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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-07-2012, 05:06 PM
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Here is one more from Willie's concert last night.. had to get a bit closer for this one. Willie has a tendency to look down while he plays and he also closes his eyes a lot... lucky to get this one.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-07-2012, 01:30 AM
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Here is a shot I took of Willie Nelson at his concert tonight at Billy Bob's Texas in Forth Worth. It's late and this is the only shot I have worked on. Concert ended a little after midnight and I got home at 1am... it's now 2:20 am... gotta sleep... more tomorrow. Just wanted to share this one.
I dumped my Canon 5D II and L glass for the K5 just about a year ago. It was my main camera for concert work. The K5 delivers in a smaller package. It certainly works for concerts.. don't miss the 5D at all.
K5 did a great job at the concert. I used only one lens, the DA * 50-135. ISO 400 f/4 @ 1/80s
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
03-19-2016, 09:04 AM
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During every concert I shoot I like to take what I consider to be a Concert Portrait. This is one I took of Willie Nelson performing at Billy Bob's Texas (The World's Largest Honky Tonk) in Fort Worth, Texas. Using the K5 and the DA* 50-135mm lens.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
05-06-2017, 11:37 AM
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This shot was taken on an abandoned bridge on Newcastle Highway in west Texas. I discovered this bridge one night on the way back from shooting the Milky Way at Fort Griffin, Texas. The photo is of a friend of mind shooting the Milky Way through the girders of the old bridge. I was walking back from my car and thought the shot of the bridge illuminated by his headlight with the Milky Way in all its glory would make a good photo.
The lens is a legacy lens from the 1980s: SMC Pentax-A f/2.8 28mm I bought the lens a fleamarket for $5.00. What a deal!
Camera used is the Pentax K-1. This was taken during my first outing with the camera. I was not using the Astrotracer feature.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-22-2013, 04:49 PM
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This is much like the old argument heard in numerous Leica forums where people are challenged to tell the difference between a "Leica Photo" and those from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Fuji, Etc...
It really makes no difference because people (non-photographers) don't care which camera was used to produce a photograph.. they just know what they like when they see it. I've seen Lomo that I liked more than something from my now sold Canon 5D MKII. It's not just about sharpness or even the lack thereof.. it's about the image and how it speaks to people, nothing more.... but you are right... that's another discussion for another segment of the forum.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-18-2013, 08:12 PM
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This was taken from a wash in Caprock Canyon, Texas last weekend. I hiked in about half a mile or so to shoot up at this formation so that I could get that incredible star field as a backdrop. It was probably around 1 or 2 in the morning. This was taken with only the light of the quarter moon and starlight. Just take in all those stars. It was amazing to be there in the dead of night, a soft breeze blowing and the sound of coyotes in the distance.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-16-2013, 06:53 PM
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Here's a couple I took this weekend in west Texas near Caprock Canyon. These were all taken with the Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50
And just for fun I tried a bit of night sky combined with painting with light.
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Forum: Winners' Showcase
06-21-2013, 07:31 AM
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I visit New Orleans almost every year and have wanted to get a shot of one of New Orleans' famous streetcars in fog along the banks of the Mississippi River in the French Quarter. I got lucky this year. The fog was not as thick as I would have liked but you take what is offered you. That's downtown New Orleans in the background and the bridge over the Mississippi on left side of the streetcar.
Postwork was done in Photoshop CS6.
I assume that a streetcar might be considered a "train" as it rides on rails.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-14-2013, 10:44 AM
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Here's one more from New Orleans.. taken on Fat Tuesday as Mardi Gras was winding down.
Pentax K5 IIs with the DA* 16-50mm
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-21-2012, 06:56 AM
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I sold my Canon 5D MKII and switched to the K5 for the smaller size of the camera and the weather sealing. I shoot concerts, sometimes outside concerts and wanted a smaller lighter Bag-O-Gear for concert work. Below are some samples of what I have done with the K5 at concerts.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-10-2013, 02:57 PM
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There's no better way to get over returning a camera than to get out and shoot with what you currently own. In my case that is the K5 IIs.
I love doing photography at night. It offers a totally different feeling than shooting during the day. It's quiet and lends itself to really taking your time to enjoy photography on a different level. Normally it is much quieter at night but on this occasion two competing packs of coyotes were trying to see which group could be the most vocal... but it did add to ambiance of the evening under the stars in west Texas.
This shot was taken last night near Fort Griffin, Texas. There was a half moon providing good ambient light but not enough to turn night into day during a long exposure. This little blacksmith's shop was an unexpected find. I was given access by the custodian of this historical area and was surprised to find the shop to be so complete in period equipment and its 1870s appearance.
There were no lights in this building but I have learned to bring a variety of lights for night work from soft LED floods to little LED contraptions I have made myself as well as a variety of flashlights. I used two of my little handmade LED lights to light the interior of the building, a red and amber LED, powered by a 9 volt battery. The type I used were ultra-bright and designed to run off of a 12 volt battery but 9 volts will run them for over 40 hours continuously.. no kidding, I created my first one and powered it for five days straight on a single 9 volt battery. The exterior of the building was painted with soft light from and LED flashlight with a slight amber filter over the lens.
