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Forum: Lens Clubs
08-21-2018, 08:59 PM
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Close-up shot with the 15mm
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Forum: General Photography
08-14-2018, 12:48 PM
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Just a few random ideas you might consider:
(1) You say you've photographed so much of your town, but have you merely taken general scenic shots, or have you picked individual elements and tried making a project out of them? A not-very-imaginative example might be to photograph only street signs, or perhaps door knockers, or maybe old buildings. Perhaps use just one lens for consistency, and make it harder for yourself by picking a focal length you don't normally use.
(2) Look for free or inexpensive attractions nearby that you can visit (TripAdvisor is a good place to look for these things, otherwise just Google them)... Historical buildings and ruins, parks etc. It also looks like you're not too far from some docks... Lots of boats, machinery, other marine-related things to photograph? You're also very near the Forest of Bowland. Should be plenty of landscape opportunities there, I'd think, and some opportunities for pano stitched scenes?
(3) Take some skyline silhouettes at dusk around your town.
(4) Do you have a garden? If so, set up a bird table and/or bird bath - perhaps some hanging feeders too. See what birds you can attract, and photograph them.
(5) Try some still life and product photography with items around your home. Ornaments, candles, pen-kives, watches, jewellery etc. Lay them on simple backgrounds - pillow cases, clothing, towels, that kind of thing. Pick background colours purposefully, to match or contrast with the subjects. Place your subjects near a window for natural lighting, or use a desk lamp. Buy a cheap bunch of flowers from your local supermarket, arrange them in a vase, and photograph them against one of these backgrounds. Play with the direction of the light, the angles you shoot from, etc. Still life can be a lot of fun, as there's just as much art in arranging the subject as there is in the photography :)
(6) Following on from (5) above, using a reversing ring and a wide-angle or normal lens, take some extreme macro shots of various objects and textures.
(7) Work on your post-processing. For instance, take some random high ISO shots and learn to optimise your noise reduction skills. Or try converting to black and white and see if you can manually recreate the look of old newspaper clippings, that kind of thing.
(8) There are plenty more things you can do - you just need to be creative and think outside the box. But if you're still lacking inspiration, choose a new photographic skill that you'd like to learn and master, then buy or borrow a good book on the subject, or look up tutorials online, and work methodically through that learning until you've nailed it. It's very satisfying picking up a new skill.
(9) If none of the above does it for you, and you can't think of any other ideas, embrace the slump and take a break from photography altogether. Maybe just for a couple of days, maybe a week, perhaps even a month - until you miss it. There's nothing wrong with doing that. I do it frequently, and it works for me :)
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Forum: General Photography
08-14-2018, 11:49 AM
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Have you tried macro photography? Close-ups of flowers etc. in different lighting and varying depth of field.
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Forum: General Photography
08-14-2018, 11:44 AM
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For me, some cheap retro gear can be fun and change my perspective on familiar subjects.
Right now I'm trying to figure out a 5x7 view camera from the 1890's. I hope to be able to take some photos with it soon.
I also like to get the Helios 44 on my K mount bodies for some fun flare and bokeh. It can make a familiar subject seem new again. They are also cheap and plentiful.
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Forum: General Photography
08-14-2018, 11:41 AM
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I usually buy another lens, that helps for a day or so. I have lots of lens and an unhappy wife. Good Luck
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Forum: Lens Clubs
04-21-2018, 08:19 AM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-05-2018, 05:27 PM
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Hi Richard. Yes, I have kept the lenses that made sense to use on the K-1 and a couple to use on the K10D or K-3. I do use the A* 600 and Bigmos for birding and wildlife usually on the K-3 but occasionally on the K-1 if I can fill the frame. I like the A series lenses for the convenience of setting and recording the shutter speed and f stop.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
07-01-2018, 11:55 PM
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From a trip at the end of last year to north-eastern Spain, taken with the DA 21mm.
This post is my 5000th on the forums!!!! I just checked when I joined and was amazed I've been here for just over nine years.
IMGP2506a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-13-2017, 09:58 AM
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^ Looks good, I recently acquired a 200 f4, patiently waiting for opportunity to use it.
Here's another from the K135/f2.5 I think @f5.6 1/500 ISO100
Street artists at Washington Square Park
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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-11-2017, 01:16 PM
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K135/f2.5 @f5.6 1/400 ISO100
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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-05-2017, 09:08 PM
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SMC 15mm 3.5 with K1 at Hutton in the Forest, Lake District, UK. 1/45 f11 ISO 200
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-20-2017, 08:56 PM
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K1 and FA 77 put to use as a birding lens (mountain chickadee)
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-14-2017, 08:26 PM
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Perhaps posting photos (K1 and FA 77) taken through three panes of a scratched Alaska Air window on a flight from Sacramento to Seattle isn't the best idea, but I thought these were interesting enough to share.
The first is a shot of the damaged Oroville dam spillway, which has recently made national news. After heavy storms, the (overflow) concrete spillway eroded and developed a huge defect, resulting in the precautionary evacuation of nearly 200K downstream people. Water was also flowing over the emergency spillway, just to the left of the eroding concrete spillway, for the first time in history. Surprisingly, the pilot of our flight didn't inform passengers that this was visible outside the window.
The second shot is a merged pano (about 5 shots) of Crater Lake, also taken through the airplane window.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-24-2016, 06:13 PM
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Race day at Circuit of the Americas.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-20-2016, 01:52 PM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-20-2016, 02:09 AM
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Thanks Richard, I figured after reading through some of this thread that this may not be the best place to ask if I'm looking to downsize :p :lol:
I'll check out those primes, but hope I don't catch a case of LBA along the way :cool:
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
09-07-2016, 11:00 AM
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Hello everyone, just signed up!
A K-50 owner for a couple of years and hopefully of a K-1 some day
Even more hopefully of a decent portfolio one day!
Thanks for the marketplace offer Pentaxforums, keep doing a great job!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-08-2016, 11:09 PM
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can't beat the FA77 for pixie dust shallow DOF portraits, but I stop mine down for landscapes as well. From this week in Seattle with the FA77, multi-frame pano:
 Seattle Skyline
K3II & FA77
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-13-2015, 11:45 AM
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Well, duh ... we can read your signature :D
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-02-2015, 10:04 PM
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At last count, I had 542 lenses in my collection. Of these, 349 lenses are in Pentax M37, M39, and K mounts. Of course, some are duplicates mounted on the Pentax cameras in my collection which are on display. I must have about 50 "normal" lenses (43-58mm)...
The perils of being a collector!
Regards, Jim
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
12-12-2014, 08:06 AM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-30-2014, 02:26 PM
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There should be a match between the DA 15 and the DA* 300 to determine a 3rd and 4th place.
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Forum: General Photography
10-15-2014, 02:45 PM
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Forum: General Photography
10-14-2014, 01:31 PM
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The closest is the K15/3.5 AL, only 100 were made:
K 15/3.5 AL
Phil.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-07-2014, 08:08 PM
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f8, 1/125, iso100 8mm K-5 IIs
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