Fly shake

I've discovered some photos on one of my SD cards that I have not uploaded to Lightroom. Below is a simple closeup using a closeup filter. The image was slightly blurred - my fault. But I've recently upgraded to Photoshop CC and I've not yet used the new Shake Reduction filter. Normally I've would use more conventional sharpening techniques, but I was keen to see what the hype was about, and I stand pleasantly surprised.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/100sec at f29, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash popup with DIY diffuser, Filter closeup.

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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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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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Jumping Jack

My wife's comfrey plant is a good base for posing insect on, that is if they do not decide to enjoy the sun from that location on their own. This locust with it colorful body made for a good subject for the Tamron with the +4 macro filter since it really fills the frame nicely. I do not typically shoot macro at such a lower magnification, so for your pleasure I have included a sample taken of the same species using one of my reverse mounted lenses.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f16, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter +4 macro.

And a much closer view taken with a reverse mounted manual zoom lens.

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Another Bzzzzz

OK, let me be frank, I hate flies. They are pretty annoying especially this summer since I now have two neighbors with dogs. But, these little critters are sometimes pretty willing subjects and it really helps to practice my macro photography on them. And now and then I manage to get a pic that is worthy of posting to the blog. Even if it is just to make a specific point.

So what makes this image pretty special is that it is one of my first real macro shots with a lens that is not supposed to go this close. Some of you may have seen my really close up work such as this one: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8035/8038502363_4a53b648a6_m.jpg

That was taken with an old Vivitar 28-70mm manual zoom reverse mounted to my camera. But, with the addition of some basic macro filters to the Tamron, I can get close enough to take useful macro shots.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f17, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter +4 macro.

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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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In my eyes

Another jumping spider variety I would guess. I was amazed to see when I did my post processing, that if I zoom in on the spider's eyes, I can see my reflection in his eyes. How amazing is that! Those are small eyes, but still enough light is reflected back to contain a whole image of me holding the camera.

I must say, if spiders could have a personality, this one would have quite a good sense of humor. He kept on jumping onto my lens just before I could click to take the image. Kind of fits his looks as well. I am mad about his little fringe. I will go to the local library and see if I can get a book on insects in New Zealand.

Else, quite a precarious pose with the spider on the side of a wooden wall.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f13 +2/3EV, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter UV and +2 diopter.

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My Fly is Open

He he, so actually its "open" for all to see.

Got home today and I just had to walk around the garden to see if any insects would like their photos taken and you will not believe how many nice pics I got. Sure, at such magnification, shooting without a flash and handheld, meant I had a lot of out of focus photos to delete. But, the keepers were worth it. Oh and the three sandfly bits I've collected during my 45 minutes outside, will also be worth it. (Why those little buggers like my blood so much I would not know!)

With that said I must say that I have pretty much found the area of photography I enjoy the most. Yes, landscape photography etc. is also a lot of fun, but nothing compares to the detail and colors you can capture at high magnification. Also, this is an area the naked eye have very little insight into.

So, let me introduce you to my fly. :-) I have absolutely no clue whatsoever what species this is, but let's not allow that from distracting us from enjoying the pics. Images are crops, with mostly noise reduction performed to get rid of noise artifacts due to shooting at ISO800. (Please will someone sponsor me a DSLR that can handle higher ISOs with less noise!)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f10 +2/3EV, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter UV and +2 diopter.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f10 +2/3EV, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter UV and +2 diopter.

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Mr & Mrs Prickly Spider

Worked from home today and my wife was outside busy in the garden when I heard her calling me. She almost had a little spider fall on her. I rushed back inside to grab my camera to take some pics of the creature. This spider is only about 1.5cm long in sitting position and about 2cm I would guess in walking position.

Shooting was not easy, since I had to take the images standing plus I had a +4 diopter on to get close enough to the tiny thing. Later in the day I found another spider outside, and only after downloading those images to Lightroom did I see the two spiders must be from the same species. My guess would be the bigger one is the female and the smaller one the male.

