[NealS]

K-S1s are now so cheap and light there's no reason for not buying two or three or more to hang around your neck. With 20 mpx to work with, image quality is up there with the best. Attach a couple of good primes or carry both wide-angle and telephoto zooms, and you'll never have to compromise on composition when action or inspiration hits. And as a bonus, you can color-code!

[bobbotron]

Photographing the moon, use uv-filter.
It may sound like an overkill at night, but it's the other way around.
Uv-rays from the sun are reflected on the moon, and the shorter the wavelength, the more it tends to diffuse.

Simple and smart, I'll have to try that out. Thanks!

[Michael Barker]

On dull days, we're gifted with deep colours. The temptation is often to cash in on this, by raising the overall apparent illumination (and by extension, saturation) by raising the midtones. If you want to remain true to the fact it was a dull day, try not raising the midtones.

Then when you raise up some of the highlights, as I did with the lamp bulbs in this photo, you get a remarkable contrast between those high key areas and the overall drab scene. Use Curves, and make sure you keep an interesting range of tones within each of the two contrasting areas, by carefully placing two moderately steep slopes in that curve.

[serj_32]

The main thing to be in the right place with the right equipment and have time to make the frame.

[scabana]

As a novice, I say join a Pentax Forum Daily Challenge because it will require you to shoot and post everyday. This forum is full of generous people who will give you tips and advice. Furthermore you will find yourself looking everyday at the inspiration, creativity and talent of so many gifted and passionate photographers. You will get advice but you will also begin to learn how correct mistakes, though there are always more to make. It took me years to follow this advice and I wish I'd started this years ago.

[Saltwater Images]

So you recommend the 70mm f2.4 for action shots?

When I'm shooting from an American Football field on the sidelines; absolutely, because I'm close to the action. That being said I'm squirrelling away a few dollars to buy a DA* 200 f2.8 because it has faster AF than the DA* 50-135or DA* 60-250.

[bigdavephoto]

Do not be afraid to push your camera past its limits of ISO.


I have been shooting some local bar bands with my K7 and slow lenses and I have found that I can go to 6400 with my K7 to get photos. High ISO's just makes post processing a little more of a challenge but with practice it can be done. Here is one I shot at ISO 6400

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[Kaymo]

Good luck to all!

[scphotos123]

The time has come for us to offer the final prize from our Holiday Giveaway! Enter in this thread for a shot at winning a brand new HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm lens



How to enter:

As a reply to this thread, post a photography-related tip or suggestion for fellow users. It can focus on cameras, lenses, technique, accessories, post-processing, or other related topics you think would be helpful.

Limit your submission to no more than 5 sentences and no more than 1 image/link.

Winner selection:

The top 15 replies with the most Likes in this thread will be voted upon by forum members in a separate thread, similar to how we pick our monthly contest winners. Submissions will be accepted through January 31st, and voting will be between February 1st and 8th.

Submissions may be compiled into a reference article to serve as a community resource.

Good luck!

My tip for shooting motion blur Waterfalls is. Have a good tripod. Make sure you shoot on a cloudy day. Use a .9 or 1.2 ND filter. I use aperture value mode set at F11- F18, then the camera will adjust the timing for the correct long exposure.

[Zephos]

As a novice, I say join a Pentax Forum Daily Challenge because it will require you to shoot and post everyday. This forum is full of generous people who will give you tips and advice. Furthermore you will find yourself looking everyday at the inspiration, creativity and talent of so many gifted and passionate photographers. You will get advice but you will also begin to learn how correct mistakes, though there are always more to make. It took me years to follow this advice and I wish I'd started this years ago.

I think I will do this. I feel like I'm really struggling to improve. Maybe this is the key!

[jcvs]

Don't photograph the sunset or sunrise directly. Use the unique light from the setting or rising sun to photograph other things.

[tuvalu]

Take your time.

Take in the scenery, walk around the surroundings and consciously take your picture.

Its something I tend to forget. It often improves my pictures though, if I simply take my time and get in touch with the moment and the place...

light...

Arne.

[EternallyVisual]

Focus on capturing things that make you happy. Putting pictures out there for people to appreciate is great but don't forget to have fun yourself. You get familiar with your camera, areas that you may not have known about and also yourself in a way. Take photos that you yourself are proud of. They make the best memories.

[house]

When photographing in urban environments pay attention to lamp posts, signs etc. They are often not vertical and tend to disturb space and composition. One way to clean them up is to ensure that they end up in "structured" places. It usually requires minimal movements to position the most disturbing one right in the middle between two windows, two thirds down a facade etc. Most often I just place them in the middle between two elements of the composition, preferrably a gap of some sort.

I may seem counterintuitive place disturbing elements in considered places but I find it calms the overall image and prevents the mess from jumping out.

[BuckeyeStu]

I like to juxtapose subjects in street photography to create a moment in time. Wide angle, small aperture, prefocused, usually concentrating on the background subjects more so than the foreground. Shooting for the moment in the background rewards me with some interesting and fun images where the subjects are often incongruous to one another.