Libertia ixioides

Took this photo in wind the weekend while my kids were injoying a play at a park. I just love the colors of the background and how focus causes your eye to automatically be drawn to the little flower. Image taken at very shallow depth of field to force a high shutterspeed to make up for the movement due to the wind. The added benefit is that the rest of the photo is not too distracting due to the narrow focus.

I believe this specific veriety is Libertia Goldfinger. "A native NZ plant. Stunning all-year colour! This Libertia ixioides selection is named for its bright golden strappy leaves. White flowers nestle among the leaves in spring followed by golden seed pods which remain on the plant for some time. Planted en masse it makes a sensational landscapr feature especially when used as an underplanting for slender natives such as lancewood and cabbage trees. Grows to 80cm Height 80cm."

The very good vibration control on my lense helped a lot as well since I've had to take a funny stance to be able to make the shot.

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f8, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash external, Filter none.

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Tiger Lilly Stacked

Played with focus stacking in Magic Lantern on my Canon for the first time. Not my best photo but posting so I can share how useful this tool is. Subject is a bunch of flowers I had to get my wife after I did something I shouldn't have. That plus 2 boxes of chocolates got me back into the green :-)

So what is focus stacking you may ask?

Well, when you take closeup photos of subjects like flowers and insects your camera has a very shallow depth of view. The higher the magnification the less foreground and background you will have in focus. I've shot many photos where my depth of field is no more than 1-2mm! Sometimes this is desirable but more than most not. The lilly below would have had some of the background and possibly deeper bit in the inside of the flower out of focus. To rectify this I set my camera up on a tripod and took 7 photos each one 2 focus steps deeper than the one before starting from the front of the flower slowly working deeper.

Now, this would have been difficult with a manual lens but, with an autofocus lens en Magic Lantern installed on your Canon, you can let the camera do all the calculations, change the focus and take the shots for you. All that is left is to do some basic exposure and saturation editing in Lightroom, then import the photos as Layers into Photoshop. Use the Photoshop Auto Align tool and then the Auto Blend tool to stack the photos by focus point.

The end result is a close-up photo where the whole subject is fully in focus!

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 54mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f5, ISO 1250, Focus auto, VC off, Flash external, Filter none.

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Te Papa Seagull

Another 15 minutes lunchtime trip to have a play taking bird snaps. There is this nice area behind Te Papa museum where seagulls and other birds come together to bathe and drink in a fresh water stream flowing into the sea.

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 85mm, Exposure 1/1000sec at f13, ISO 1000, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Walden Guitar Saddle and Bridge

Got my secondhand 7D off trademe.co.nz and played a bit with my Nissen wireless flash and Tamron lens. This image would have been sharper using my nifty fifty aka. Canon 50mm f1.8, but, since this is a Tamron blog, it limits me to a specific tool set. Yes, a 7D can do with some high dollar primes or L glass but keep in mind I specifically choose my Tamron lenses based on flexibility/cost and not sharpness. In this regard, they truly shine. Between my 18-270mm PZD and my 10-24mm I've only spent about NZD1200.00 which covers 95% of the subject matter I like to shoot. I don't shoot for print or media, so the sharpness I can get based on web publishing is more than good enough for this self proclaimed photography fan!

Hope you enjoy my latest effort.

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 VC PZD, Focal length 130mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f13, ISO 400, Focus auto, Flash On Camera + Nissen Di622 Mkii, Filter none.

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Kruger Elephant

Due to the sudden death of my dad, we found ourselves back in South Africa on short notice recently. God was kind enough to make a mini vacation to the Kruger National Park possible. I hope to paste some pics of my Tamron performing at its best doing wildlife photography.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 92mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f8, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Piano

A friend of mine got a Canon 1D Mk 2 to test as its owner had recently upgraded to the latest top of the range model. So during lunch time we went for a stroll on the Wellington waterfront. The piano below was just a quick snap, but I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out.

Canon 600D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 21mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f10, ISO 400, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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Caged for Life

Sometimes I feel like this. All stuck and nowhere to go. Like my circumstances cages me up with no option of escape. I am just glad there is hope, something to look forward to. Escape is on its way...

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f7.1, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Rusty Dove

Taken at Staglands here: http://www.staglands.co.nz

I just love the pic because of the pose of the dove and also the way the white clean feathers contrasts the grungy, rusty location.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 200mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f20, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Old Kick Car

This photo is from the British Car Museum in Napier. To make the little kick car stand out, I've opted to create a semi paint effect on the background.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 100mm, Exposure 1/25sec at f5.6, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Old Store - Staglands

Staglands has a small and old mining town. This image is a composition of 3 shots taken hand held with normal dim natural lighting only. OK, it was dark inside so I had no option but to shoot at 3200 ISO. The image is grainy but that adds to the mood and time period of the scene. The slowest image was taken at f3.5 1/6 sec. With another lens this image would not have been possible, but this image is just another perfect example of how amazingly versatile this small lens is due to its brilliant image stabilizing. Photos combined into a HDR image using Photomatix.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/6 - 1/60sec at f3.5, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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White Fantail Doves

Not much to say about this simple photo :-)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 110mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f5.6, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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1934 Bedford pickup

Beautiful old truck from the British Car Museum in Napier. I would not mind having one of these parked in my driveway :-) Due to lighting the photo was taken at ISO 3200. Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 33mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f6.3, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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LBJs

LBJ is short for "Little Brown Jobby", a phrase coined by one of my co-workers :-)

We took the boys to Staglands in Upper Hutt and I could not help but take these photos. Nothing much to say really. Enjoy!