Please add a comment if you know what these spiders are called.

Due to the small size of the spider all pics had a small amount of sharpening added and all are crops from the bigger original pics.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/50sec at f18 +2/3 EV, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV and +4 diopter.

And the Lady of the house. She was hanging upside down  outside almost at ceiling level. This one was difficult to snap.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 200mm, Exposure 1/50sec at f16 +2/3 EV, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV and +4 diopter.

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Berry Bonanza

I love strawberries! So when my friend told me the local supermarket had stock, I immediately got in my car and came back home with three punnets of strawberries. 2.95 punnets for eating, njummy, and 1 strawberry for taking photos.

All photos were taken with a +4 diopter on my Tarmon PZD. Lighting was using my custom lightbox (see earlier post) and 23W globe. All images overexposed by 2/3 EV. No sharpness added in PP.

My first try was with a red wine glass filled with Sprite Zero (I know, wine lovers will have me executed for such sacrilege!). Next time I would rather try plain water and a small fish tank. Note, the bubbles made the strawberry move around in the glass. It was quite challenging to shoot a moving berry :-)



Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 110mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f5.6 +2/3 EV, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV and +4 diopter.

Next up just a simple shot on a shiny grey card. Note the pretty decent image quality. This time around the strawberry was not going anywhere :-) Vignette added in PP for effect.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 59mm, Exposure 1/100sec at f6.3 +2/3 EV, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV and +4 diopter. 

Below a 100% crop of the image above. No complaints from my side. Not a Canon MP-E 65mm, but for what I've paid for the lens and the versatility it provides, it will do.

One of my favorites from the shoot. Again nice sharpness, a simple vignette added for dramatization.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 142mm, Exposure 1/25sec at f29 +2/3 EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV and +4 diopter. 

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Dahlia Diopter +4

Today was a good day, the local camera shop had some Marumi diopters (close-up filters) in stock. So I could not let a set stay in the shop, no, I just had to adopt them :-)

The image below is a quick snap of the Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD with a +4 diopter fitted. The shot was taken without a tripod. Note that the center part of the dahlia is less than 2cm in diameter. I cannot wait to see what this lens can achieve at +7 (+1, +2 and +4 stacked). Although I am pretty sure I will need a tripod at that "magnification".

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 200mm, Exposure 1/100sec at f14, ISO 100, Focus manual, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV and +4 diopter stacked.

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Here's looking at you

We went for a walk in the local "bush" today and I've managed to get a whole number of good shots. It is difficult to pick which one to post, so I will post a number of the top ones over the coming days. Since I've posted a number of flower pics recently, I think this little dragonfly is a welcome change.

This guy is pretty small and the day was windy but I tried my best to click in between light gusts of wind. No sharpening done, but black levels and saturation changed in PP.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/500sec at f9, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV.

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Sweating it out

Work closed early today for the holidays, so myself and two photography friends went to the Wellington botanical gardens to see what we can accomplish at the main hothouse. I must say, I am sure I've dropped a couple of Kgs!

My one friend was shooting with my Canon 18-55mm IS II (his Mk I is in for repairs) and my other friend used his Sigma 17-70mm. Both very capable lenses I must say. The only two areas I think the Sigma wins compared to the Canon is better f-stop and closer focus for macro shots.

All in all we've spent about 2 hours inside taking a lot of pictures. I am sure my friends may beat me on image sharpness, maybe, but I can confirm that I've shot a lot of photos in excess of 100mm, getting nice and "close" to flowers far off. My friends, because of focal length constraints, would have missed those shots.

Even though I may have sacrificed some sharpness by using the Tamron PZD,  the day was still a winner for two reasons:

1. Vibration Control - Even through I took my tripod along I never used it. If I did I am sure I would have taken half less shots. The VC on the Tamron PZD is simply amazing. A lost of my shots were still sharp at shutter speeds of 1/20 - 1/60. I know from experience, doing the same with my Canon 18-55mm IS II, would have resulted in far more out of focus shots.
2. Focal Length - As mentioned, I cycled through wide angle and fully zoomed images the whole time. This would have been very troublesome if I had to continually swap my 18-55mm and 55-250mm to do the same. It goes without saying that would have resulted in far less shots as well.

