[Des]

Finally got Flickr working, so here's the first batch of photos from my trip. Have to say, the 18-135 was fantastic on this trip. I left my telephoto behind and never missed it, and only used my wide-angle very sparingly. Out of 1638 total photos and 410 "picks" in Lightroom, 1531 and 377 respectively were from the 18-135. A slightly higher hit ratio for the wide angle, but that's to be expected when it's used that sparingly. All in all, I'm amazed at how well this lens handles.All photos are retouched in lightroom - some times a must due to challenging lighting conditions forcing me to underexpose to not blow out the sky and so on. Nothing too drastic in most shots, though. Both the K-70 and the lens handled the conditions (both in terms of photos and some pretty challenging weather) beautifully.

A few more

The 18-135 is the ideal travel lens in many ways. These are very good images. And clearly that's not just the lens - composition is excellent. Well done.

[Valantar]

The 18-135 is the ideal travel lens in many ways. These are very good images. And clearly that's not just the lens - composition is excellent. Well done.

Thank you! As mentioned above, we had a truly excellent guide. He didn't actually point out specific framings or show example shots (other than when we struggled and asked for feedback), but his cues on positioning and angles were invaluable. Made the second day visiting temples (which I haven't yet posted - stay tuned!) much, much easier. I'd definitely recommend his services to anyone ever wanting to visit Siem Reap/Angkor.

On the other hand, it's almost impossible to go there and not take great pictures. There's just too darn much to photograph. And 1000-year-old temples covered in jungle make for good, patient models.

[beachgardener]

we had a truly excellent guide

yes and he took you to locations etc, but you are the one that did the great framing and composition

[Valantar]

yes and he took you to locations etc, but you are the one that did the great framing and composition

Thanks

[Des]

Rhyll, Phillip Island, Victoria

[Des]

Tarra Bulga National Park, Victoria. K-S2 + DA 18-135 (x-posted)

[SharkyCA]

Just another example of the 18-135 lens.

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Last edited by SharkyCA; 07-28-2018 at 12:06 AM. Reason: Update

[bass3587]

This will be the lens I keep out of my current APSC lens if I sell the other zooms. It's weather sealed and takes awesome shots.

[Des]

Rhyll, Phillip Island, Victoria.

[rayallen]

Rhyll, Phillip Island, Victoria.

Nice light there, Des.

[ehrwien]

K-S2

135mm, f/8, 1/400s, ISO 200

Close focusing by ehrwien

135mm, f/8, 1/800s, ISO 200

Male chaffinch by ehrwien

135mm, f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 200

Male chaffinch by ehrwien

[Des]

Nice light there, Des.

One of those serendipitous moments Ray!

---------- Post added 2018-07-29 at 15:59 ----------

K-S2
135mm, f/8, 1/400s, ISO 200

Close focusing by ehrwien

135mm, f/8, 1/800s, ISO 200

Male chaffinch by ehrwien

135mm, f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 200

Male chaffinch by ehrwien

These are nice sharp images, but I'd just like to see the exposure lightened a little on the subject. If your software will let you do that selectively, so much the better, but even if it doesn't it would be worth increasing overall exposure even at the cost of over-exposing the background. Cheers, Des

[ehrwien]

These are nice sharp images, but I'd just like to see the exposure lightened a little on the subject. If your software will let you do that selectively, so much the better, but even if it doesn't it would be worth increasing overall exposure even at the cost of over-exposing the background.

Thank you for the comment!
I use DxO which lets me adjust Highlights, Midtones, Shadows and Blacks separately from each other. I raised the Shadows for the overall photos and loaded the original and the boosted ones as layers into GIMP, where I masked out just the bird / the insect with a layer mask and a brush. These are the results of that process:


Close focusing by ehrwien


Male chaffinch by ehrwien


Male chaffinch by ehrwien

I agree that they were a little too dark in the original images, but I find it to be close to looking weird now the way I raised the exposure selectively just for the subjects. Perhaps just raising the overall exposure will make it look more natural and not be as laborious as well.

[Valantar]

Thank you for the comment!
I use DxO which lets me adjust Highlights, Midtones, Shadows and Blacks separately from each other. I raised the Shadows for the overall photos and loaded the original and the boosted ones as layers into GIMP, where I masked out just the bird / the insect with a layer mask and a brush. These are the results of that process:


Close focusing by ehrwien


Male chaffinch by ehrwien


Male chaffinch by ehrwien

I agree that they were a little too dark in the original images, but I find it to be close to looking weird now the way I raised the exposure selectively just for the subjects. Perhaps just raising the overall exposure will make it look more natural and not be as laborious as well.

Hm. I agree that the insect looks better, but the chaffinch looks a bit washed-out and pale. Does DxO have radial filters or something similar? Personally, I wouldn't lighten the whole bird (at least not by more than a smidgen), but focus on its eyes/head.Then again, lighting like that can be very difficult to deal with.

[ehrwien]

The chaffinch looks a bit washed-out and pale. Does DxO have radial filters or something similar?

I don't know, I guess not. But I could certainly have restored some pop with the saturation and vibrancy sliders. And for the next time I'll just try to get the exposure correct (wrt the subject, not the whole frame) when taking the picture