For the interior lighting I control the intensity of the light in a very low tech manner... toilet paper... you need less light, you wrap toilet paper around it until you get the subdued light you need... this also allows the light to diffuse as well. Toilet paper is a very handy thing to have in the field.
I used the Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50 for this shot. Set up focus using AF and then switched to manual focus and locked it in. Exposure was 15 seconds at f/2.8 ISO 800. Lightroom was used for initial post-work then I moved the file to Photoshop CS6 for final tweaks, re-sizing and sharpening.
Hope you like it.. I had a great time taking it. Left Dallas at 10am Saturday morning and returned at 4:20am Sunday.. a full night of shooting and enjoying being out of the big city.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2013, 04:59 PM
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I spotted this old car and many others in a field in Sunset, Texas. I made my way to the house on the property and asked the owner if I might photograph it. He said, "Sure but watch out for the snakes!"
The sun was setting, which was appropriate, as the little community is called Sunset, Texas. The drive was a little over an hour or so from my home in Dallas.
When I photograph old cars such as this I can't help but wonder who owned it, how much pride they felt in owning it when it was new, how many Sunday drives were taken with it and how it came to be sitting in field, rusting away, year after year.
I'm always thankful for finding these relics from the past when the light is right and I can take my time and enjoy the old car, possibly as much as the first owner, if but for just a few minutes on an October day at Sunset.
Taken with the K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-24-2013, 09:34 PM
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Every picture tells a story.. so the song goes. This one is no exception. Let me tell you about it.
This is the last remaining original structure in Bug Tussle, Texas. I stumbled across this town's history while researching Texas ghost towns that were within a relatively short driving distance from my home in Dallas. It took an hour and a half to get there.
Here's a bit of the history of Bug Tussle, Texas: Bug Tussle is at the junction of Farm Road 1550 and State Highway 34, ten miles south of Honey Grove and five miles north of Ladonia in southeastern Fannin County, Texas. The community was initially called Truss, after John Truss, who settled there. It was founded in the 1890s and had a post office in 1893–94. Later the town's name was changed to Bug Tussle. At least three explanations exist for this unusual name. The most popular is that the name commemorated an invasion of bugs that spoiled a church ice cream social. A variation on this anecdote suggests that the relatively isolated spot, long popular as a site of Sunday school picnics, offered little else for picnickers to do after they ate than watch the bugs tussle. A third story tells of an argument between two old-time residents who wanted to change the name of the town. Their attention was diverted by the spectacle of two tumblebugs fighting. "Look at those bugs tussle," one reportedly remarked, thus settling the argument and rechristening the town. More than seventy Bug Tussle highway signs have been stolen over the years, and for a time it was fashionable for couples to come there to be married, just so that they could say they had been wed in Bug Tussle. In 1990 its population was reported as fifteen.
The building is the only remaining structure of the original Bug Tussle. During the Great Depression, Judge James Bates Fink established a Justice of the Peace court in the store (hence the name "Judge Fink Groceries"), where he performed marriages for any couple that showed up at Bug Tussle wanting to tie the knot. Judge Fink reportedly charged only a dollar for his services, and he may have married thousands of couples in the little general store as word spread that Judge Fink performed the cheapest marriages in Fannin County.
About the photo...
I took the photo below on October 23, 2013. I was looking for a place to practice my night sky photography and the use of LEDs for lighting. The night was very clear with the moon to rise after 10pm. The green cast on top of the roof and the side of the building is from a security light at a residence about 300 yards away. the only other light sources are from a passing car on highway 34 that briefly washed the building with its headlights. The interior of the building was illuminated by three amber LEDs I placed just inside the door of the old building. The rest was starlight and moonlight. The the glow of the rising moon is to the left of the store through the trees. After the moon rose the light was just too bright to shoot anymore.
The exposure time was 20 seconds at ISO 800 using the Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm lens at f/2.8. The photo suffers from slight star trails and coma.. still trying to figure out how to get around the star trails without going to a much higher ISO and the resulting noise that would produce. Post-work was done in LightRoom 5 and Photoshop CS6. Hope you like it.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-19-2013, 11:43 PM
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A friend and I went out tonight to see what we could find to shoot. We were driving back country roads through ranches northwest of Dallas. The sun had set about 20 minutes earlier and nightfall was just beginning. We came upon an open expanse of a ranch with a row of trees in the distance. This was the best shot of the evening for me. I found nothing else of interest. This almost looks like a painting but this is exactly how the western sky looked.
Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
09-30-2013, 06:23 PM
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Thanks for the input... and yes, I think most of my issues here are with coma rather than star trails as the stars in the center do not exhibit the "stretch" that those on edges present.
Here is one of those lucky shots that could have been so much better. A couple of weekends ago I was in the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma shooting the Milky Way with a rock formation in the foreground when a meteor crossed. I was also painting with light at the time. Extremely lucky shot, just wish I knew more about what I was trying to do at the time.
