[stormtech]

[Rimfiredude]

Different...nice.

[bluestringer]

Some really nice images in this thread. All well done. Since flowers are gone here I had to dig into my archives. Here's one from this past summer. Shot with K-5, 50 f4 macro with tubes, sunpak ringflash. Just some kind of small wildflower.

[Rimfiredude]

You guys are posting all those pretty flowers. How about something from Pennsylvania that happens every year about this time...a catoninetail.

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[Dewman]

A beautiful shot! Very sharp focus, too. I love to see photos like that. I'm amazed at how many are posted on the PF that are sorely lacking in that respect. I refuse to keep ANY photo that is not as sharp as the lens will allow, and if the lens isn't capable of at least acceptable sharpness, then it will find a new home! But, some are willing to "settle."


Dewman
SW Idaho, USA

[Dewman]

I once read a quote from some famous person.... don't recall who.... and he said that "Colors in nature don't clash," or something to that effect. Well, I suspect he was Ray Charles! I offer this in contradiction to his remarks! Red, pink and green? Ugh! Although it is less than sharp, I kept it solely because of it's hideous clash of colors!


If any of you have similar photos, please post them.


Dewman
SW Idaho, USA

[Dewman]

It's winter and I have nothing to offer in the way of new photographs of flowers, so I'm combing my archives to find something I haven't posted before. This one caught my eye. The Sears 135mm macro-zone lens again offers it's uniqueness to the photograph.


Dewman
SW Idaho, USA

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Last edited by Dewman; 03-25-2015 at 04:34 PM.

[Na Horuk]

One with the CZ Flektogon 35mm for a change.


Flektomacro

[stormtech]

A beautiful shot! Very sharp focus, too. I love to see photos like that. I'm amazed at how many are posted on the PF that are sorely lacking in that respect. I refuse to keep ANY photo that is not as sharp as the lens will allow, and if the lens isn't capable of at least acceptable sharpness, then it will find a new home! But, some are willing to "settle."

I agree - to the point that I have become obsessive about it. I keep telling myself that there is so much more to a good image than absolute sharpness, but I just can't get away from it.

Over the years I've sampled many lenses both new and used. It was a great experiment in a way to test them all out - but along the way I became a sharpness fanatic. I have now settled down to just a few lenses - a couple DA*'s and of course the 100WR. I also found the DFA 50 2.8 Macro to be as sharp or sharper than the 100WR but ended up selling it off to help pay for another lens.

Then enter the K-5IIs - oh man - that coupled with my now select few lenses has made me very happy. I've also fine tuned (AF micro adjustment) all of them.

But with all that said, the flower pics I've been posting lately should be credited to my wife. I set her up with a K-30 which is surprisingly close to what the K-5IIs can do. After the AF adjustment once again it does a formidable job.

I, like you, and so very critical of all my images. Only the sharpest are kept except for the ones we use for documenting the year's flowers and wildlife. Then with a run through DxO and I get that sharpness that can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

But I digress - I need to work on the other aspects of a great image - composition among others. Just like that last image I posted has a terrible background. I (we) are concentrating more on close-up/macro work now. We hardly ever leave the homestead so 99% of the pics are taken right here at home. Because of a physical limitation now I can't chase/stalk wildlife like I used to so stationary subjects are necessary now. I love the idea of taking a close/macro look at the world around us. One thing I read a long time ago is that there are thousands of images right in your back yard if you look close enough.

Thanks for you comments Dewman!

[stormtech]

I once read a quote from some famous person.... don't recall who.... and he said that "Colors in nature don't clash," or something to that effect. Well, I suspect he was Ray Charles! I offer this in contradiction to his remarks! Red, pink and green? Ugh! Although it is less than sharp, I kept it solely because of it's hideous clash of colors!

Interesting - I've never seen too many images that really make me go UGH. Not saying UGH about your image itself, but yes, the is certainly an UGH in that clash of colors. I'll have to look around in my archives for something similar.

[Dewman]

I agree - to the point that I have become obsessive about it. I keep telling myself that there is so much more to a good image than absolute sharpness, but I just can't get away from it.

Over the years I've sampled many lenses both new and used. It was a great experiment in a way to test them all out - but along the way I became a sharpness fanatic. I have now settled down to just a few lenses - a couple DA*'s and of course the 100WR. I also found the DFA 50 2.8 Macro to be as sharp or sharper than the 100WR but ended up selling it off to help pay for another lens.

