About an hour south of Sacramento is a municipal park that houses a Japanese Garden and a small zoo. Of course we, Ray, Richard and I, had to go visit Lodi and Micke Grove Park. This park is part of the San Joaquin County park system and home to a Fun Town for children, zoo, Japanese Garden, small lake, golf course, softball fields, water play features, horseshoe pits, museum and children’s playgrounds. We walked the garden and zoo.
The garden was small but beautiful. However, it was either in super sunshine or dark shade. In retrospect, bracketing would have been what to do, but I didn’t take my tripod. Here are some images. I liked the water reflections.
Next we went about a block to the zoo. It was a lot smaller than our Sacramento Zoo, the enclosures were thicker so we couldn’t have the fencing disappear, but it was interesting.
Some of the birds.
They did have a snow leopard.
After leaving the park, we had lunch and then went to visit the Deshmesh Sikh Temple which we happen to spot on our way to the park. They were very courteous and let us inside with our cameras.
It was a fun day in Lodi. There is more to Micke Grove Park to see though. We just might be back!
Slow Shutter Speed 
As always, nice work. Suggestion about bracketing. I would set my camera to 5 brackets and shoot handheld. My Nikon has a rapid sequence that I would use. From there I would bring all images in together and stack them for HDR. Photomatix has been a go-to program, but there are others, and LR does them too. Motion blur can be removed in Photomatix. Many times the final image is quite nice. I even make panoramas using this technique. 🙂
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Thanks -N! I used to be able to do 3 brackets with my Nikon 7100 hand held. I should try it with the Fuji. For real estate, I’ve been using Lightroom because it’s easier. I still have Photomatix Pro. Now you’ve given me some homework!
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Very nice, Ann! I never suspected Lodi was that cool!
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Thanks Alessandra! I might go back to see the lake. It might be the size of Land Park.
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It looks like a very interesting place, you did a great job with the photos
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A Japanese garden, a Sikh temple and a snow leopard all in one day! It’s almost like travelling 😉
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Thanks Ana! The images in the garden were particularly difficult.
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Thanks Sarah! Yes, except for my short trip to Windsor, I haven’t traveled anywhere. So, these day trips are great.
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Hi, Anne. It’s hard to believe your shots were taken in the USA! Wow. What an interesting area. Lovely images, too. It’s hard to get the metering right in gardens with areas of bright sunshine and deep shade. Can you spot meter?
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Thank Patti! We have a some great tea gardens in Northern California. I was metering for the sunlight thinking I could always lighten the shadows. Maybe bracketing would have been a better idea. I know I can hold the Nikon for 3 quick brackets. I’ll have to try it with the Fuji.
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I, too, am surprised seeing these images that were taken in the US. Beautiful.
Thank you for the wonderful tour, Anne!
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Thank you Amy and you’re welcome!
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Super cool pictures! I always passed by the temple and never imagined it was that beautiful inside.
If your in the area i really recommend visiting lodi lake!
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Thanks Sal! Next time go in and visit the Temple. They welcome visitors. You just have to remove your shoes and wear one of their head scarves. And, thanks for the information on Lodi Lake.
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