I have been making an earnest effort to host this for a couple of weeks now, but someone else always beat me to it. Yes, after lurking as a contributor of content for a couple of years, I am finally going to host!

As noted for previous weeks, this is a weekly thread that spans two weeks (confused yet ) We all know the rules and the point is to post post and then post.

Thanks to Dave (daacon) for hosting last week it can be Found : Here

Welcome to the picture of the week. Show us your best (and worst) stuff

Picture of the Week 92 : 6 Dec - 20 Dec 2009

This is by far my favorite thread as we get to see some shots from around the world so with the christmas season upon us time to up the shutter count and show us what your part of the world is doing.

Again same rules and really other than time frames there are no rules
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, 6 Dec 2009 to Sunday, 20 Dec 2009. 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 PM. If possible, the new thread will be linked to the previous one and the new thread will start between 12:00EST and 5PM EST on the Sunday. If the thread doesn't start, please contact Peter Zack, Moderator.


Previous hosts: Each one is a hotlink to that POTW thread to look past at the previous 91 weeks.

1 Peter Zack, 2Eaglerapids 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

Here is a little something to get us started:

Intent on Food!

K10D, Pentax-M 200/4

This was taken at the wildlife refuge near my home. Normally this time of year finds the place absolutely raucous with waterfowl and other wildlife. Unfortunately, it has been bitter cold by local standards for about the last ten days and life is hard for the birds and animals. All of the ponds are pretty much frozen solid and the ducks and swans cannot feed. Most have moved on. Things are also tough for herons, hawks, and other carnivores. I saw a nutria frozen to death along with several dead ducks and a dead swan. This intrepid heron was one of the few active creatures out that day.

Steve

[daacon]

On Sunday the wife and I ventured to West Edmonton Mall - while I was expecting a rugby type environment with wall to wall people and elbows , the nasty weather kept most people away it seemed. A pleasant surprise for me at least. As the wife was shopping I wandered down to the rink to take some shots of the ice skaters or I was hoping a hockey game was on. To my surprise there was a huge Intel sponsored gaming exhibit - here are few shots of the gamers and geeks that braved the elements to come out and play.

I am not an online gamer or much of a gamer at all. I do remember when Wolfenstein and Doom first came out I was hooked , but never got into the Online world of gamming. Some of these guys definatley are hooked.







Would not mine one of these units in the basement to play with !



You could here the odd scream of joy from these guys when I assume a 'group kill' happened ha ha

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Last edited by daacon; 12-16-2009 at 08:51 AM.

[stevebrot]

Dave -- Great work with the gamers at the mall. I really like #2.

Steve

[foster]

Thanks Daacon and Steve.

Yes there is a gradient effect applied to the sky, but I can't take credit for PP'ing those pics.

I used the "Dark and Stormy" Lightroom preset, which was created by a Pentax Forum member named K McCall.

[Dale]

Hey Foster, good to see Keitha's presets in use. I'm always impressed with her work, making the seemingly dull shot come alive. Your shots are as good.

With RichardS and bailing twine in mind I set out to get a sample shot. I'm struggling with composition (I don't have an artistic bone in me!). So here is a shot of the beans in the vegie garden. They are sure appreciating the rain, and now the warmth. (40 deg C)

I can see that I blew the sky in this shot. The depth of field should have been greater as well to pick up the flowers:

[foster]

I'm totally flattered, Dale...I think her work is stellar.

Thanks.

[tpeace]

Dave -- Great work with the gamers at the mall. I really like #2.

Steve

Yes, # 2 will be the cover of Sports Illustrated one day soon!


re-tom

[Ash]

Great stuff so far.
Love your work foster.
Toowoomba's Christmas light spectacular:

[ramseybuckeye]

ramseybuckeye - I have never been thanks for sharing looks like a place where the nightlife lives on.

The second shot was a 4 in the afternoon , the place was small, but packed - and the girl could wail!

daacon: Like the mall shots! Did all of the cell phone toters wonder what your camera was?

Ash - Love that little lightburst on the left!

[daacon]

<snip>
daacon: Like the mall shots! Did all of the cell phone toters wonder what your camera was?
<snip>

THanks ramesybuckeye , Indeed the K20D, battery grip , only had the DA*16-50 on and a small camera bag. I have been through that mall with my back pack before , one day I should stroll through there with the Bigma

[Rense]

So pictures from yesterday. Together with Iris I had to do a last day of field work. And even we, in our atlantic climate, have winter....! Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 50/4.

#1: Partners in crime... (her new camera, my old A 100/4 macro)



#2



#3

[Iris]

So pictures from yesterday. Together with Iris I had to do a last day of field work. And even we, in our atlantic climate, have winter....! Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 50/4.

Like Rense already said, yesterday we had our last day of field work! It was freezing, but that didn't stop us from taking pictures!

All made with Rense's A 100/4 macro

[stevebrot]

We are over the hump for this week! Things seem to be slower than usual. I was expecting tons of Christmas lights and related holiday stuff.

• Dale: I like the way the light comes through those bean flowers
• Ash: Thanks for the Christmas lights...helps get me more in the spirit...
• Rense: Frost close up...real close up...cool!
• Iris: More frosty stuff. I like the mushroom.

Steve

[jezza323]

great macros by Iris and Rense

Dale - i think the blown out sky works fine for this one, but maybe a little fill flash or brightening up the flowers a bit more in PP would help. composition is great though (in my opinion at least!)

here are my first real shots with the Tair-11a which arrived on monday, i think i love this lens! colours are those great old no coating type, its incredibly sharp, bokeh is amazing, and a joy to use!



and a 100% crop from that image, shot at f4 from memory.


and a bokeh test


the bird again


looking down the queen st mall in brisbane


and finally a 40 shot panorama @ f2.8 (what you do for a wide angle landscape shot when you only have a 135mm lens on you ) - final render was >100mp! - click for the 1600px version, might upload a larger one somewhere someday

[planedriver]

Bought a K-x on Tuesday as a second body to use it when high iso is needed-it's a nice camera-no top LCD, dedicated buttons etc.-makes you concentrate on actually taking pictures without bothering to much with the settings. Enjoyable Some pictures I took with it:

My boy:
iso1600



iso2500



the Cat:

iso6400



and some boats:





Andras

P.S.

Good Health!

[dantuyhoa]

Just stop by to say hi to my fellow POTWers ! Keep up the good work !