This sweet gum tree, which we had planted when we moved here 25 years ago, is one tenacious dude. It typically retains its leaves until the end of December and starts producing bulbs by mid January. This guy is still is hanging on to a fair amount of green.

Jer

[pichaser]

I have heard mention of sweetgum trees but never have seen them but it looks shady . The rays around the sun are created in post ?

[Sailor]

I have heard mention of sweetgum trees but never have seen them but it looks shady . The rays around the sun are created in post ?

It casts a lot of shade in the hot summer afternoons and, along with the magnolia we had planted at the same time, does a good job filtering the brutal Texas afternoon sun in the summer. The rays around the sun are an optical artifact of the lens, especially when stopped down, which I did on this shot (f/16) to get the effect. Pretty common with a lot of wide angle lenses - my DA 15 and DA 10-17 do the same thing.

Jer