May 12, 2022. Temperature is 29 deg C (85 deg F) today. My tree suddenly sprouted flowers and new leaf buds. Pentax K3 III + HD DA 55-300 mm f/4-5.8 ED on tripod, 1/125 sec @ f/9 and 300 mm FL. Very delicate pictures. As much as this newer HD DA 55-300 mm performed like an entirely new lens compared to my old DA 55-300 mm on my K3, now the addition of a K3 III body produces supremely sharp and contrasty pictures, almost a revelation for this old lensman with 55 years of experience. I'm FLABBERGASTED, without words ...

[MikeNArk]

Nice shots, Richard. Good selective focus. I also like those new blooms.

[RICHARD L.]

Thanks.

The camera didn't know what I wanted to focus on. So, I went "manual-focus", first shot with the precise focus on the flowers, then recomposed and refocused on the leaves and took a second picture. Depth-of-field is not sufficient to give both planes of focus critically sharp, so two pictures are needed to tell the whole story.

Regards

[angkymac]

That combo maintained the delicacy and detail very well.
Angky.

[RICHARD L.]

Thanks.

The more I observe these two pictures, the more I'm beginning to prefer the second image. The sharp foreground leaves look better than the sharp little flowers with a blurry foreground.

Regards