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/500sec at f8, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Cicada - Zealandia

I've discovered Zealandia in Wellington today. And even though our trip was poorly planned and quite short, I've managed to capture a couple of nice pics of birds, landscape, architecture and insects. Now that I have a feel for the reserve I will make plans for a re-visit that will be more focused and hopefully also produce more photos :-)

Below a cicada on a wire fence. It was taken with a +4 macro filter on my Tamron zoom lens. Lighting was added to with my popup flash covered with a simple diffuser.

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/100sec at f18, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash popup, Filter none.

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Australian Water Dragon

These are pretty amazing little lizards. The National Aquarium in Napier has quite a number of them in a large display. The images below were shot through "glass/perspex" (I did not check), and was taken using natural lighting at ISO 3200. Post processing was mainly aimed at noise reduction.

The Australian Water Dragon consists of two sub-species. The photos here are of Physignathus lesueurii lesueurii the Eastern Water Dragon, as is evident in the black band behind the eye. Australian water dragons are extremely shy in the wild, but readily adapt to continual human presence in suburban parks and gardens. They are fast runners and strong climbers. When presented with a potential predator, they seek cover in thick vegetation, or drop from an overhanging branch into water. They are able to swim totally submerged, and rest on the bottom of shallow creeks or lakes for up to 90 minutes.

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 70mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f5.6, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 142mm, Exposure 1/40sec at f5.6, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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National Aquarium

These statues can be found just alongside the National Aquarium in Napier. As a matter of fact, I've shot this photo so that part of the amazing roof structure shows in the image. The photo was taken in the morning with predominant sun coming from the front. But, some increase of shadow details in Lightroom helped to add some highlight and detail to the front facing figures. The shadow slider in Adobe Lightroom and Camera RAW, is an valuable tool especially in HDR simulation.

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 23mm, Exposure 1/300sec at f14, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash popup, Filter none.

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British Car Museum - Intro

Just to the south of Napier, you will find the British Car Museum. I can state that it is not what I have expected. Let me explain. I love old cars and as a result I've been to the Southward Car Museum, outside Wellington, a couple of times. If you compare the two museums, I am sure you will agree with me, that you cannot get any greater contrast. The one is organized, well lit, and clean, and the other is an amazing mess of adventure! To fully photograph the British Car Museum, I would need a couple of dedicated days with my tripod shooting multi exposure photos with HDR in mind. It is a fantastic treasure trove for the amateur photographer.

Over the next couple of weeks I will post some of the photos I have taken on our quick visit to this museum. The owner and I believe curator, is a pleasant gentleman who took a keen interest in my two boys, showing them and my wife some old pianos, even letting them operate one! Next time you are in the area, you simply must go and visit this delightful museum.

The image below is a taste of what can be found at this museum. Due to limited natural lighting only, I had to shoot most images at ISO 3200 as I did not have my "good" flash with me. My post processing in Photoshop was mainly focused on noise reduction and sharpness. Click to enlarge the photo.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f5.6, ISO 1600, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Freshwater Long-armed Shrimp

This is the first of my set of images I will post over the month taken on my trip to Napier at the National Aquarium. This has been the first time I've shot at ISOs over 800 and it has been a bit of a learning experience. The reason for this is that a flash causes way too much reflection in the perspex and glass displays. Because of the lighting in the aquarium most of my shots there were taken at ISO 3200 or ISO 6400. At such high ISO levels color noise is visible on my camera. Oh how I would love one of the more PRO level cameras that can more easily handle high ISO images.

BUT, I must say the Tamron 18-270mm PZD lens really saved the day, because even at ISO 3200, most shots were taken below 1/60sec which means camera shake becomes an issue, but with the brilliant optical stabilization of the lens I could make shots slower than 1/20sec at f-stop levels that at least guaranteed some depth! With another lens I would have had to open the lens to max which not only would have sacrificed depth of field, but would in any case have resulted in more photos lost due to camera shake.

My post processing was mainly focused at improving sharpness and removing some of the color noise in the photos. The image below is of a freshwater long-armed shrimp.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 30mm, Exposure 1/25sec at f4, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Napier Port

I've taken the family on a  short notice vacation to Napier, and I am glad to say I've almost filled 2 16GB SD cards! There are a lot of attractions and as usual our time was way too short. I will plan a followup trip for the future.

Below an almost 180 degree panorama taken of the Napier harbor from the lookout point where two 6 inch cannons used to stand during the first world war. The panorama is made up of 8 images.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f10, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Bison Moth

I would never have guessed that I would be describing a moth as furry, but this little critter has a mane like a lion :-) I've tried to identify the specific moth, but to me all NZ moths all looks the same. I suppose someone with a trained eye will tell the difference.

Before I forget again. I've learned some valuable lessons for getting the most out of my macro filter:

1. Don't focus at infinity. Set the lens to manual and make sure it is at its closest focal distance.
2. Shoot at an angle. The diopter (macro filter) goes out of focus at the corners and this is pronounced when shooting a flat surface, like shooting something from the top. However, shooting at an angle, like I've done below, hides the focus drop off as normal depth of view.
3. Shoot manual. With my DIY popup flash diffuser, I can get good lighting at 1/125s at f20 at ISO200. At this f-stop I can make the most of my subject. In bright light I will stop down even further.
4. Leave the lens's image stabilizing on. It help TONS!

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f20, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash DIY popup diffuser, Filter +4 macro.

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