Metal Man Redux (And a little Crazy!)

So, I am breaking out of my funk a little bit, and thinking creatively. Kinda like it! I went out to take a few demo pictures for a fellow forum member who had some questions about sharpness in the corners and across the frame in the Sigma 10-20, as I was wandering looking for shots I remembered I wanted to re-visit this guy and make a regular effort to be creative with such an interesting subject. So I stopped and played for a few. The sky was not as dramatic as I had wanted but I think that with some outlandish processing I could get something worthwhile.

This is a fairly straight up shot, minimal processing except to bring up the shadows and up the sharpness and contrast a little bit.
This one is more crazy, same shot but with the levels adjustments pushed to the right, some wide radius and high percentage USM, and some diffuse glow. Hardly looks the same huh?

Liked this one as it was, with similar processing to the first one. I may play with it later tonight and I will post it if I do.

Yeah, this one was pushed to the max.

This one was similar to #2, really liked the metallic feel of the hand.

Same shot, taken to the other dark extreme. Put the Halo there cuz I wanted to, I am tempted to combine the two versions of this and get something really extreme.... hmmmm

Ok, Here are the larger Versions of the Photo's in the Slide Show

As always clicking on the photo will give you a larger version to view. Please do not use them for anything other than wallpaper for your computer. I finance my Lens Buying Addiction by selling prints, please help me with that by not printing my photo's. I would be more than happy to print you a photo for a very reasonable price. My lab does a great job too!

As a side note, all the photo's in this set were taken with my new Sigma 10-20 DC EX f4-5.6 Ultra Wideangle lens. The last was taken with my Sigma 17-70 DC f2.8-4.5. Both mounted on my Trusty Pentax K200d. All at ISO 100, f11 on a tripod and IIRRC with mirror pre-lock. It was snowing heavily for most of the night which caused some of the reddish cast in the sky, that is light reflecting on the falling snow. I also enjoyed having a weather sealed camera, I simply kept the lens pointed down when not shooting, and occasionally brushed off the lens and camera with a glove. It was cold enough that nothing melted and lens and camera were fine! Thanks PENTAX for making such a durable camera! Also Kudo's to Sigma, that 10-20 is an amazingly sharp lens.

Last Shots of 2009

Ran outside right after getting home from work, due to the fun cloud formations and light. Because it was a little hazy I ended up going B&W so I could up the contrast a bit. All taken with my K200d and Cosmicar 70-200 at f8 and 200mm.

Temple Square Dec. 30, 2009

All shots taken with my Pentax K200d and Sigma 10-20 EX DG f4-5.6 on a Tripod.