Welcome to edition 170 of the Pentax Forum's Picture of the Week. Thanks to jmschrei (Joe) for hosting last week!

This edition covers photos from June 12 - June 26, 2011. That lets you show off any shots you took last week but haven't processed until now. In other words, you can post your shots from this week AND last week.

POTW is a great place to show what you've been shooting day-to-day. It gives us all a chance to see what other members are up to with their Pentax (and Samsung) cameras in the parts of the world in which they live or have visited. We can share ideas, learn from one another, and have a good time.

So show us what you've seen in your little corner of the planet! Looking forward to seeing all of what's out there this week. A special welcome to all new members!

Again same rules as always:

1) No theme, just post your favourite pix.

2) Lets keep it to fewer than 6 images per post just so the thread doesn't get too big each week.

3) Any Pentax camera or Samsung SLR is fine, whether it's film, P&S, or DSLR.

4) Enter anything you shot last week or during this current week until the thread closes.

5) The current host will appoint the new host as an invitation via Private Message (PM). If possible, the new thread will be linked to the previous one and the new thread will start between Noon EDT and 5PM EDT on Sunday. If the thread doesn't start, please contact Peter Zack, Moderator via PM.

Here are the links to previous POTW threads:

1 Peter Zack, 2 Eaglerapids, 3 rmtagg, 4 Peter Zack, 5 daacon, 6 Bramela, 7 mtnbearhug, 8 dantuyhoa, 9 gawan,10 roentarre, 11 daacon, 12 Kris, 13 mtnbearhug, 14 SCGushue, 15 daacon, 16 maxwell1295, 17 dantuyhoa, 18 daacon, 19 maxwell1295, 19(2) daacon, 20 Bramela, 21 Syb, 22 maxwell1295, 23 maxwell1295, 24 dantuyhoa, 25 Gawan, 26 Peter Zack, 27 borno, 28 daacon, 29 gawan, 30 Damn Brit, 31 maxwell1295, 32 maxwell1295, 33 dantuyhoa, 34 daacon, 35 Peter Zack, 36 Damn Brit, 37 Borno, 38 Kevint, 39 Peter Zack, 40 Timbo13, 41 daacon, 42 daacon, 43 gawan, 44 dantuyhoa, 45 daacon, 46 Rense, 47 daacon, 48 Rense, 49 borno, 50 Rense, 51 daacon, 52 Peter Zack, 53 Peter Zack, 54 dadipentax, 55 David Whiteley, 56 planedriver, 57 daacon,58 Bramela, 59 daacon, 60 gawan, 61 virgilr, 62 daacon, 63 RickL, 64 Peter Zack, 65 Peter Zack, 66 Causey, 67 daacon, 68 Bramela, 69 georgeweb, 70 daacon, 71 seacapt, 72 daacon, 73 AOski, 74 Rense, 75 eccs19, 76 daacon, 77 xs400, 78 daacon, 79 Bramela, 80 borno, 81 legacyb4, 82 daacon, 83 gawan, 84 Rense, 85 Peter Zack, 86 davef, 87 davef, 88 xjjohnno, 89 Bramela , 90 Peter Zack, 91 daacon, 92 stevebrot, 93 reeftool, 94 jezza323, 95 oldschool, 96 Iris, 97 Rense, 98 planedriver, 99 xs400, 100 Peter Zack, 101 Netuser, 102 Photolady, 103 Tamia, 104 Irishwhite, 105 Ramseybuckeye, 106 xjjohnno, 107 Bumbibop, 108 JeffJS, 109 Tpeace, 110 Nomad, 111 Photolady, 112 rparmar, 113 Peter Zack, 114 casil403, 115 Tamia , 116 JeffJS, 117 bbluesman, 118 Clou, 119 ruggiex, 120 Jimbow007, 121 jmschrie, 122 VaughnA , 123 pop4, 124 casil403, 125 woof, 126 twitch, 127 stevebrot, 128 ohce, 129 jmschrei, 130 photolady, 131 photolady, 132 bbluesman, 133 rparmar, 134 reeftool, 135 reeftool, 136 Oldschool, 137 xjjohonnol, 138 KarenH, 139 Rense, 140 daacon, 141 Tamia, 142 JeffJS, 143 bbluesman, 144 fotaki, 145 fotaki, 146 Woof, 147 Bramela, 148 Bramela, 149 Tamia, 150 Nomad, 151 Clou, 152 drugal, 153 rparmar, 154 Nomad, 155 jmschrei, 156 noelcmn, 157 noelcmn, 158 rwfarnell, 159 ramseybuckeye 160 christophleipzig, 161 JeremytheIndian, 162 SpecialK, 163 emetcalf, 164 emetcalf, 165 stevebrot, 166 rparmar, 167 Mattt, 168 JeffJS,169 jmschrei, 170 fotaki
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[xjjohnno]

John, not sure but I'm thinking it's a lily species rather then a cyclamen.

xjjohno....good set of flower shots from you, especially the last one which reminds me of a Cyclamen ?

