Bumblebee in Love

My wife (bless her heart :-D ), decided last Sunday she wanted to get two more pots for the garden, so to make the trip less boring I decided to drag my camera along, and I am pleased I did.

I've always found bees very difficult to photograph especially with many flowers around, because they just keeps zipping between flowers the whole time. The Tamron has good close up abilities and the photos below were shot without any macro filters attached. I should also point the out optical stabilization of the lens helped a lot due to my frequent moving and refocusing trying to catch the bee on the Echinacea during a "quiet" time.

The images where taken in natural but diffused light due to overhead semi-transparent roofing. I just love the way the bee seems to hug the flower in the first pic. Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f20, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f18, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Old Classroom

One of my dear friends, and photography mentor (without his knowledge :-D ), asked me why my photography blog has come to a standstill. Well, I have been blogging a lot lately but not on this blog you see.

So, let me start with a fresh batch of posts and as my first entry, I would like to treat you to a stunning HDR panorama taken at the Cobblestone museum. My aim was to give the photo an old feel without being too aggressive. You may like to know that it took 21 photos stiched together to make this image.

In the end I really felt it worth all the effort. I love the colors and warmth of the wood and the green of the "black board" on the read wall just helps with the overall tone and mood of the photo. Lighting was a challenge, and as you may know I am not too much of a fan of shooting with a flash. I rather prefer working with the light that is available. So, I hope you enjoy this photo as much as I do! (click to enlarge)

Oh, please catch my updates on Facebook. Simply search for Tamron365 - you will find me quick enough :-)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 21mm, Exposure 0.6sec - 1/100sec at f8, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter none.

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Old Barn (28 photos)

HDR panorama taken at Cobblestones Regional Early Settlers Museum in Greytown, New Zealand.

This image was taken with a Raspberry Pi controlling my Canon 600D with a Tamron 18-270mm PZD. It is a 4 image 7 bracketed HDR merged into a panorama. Therefore this image consist of 28 photos. Bracketed shots taken with gphoto and HDR processing done with Photomatix. This is possibly one of the most complex photos I have ever produced.


To take this photo I had to set my tripod up in a doorway and open up my lens to 18mm. Stitching the panorama in Photoshop was pretty challenging due to the excessive image distortion because of the wide-angle setting and also because I had to pan my camera from an off-center position. Lighting is all natural and this image would not have been possible without HDR processing to combine the best of the under and over exposed parts of the images.

For details on how to do something similar please see my blog article at: teach-me-photo.blogspot.co.nz

Click to view larger version.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 2.5sec - 1/25sec at f8, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter none.

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Stretch-Me

Since it is the 1st of Jan 2013 over here in time travel land (New Zealand) I would like to start my posts for the new year with a simple fun photo. Nothing real amazing about this image, and no real post processing performed, but, it is not every day I allow some laughter to be had at my expense :-)

Inside the Southward Car Museum there are two carnival type mirrors against one wall. I just had to find out what I looked like in one of them with some amazing old cars in the background.

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Tools Galore

HDR panorama taken at Cobblestones Regional Early Settlers Museum in Greytown, New Zealand.

This image was taken with a Raspberry Pi controlling my Canon 600D with a Tamron 18-270mm PZD. It is a 4 image 7 bracketed HDR merged into a panorama. Therefore this image consist of 28 photos. Bracketed shots taken with gphoto and HDR processing done with Photomatix. This is possibly one of the most complex photos I have ever produced.

For details on how to do something similar please see my blog article at: teach-me-photo.blogspot.co.nz

Click to view larger version.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 0.6sec - 1/4 to 1/320sec at f8, ISO 200, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter none.

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1928 Mercedes Benz 38/250 ss Exhaust

1928 Mercedes Benz 38/250 ss side exhausts taken at the Southward Car Museum on the Kapiti coast. You gotta go!

Back to the car, what can I tell you about it? Well, on its day it was classically beautiful but it was also a beast on the track because it was supercharged with nearly 300 horsepower and top speed of 120. Spec is 7100cc 6 cylinder OHC fitted with a supercharger that only kicks in when the accelerator is fully depressed.  This was the fastest car of its day. Personally, I would not mind one of these in my garage!

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 50mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f8, ISO 1600, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 25mm, Exposure 1/400sec at f8, ISO 1600, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Old time pharmacy

Next to the last post's photo of the Austin in the mock garage display at the Southward Car Museum, this is my second favorite photo ever. Why? Well, what draws me to this photo is simply the genuineness and realism to the scene. Just look at the counter, shelves, wallpaper and floor. So much to look at.

On top of this I would like to highlight the technical complexity of this photo. Of all the photos I have taken thus far in my life this is surely the third most complex photo of all. The reason being that this photo is a composite of 21 photos to make a three shot HDR panorama (7 x 3), shot through a screen door with holes just large enough to poke my lens through, with a little bit of Photoshop to fill in gaps created during the stitching process to make the panorama. I wish you could see the precarious position I had to make my tripod stand in, just to get close enough to the door to get my lens through the door so to speak.

I do hope you enjoy this photo from the Cobblestone Museum in Greytown. (click to enlarge)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 20mm, Exposure 0.6sec - 1/100sec at f8, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC off, Flash none, Filter none.

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