Picture of the Week Year two 03/30/09 - 04/05/09
Welcome to POTW #55

I was honoured to be invited by dadipentak to host this week. I really appreciate how this recurring thread encourages mixing forum visits with getting out there & taking shots (I'm working on it! Thank goodness it's finally warming up here in Canada) and sharing those shots with a community that cares. So shoot, post and comment away!

Rules as before:

1) No theme just your favorite stuff.
2) Let's keep it to about 4-6 images per post just so the thread doesn't get too big each week.
3) Any Pentax camera is fine, film, P&S, DSLR (or Samsung DSLR)
4) Date : Sunday 03/29/09 - Sunday 04/05/09
5) Enter anything you shot last week or this current week until the thread closes.

Previous hosts: 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, 20 Bamela, 21 Syb, 22 & 23 maxwell1295, 24 dantuyhoa, 25 Gawan, 26 Peter Zack, 27 borno, 28 daacon, 29 gawan, 30 Damn Brit, 31 & 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 dadipentak, 55 David Whiteley

You can go back to see last weeks shots here

[planedriver]

Flickr: sopiandri's Photostream

[dadipentak]

I've been shooting my neighbors magnolia this week. It's kind of a gaudy mess once the flowers open but I love the buds.

[daacon]

So good to see new hosts thanks David for hosting this week.

Planedriver - nice starting set of images - I have never owned that particular lens but I have not heard too much bad about it.

dadipentak - nice shots of some spring buds , you'll have to take some more shots otf these as time goes buy.

Here a few from me yesterday. Not sure what this is , but up here it is one of the few signs of plant growth so far. These are tiny I should have used my finger for scale.

[IMGWIDEleft]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/3392580027_6c19330479_b.jpg[/IMGWIDEleft]

[IMGWIDEleft]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3556/3393392730_1956c1a091_b.jpg[/IMGWIDEleft]

[Peter Zack]

The first one for me is a bit unusual. More of a snap shot really but I thought it looked neat. Taken at 1:30 AM through a heavy plate 3cm glass window (port hole). ISO 3200 K20D
This was the searchlight off the bridge of the Newfoundland>Nova Scotia ferry. We were cutting through the pack ice toward Port Aux Basques. They were looking for paths and cracks in the ice.

This is a shot of Port Aux Basques. Newfoundland towns are typically built right on top of the water. The entire culture was built on the fishing industry and the nick name for the place is "The Rock". It's well earned. You'll see many homes with a driveway in the front and a boat ramp or wharf in the back as seen in this next shot.



A few other shots.


The mountains here are much older than the Rockies and geologists have claimed that the mountain range covering Newfoundland was taller than the western Rockies (Highest peak 4663 meters) vs Newfoundland's highest peak of 1652 meters today. (15,299/5419 feet)

[dadipentak]

I'm glad you included the first one, Peter--the concept is great. The landscapes are really fine, too. Port Aux Basques in winter is no place for sissies, is it? Pretty sobering that you're coping with pack ice while I'm shooting magnolia buds.

[daacon]

Peter - great shots of the rock. I have to ask why you took the 1:30 am ferry ? I thought last call was 02:00 am Did you pp any of the water ? It seems such a deep blue and looks great btw. Well done.

[Peter Zack]

to the 2 Dave's , Thanks. I was out at that time because the ship was moving very slowly. The last boat departs Syndey at 11:30PM and we had only gone 6-8 Kms in 2 hours. It was a long night. As for the PP, no, the water there is crystal clear and a different colour than more populated areas. The angle of the sun was perfect to bring out the vibrant colour. I just use a few standard Lightroom presets, contrast, clarity and sharpness.

[daacon]

Here's a fisyheye view @ 10mm (lost a little on a crop to straighten horizon)

[IMGWIDEleft]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3570/3392576347_0d21deec84_b.jpg[/IMGWIDEleft]

More or less same view @17mm and same horizon crop give or take

[IMGWIDEleft]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3393389082_3fb4c2e958_b.jpg[/IMGWIDEleft]

And one for fun - me and my Shadow (well my shadow anyway)

[IMGWIDEleft]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3644/3393389250_c99c50af60_b.jpg[/IMGWIDEleft]

[Bramela]

Here a couple of shots of Australian Native bird :Crimson Rosella
They are rather rare in my area and just happened to see these two outside on my front path yesterday.
Taken from a long distance and cropped, also a very ordinary day, no sun.
So it was the best I could do.

Please forgive the poor quality!

[Venturi]

Probably the most remarkable thing about these shots is that the day before and the day after I made them the temperature was in the mid-60s. On Sunday however, a front came through Oklahoma and dumped five inches of heavy wet snow on us. I desperately needed to get out of and away from the house and shoot so I seized the opportunity and drove up to Woodward park and see how the Azaleas were handling it all. It was cold, very wet and dingily overcast but at least I managed to get out.

The Azaleas didn't look too happy.
[imgwideleft]http://jimgillispie.smugmug.com/photos/502550353_wYMNu-XL.jpg[/imgwideleft]
[imgwideleft]http://jimgillispie.smugmug.com/photos/502550488_CzqMn-X2.jpg[/imgwideleft]

The Dogwoods though seemed undaunted.
[imgwideleft]http://jimgillispie.smugmug.com/photos/502550584_GksJU-X2.jpg[/imgwideleft]
[imgwideleft]http://jimgillispie.smugmug.com/photos/502550798_2DzpT-X2.jpg[/imgwideleft]

The only animal life other than myself foolish enough to be stomping about in the "blizzard".
[imgwideleft]http://jimgillispie.smugmug.com/photos/502550664_uKTQt-X2.jpg[/imgwideleft]

Exactly.
[imgwideleft]http://jimgillispie.smugmug.com/photos/502551006_UTfFz-X2.jpg[/imgwideleft]

Post processing on these proved a big challenge for me. The snow beat the heck out of the dynamic range and it took real work in LR2 to bring out the colors. I had +1EV dialed in and probably could have gone +1.5 - would that have helped boost the natural colors (expose to the right)?

[vinceloc]

My share.

"Natural spokes"



"Secured"



"Big brother, little brother"



"God's Guiding Light"

[borno]

Some nice shots this week
We finally got some nice weather today, so I got some test shots with a sigma 100-300mm the second with a kenko 1.5x

[octavmandru]

Shall I, shall I?...

[daacon]

Bruce - those are very colorful brids nice capture.

Jim - a rare occurance in your nexk of the wood - nice sping snow storm shots , I love the statue in the last one - captures the moment well.

Vincent - nice series those last two are wow.

Tom - so that's where all the geese are - nice shots - and I just noticed your signature - one of SNL's classic lines by Christopher Walken for sure.

octavmandru - I like the last one the best nice series.