Kielder at 24mm

I bought an "as new" MF Sigma 24mm f2.8 Super-wide II a month or so back and took it with me on holiday to Kielder Campsite in Northumberland at the end of May. I decided that, for the whole holiday, I would use nothing else and so it stayed on my K200D for about 10 days.

These are a few of the photos (snaps?) I took with it. I've lurked around the Pentax User forums for quite a while now, so maybe it's time I stuck my head above the parapet. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions and criticism that anyone might feel able to offer.

One of the first things you do when you pitch a caravan is fill up the Aquaroll and then make a cup of tea or coffee. The nearest tap had a slight problem ...



I don't know whether you've seen Kielder Skyspace (rather pretentious name for a building with a hole in the roof).



Inside the building ....



Looking up ....



I spotted this interesting looking tree, but I think the photo is lacking a bit of something - maybe a mountain in the background.



As trees have lots of fractal detail, I reckon they make good subjects for judging the sharpness of a lens. This is a 100% crop from the above photo.


I reckon the 24mm Sigma is plenty sharp enough and is a definite keeper. Indeed, I don't feel any particular urge at the moment to take it off the camera.


Andrew

Hi Andrew.
They don't do much for me, I'm afraid, except for the tree. I think a tweak in PS, maybe alter the contrast a bit and that may come to life. I certainly like the composition of it.

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Getting there! Thanks to you guys

Pentax K10d, *istDL, Kit lens ( 18-55mm ), 50mm f1.7 lens, Tamron 70-300mm lens, Prinzflex 70-162 manual lens, Various old flashes.

I've got one of these lenses myself, and took it out yesterday but didn't get anything worthwhile as most of the time I was shooting through the passenger window in a car.


I think this would perhaps look better in mono?

In "looking up" it's a shame the area around the hole is not a bit more interesting, as it is impossible to tell it is shot through a hole in the ceiling.

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Photography, like alcohol, should only be allowed to those who can do without it. - Walter Sickert

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Perhaps time to join us in the "Gallery" Andrew?

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Paul.

Photography is not a sport. It has no rules. Everything must be dared and tried! (Bill Brandt)
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They should put a Camera Obscura in that building, it would be far more interesting. Love the Sigma 24/2.8 that much I have 2, one MF one AF. Very sharp and the close focus ability is really useful

Regards,

John

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In LBA hiatus.

A lens I'm looking for, at the right price. A most useful length. No wonder you managed with that alone for ten days. It's something I'm often tempted to do...

Back to the pictures. The study of the tree has the most potential but the light was very "English": great for portraits; lousy for punchy landscapes. I'd convert to mono and rack-up the contrast to try and make something happen. same "Inside the building" which has some interesting shapes and textures.

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Best wishes,

Andrew

"These places mean something and it's the job of a photographer to figure-out what the hell it is."
Robert Adams
My website: http://www.ephotozine.com/user/bwlchmawr-199050 http://s927.photobucket.com/home/ADC3440/index

Tree has the most potential - I can see that working much better as a dark and moody B&W

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Gareth

My outfit K5 gripped - Pentax-FA 50mm f1.4 - Pentax 16-45mm F4
Pentax 18-55mm WR - Kenko 1.5x TC - Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 Di LD - Metz 48 AF1 - 2 x Cactus V2 triggers
fully portable mobile studio and some mobile strobist studio stuff !

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A bit like this?



Andrew

That better but now you need to address the patchy sky and also the burnt highlight in the top right of the image:

I didn't go too dark as I wanted to retain some of the detail in the tree bark :winnk:

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Gareth

My outfit K5 gripped - Pentax-FA 50mm f1.4 - Pentax 16-45mm F4
Pentax 18-55mm WR - Kenko 1.5x TC - Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 Di LD - Metz 48 AF1 - 2 x Cactus V2 triggers
fully portable mobile studio and some mobile strobist studio stuff !

Flickr

I really like this image, hope you don't mind.

Infared



Colour Boost

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Richard

K5 + 16-45, 55-300, A-50mm F1.7, Sigma 10-20, Tamron 17-50, SP90 DI Macro
Manfrotto 190XPROB-804RC2 Head

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Please feel free to play with any image I post. I really like the "infra red" version - how did you do that?

(NOTE: I was burgled whilst away on holiday and my PC went walkies. I've now bought a new one with Windows 7. As a temporary measure, I've been using a freebie called "Photoscape" for photo editing but have now ordered Photoshop Elements 8 to replace my previously installed but not entirely kosher Photoshop 7 - so I might not be able to replicate the effect yet).

As an aside, Father Ted - most of the photos I take don't do much for me either. I've got very few (in about 4000 since I bought the K200D) that I would describe as keepers. It's high time that I started posting some on here - maybe if I listen to what folks say, I might improve a bit eventually. One of the main problems I have, I think, is that I don't spend enough time thinking about what I want to achieve before I fire the shutter - so it's usually entirely accidental if anything useful is captured. Maybe I need to take notice of Ken Rockwell when he says that folks should FART for Fantastic Photos.

Andrew

After i had boosted the colour version in Elements clicked on enhance/convert to black & white/infared effect, done.

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Richard

K5 + 16-45, 55-300, A-50mm F1.7, Sigma 10-20, Tamron 17-50, SP90 DI Macro
Manfrotto 190XPROB-804RC2 Head

link Flickr
link PPG

I've had another go at the tree image - with all of the processing being done in Rawtherapee (apart from the final resizing). I think the original was a bit blue. I don't know whether you guys think this version is an improvement - but, as far as I can recollect, it is pretty close to what it actually looked like on the day.





Andrew

If it's what it looked like on the day you took it, then thats what photography is all about. We all like to play around with our images sometimes for the better, but sometimes not.
Its a very nice picture.

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Richard

K5 + 16-45, 55-300, A-50mm F1.7, Sigma 10-20, Tamron 17-50, SP90 DI Macro
Manfrotto 190XPROB-804RC2 Head

link Flickr
link PPG

D'you know? I could have written that myself

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Getting there! Thanks to you guys

Pentax K10d, *istDL, Kit lens ( 18-55mm ), 50mm f1.7 lens, Tamron 70-300mm lens, Prinzflex 70-162 manual lens, Various old flashes.