Went back the parklands with my 10 y.o. daughter. (She's got my old K100D Super with Mk. II kit lens.) We started shooting at 5:45am. K20D.

The parklands are here: roma street parklands brisbane - Google Maps

Except for the wildlife shots (and this is open park, not a zoo), all other shots were taken with an M50/F1.7 lens.
A common problem on many of my flower shots this time was the DOF was too shallow because I used an F2 aperture setting too much.
So some parts of flowers were OOF.








































The wildlife shots were taken with an A70-200/F4. The first shot is of an Eastern Water Dragon lizard. I saw this guy sunning himself on the path.
I wanted to get real close to him, so I lay down in the dewy grass besides the path and crawled forward.

@70mm FL, F6, ISO 400, 1/250s



Down on the ground. As above except @ 200mm FL, 1/500s.




As I was walking along, I noticed some duckings and their mother under a bridge. There was not that much light and due to the distance, an ISO 400 shot with pop-up flash was grossly underexposed.
So I bumped it up to ISO 1600 with flash and got these shots:

@70mm FL, F6.7, ISO 1600, 1/180s



As above, except @200mm FL

Dan.

[Jimbo]

I keep forgetting your going into your summer soon. Nice shots Dan. #1 I may have cropped the top a bit and I really like #10,11 and 12... I miss taken flower shots this time of the year. JIMBO

[Ash]

Oh yes.
A delightful place.
Thanks for the colourful depiction of this beautiful park.

[mithrandir]

Some really nice pictures. Numbers 1 and 2 are my favorites. I think I would crop out the top 25% of #1. Like #2 just as it is. You've got some really nice captures of the flowers as well.

[dosdan]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I'll post a cropped version of #1. Personally, I don't think it has enough falling water showing to properly balance the horizontal water & the flowers. I'm interested in what you think.

[Jimbo]

There both good.. nice crop. I can picture a beautiful girl just behind the flowers coming out of the water! JIMBO

[dosdan]

I can picture a beautiful girl just behind the flowers coming out of the water!

Yeah Jimbo, the emergence of a pretty Polynesian girl from the water would be somewhat more appealing than, for example, the emergence of... the Creature from the Black Lagoon!

[mike.hiran]

nice series... have to agree w/ a couple others, 1 & 2 are excellent, though your flower shots are great too. that 70-200 looks like a great lens by the way. with regards to your crop of pic 1... I'm pretty torn as I like both a lot. I think I'm going with the second more cropped pic... it seems slightly more balanced to me.

[dosdan]

that 70-200 looks like a great lens by the way.

Vagrant10, thanks for your feedback.

The version of this Pentax zoom lens is the one that gets panned because it is not the SMC one. It has less contrast than the SMC 70-210/F4 so I boost that a notch in PPL. The good thing is that the lens was relatively cheap when I bought it a year ago. Better to work now with what you have than wait for something better.

Dan.

Nice shots Dan, personally I like the second, looking through the doorway. What a shame about that black drainpipe in the corner.
I love the closeup of the three ducklings, really cute.

[J.Scott]

I love floral shots and these are just great! It takes a bit of experimentation to get just the right DOF for each particular flower; you're doing a fine job!

Thanks for sharing.

[dazman]

Nice series Dan. I prefer the original image of #1 = better composition.

[dosdan]

Thanks for the feedback guys. By the way the satellite image showing in Google Earth must have been taken when SE Queensland was in deep drought. Since then there has been more rain and the grass is greener. The flowers have a sprinkler system so they don't get affected much.

personally I like the second, looking through the doorway. What a shame about that black drainpipe in the corner.

Yes, they should make a bit more effort to hide the waterworks. I tried it with a crop that only had a thin window frame & no pipe showing, but it did not work.

Dan.

[roentarre]

Tropical colour with beautiful angles.