[jmschrei]

Keeping with the natural themes of late I thought I would add a few of my floral efforts from the past week. I'm no great flower photographer but the colour is therapeutic after a long winter.

[photolady95]

Nice flower shots Joe. What is the first one called?

I have a few flower shots too. I took the flowers with the free JC Penny lens.



Painted Daisy:


And a riverscape: Taken with my Samyang 100-500mm lens @500mm. The buildings are on the beachside and I am standing at my favorite bird site on the river side.

[jmschrei]

Nice flower shots Joe. What is the first one called?

Thanks Mar! I like your riverscape, a little different for you with the buildings in the shot!

My first shot is a lilac, the deeper coloured variety I usually associate with older homes. This was taken in a riverside natural area where some plants from earlier gardens (there is a carragana in the background) have survived their original homes and become wild.

[photolady95]

Thanks Mar! I like your riverscape, a little different for you with the buildings in the shot!

When I was growing up here, there were no buildings like this on the beach side, you could look across there in the morning and get a beautiful sunrise shot. Now you're sunrises are not nature because every piece of land over there has hand of man in it.

[Paleo Pete]

Nice shots showing up. I'll add some flowers too I guess...sure ya wanna see more right?

Large yellow flower very similar to a wild sunflower. (I think it is, but not positive) Taken with the M42 Lentar 135mm. I'm liking this lens a lot, it's doing a very nice job.



Click image to view larger size.

Wild Sunflower (Maximillian Sunflower I'm pretty sure) taken yesterday afternoon, backlit, with Lentar 135mm also. This shot shows some of the nice detail this lens is getting, and this was from about 10 feet away. Daylight, no flash, f11 on a monopod. Very unusual, I normally shoot all hand held but wanted to try a few yesterday with the monopod. I tried several different crops, (3072x2308, resized to 1024x768 later) and this is what I settled on. About 4 or 5 pixels to the right is a large plant leaf hanging out in midair, that made it tough to get a shot at all, and moving it to the left didn't look good, so I had to settle for a bit more centered than I would like. I also wanted the buds at top left in the shot, it didn't look right with them cut off.



Click image to view larger size.

Maryland Meadow Beauty. Common around here right now, this was taken with the Lentar 135 also, and part of an extension tube set, 24mm tube length. Shot at f16, 1/180 with flash at 1/4 power. Some books just call it Meadow Beauty.



Click image to view larger size.

Robber Fly. Boy what a face...Lentar 135 again, Vivitar extension tube set, f16 with flash at 1/4 power. Taken yesterday.



Click image to view larger size.

[Paleo Pete]

photolady - I forgot, the flower you posted as a "painted daisy" grows in Texas too and is listed in my books as "Indian Blanket". I'm hoping I get a chance to go to Texas and shoot a few more of them before they go away for the year. That was also the first flower I shot when I got my K-x, they were in bloom like crazy in Oklahoma when I opened the box and put the first batteries in. I think a few might be around here too, but very few. Not native to this area, I think a local wildlife area has them in one of their wildflower areas along with Mexican Hats.

[fotaki]

Last few for this week.

A tangle of California Marigolds - maybe you know them differently in the US



Taken early morning. No idea what these are but they fill the garden growing like crazy



Something interesting

[fotaki]

Joe....lovely floral shots. As you say, nice to see some colour now

Mar....I love that Painted Daisy and the riverscape comes as a surprise. One would never guess from your past bird shots that such buildings dominate the skyline. Progress ??

Pete....think you've outbid us all with those great floral close-ups and WOW that is one ugly bug. Great capture.

[mattt]

This week was another busy one for me..

Nice to see the garden is doing its thing:






took a trip to the splash pad and the zoo with the kids and their class this week. lots of fun for all.

[reeftool]

It's still raining more than not so I've been close to home. A few close ups from today with my 55/2 Tak and extension tubes.

This is whats left of my Pink Cloud Beautybush shrub after the blossoms fell off earlier in the week. Not as pretty from a distance but much more interesting as a macro subject.



I posted some apple blossoms a few weeks back. The apples are doing fine.



Some interesting looking mushrooms, compliments of all the rainy weather I assume.

[Paleo Pete]

fotaki - Thanks a lot, those robber flies do sit still a lot, but don't like me getting close. I had to move several times before that one finally let me get 3 shots and left. Same as always, I've shot them several times. I was glad to get a keeper or two.

[photolady95]

Pete I think you're right about the "painted Daisy" it grows wild here also, but naming it I forgot what it was actually called. These though were planted by the city and they've overgrown their boundaries.

Here are a couple more flower shots I took this afternoon. The first was shot with at 28mm @macro and the second with my 18-55mm.

[JeffJS]

[fotaki]

matt...nice garden and zoo shots - especially the B&W portrait of a very regal Lion.

Richard...impressive close-ups with that Takumar. This reminds me to start using my manual lenses more (AF is handy but makes one lazy).

Mar...That first flower is really beautiful.

JeffJS...great flower shot - I particularly like the way you've got the OOF image mirrored in the background.


This is the last of the posts for this edition. I'd like to thank all who have contributed with some splendid work.