Nice diversity of photos here as usual. I'll throw in a photo from McKinney TX. This is from Emma's first match as a member of her school tennis team (doubles). They lost, ,but I love the grin she had in almost every shot!.. Weather today: 29° C, winds SE @ 14 km/hr, humidity 48%. John
BTW This was with my a700, and 70-200G. I think it is quite soft, considering the lens. I need to do some real tests on it to see what is what....

Nice action shot, John. : )

Your daughter is well captured in a smile.
As they say for all types of competion, it's participating that matters and not winning. Maybe next time. : ))

Already in tank tops and shorts the weather must be really good out there.

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz


edit: Must be the glitch with the SQL error or some other reason. I lost my original message that I posted here and probably pasted the message I wrote for Hawk's crocusses in an other thread. The above is the original post for this thread. A.

Great action shot John - it must take some timing to get the ball in place and racket in the back swing like that. Hope the lens and camera combo come out ok.

Thanks Birma... I wish I could claim that it was skill on my part... It was just pure dumb luck... The lens seems to be ok, I may be expecting more that it can deliver... I think more testing is required to rule out operator error!
John

Thanks Yildiz- She really enjoys tennis, as well as band and drama. They had another match yesterday, and she unfortunately lost again.... She wants to go to a tennis clinic this summer, I just may pay for it..

As far as the weather in the North Texas area today, I feel fortunate that McKinney avoided most of the severe weather that hit the Dallas- Fort Worth area today. The National Weather Service has said at least 12 tornadoes have hit the area with hundreds of houses destroyed. Thankfully no reports of serious injuries or deaths so far.. But, many people are looking for a place to sleep tonight. We had about 20 minutes of torrential rain, moderate winds, and then that was it. http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t1#/video/bestoftv/2012/04/03/vo-nr-texas-tornado-trailers-wfaa.cnnhttp://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/03/11003782-tremendous-damage-as-twisters-tear-through-areas-near-dallas
This video was shot in a commercial area near a highway. Many suburbs had dozens of houses destroyed. John

From this evening... After the storm. John

Very sorry to hear of the destruction in Texas - a relief that there were no deaths. A very dramatic sky, John, after a dramatic day. 12 tornadoes !

Catching up with the weather thread while on holiday. The Isle of Skye has had quite mild weather compared to the other parts of the UK.

Monday was a dull day, so I focused on some long exposure shots of the burn.

Skye 2012 - Burn 1 by Birm, on Flickr

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a sunny day with a bitter wind. There had been some snow overnight which was still showing on the hill tops.

Skye 2012 - Sgurr Mhairi by Birm, on Flickr

Both with Nex 5 and SEL 16mm.

Great images Birma. I personally would look at recovering some detail from the foreground shadows in the second image.

Mark

Thanks Mark . I will have another go at the second shot as you suggest.

The waters of the burn looks very inviting, Birma.

I love the snowy, frozen-looking topped mountains in the second rising so abruptly above the rest of the landscape, which is characteristic of the Skye, I suppose.

Almost forgot. I hope you enjoy your new lens, the CZ 16-80 mm and shoot very nice shots. : ) And hopefully it'll never be causing you any problems.

Yildiz

Personal taste of course Birma. I would never debate the artists view on his own work!

Mark

Thanks Yildiz . At sea level it has been just warm enough to melt the snow, but a few hundred feetv up it has remained to provide some nice bacgrounds - the "icing on the cake" you could say .

Mark, all feedback very gratefully recieved

Still a day behind with my weather shots. Yesterday started very grey, but brightened up in the afternoon while still chilly.

These shots were taken from the roadside on our way home from an afternoon walk. The sunshine looked fantastic across the lochs.


Skye 2012 - Loch Harport to Cuillins by Birm, on Flickr


Skye 2012 - Blue Loch Bracadale by Birm, on Flickr

Both with the A700 and CZ16-80.