Zilker waterfall
Monday, April 5, 2010 | Jim Nix 
Zilker Park is a large city park here in Austin - sort of our version of Central Park. There are several sections of the park, including the Zilker Botanical Gardens. I went on a photowalk there recently with my good buddy Pete Talke and since the flowers are blooming right now, we were in search of a bunch of flower macros and the like. Unfortunately, it was crazy windy that day and a lot of the flower shots were blurry - though I did get a few that I am proud of and that will make their way onto the site soon. After chasing those flower shots for a bit, we walked around the bend to the Hartman Prehistoric Garden, which is right next to the main part of the botanical garden. In 1992 some paleontologists discovered some dinosaur tracks and bones of an ancient turtle, hence the "prehistoric" part of the name. Pete mentioned a waterfall was there, which I did not remember at all, but it was there and the water was moving nicely! I got a couple of shots of the waterfall, including one wide angle shot that encompassed more of the surrounding scenery, but thought this more tightly cropped version was the best one of the bunch! It is a beautiful garden and a wonderful place to visit if you get a chance to come to Austin. Oh, and don't forget the camera!
This is a 6 exposure HDR taken at f/22, with exposures ranging from -3 to +2. It was nearly lunchtime, so the sun was high and bright, though we had some shade there so it didn't interfere with the shot. I created the HDR in Photomatix and then made my typical adjustments in PSE around Contrast. Some final adjustments were made in Aperture.
Austin, HDR, Nikon, Photomatix, Zilker Botanical Gardens, Zilker Park, garden, landscape, waterfall in Austin, HDR, Landscape, Texas, Waterfalls 
Reader Comments (10)
Nice shot, Jim. I had no idea there was a waterfall tucked in there. I'll have to look closer next time I'm down there.
thanks Dave! I had forgotten about it myself but was glad to find it! Thanks for the visit and comment!
Nice shot, Jim! I haven't been down in that section in a while; I'll have to remedy that! Did you use an ND filter to get a longer exposure for the waterfall? Or was f/22 enough to slow things down?
Thanks Van, I appreciate the visit and comment! I did not use a filter - the f/22 setting was quite enough and the +2 exposure gave me some great slow water to work with! Thanks for stopping by!
This is pretty cool. I didn't know anything like this existed out there at Zilker. I've never been to the gardens so I'm gonna hafta check it out. Very nice shot!
thanks Evan! I appreciate the visit and comment. It's tucked away but worth the walk, plus the flowers are looking good in the area too!
Very nice, Jim. I have never been back there in my 20 years in Austin...yet another place that I might get to because of a camera.
thanks Mike, glad ya like it! Definitely get over there, it is beautiful! thanks for stopping by!
This is one of your best IMO, Jim! I just ran into it on HDRSpotting -- I don't remember it coming by (I don't always keep up well with twitter, flickr, or rss feeds).
Hey thanks Mike, I rather like it too! I appreciate it very much! Jim