This month we critiqued the images taken on your older cameras. How did these photographs from vintage cameras hold up against your more modern submissions? In this video we find out!
This critique was a lot of fun, and we'd like to thank everyone who entered. Below are the winners and the prizes they won. All winners, please send Lee Morris a private message to claim your prizes.
Join the next critique right now, and get the lowest price ever on Clay Cook's Fashion and Editorial Portrait Tutorial .
1st Place
Winning prize: A full bundle of Topaz Labs' software suite including GigaPixel 8, Photo AI 3 and Video AI 6. First place also will receive one of the second place prizes: a Hohem iSteady M7 gimbal.
2nd Place
Winning Prize: The new Hohem iSteady M7 electronic gimbal for your smartphone.
3rd Place
Winning Prize: One free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store
Congrats to everyone who won and if you want to partcipate in the next contest, head over to the main Critique the Community page now.
Yes... Pentax still exists... The new Pentax 17 is a half-frame 35mm film camera released in 2024, known for its manual operations, classic design, and a newly developed 25mm f/3.5 lens (37mm equivalent). Sadly they have opted to not go mirrorless. Yet they still have a thriving fan base. Their High end DSLRs are still selling in the $2000 dollar range..
Lee this is for you - Sundew: The Sticky Plant With A Killer Instinct
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHLQ_kFEVM
Keep enjoying your new found genre but it's a lot more than taking photos.
But was that picture real or was the bug placed there??
Lee, that’s a question for the photographer, personally I think it could be either. I do not know how this Sundew would react to a cold or dead specimen. I’d like to give Ed the benefit of the doubt but after reading his bio I think more probable this images was setup or excuse the pun “executed”. But still it is most certainly a scenario that could have occurred naturally under specific circumstances.
Ask him in his comment area or send him a private message, you never now he might be thrilled with your interest!
I've posted about the shot below Paul ...
definitely, the better more modern camera would make the Deer a better photo. He said he had to save the photo from the grave over the years with denoise with Topaz.
I was so pleased that you decided to comment on my shot of a cranefly caught by a sundew plant, it's an image I'm very pleased with. Just for the record, I did not "sacrifice" the insect or stage this in any way; it's just how I found it. I'm pretty certain that it was not in there the previous day. I couldn't tell if it was dead or alive, but it definitely wasn't moving. I did hesitate about sharing the shot initially; all seemed at bit "brutal". That's nature though. The "crucifixion" vibe is an unfortunate additional element. Yes it's cluttered and with a somewhat awkward composition, but just a single natural-light, hand-held shot. There's a lot going on there!
Ed, sorry to disappoint you but I was more replying to Lee Morris' comment about your image. But since you brought it up. I think it's a great image and am glad to hear it's as you found it, that's the way I shoot too. And yes you should be proud to this image. Do you know what species of sundew?
I don't know the species Paul. I'm in the UK. but I think it may have come from mainland Europe. I'll put some photographs on iNaturalist and see if I can get an ID.
I can't remember how many species of sundews there are but I do recall there are native species all over the world except Antartica. I did see one similar species with the long leaves like you photo from Africa with may have been in the video link. Not really important just wondering if it was a local native or what just the born naturalist in me.
Thank you for picking my image to review. On that note learning to manually focus a 400mm f3.5 lens takes some practice but after awhile it is surprising how well a person can do just focusing through the view finder. You learn to not only look for the focus on the eye but to look for the focus on the highlight in the eye. Secondly, Yes Pentax is still in business, they are still in the DSLR world but I feel the user interface of their K-1 camera is the best ever, their focus was not good and the lens selection worse but the ability to set up the camera body how you wanted it is second to none.
Thanks for the work you do.
Don Wolterstorff