One down side again was that I had to keep zoom creep in mind with the PZD, but I find it is starting come natural to always have my hand on the lens with the zoom ring between my fingers when I am actively shooting. Zoom creep solved :-). When I do walk around with the camera around my neck, the little zoom lock button is very handy. Top marks to Tamron for building that into the lens.

So to sum up the day, we've all enjoyed it very much and I cannot wait to see my friend's photos. I am sure they will teach me a thing or two. Both have a very keen eye for photography. For myself, I find the PZD a very fun lens to use, it allows me more time to focus on what I want to shoot, composition and all of that, and less shots are wasted due to not having the right lens on my 600D.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 54mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f14, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 184mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f16, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV.

Taken outside the hothouse om my way to my car. (image below)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f20, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV.

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Gazania Mania

My wife's little flowers outside. Not much to say, but to mention these were shot hand held in a light breeze. I tried to snap the shots in between "gusts". I've applied minimal denoising in Lightroom. I cannot wait to get some close-up filters for this lens! So far not much I can find to fault the lens with except zoom-creep. This lens does like to go from 0 to hero (270mm) all by itself. Maybe it cannot wait to shoot at full zoom :-)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f18, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f18, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV.

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Knight Bishop

On my first night with the PZD three of us got together at a friend's place to play in his close up "studio" (think temporarily converted living room). One of the items we shot was this chess set. Lighting was done with a hand held LED torch. To make sure I had the subject in focus, I switched the Canon 600D to live view and used the arrow keys and zoom buttons while manually focusing with the other hand. As you can imagine, AF + re-composition with close up photography very easily leads to slight out of focus shots. The live view + zoom trick allows for pre-focus composition and the ability to fine focus on exactly the point in frame that you want.

Only vibrance and saturation changed in CS5. To show the focus the PZD could manage I did not touch sharpening of noise reduction.

Let me know what you think.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 59mm, Exposure 14sec at f14, ISO 200, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter none.

Here is a 100% crop, I am pretty pleased. See if you can spot the fingerprint on the Bishop :-)

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Paekakariki Road Lookout

The day was very overcast and cloudy, but I was lucky and caught some sunshine as we got to the lookout point (http://www.geolocation.ws/v/P/3056126/kapiti-island-from-paekakariki-hill-rd/en). The wind was blowing a cold southerly down our spines, but I am glad we took the detour to take this shot.

This shot is a 5 frame hand held panorama with only minor saturation and over exposure recovery performed. I used one of my Canon's view finder focus points as reference to make sure the horizon stays on the same level in all 5 shots. Exposure was measured on the rightmost of the 5 shots, set in manual, and then I took the shots from left to right. I was sure to get some overexposure with the sun reflecting in the water, but that was all planned and CS5 help reduce the impact somewhat.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 20mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f10, ISO 100, Focus manual, VC on, Flash none, Filter UV only.

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Venus Flytrap

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, tripod. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/100sec at f20, ISO 800, Focus manual, VC off, Flash none, Filter UV only

The Venus Flytrap has always been a little plant that I could just not get enough of. I always stand amazed at how fast this plant can react to insects crawling though its traps. This one is a snap (pun intended) of one of my son's plants. Lighting was natural sunlight, background is a simple black piece of A4 paper held about 40cm back. Saturation, noise reduction and vibrance changed using CS5.

My 600D was set on a tripod, and my Tamron PZD was focused manually. I must say I am very impressed by the  resolution of the fine details. Keep in mind this flower is about 3cm in diameter.

I've read today on another blog that the Tamron strongest suite is that it is a pretty competent macro lens (see http://thedayszoompast.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/day-114-pocket-watch/), and I must agree. Below is a 100% crop of the original. I am pretty pleased with the depth of field taken into consideration that this was shot at 270mm.

Pity it was shot at ISO 800. Light was running out.

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