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Forum: Lens Clubs
05-26-2020, 04:14 AM
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Epoxied the front element of a cheap projector lens (16KP / RO-109-1a) into a lens hood. Now it functions as a rather powerful closeup filter, though with several drawbacks, namely very soft edges and severe CA.
But it's quite compact and enables my HD DA 70mm Limited to take almost 1:1 macro photos like this.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-26-2020, 06:45 PM
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Haven't got much chance to edit photos and post here due to the pandemic, but finally able to do some yesterday. Here's a macro photo of a rose in I took a last month, taken with K-5 II + SMC-M 35-70mm + extension tube.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
05-26-2020, 04:46 AM
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Full of Asahi Pentax's magic pixie dust!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-26-2019, 03:34 AM
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Chamomile and Nemophila in Showa Kinen Park, Tachikawa, Japan. Taken last May with K-3 II & HD DA21mm Limited.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-06-2019, 07:46 AM
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The National Monument ("Monumen Nasional" a.k.a. "Monas") of Jakarta. Taken with K-3 II & smc DA 10-17mm Fish Eye.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-29-2019, 12:15 AM
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A desert rose (Adenium spp.) growing in my garden. Taken with K-3 II & SMC A 100mm F4 Macro.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-26-2019, 03:45 AM
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Taken with K-3 II & SMC A 100mm F4 Macro during my trip to Shinjuku Gyoen, last May. Exposure bracketing, merged with Photoshop CS6.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-29-2019, 04:39 AM
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Thank you!
Ah so they're pests in the U.S., and to control them people uses micro-organisms. Quite a biological warfare in the garden... I hope the milky spore bacteria don't cause even more harm to the environment. Thank you for the information!
Ok, so here's another bug I photographed in Bali, looks like a large Coreidae / Leaf-footed bug. They're not much of a pest, but some people are afraid of it due to its large size. This guy's almost 4 inches long.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-26-2019, 03:28 AM
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Brawling Beetles on top of a blooming Nemophila... or were they bugs? Any insight would be appreciated :)
Taken last May with K-3 II & SMC A 100mm F4 Macro at Showa Memorial Park, Tachikawa, Japan.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-30-2019, 02:50 AM
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Ah thank you for the clarification! Now that I look closer they are different in shape and color from Popillia. Yeah, I think I should try meeting a local entomologist or one of my childhood friend who's working at a nature conservation...
Wow stinkies come in many different shapes and sizes! Guess I should call that huge bug I saw, "Big Stinky" :) . It was almost as long as my index finger. I didn't know they can grow that big. And I don't think it's edible too...
Ahhhh that sure looks like a positive ID! Interesting, their genus name has the same origin as Greek Hoplites... learned something new. Thank you for this information!
And now that you put it that way, indeed I may have just disturbed a pair of beetle's most intimate times :lol:
I thought they were brawling since it ended up with the one on top being thrown overboard by the one below. But I don't know if it was really brawling or some kinky maneuver of beetle kind...
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-26-2019, 03:03 AM
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Taken with K-3 II & HD DA 21mm Limited, 9-photo pano, handheld. Took this while jogging in The Garden of Hope, Nusa Dua beach, Bali.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-16-2019, 03:53 AM
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Tiny little flowers of Carambola Starfruit growing in my garden. Taken with K-3 II, smc A 100mm F4 Macro, and Shanny SN600FGZ flash.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-13-2019, 10:55 PM
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A Purselane blooming in my garden. Taken with K-3 II & smc A 100mm F4 Macro.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-12-2019, 07:43 AM
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Shirafuji / White Wisteria Tunnel at Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi (about 2 hours from Tokyo by train). Taken last May with K-3 II & DA 21mm Limited, 5 photos stitched with Photoshop CS6. This was one of my first attempts at making panoramic photo, so there's a lot of distortion due to my poor technique (poor composition, not overlapping enough, and using too wide-angled lens without considering the distortion it makes, just to name a few). This is the current "best" looking result I can get after correcting and editing it in post and there are still distortions in a number of places... Well, I've learned my lessons the hard way, and I've also got another reason to plan another trip to Japan, hopefully next year.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-14-2019, 08:55 AM
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Thank you! I'm glad you like the pano! Actually I intended the pano to include more of the pathways in the foreground, leading to the distance (the end of tunnel should have been on around the bottom right intersection of the rule of thirds) to emphasize the sense of depth and the abundance of the Shirafuji flower racemes dangling down. But since I used the DA 21mm lens, the pathway in the foreground is pretty much distorted. Also since I didn't overlap enough when taking the pictures, when merged in photoshop the resulting picture visually doesn't make much sense with the straight pathway getting warped. The distortion on the bamboo bar & pole joint on the left (with the weirdly angled, uneven-sized tube lamp on top of it) is a remnant of the problematic distortion that I'm still unable to correct in PP. So the result is a picture that's quite different than what I envisioned in my mind.
