[dave-]

as you can see this kit lens gives soft images.however you have captured a nice mood with the contasting b+w in the first pic.

your doing well.

[Philoslothical]

The K-r's kit lens is actually quite sharp. It's the 1/15th shutter speed here that's likely the issue, slight camera shake (unless a tripod was used). ISO is a bit high too, which introduces more texture, and makes less than perfect focus more apparent, imo. Still, nice pics for just getting to know the camera.

[jbuck92]

Yea, I'm still trying to remember "Low ISO is better" as a general rule of thumb. Here's 1 I took this morning. 1/180s, f4, 100 ISO, also with the 18-55 kit.

[Philoslothical]

Well, it's not a help thread, but I'll give you a couple pointers real quick. Of course, larger aperture = more light, but shallower depth of field. Remember you have a flash, as well. There are dozens of quick and easy homemade flash diffuser tutorials around, and they make a big difference to the quality of light.

[jbuck92]

Yep, at first when I was using the flash I had everything either too open, too slow, or the ISO too high and the pictures were very washed out. I turned the flash off and raised the ISO to compensate, forgetting that the ISO would increase the noise. The 2 I just posted were with flash, just a much, much lower ISO.

[tebayo26]

I used to think I was sorta good until I saw everyone's photos. >_<

Here's a photo I took from my front porch this morning.

[lukulele]

Nice flow from contrail into the bending tree. Contemplative scene.

[Murgy91]

Wow.. some of the photos on here are brilliant!

I'm completely new to photography, had my camera since christmas day, since then I've learnt a lot from this forum and the book understanding exposure, thank u to everyone recommending it to me! getting a good few shots now compared to all that was rubbish step by step

This is probably one of my best.. shot in manual as well :P very proud to be off auto as much as possible

[lovejoy]

K-r is my first DSLR and am pround to say that picking K-r over Nikon D3100 or Canon T2i is one of the best decisions i'v ever made. I have had it for a couple of months now, here are a few shots.

Both were taken with Tamron AF 75-300 4-5.6 LD. Any constructive criticism welcome !!

[Brydzo]

KIT Lens

[pericombobulation]

Wow, I can't can't believe the title of this thread is "Best pictures by newbies with K-r." All of these photos are amazing! I'll humbly submit my own now, though it pales in comparison to the incredible work already posted. It has been so warm for January here in the Northeast - it was 50 degrees the day I received my K-r in the mail. So the first thing I did was to take it outside and check my bees to see how they're doing so far this winter. Very first shot was a keeper! It was a bit complicated to manipulate the camera considering I hadn't read the instruction manual yet, and was working with my beekeeper's suit and gloves on! f 7.1, 1/320 sec, ISO 200, 55mm with the 18-55 kit lens.

[kaiserz]

Here's mine. I got my k-r(My first camera besides my phone) a month and 3 weeks a go and I love it (:

[pericombobulation]

See this is what I mean. I can't believe you, kaizerz, are a newbie! I mean, I'm being facetious because of course I believe you. It just astounds me because that is a really awesome, professional looking photo, as are many of the photos on this thread. Nice job! Do you have the EXIF info?

[kaiserz]

I think you can view the EXIF here Expressions - Pentax User Photo Gallery .

And thank you (:

When I first got my camera (specially the first month) All I did was take pictures. Within a week I got myself the M.50 1.7 and after another week a DA 35 2.4. I started shooting with auto mode(s), I get frustrated sometimes because I can't achieve what I want to capture, I've been pushing myself and like a sponge, I just read and try to absorb what I can, learning how to shoot in manual, what hyper-focal distance is and stuff like that, I learn from my mistakes and make sure not to forget and incorporate everything I learn next time. Like everything in life, at first everything just doesn't make sense, but once I learned stuff lil by lil, it's just made sense, it's like building a big puzzle (:

[Brydzo]

Pentax A 50mm F1.7 Lens