Then enter the K-5IIs - oh man - that coupled with my now select few lenses has made me very happy. I've also fine tuned (AF micro adjustment) all of them.

But with all that said, the flower pics I've been posting lately should be credited to my wife. I set her up with a K-30 which is surprisingly close to what the K-5IIs can do. After the AF adjustment once again it does a formidable job.

I, like you, and so very critical of all my images. Only the sharpest are kept except for the ones we use for documenting the year's flowers and wildlife. Then with a run through DxO and I get that sharpness that can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

But I digress - I need to work on the other aspects of a great image - composition among others. Just like that last image I posted has a terrible background. I (we) are concentrating more on close-up/macro work now. We hardly ever leave the homestead so 99% of the pics are taken right here at home. Because of a physical limitation now I can't chase/stalk wildlife like I used to so stationary subjects are necessary now. I love the idea of taking a close/macro look at the world around us. One thing I read a long time ago is that there are thousands of images right in your back yard if you look close enough.

Thanks for you comments Dewman!

We share similar circumstances, my friend. I too have some physical limitations that preclude my wandering the countryside like I used to do. But, with those limitations has come a new sense of awareness of the things I didn't take the time to see before. As far as sharpness, I see nothing at ALL wrong with being a "sharpness fanatic." It shows that you demand the best.... not just from your equipment, but from yourself. I'm a woodworker/furniture maker by avocation and I've destroyed more than one piece because it didn't live up to the best that I could do. I just can't bring myself to settle for mediocre, undistinguished, barely adequate results in anything I do.... and it seems that the same applies to you.


Dewman
SW Idaho, USA

[Dewman]

Great pictures everybody. Love to see such beautiful flowers on this cold day

Isn't it so! We have been suffering from the Arctic Vortex for about two weeks now and more is to come this weekend. Digging through my archives helps me remember what warmth feels like! The view out my office window is quite bleak, indeed!


Dewman
SW Idaho, USA

[old4570]

Unfortunately its blowing a gale out there ( Storm front on the way ) .. So with it being as windy as all out doors .. I present some of the interesting flowers I walk past almost every day .













I was concentrating on the wind so much I failed to see the damage to the flower ( My bad )




















Please excuse the softness on some , its very windy out there ...
Anyhow , since Dewman Double dog dared me to take a camera for a walk , here are the results ...

[Dewman]

Unfortunately its blowing a gale out there ( Storm front on the way ) .. So with it being as windy as all out doors .. I present some of the interesting flowers I walk past almost every day .













I was concentrating on the wind so much I failed to see the damage to the flower ( My bad )


















Please excuse the softness on some , its very windy out there ...
Anyhow , since Dewman Double dog dared me to take a camera for a walk , here are the results ...

Oh my.... # 2 is absolutely STUNNING! The sharpness and detail is superb, and as good or better than anything you've ever posted... and I've seen some mighty fine photographs from you! # 6 is likewise. #7 has a very special quality, almost mesmerizing. I focus on the sharply detailed blossoms, but my eyes want to wander about, looking for other items. Odd, and interesting, that. I like #5 a lot, also. It's almost like an optical illusion in that it draws my eyes to the very center. If you were to shoot that with a dark background (with very little definition) of a soft, complimentary color - isolate the flower, but not completely from said background.... (while leaving the little un-opened bud in the scene).... and put it on the thirds, I think it would be money in the bank! Wow! I didn't mean to dictate how you should take your pictures! I just wish I was there to share the warm weather and opportunity to shoot photographs. Would you mind if I copy it and make a 5x7 for my office wall? Maybe you could email me a large file so I could get all the fine detail? I'd be honored.


You've done very well, my friend. A nice series. Were these all hand-held? If so, you have NO idea how envious I am! I have some very aggravating tremors that mandate either an enormously high SS or at the very least, a monopod. Oh.... by the way, my double dog dare was to take photos of reds as they seem to be a very difficult subject for Pentax cameras in general. I notice even eaglem has problems with them. Not as much as the rest of us, but still, they aren't as forthcoming as other colors for him.... and he's the master!


Keep up the good work, young man. Now, you've given me the urge to photograph flowers! Maybe a trip to the supermarket is in order, eh?


Dewman
SW Idaho, USA

[stormtech]

Another feature that I really like about our forum - having the folks from "down under" posting along with us in the northern hemisphere. Just when everything gets gray and dies off here, it is spring in Australia and we get to enjoy all the flower pics. There's not much more gratifying than viewing fresh flower pics when it snowing and blowing outside my window.