But yeah, all in all, this picture is easily one of my favorites too, with all the lessons learned - and also the memories! I was among the 5 or 6 photography enthusiasts (mostly Japanese) who patiently waited until the park's almost closed, set up our gears, took pictures, and then ran like hell to the train station so we don't miss the last train to Tokyo. Those were good times :)
I would really recommend visiting Ashikaga Flower Park if you ever go to Japan in late April / early May. Tickets and lodging are quite cheaper since the Sakura season has ended (Sakura blooms around late March to mid April), the park is easily accessible by train, and the park itself is a macro paradise during the day and at night their majestic wisterias and the illumination are nothing short of astounding!
Here's my first attempt at making pano (6 photos from K-3 II & DA 21mm, stitched with photoshop), with one of the park's oldest Wisteria as the subject:
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-16-2019, 04:16 AM
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About 1 hour from sunset, from above the cliffs of Tegal Wangi Beach, Bali. Taken with K-3 II & HD DA 70mm F2.4 Limited, exposure bracketing and HDR processing with Aurora. I think there are still HDR artifacts due to the fast moving clouds driven by strong winds. I have to study more post-processing techniques...
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-10-2019, 02:40 AM
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I love my HD DA 21mm F3.2 and HD DA 70mm F2.4, small lenses that punches way above their weight. Now they're part of my travel kit, along with K-3 II and SMC-A 100mm F4 Macro.
Bought my DA 70 during my trip to Japan this spring, and the very first picture I took with it is the Unicorn Gundam statue.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-10-2019, 03:33 AM
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Ondel-ondel (a large traditional puppet of Betawi culture) going against the crowd in a weekly Car-Free Day event in Jakarta. I can kinda see why some people consider these puppets terrifying...
(Btw this is a "female" ondel-ondel with white face, the "male" ones have red face)
K-3 II & HD DA 70mm F2.4 Limited.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-08-2019, 02:19 AM
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Taken with K-3 II & HD DA 55-300mm ED WR (not the PLM version) at 300mm.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-04-2019, 09:07 PM
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This one was taken only 30 minutes before the previous photo, amazing how differently the colors change in a matter of minutes...
9 photos stitched and corrected using Photoshop CS6. K-3 II & HD DA 21mm F3.2 Limited.
Location: Pantai Karang (Coral Beach), 2 km south of Sanur Beach, Bali.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-05-2019, 02:47 AM
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Oh yeah, it would appear so:)
The Kumamon plushie is actually my little sister's that I occasionally borrowed when I travel. I like it too since it's got a dorky expression that somehow makes a nice travel photo companion. Such a cute yuru chara!
I wanted to bring it "home" to Kumamoto and take some pictures with it, but I haven't had the chance so far. So in the meantime, I just brought it along with me during my last trip to Bali...
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-03-2019, 02:48 AM
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Stitched from 20 photos using Photoshop CS6. K-3 II + HD DA 70mm F2.4 Limited.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
10-06-2019, 07:33 AM
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If I read his tweets correctly, it's a 3D-printed model made by a "young" pentax user in about 10 hours.
The guy also made a K-3 style battery grip with working on/off switch for his KP: Twitter. Amazing skills and enthusiasm.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-03-2019, 12:47 AM
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One of many Bougainvilleas growing at the garden of Maison Aurelia Hotel, Sanur Beach, Bali. Taken last August with K-3 II & smc A 100mm F4 Macro.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-03-2019, 12:31 AM
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Thank you! The renovation is currently underway, and probably will take a month to finish. The pest control guys found TWO nests inside the wall, so that wall had to be taken down and rebuilt. Turns out there's a small hollow space between my house's wall and the neighbor's, and the termites built their home in between... while eating the wooden beams in my house AND my neighbor's. When their nest gets even bigger, they expand into the wall by tunneling through the cement and bricks. Smart little buggers. It's unfortunate that we can't coexist with termites, so they had to go.
In the meantime, here's a pic of a forest ant I took during my trip to Bali last August, taken with K-3 II & smc A 100mm F4 Macro:
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