Thanks, Thordell - I hope next weekend there will be a nice weather so I could experiment a bit

The lake was not too large and there was quite a curve. At first I also thought that I should straighten the horizon line - but no, I think it was like that. If you look at the trees or, even better, on the second shot - there is a broken twig hanging on something (can it be an extremely strong web?) - the line is nearly vertical.
So how do you think - next time with similar scenery - how should I take the picture to avoid that illusion?

Congratulations! The black swan is beautiful

They look so good! Can I ask you how did you do them? It seems you used some strong spot light and dark background?

My favourites are the first snail, the bridge and the Camaro - looks so sporty now (even though I'm rather a fan of minivans than sportcars)

Thanks, Stefan. I thought after coming back home that maybe I should clean the fallen leaves before I took some of the pictures

I think you are right - I tried to get details in shadows - thus overexposure, maybe I overdid it. Now I see that the filter caused uneven sky colour and brightness. After a thought - these pictures were taken from the same place (almost) - I just turned or walked few steps each time. So there was a different angle when shooting - and polariser didn't work as I planned. Thanks - next time I have to be more careful with the filter. Looking at my own work I often cannot see the obvious flaws.

This is the only A lens I have and I must admit I really like it. Yet I need to learn a lot using it due to the shallow DOF at large apertures. With 1.4-2.0 I have troubles with sharpness in any place - I'd say a cm distance change makes a huge difference.
From -A prime lenses range I I'd like to have the 100mm 2.8 macro and 135mm 1.8 tele. If I could get and afford them

Pictures taken last weekend in Belton House parks. K20D + DA 16-45mm + CPL filter. What do you think?

[IMG]http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo284/misiek_knm/PU/imgp0868.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo284/misiek_knm/PU/imgp0869.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo284/misiek_knm/PU/imgp0870.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks Medic1, I updated the description

Terry: Thanks. I've been surprised how well the DA 55-300mm works with close-ups.