simplejoy

Thanks - I get what you mean... that's true of course! Still, those are cause by light shining through fir trees. I'm pretty sure you won't even be able to smooth that with a f/1.2 lens for what it's worth:

flic.kr/p/XiQk5s
flic.kr/p/28SC19r
flic.kr/p/Jasehg
flic.kr/p/UtQq2u
flic.kr/p/En59u2
(not my samples)

That being said I noticed there's some outlining at certain distances, which can indeed impact the smoothness perception, even in less challenging conditions, so perhaps I'm wrong in my perception that almost any lens would have those lines visible in the instance...

Of course, that would be great! Actually, I've done that quite a bit (taken shots from the passenger's seat) when I first started experimenting with photography around 15 years ago. My girlfriend (now my wife) would drive me around, we'd be listening to music, chatting and I would point the camera at stuff, experiment with the settings etc. and see if something interesting comes out. I've done quite a bit of ICM (camera movement) stuff at the time. Here's an example:

Light doesn‘t move in a straight line by simple.joy, on Flickr

I'm sure my wife would love to do that... but I can guarantee you, having two small kids doesn't make that easy... 😅 Perhaps when they're a little bit older, we'll get another chance to try... 👍

Thank you! That's a tunnel. I was driving (don't tell the police), let the front of the camera rest on the dashboard and kept clicking a couple of times. This one was the nicest looking in my opinion, at least slightly cropped. The bokeh bubbles are caused by the lens (it's Triplet, meaning three lens elements only... the most basic design of the last century). The red, white and orange bubbles are lights, which are found in pretty much every tunnel here nowadays. I'm not sure why they were installed... perhaps to help behind-the-wheel-photographers like me to improve their composition? 😂

The water surface looks really nice in this one. Helps making the image feel balanced - very well done! I think slight adjustments of the POV can make a drastic difference in these kind of scenes.

Is this an in-camera effect which can be added?

I like this one! Why would you shoot it at f/7.1 though? I would never consider that, when I'd zoom in like that. But perhaps that's just different world views... 😅

Thank you! That's very interesting. I actually perceive it as very smooth... but that's highly subjective as I know the scene and what was happening in terms of the sunlight etc. I would expect most lenses to produce something significantly harsher looking in that situation. There's also the possibility, that my processing enhanced the somewhat busy bokeh.

What do you think of this version (only colors slightly adjusted as I often shoot in fixed WB):

And here are some additional shots (a bit too dark perhaps, but deliberately with very minimal post processing to show the rendering as it is):

Light handshake by simple.joy, on Flickr

Quest for the origin of light... by simple.joy, on Flickr

Com-four-table-top by simple.joy, on Flickr

I haven't been able to use it a lot. It is certainly a challenging lens and limited in its abilities. But it finally let me do a first version of this kind of image, which I had attempted a couple of times:

Light weight by simple.joy, on Flickr

Great shot - I like the clarity and the colors in the background! You should be able to find all the Componars here:
deltalenses.com/?s=componar+105

If the information (my colleague Mark has assembled most of it... I don't know too much about the specifics myself) is correct the older Componar 105 is indeed a 3/3 design, while the Componar-S is a 4/3 one.

Hexagonal bokeh is fun to use from time to time:

Hexagons: Sinking outside the box by simple.joy, on Flickr

Putting bokeh into perspective... by simple.joy, on Flickr

Paper is equally wonderful as it is frustrating, when being used in my macro experiments. I can imagine a great number of interesting arrangements and compositions involving shapes of paper, think of transformative ways to illuminate it, combine it with other materials, I enjoy its texture and how it behaves when its folded or crumpled... and yet when I try to do anything slightly advanced with it, it regularly makes me throw in the towel after some tries, or at least compromise my initial ideas heavily. So when I recently decided to use paper once again (due to a theme on flickr) I decided pretty quickly to keep the ideas rather simple. Turns out this wasn't such a bad idea. Here's the one I used in the end:

Trying to find my place by simple.joy, on Flickr

I seem to remember seeing this tower before in an earlier version of the thread, but I don't recall if it was from you or someone else. Regardless, it's very well captured and looks quite impressive here.

Depending on how intensive the post-processing already was, I would try and see how it looks like if you enhance the brickwork even a little bit more, by raising clarity/contrast on the appropriate areas. But of course there's also the possibility of the forum software crushing stuff as its regularly the case...

Wonderful! The color contrast is superb and what makes the image really special, but the composition is also interesting and effective. I love that the people in the boat look like silhouettes due to the lighting (limited by the bridge). Well spotted and captured!

Yes, I painted that! They do get black at some point... but I wouldn't want to keep them inside of my house for so long. 😉

I'll show a couple more outside-shots. While it could certainly be a little more Winter-appropriate here currently, I kinda enjoy the warm weather and almost Spring-like temperatures.

Growing above and beyond by simple.joy, on Flickr

Down-to-earth and beautiful by simple.joy, on Flickr

I even found some tree-stump that looked like a raven in the forest:

The raven by simple.joy, on Flickr

I love it - wonderful work!

Something (a little bit) autobiographical:

Reflections on writing about lenses... by simple.joy, on Flickr

Here's my description:

Don't worry - I'm constantly going through patches (of demotivation) like that but am already fine again. 👍

One slightly darker image:

Creativity can start in dark places... by simple.joy, on Flickr

and then something significantly lighter:

'Tis a bear into the woodwork... by simple.joy, on Flickr

continuing the theme of "horse chestnuts" we already had here some months ago! 😉

Nice shot! Is it usual where you are, that it gets this warm at the beginning of February?

Looks great, even though I would hesitate to eat something called "Fisherman's pie"... What is it made of?

A lens usually made for so-called Repro- or copying cameras, devices which were used for capturing material for printing (newspaper, advertising) before the rise of digital. Many of those lenses go to f/64, f/90 or even f/128. Some names of those are Apo-Gerogon, Apo-Tessar, Apo-Germinar, G-Claron etc. Some of those lenses are quite cheap because they're no longer needed, others are not. Depends on the focal length, your patience and where you look. There are also scanner and some cine lenses with a diaphragm that closes completely. And finally there are lenses with a slot between the lens cells, that let you insert any (cut-out) stop you want.