to what you say about Louis's work …</p>

[ray_storege]

<p>1)<br /><img src="http://birdshots.eu/FD400pics/Image1.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="519" /><br>

Canon 40D, New FD400mm f/2.8L</p>

[ray_storege]

<p>2)<br /><img src="http://birdshots.eu/FD400pics/Image2.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="561" /><br>

Canon 40D, New FD400mm f/2.8L</p>

[ray_storege]

<p><img src="http://birdshots.eu/FD400pics/Image3.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="1050" /><br>

Canon 40D, New FD400mm f/2.8L</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p><strong>Kayam</strong>- Thanks for the kind words. The best way to get a good B&W rendition from a color source is to <strong>NOT</strong> globally desaturate. Although easy, it's a crap shoot at best and often less than optimal. You want to <strong>CONVERT </strong>to B&W. Depending on your image editor, I use Photoshop, <em>you</em> want to control the rendition of various colors by selecting the conversion parameters yourself. Think about the way you control the rendering of colors on panochromatic B&W film. You employ red, green , yellow, etc filters to lighten and darken various color tones for good separation or to create a certain look. With software like Photoshop (and others), you can make that transform with a level of balance and precision not possible with standard filters and B&W films. When you add that to the already powerful tonal control these products offer, you are put squarely in the drivers seat of exactly how you want your images to read. Contact me off list if you need more specific instruction.</p>

<p>My condolences to you on the untimely death of your lovely Kiron macro lens. In your short time with it, it served you well as evidenced by your beautiful images posted above.</p>

[bsharpe411]

<p>Kayam...I've loved The Flatiron Building ever since I first saw Edward Steichen's 1904 photo of the building done with gum bichromate over platinum. It looks as if you were standing at the same location as Steichen. Excellent work.</p>

<p>If you want to see the Steichen version, click here <br>

<a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/33.43.39">http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/33.43.39</a></p>

[james_turner6]

<p><strong>Ray</strong>, in a word "wow!" (IIMRSS), especially the peacock. My guess is you're pleased with your recent purchase? </p>

[ridinhome]

<p>Louis - thanks for the kind words! There's an outside chance the lens is still salvageable, will have to see if a kindly lens doctor can do some magic. Thanks also for sharing your conversion technique. I use PS Elements 8 for the Mac. Will play around with the convert function, so please expect a message from me in short order!<br />Bob - thanks for the link to the Steichen - beautiful image. I'm fortunate that my office is right next to Madison Square Park so I walk past the Flatiron every day. Hadn't realized that Madison Square Park used to be a canal of some sort. The photo I took was a lucky capture - I had a few shots left in the roll so I brought the camera to the office and took it out on my lunch break to finish them off. The last shot on the roll was the one of the Flatiron.</p>

[ray_storege]

<p>@James, I'm pleased with it very very (did I say "very" allready?) much, its a privilege to be able to shoot with it, thank you for your kind words :-)</p>

<p>It definately shows you are also having the time of your life shooting your gear, to be able to walk amongst lions must be worth it by itself, awesome! </p>

[Andy Collins]

<p>What amazing photos! James, those shots from Africa are just outstanding! All of these shots demonstrate the incredible talent and skill on this forum. Here are a few of mine from June. Some of these were posted in the Classic Manual Camera forum a couple of weeks ago, but some are new.</p><div></div>

[Andy Collins]

<p>Forgot to add that all of these were taken with the F-1 and FD 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5.</p>

<p>Shot #2...</p><div></div>

[Andy Collins]

<p>Shot #3...</p><div></div>

[Andy Collins]

<p>Shot #4... "The Horsemen", the world's only P-51 aerobatic team. While they don't do maneuvers like the Blue Angels, the grace and precision with which they fly is most impressive, and very moving. I wish I'd had James's 500mm lens for this shot!</p><div></div>

[Andy Collins]

<p>Shot #5...<strong><em>The Crazy Man!</em></strong> Yes, he landed this airplane on top of this van while it was moving down the runway. The pilot is Kent Pietch, a super-talented stunt pilot who won the showmanship award in 2008, beating out the whole field of stunt pilots on the entire air show circuit! He's pretty amazing.</p><div></div>

[m_m7]

<p>From California with love </p><div></div>

[m_m7]

<p>AN old door</p><div></div>

[m_m7]

<p>Wild flowers</p>

[m_m7]

<p>Sorry wrong attachement</p><div></div>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Always great to see all these. Some shots in mid winter here in Australia!</p><div></div>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>No2</p><div></div>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Shot 3</p><div></div>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Shot 4</p><div></div>

[tony_lockerbie]

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

[paul_de_ley]

<p>Beautiful shots everyone! I've only finished a few rolls this month, trying out some new (to me) lenses. I picked up a Kiron 28 f2 in FD mount because I already had one in Minolta MD that I really like, but the FD copy I got has issues with overexposure. Here's the "least worse" I've managed to extract from my scanner so far...</p>

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