dg

So I bought a Sigma 300 2.8 with the thought that perhaps pairing it with the Sigma 2x TC I had might give me at least a servicable 600 5.6. And yes I know TC's generally degrade image quality more so than cropping would. I am gob-smacked.... This is mounted on the K3III, and using both the...

The 65. Not 50 and not 85 which I thought could be perfect for me. I think I was right. And even if I'm not(it's only the first hour of sampling), the output, build and AF is wonderful. Price ain't bad either. Headshot crop.

A few samples:

Baseball Hall of Fame Corning Glass Museum And just Cute

Did someone say "selfie?" I figured I would do one with one of my favorite subjects for the month.

Dogs looking like their 'masters' Well I wish I had his Steiff-brand cuteness, but alas I work with what I have...and what both time and I have done to myself.:blush: But Dougal well and truly symbolises me at this point in the challenge. A little tired, a little dishevelled and with...

Finish lines.

Snow Driven.

Sitting on a Park Bench (with apologies to Jethro Tull) Plaza Palmer, Caguas, Puerto Rico.

A fragment of my Canberra postcard I was going to treat you all to a postcard of my home city...well the city I have to go to daily to win our bread. The 180 degree panorama came out quite OK, but far too small to share, so here is a snippet - of a little less than 90 degrees that takes in...

A moment's reflection Thought I'd try a pretty iconic image of mornings on my property - and I do apologise for the emphasis on my place this month.:blush: This is a pretty typical Summer's morning, low lying cloud - well comparatively as we are well over 900 metres above sea level - with a...

The carrousel at Plaza Palmer in Caguas.

North Pole.

Shapes.

Light Crush I clock the 28th up to being quite a good day photographically. Had three sessions with a total of about 400 frames with about 60% keepers and another 20% potential from the rest. Not saying this is the best of the day - far from it - but it was the biggest surprise for me from...

Dereliction Too much prettiness in the SIJ. Time to get a little dirty. This is a derelict property very close to where we live. In its heyday it must have been a gorgeous piece of property.

Meeting center waiting for some action.

Asparagus field waiting for some action.

Somebody Santurce, Puerto Rico.

Cracks to the sky Sorry folks. Slim pickings yesterday I'm afraid. Weather was miserable as was my humour...especially after I saw what was on offer on my card. So you'll have to indulge what small excitement I had in examining the form of this budding Gladioli - having said that I do enjoy...

Recinto Sur Street, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drove to Old San Juan for a slightly extended lunch break. This was shot from the parking garage across the street.

The real deal A few days back I showed off my little boy, Sebastian, who fancies himself to be a bull, but here is the real deal. This is a new addition to the area. He's not ours but our neighbours, who has kindly offered his services. Well I liked the look for him from the safety of the...

Yet another Caguas urban night scene.

Sunrise over the range I warned you all that with my limited windows of opportunity to shoot that there would be a few sunrises for y'all to contend with. Well here's the sight I sipped my coffee to yesterday morning.

Broadside strokes Just the single frame so this had to be it I'm afraid. Am I happy with it? Well not completely. But having recently re-read Freeman Patterson's "Photography and the Art of Seeing" I thought I'd try one of his Exercises in Thinking Sideways - so I intentionally broke...

Shadow of a budding bull Well I suppose Sebastian can wish as much as he likes but a very tight elastic ring applied when he was much younger has precluded the fact that he'll never quite be a bull. Though it appears so though someone has neglected to tell him as he acts more bullish by the...

No milk today.

A panorama roof in winter.

Diptych Plaza Palmer, Caguas, Puerto Rico.

Guard house at Caguas Botanical Gardens. The night guard was actually quite perplexed at the sight of a guy wearing a tie (came straight from work) pulling a camera, tripod and flashlight in the darkness to take a photograph. Didn't dare asking him to pose for fear he would ask me to leave...

Maastricht Court

Time Still feeling lousy, so I figured I would take care of today's shot early and put it out of mind. Shot through a Canon TX body and 50mm 1.8nFD.

Danger

Bell #11

Temptation in the wilderness Ironic isn't it? We have an orchard near the house which we prune, feed and generally tend very carefully the yield of fruit again this year approximates...well zero!!! Now today we head down to the creek - about 1/2 a mile from the house and what do we find...

Burning through the fog Was a relief that it was the weekend so I could shoot in earnest, but it was dreadful weather. Sat in a cloud for most of the day. Just glad I snuck this shot early in the morning as the sun struggled to burn through the fog. It almost made it too...but the cloud...

Zulma Still feeling under the weather, so my wife suggested a portrait at home. Again, two Canon 580EXIIs fired from my Lumix G3 with an ST-E2 transmitter. Not insignificant amount of post processing.

Feeling very much under the weather, this is all I can do without getting out of bed.

A study in rust In the dying light these rusty tins took on a weird hue. Funny thing to post-process is rust, so much more going on in the colour channels than first meets the eye. So kept the processing down to a minimum with small tweaks to the curves, contrast and saturation....as...

Testing 1, 2, 3, testing So little personal time to look let alone see. As I'm reconnecting with my other compadres on the challenge. I thought I'd show how I talk with all you folks. I'm rural so am completely dependant on a wireless connection - not sure what this "ADSL&quot...

A room with a view.

This is where I draw the line.

Shadowplay.

El corillo de Caguas (The Crew from Caguas) As I went on my nightly sojourn desperately looking for photo ops in the darkness, I came across this happy bunch. They were thrilled to pose. A very long exposure and another bit of light painting.

Former headquarters of the Caguas Masonic Lodge, Caguas, Puerto Rico.

Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do Last day of leave today. Back to work tomorrow :dash2: So we thought we'd end on a high note and went for a quick drive to the coast - not a short trip from the farm...but a world away from what's in-store for us tomorrow. Didn't bag as many...

El Rubí 1934 Neighborhood watering hole in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Sign claims it has been there since 1934 and I believe it.