Welcome to another round of Picture of the Week. This is edition #278 covering 25 August through 08 September.

Many thanks to all who have hosted the previous POTW threads.

POTW is a great spot to show off any shots you take in the upcoming week, or last week that you haven't processed until now. In other words, you can post your shots from this week AND last week.

Same rules:

1) No theme, just post your favorite pix.
2) 5 or less images per post just so the thread doesn't get too big.
3) Any Pentax or Samsung camera, film or digital.

The current host will invite a new host 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 bluestringer, Moderator via PM.

Here are the records of 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 xjjohonno, 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, 171 xs400, 172 TOUGEFC, 173 TOUGEFC, 174 Warped, 175 MaryAD, 176 Davidw0815, 177 baro-nite, 178 baro-nite, 179 pentaximus, 180 lukulele, 181 lukulele, 182 rob 1234, 183 lukulele, 184 lukulele, 185 pentaximus, 186 ramseybuckeye, 187 ramseybuckeye, 188 StDevious, 189 Free Soul, 190 Clou, 191 brvnara, 192 pentaximus, 193 Noelcmn, 194 Noelcmn 195 GmcarsMAN, 196 jmschreii,197 wolfiegirl, 198 xjjohnno, 199 Arn , 200 Peter Zack, 201 bluestringer, 202 cif, 203 Rollsup, 204 noelcm, 205 Davidw0815, 206 Davidw0815, 207 cif, 208 ramseybuckeye, 209 paulh, 210 Oldschool, 211 SpecialK, 212 mecrox, 213 pentaximus, 215 bramela, 216 jmschrei, 217 Exandr, 218 Noelcmn, 219 Noelcmn, 220 sergiu, 221 sergiu, 222 sergiu, 223 sergiu, 224 sergiu, 225 sergiu, 226 sergiu, 227 sergiu, 228 Davidw08, 229 reeftool, 230 reeftool, 231 cif, 232 mecrox, 233 mecrox, 234 glennbp, 235 glennbp, 236 pentaximus, 237 pentaximus, 238 pentaximus,239 Paul, 240 Nick Nero, 241 Arnold, 242 Arnold, 243 Arnold, 244 Arnold, 245 Nick Nero, 246 ramseybuckeye, 247 ramseybuckeye, 248 Douge, 249 Douge 250 Douge, 251 Dr Orloff, 252 lukulele, 253 lukulele, 254 nosliwmit, 255 nosliwmit, 256 nosliwmit, 257 casil403, 258 casil403, 259 Davidw0815, 260 Davidw0815, 261 ruggiex, 262 ruggiex, 263 mecrox, 264 pentaximus, 265 pentaximus, 266 SpecialK, 267 SpecialK, 268 filoxophy, 269 mecrox, 270 mecrox, 271 mecrox, 272 Paleo Pete, 273 Paleo Pete, 274 geomez, 275 geomez, 276 geomez, 277 mecrox

A warm welcome to everyone: I hope you all have a great week, so do please join this thread and share your recent photographs. It's a great way to appreciated what everyone is up to and how they see it all around the world.

[SpecialK]

Thanks for hosting, yet again.

[mecrox]

Lol, @SpecialK, maybe you would like to host next week's thread?

Those are great pictures. We have Civil War societies here (albeit the one in the seventeenth century) but I don't think they put on anything quite that detailed and realistic. Some of those folks don't look very well.

I've only managed one over recent days, a pictureskew sunset last night reworked as a digital painting:



oxford-1-010913


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[alamo5000]

Before you see the photo I want to explain the 'intent' behind it (more or less to practice some fundamentals). In one of my photography books that I am studying it has a section on contrast. Contrast can be colors, big/small, short/tall, light/dark, rough/smooth... and so on and so forth...

So I shot this portion of the Houston skyline with 'contrasting lines'...

[Paleo Pete]

Old dead tree just outside town, thought it might make a good picture so I pulled over. This kind of thing is why I always carry a camera...of course in this case I can go back and try again any time, and might in mid winter...Pentax M 50mm f1.7, ISO100, 1/350.



I've been tinkering with the same 50mm lens and a couple of extension tubes, for 45mm of extension, using flash. Got some decent shots of several jumping spiders hanging out on a stick of PVC in the yard. This little guy is 1/4 inch long.



For perspective, this needle and thread is the same 1600 x 1200 crop resized to 1024 x 768, same as the spider shot. Both done with the same macro rig, both at infinity focus.



Another jumping spider with the same macro rig.



All these are cross posted in other threads...

[mecrox]

Before you see the photo I want to explain the 'intent' behind it (more or less to practice some fundamentals). In one of my photography books that I am studying it has a section on contrast. Contrast can be colors, big/small, short/tall, light/dark, rough/smooth... and so on and so forth...

So I shot this portion of the Houston skyline with 'contrasting lines'...

Well, I think the "intent" really works, alamo5000. In your shot it's not only the contrast between lines and shapes but also of colour and tone - the brightly lit building on the left contrasting nicely with the building in shade on the right and both (and street level) contrasting nicely against the sky. Then there is the green and orange in the colours of the buidings and the blue of the sky ...