This was a 20 second exposure with the Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm at f/2.8.
As for the blue color.. well, I am to blame for that.. while not technically correct, I found it appealing... still learning from my mistakes.
And I guess I should describe the kind of images I am interested in shooting. I want the earth and structures (man made or natural) to be a part of my photos such as the shot below of an abandoned bridge out in west Texas. Photos of this nature really appeal to me. I found this abandoned bridge by using Google Earth, literally hovering above and traveling back roads in an area in which I knew there would be a good dark sky in Google Earth.
Thanks again for the suggestions and info.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
09-07-2013, 02:56 PM
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I spent all of Friday evening and early Saturday morning (about 3am) shooting from various locations in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. I met a rancher not long ago and asked permission to shoot on his property... very rugged property. He gave me permission and this is one of many shots taken during the night in the Wichita Mountains. To the best of my knowledge, no one had ever photographed the night sky from this vantage point.
I was painting the rock formation with light from a flashlight and the meteor showed up in the last 10 seconds of my exposure.. very lucky.
Pentax K5 IIs with the DA* 16-50mm Post work in Photoshop CS6.
Note, some have suggested that the blue tint/cast should be corrected. I do not desire to do so. I am not trying to be scientific here. I just like the way this looks, accurate or not. WB was set to Tungsten due to light pollution from Fort Sill and Lawton, OK.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-22-2013, 02:39 PM
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Here's a few from the last two weeks... picked up the K5 IIs recently and have been enjoying using it. These shots were taken with the DA* 50-135mm and the DA 35mm. I have found the photographs from the K5 IIs to be better than those from my original K5.. which is for sale at this time.
I have some thoughts and more photos at my website located at: Pentax K5 IIs Photography by Jim Radcliffe
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-02-2013, 09:31 AM
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Shot with the Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm not far from New Orleans.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-08-2013, 09:51 AM
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Alex,
Congratulations on the article. I was wondering when it would come out... and thanks for including the reference to me and my website. I am honored that the introduction on my website opened your eyes to the endless photo opportunities that are around us every day or night.
The best advice I can give you is to not do what I did. I once dreamed of being a professional photographer traveling the world enjoying the medium I love. I took a different road and never realized that dream. It's too late for me to pursue that dream due to comittments I will not go into here... but you, you have the chance to live your dream. Don't give up on it. Pursue it with a passion. Life is too short not do with it what you really love.
Jim
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-05-2013, 12:22 PM
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I spent the past weekend in Austin, Texas with the Pentax K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm. I wanted to get a couple of good riverfront/skyline shots... here are the results.
Be sure to look at the full size photos. Detail is very good.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-29-2013, 06:45 AM
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Two weeks into using the K5 IIs and I am convinced that my upgrade to this new version of the K5 was worth it. The fine detail that I am getting from this camera is just what I was looking for. I am a happy camper.. :) now if my DA* 16-50mm will just return from CRIS I will be a very happy camper.
Here is another low light shot of an old register using the DA 35mm
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-28-2013, 01:45 PM
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These were shot in a rather strange antique store near Dallas, Texas.
K5 IIs and the DA 35mm macro ISO 1600 to 3200 It was very, very dark in this warehouse.
I'm not sure what this glass thing is.. maybe a vase or part of a light fixture of some kind.. really could not tell.
I found the colors to be interesting.. this is military footwear of some kind.. from India.
I found a bunch of shells in a box and thought it might make a nice monochrome.
In the very back corner of the warehouse there was an old weathered door with a crucifix hanging on it.. a bit of light coming in from a window. ISO 1600.
The shot below was taken in the darkest part of the warehouse.. the camera actually "saw" more than I could see with my Mark I Eyeball. 1/13s at ISO 3200. Handheld shot which could have been sharper. This is the fabled Typewriter Graveyard.
And a couple from the rail-yard in Grapevine, Texas.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-23-2013, 09:45 AM
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Here is a shot I took in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This little house is the object of my desire. I would dearly love to own it. The French Quarter of New Orleans has hundreds of these little houses and the back streets of the Quarter are great for night photography. This was taken with the K5 IIs and the DA* 16-50mm at ISO 800 f/2.8 1/25s hand held.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-18-2013, 08:24 AM
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One of the shots I have always wanted to get was one of the New Orleans streetcars in fog at night. The first night I arrived in New Orleans there was patchy fog along the Mississippi River bordering the French Quarter... I got lucky. This is one of several shots taken over a period of about an hour and a half. The cars only run every fifteen to twenty minutes or so. I had to wait on the cars and only had a few seconds as each passed... but it was worth it. I had to shoot at a high ISO due to the low light and the need to capture the streetcar without motion bour.
Pentax K5 IIs DA* 16-50 f/2.8 ISO 3200 1/100s
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-27-2013, 08:26 AM
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Taken with the K5 IIs and the DA 35mm while roaming the rail-yard in Grapevine, Texas.
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