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Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited, ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/50 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Couple of things to report here. First, the image above was shot with a Pentax DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited lens that I am testing. The studio shots have been taken and now I just have to spend a few days living with it to see how it works for me. In case you were curious, whenever I get a loaner lens to test I put it on my camera and take it with me everywhere I go for several days. By forcing myself to use it for all of the various photos I take I can get a really good sense of how it performs within a couple hundred frames shot over just a few days.

Initial out-of-the-box impressions are that this is a very nicely put together lens that is absolutely the sharpest lens I’ve ever used. I really like the field of view the 35mm focal length gives on my K10D (52.5mm equiv). As a macro lens you can (read: have to) get crazy close to subjects. It’s actually quite a bit like using my DIY super macro set-up without all the fumbling around. Look for my typical in-depth user review in a few days.

Second, this image was processed using a brand-new copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 that the folks at Adobe sent over. I’ve been using Lightroom 1.4 all this time and I’m excited to explore the features of this new-and-improved version. I’ll be reporting on my impressions of LR 2.3 later. I can say that the upgrade was completely seamless and I haven’t missed a beat.

The image above was shot in RAW with my Pentax K10D in Aperture Priority mode. White balance was set to Auto as was the ISO. In Lightroom I imported the image using my default develop settings. I then cropped it and applied the Direct Positive preset. Finally, I tweaked the White Balance to bring out the blue hue of the evening light and dialed up the Vibrance a touch to get it to pop a bit more. The sharpness is mostly due to the lens.

March 26th, 2009 | Tags: 2.3, Adobe Lightroom, BBQ, blue hour, Direct Positive, evening, grill, grilling, Pentax K10D, Robert S. Donovan, SMC Pentax-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited, square | Category: photos | Comments (1)

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 200, f/1.7, 1/100 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Had to drop by the DMV office yesterday to trade in my Tennessee driver’s license for an Alabama version. Of course I took my camera with me ;-) I didn’t take any pictures of the folks waiting with me in the lobby. It was too quiet and crowded and they were a bit of a surly looking bunch. I tried to take a picture while I was at the Trooper’s desk but she said it was “against the law.” Anyway, after a relatively brief 30 minute wait I was on my way out the door when I snapped this quickie.

This image is as close to SOOC (straight out of the camera) as I get. All I did was import the RAW image into Lightroom using my mild default import processing and exported it as a JPEG to Photoshop where I added the black bars. I’ve started adding black bars to make my uncropped images square. Being an avid Flickr-er I prefer square crops as I think they look best as thumbnails and in my photstream.

March 24th, 2009 | Tags: 14, 50mm f/1.7 SMC-A, Adobe Lightroom, Alabama, bokeh, DMV, DOT, drivers license, LEd, lobby, now serving, office, Opelika, Pentax K10D, sign, SOOC, trooper, wait, waiting | Category: photos | Comments Off

Pentax K10D, SMC PENTAX-DA f/3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL @ 55mm + SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (reversed), ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Another of my DIY super macro shots this time processed in Lightroom using the Direct Positive preset. I had to get so close to the bumble bee that I couldn’t use the view finder. I just stuck the camera down in the flowers and started shooting. This was one of the two or three shots out of 20 or so that sort of turned out.

March 22nd, 2009 | Tags: 50mm f/1.7 SMC-A, Adobe Lightroom, bumble bee, Direct Positive, DIY super macro, Pentax K10D, pollen, reverse mount, Robert S. Donovan, SMCP-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, wings | Category: photos | Comments Off

After shooting digital for 10 years I finally started shooting RAW exclusively in September 2008. What took me so long? Probably the same thing that keeps most amateur photographers from shooting RAW: the added time and complexity of post-processing RAW images. That all changed when I discovered Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s customizable default development settings. By creating a custom set of image adjustments I get Lightroom to do most of the work for me as I import my images. I often refer to my “default import settings” in my blog posts so I figured I should share what those settings are. Here are the settings that I have found that work best for me and my Pentax K10D in Lightroom v1.4 and make shooting RAW work so well for me: More »

March 21st, 2009 | Tags: Adobe, All Edges, Apple, As Shot, Basic, Camera Calibration, chromatic aberration, Clarity, contrast, default, Defringe, detail, develop, HSL, import, Lens Corrections, Lightroom, Mac, macro, Pentax 1.00, Pentax K10D, Photoshop, Presence, radius, RAW, Restore, Robert S. Donovan, set, settings, Sharpening, Split Toning, Tone Curve, Update, v1.4, Vibrance, Vignetting, white balance, workflow | Category: Tips & Tricks, how to | Comments (2)