[alamo5000]

Well, I think the "intent" really works, alamo5000. In your shot it's not only the contrast between lines and shapes but also of colour and tone - the brightly lit building on the left contrasting nicely with the building in shade on the right and both (and street level) contrasting nicely against the sky. Then there is the green and orange in the colours of the buidings and the blue of the sky ...

Thank you! I am reading all these books and actually am going through very carefully and underlining parts....

I'm telling you that guy Michael Freeman is a great author. He breaks down a lot of the different elements of photos to where it makes sense.

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Last edited by alamo5000; 09-02-2013 at 11:39 AM.

[mecrox]

Thank you! I am reading all these books and actually am going through very carefully and underlining parts....

I'm telling you that guy Michael Freeman is a great author. He breaks down a lot of the different elements of photos to where it makes sense.

Yes he is. I have two of his books here, The Photographer's Eye and Perfect Exposure. Nice big books, very well illustrated, which lay everything out.

[alamo5000]

Yes he is. I have two of his books here, The Photographer's Eye and Perfect Exposure. Nice big books, very well illustrated, which lay everything out.

I have Photographer's Eye and Photographer's mind. That's a lot of information for me to absorb. If I perfect and commit all that to memory and put it into practice then I think I will be MUCH better at this hobby of mine.

I might get perfect exposure too but I have enough to hold me over for quite some time.

[noelcmn]

Thanks for hosting again MEcrox, my apologies I did not contribute to last weeks POTW, I had intended, but got distracted and had a rather busy week last week.
Super bunch of shots already, I agree with you about that shot of Alamo5000-a lot of contrast. PP that first one is super-B/W works very well for that tree. SpecialK, unless I am mistaken, you are the man when it comes to these re-enactments. Great set there.
Still not had much of a chance for some pics this week, but hopefully i'll get some over the weekend. On the meantime, and less I miss out again on the POTW, my favourite thread, here's some from the Project52 of last week, the first one the winning entry. The 2nd from other side and the 3rd, a 60 second exposure that I tried of the same bridge

[jmschrei]

Thanks for hosting mecrox. This weekend I took a walk on this amazing trail near my home. It runs along a steep embankment through a stand of Douglas fir trees and is like taking a break in the mountains in the middle of a large city. I took my MX-1 and ended up with some of the best shots I have ever managed in this area. I still have more to process but here are a few:

[mecrox]

More lovely shots, @Paleo Pete. Seems your experiments with the 50mm are going great guns, getting that level of definition from a little critter barely a quarter of an inch in size. I also try to carry a camera these days, usually my compact which can take great shots with a bit of care.

Wow, those are amazing, @noelcmn. I particularly like the second one with the starbursts. It's a very bold design by the architect and just made for photography.

You'd never know the shots were from a compact camera, @jmschrei, and that trail is a gift for photographs by the look of it with its angles and bold shapes. I like your subtle b/w treatment. Super colour and delicacy in the purple stars, too. I really like my MX-1 for the same reason. Took it away as my only cam for a few days and had a great deal of enjoyment with it and I didn't miss my K5 really. It's curious the way people behave. There is a kind of nature reserve near here, a big area of meadows which is lovely, with a path through the middle of it, wild flowers, butterflies and all. Hardly anyone seems to use it. Yet, close by, there is a park crammed with folks, busy city streets and all the rest. Going from one to the other is like crossing an invisible barrier.

[Paleo Pete]

Thanks noelcmn and mecrox.

mecrox - It's been interesting, with 45mm of extension tubes, working distance is about 2 inches, that's really close, and I Have to have good bracing to keep things steady. No such thing as completely hand held. I've managed a couple of decent hand held shots, but I think they were flukes. I've been usually resting my hand on the ground and using a thumb or finger to brace the lens. So I've been spending a lot of time on my hands and knees, and finding out short pants just don't cut it...

Thought I had more ready to go but not so...but here are a couple from the past few days.

Mockingbird - I'm not getting many bird shots right now, they're usually up in the trees where I can't get a shot, up in there with all the leaves it's cooler than out in the open...



Sunset a couple of days ago, I was splitting some wood and looked up, saw the color beginning and that was all the excuse I needed to drop the axe...using the M50 f1.7 again...nice lens, I've always liked it and have been using it a lot more recently. Right now I have it set up with a couple of extension tubes for macro and use the A series f1.4 for other 50mm shots like sunsets...but it's easy to switch...

[gifthorse]

The contrasting shapes in Alamo5000's images were what caught my eye. My week started with a trip to a reptile show.








But my favorite was this one....


Not exactly fine art but the stick in her hand is a white cane. (She was blind.) She and her guide were going through and touching the animals. The owner of the snake explained what he wanted to do, got her permission and draped the snake across her shoulders so she could feel how the snake moved.

[xjjohnno]

Love that black and white frog gifthorse.
Mecrox, thanks for hosting, nothing too exciting from me, just some flower pics from neighborhood gardens.