Cross posted from Post your best K-01 shots and Waterfalls and Moving Water.

From my last trip of the year, end of September 2013

Camera: Pentax K-01
Lenses: Pentax DA 18-135
ISO 100 or 400
Location: Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.
Oops, this is a Sigma 8-16 @ 15mm image. Somehow it snuck in with the 18-135s.


7.

[Rondec]

Great shots, Norm. Really like the second one and the last one.

[dcmsox2004]

beautiful venue, beautiful captures of this idyllic location... dave m

[normhead]

Great shots, Norm. Really like the second one and the last one.

Thanks for commenting...

beautiful venue, beautiful captures of this idyllic location... dave m

Thanks, I could have stayed longer in the location, but the sun got high and I lost my light. I hate that.

[charliezap]

Looks like a very peaceful spot Norm.--charliezap

[normhead]

Looks like a very peaceful spot Norm.--charliezap

Very peacefull Charlie, although you do get tired of the pounding noise of the waterfalls. I've never met another group there.

[CreationBear]

That's beautiful country--#4 I think is my favorite, though I'm curious how many tricks of the trade it took to get the exposure right...did you go as far as using a GND filter in the shot, or post process as an HDR?

[newmikey]

Lovely images and makes me want to come back there again. One of the most memorable vacations of my life. Wonderful to see these awesome shots.

[normhead]

That's beautiful country--#4 I think is my favorite, though I'm curious how many tricks of the trade it took to get the exposure right...did you go as far as using a GND filter in the shot, or post process as an HDR?

To tell the truth, I didn't see a lot of potential in that shot so I didn't even do a lot of work on it... it's not that I didn't like it, or it wouldn't be there, but I don't see a print possibility with that one. I would have used GND filters if I'd had them. There are a few parts of that image that are completely blown out. I have standard presets, one of which I use on images with not enough shadow detail. If I'd had my GND filters, the leaves bottom left would be a lot brighter, and a lot prettier. Shooting with a K-5 HDR processing is usually not as effective as using the tools in you photo editor, it just has so much dynamic range HDR is unnecessary. But in this shot , hard to do as it may be, the scene surpassed tha K-5s DR, shortly after this one the other photographer and I packed up and went back to camp. We just couln't find any more sheltered areas where we wouldn't have blown highlights. That's a problem with sites like this. We had good light when we got there about 10 am but by noon, we were getting blasted high lights. The light there is good only at certain times of day. Too early= not enough light coming through the canopy. Too late means too much dynamic range.

Lovely images and makes me want to come back there again. One of the most memorable vacations of my life. Wonderful to see these awesome shots.

Thanks, if you do come back, drop in.

[CreationBear]

Thanks for the insights--I ramble through terrain similar to that down here in the Tennessee mountains, but am just now begining to appreciate the difficult lighting conditions. At any rate, very evocative captures: definitely a coureurs de bois vibe throughout.

[normhead]

Thanks for the insights--I ramble through terrain similar to that down here in the Tennessee mountains, but am just now begining to appreciate the difficult lighting conditions. At any rate, very evocative captures: definitely a coureurs de bois vibe throughout.

Hey.. I forgot the easy part. Chimp your images and keep the histogram on, and check your histogram after each shot. With a K-5, K-5 II or IIs keep your histogram to the left. Blown shadows look better than blown highlights, and with that sensor, it's easier to recover shadows than highlights. I pay absolutely no attention to what the metered exposure should be, it's all about the histogram

[CreationBear]

That's very timely advice--I've been dipping into the controversial "expose to the right" theory lately, but didn't know if my K5 had obsoleted some of those concerns. At any rate, I'm grateful to see scenes similar to those I experience most of the time--generic advice about landscapes often seems to be geared to those Sound of Music expanses out in the Mountain West, but it's very seldom here that I even see the horizon, much less compose a picture that includes a lot of sky.

[patrick9]

Looks like a beautiful location . I would have to pick number 6 as my favorite of this series.

[normhead]

Looks like a beautiful location . I would have to pick number 6 as my favorite of this series.

Thanks patrick, it's one of the places we aim to get photographers to for sure.

[daacon]

Wow what a spectacularly beautiful location - I could have filled up a card or two there - great shots Norm all that is missing is the 6 pack cooling in the water ....(I know it was there just out of frame).