Donnelly Lakes, Western Australia

[TonyW]

This is in an area of Western Australia a couple of hundred kilometres south of Perth.

1. We stayed in a cabin next to this lake. It was a clear morning and the sky really had this deep blue colour.



056A0450 by tonyw36, on Flickr

2. A Small Black Cormorant. The bird had the habit of sitting around in the same place for a long time and this was taken later on the same day.

I was disappointed in this shot because it was not as sharp as I thought it should be, even though it seemed to have focused well and the shutter speed was high at 1/3000. I am beginning to doubt the combination of 70-200 lens and 2x extender that I used for this shot.


056A0469 by tonyw36, on Flickr

3. Grass trees (xanthorrhoea)

056A0316 by tonyw36, on Flickr

4.

056A0317 by tonyw36, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Nicks Pics]

There is one shot here which I think is particularly nice. It is the one of those grass trees. We don't have those in my part of the world but those are beautiful. I don't think the cormorant is very soft, at least not at this size, but from what I've heard with a lens + 2x converter combination like that it could be a little soft, of course depending on quality of the lens and whether it is softer at one length or another.

[IzzieK]

Tony...Though #1 is a bit too centred, this one works for me. I love the reflections...not even a ripple in the water...#2 I am in agreement with Nick above, I have not had much luck with mine either on the 200 or the 300 lens so it is such a wasted piece of junk in my mind. I leave it on the shelf most of the time and don't even take it with me anymore. But your shot here is OK...I like the composition. Between 3 and 4, I like #4 better because of the close up of the crooked spike. I've never seen one like that one spike...Also known as balgas too. That and the tree ferns are very nice in a garden setting though the balgas are a little bit too wide for my front yard.

[Nicks Pics]

Speaking of tele-converters, I have never owned or used one, I was just speaking from what I've heard/read, but as well as that I have heard that in many cases they end up being shelf decorations, I can also say that some of the better photos I've seen have been taken using one, I think, perhaps it can be quite different depending on which one you get, and it's compatibility with your lens.

[dje]

All good Tony but the first one is quite special for me, especially when viewed full size in Litebox. The reflections, the colour and the tranquility all make for a lovely image with a distinctly Australian flavor.

The sharpness doesn't look too bad in the second one, when viewed full size. I don't know how much sharpening you applied but you could possibly get a bit more out of this shot in pp.

Dave

[deetheturk]

Lovely set Tony!

[TonyW]

Thanks for all the comments.

Izzie, I thought about the tree being too centred in the first image and originally cropped it more on the left but I could not resist having a broader expanse of blue sky.

Dave, I have tried to sharpen the image of the bird but thought this was as far as I could go without undesirable artefacts. Perhaps there are better ways of doing it.

I had never seen tree ferns in such abundance and so large before.

[bnnrcn]

Nice series