The Photography Thread

[Ish]

And here's another rainy day effort.

[Crisp_Rapper]

And here's another rainy day effort.

hey i like that, may i steal it for wallpaper usage?

[Ish]

Sure

[HaHaUK]

Todays snaps:

Bee
Bee 2
Bee 3

People who use Flickr, any idea how to thumbnail an image here, and then link back to the Flickr page for that image?

[Ish]

Nice photos.

I was trying to take some photos of bees yesterday but none turned out as well as those.

[Ginger Tosser]

Nice pics, still not sure if i'm going to buy a Macro. I'd like one but i'm still undecided. Hopefully will decide once i get some cash.

Anyway a couple of pics my current lens can get!

[squidman]

And here's another rainy day effort.

Is that with the same mini-studio setup you concoted up a few pages ago? I really like the way that's been lit. I'm envious. I want to make my own studio setup

[Ish]

Yeah it is. The lighting was a combination of the cold cathode lights (that aren't *that* bright but give off an even light) and the camera on a slow shutter speed. I actually slightly over exposed it to give the dice that almost glowing colour. If there'd be any subtle details or colours it wouldn't have worked but I was well chuffed how it came out.

Eeek. That almost makes me sound like I know what I'm doing. Actually I have been reading a lot and I've been experimenting loads and some stuffs worked and some stuff hasn't but I've always tried to pay attention to why its worked or not.

I'm thinking about taking a trip to North Wales shortly for a bit of walking and climbing - that might provide a decent venue for some good landscape shots . Now I've no idea what I'm doing there!!

[PeteJ]

Well to my utter surprise, my 100mm Canon Macro lens arrived today! It was ordered from Hong Kong-based One Stop-Digital on Friday. The lens was approximately ?100 less than UK prices, and with free delivery and no worry of import tax (they will pay any extra cost) it was a complete bargin. I paid ?318 all included.

It was well packed and delivered by Fed-Ex, was marked as ?32 worth of lens repair and, as it happens, wasn't caught for import tax. Needless to say, I recommend the place quite strongly, and will be using them in future.

Anyway, the lens...



Typical of Canon it is very well built - feels extremely solid and is simple to use. The USM motor is as effective as ever, and I really like how it lets you 'tweak' the focus manually even when in AF mode. The lens is surprisingly heavy, weighing approximately half a KG, making handheld macro work quite tricky. Clearly you aren't meant to be doing macro work hand-held though!

Also to my surprise is that it works well as a mid-range telephoto lens. I'm sounding really stupid here no doubt, but I was expecting to only be able to focus on things which were very close. I'm sure all macro lenses are like this, but it makes it versitile.

Quality of the pictures is...well, that's where this 'review' falls down

I've taken it out to a garden centre (no doubt breaking their rules for no photography!) but obviously without tripod my efforts were blured and rushed.

I spent a good ten minutes trying to snap a bumble-bee, much to the amusment of people watchig me. The blasted thing wouldn't sit still! This was the first time I've tried shooting something close-up which was moving, and it prooved to be quite a challange. This photo at least shows that, with better framing and focus, the lens can produce good quality photos - look at the detail on the wing, for instance. Shame the plant gets in the way, though. Also attached is the same photo but zoomed in on the detail of wing.

The other shot was just a random snap because it had nice colours.

I'll take it out in the garden later with tripod and come back with results

[EJG1980]

When I tried to capture macro shots of insects (with my rather humble Sigma 50mm macro ) I found that the best way to get good shots would be to set up a tripod and stick to one flower / plant / etc., and then wait for an insect to come to you. It takes a while longer due to all the waiting, but you're more likely to get a good shot than by rushing all over the place. That's what I found at least

[EJG1980]

Seeing as macro shots seem to be the order of the day in this thread at the moment, here's one I took of a spider and a frog in our garden last year. The frog was taken using a Sigma 50mm macro and the spider using a Miranda 135mm lens with extension tubes.

[MartyG]

When I tried to capture macro shots of insects (with my rather humble Sigma 50mm macro ) I found that the best way to get good shots would be to set up a tripod and stick to one flower / plant / etc., and then wait for an insect to come to you. It takes a while longer due to all the waiting, but you're more likely to get a good shot than by rushing all over the place. That's what I found at least

A longer lens would help, because you can be that bit further away and are less likely to spook anything if you're moving about. I just put the camera in continuous shoot mode and hold the shutter down

I guess with a 50mm you'd needing to get quite close, so that 100 should give more room.

[EJG1980]

A longer lens would help, because you can be that bit further away and are less likely to spook anything if you're moving about. I just put the camera in continuous shoot mode and hold the shutter down

I guess with a 50mm you'd needing to get quite close, so that 100 should give more room.

Yeah, the 50mm I had gives very little working distance! Using the 135mm lens with the extension tubes (which I used to take the spider photo I posted earlier) allowed me to be at least a foot (perhaps a bit more) away from the spider and I was still able to get it to fill the frame vertically.

Of course that was made difficult due to it being a manual lens, so I had to work out the exposure settings myself! Luckily the spider wasn't moving so I had plenty of time to get it right No good for anything that's moving too much, obviously.

[Ginger Tosser]

Mmmm Pete, that does look good and price even better. I've had a go with the lens and it is very good. Still undecided though. What warranty card comes with the lens?

[PeteJ]

Mmmm Pete, that does look good and price even better. I've had a go with the lens and it is very good. Still undecided though. What warranty card comes with the lens?

It doesn't actually come with one, but One-stop say they offer six months return to HK.

Really need to sort out insurance!

Not had much time to play with the lens today as it turns out, but I did 'construct' an Ish-style studio...ahem, actually I just held up a white piece of card