[Frogfish]

For me, it's lovely, but no cigar. If you had the whole of their bodies, it would be stunning. As it stands, for me it looks like a near miss. Wonderful idea, but not quite there for me

My thoughts exactly. Simply because they are so small in the shot it would look much better whole body. Hope you 'shot wide & cropped' ?

[v5planet]

On these long, clear summer days in Seattle, I like to wander around with a macro lens in the late afternoon sun. I tend to spend most of my time doing this in a wetlands park near the university, but need to find some new, tiny subject matter around town. Do the locals in this thread have any recommended macro romping grounds?

Here's a simple scene I shot shortly after discovering I'd been kneeling on an ant hill while working on another subject

Ladybug

[osv]

We created this photo at the end of their wedding reception.. it was a shot that I had thought about for months prior to their wedding. Ambient light + a wirelessly triggered speedlight to separate the couple from the background. I wish it was less cloudy so that the stars and the mountains would be more visible but we only had this one chance. Still a pretty epic photo for the couple imho:

adding enough pixels to show their feet wouldn't have changed the message being conveyed... it's almost existential; new married life, vs. the scale of the universe, etc. i like that it's different... what really matters here is whether or not the couple likes it.

fwiw, you could have kept the body crop the same, only moved the couple a lot closer, so that they filled in the cloudy area on the right, since it's dead air anyway... minimize the backlighting for that.

thx for the post.

[Porga]

Been playing with welding glass lately. still have to figure out lot's of things.

Sigma 28/1.8
D600
228sec

[digitalCG]

A few from the Great City Games in May, an event that brings world class athletics into the heart of Manchester city centre:

[v5planet]

Did some alternative Fourth of July celebration by taking to the mountains, this time the north Cascades. Evening was dreary, and so was most of dawn, but there was a brief (so very brief!) interlude of color and sculpting light that I jumped on while I could:

j
Dawn from Driveway Butte

[edit]

One more from slightly earlier:

Illuminated

[RyanW]

My thoughts exactly. Simply because they are so small in the shot it would look much better whole body. Hope you 'shot wide & cropped' ?

Sure, but did the couple like it?

[Frogfish]

Some rather nice and varied shots on this page. Kevin you have some great flower macros there.

The Zeiss 100 looks a wee bit special

Cheers v5 ! It is indeed Mark - a spectacular lens that I'll try to put to better use.

---------- Post added 07-08-2014 at 12:55 AM ----------

A long weekend trip with the guys, primarily for birding but they indulged me for a few A7 shots here and there

For anyone that hasn't tried these new Sony full frame mirrorlesses (A7, A7r, A7s) yet ... they are simply awesome !

First 500kms to Huangshan Mtn (absolutely drenched by an extended thunderstorm which rained off our visit whilst on the mountain, and stopped the cable cars for 2 hours, saw my D800E and one friend's 1D Mk IV survive in the mini-waterfall we were under but my other friend's 6D died an unnatural death

Visibility was down to 20-50m due to clouds and the storm so we departed and drove further South to the county (and town) of Wu Yuan in Jiangxi Province - this area is a dream for landscapers and lovers of ancient villages and towns, as well as birders. Weather was much better here !

Sony A7 + Rokker 35-70 Macro 1/50, ISO 50, probably f8

[twilight_samurai]

Nice indeed; however, they are so small. Is the picture of them or the landscape. Perhaps they are more recognizable on a very large print.

For me, it's lovely, but no cigar. If you had the whole of their bodies, it would be stunning. As it stands, for me it looks like a near miss. Wonderful idea, but not quite there for me

My thoughts exactly. Simply because they are so small in the shot it would look much better whole body. Hope you 'shot wide & cropped' ?

adding enough pixels to show their feet wouldn't have changed the message being conveyed... it's almost existential; new married life, vs. the scale of the universe, etc. i like that it's different... what really matters here is whether or not the couple likes it.

fwiw, you could have kept the body crop the same, only moved the couple a lot closer, so that they filled in the cloudy area on the right, since it's dead air anyway... minimize the backlighting for that.

thx for the post.

Sure, but did the couple like it?

Thanks everyone for your comments. I would say my intention was more of a landscape with the couple as a small human element. We took enough photos during the day that featured them up close, the 'safe' and 'must have' shots. This was a chance to do something different and was a photo I had discussed with them ahead of time to see if they'd be up for it since it depended on the weather and also required us to step away from the party for a bit. And yes, the couple is happy with how it turned out.

@osv - I felt the backlight was necessary to separate them from the dark background, so if they were closer to the camera, I still would have used it.

[neostyles]

A few taken with my d600

[tuco]

Oregon Sand Dunes
Zeiss 21/2.8

[wildman]

Oregon Sand Dunes
Zeiss 21/2.8

Excellent

[tuco]

Excellent

Thanks. Each time I visit the place it's a little different. The sand moves a lot!

[Ian Stuart Forsyth]

Photographing rodents
Porcupine

Muskrat

[Miguel]

Sports: Tamron 150-600mm f5-6.3

In the spirit of the world cup coming to an exciting conclusion, here are a few shots taken at a youth soccer tournament on Friday with the new Tamron superzoom on my Canon 5D MK3. I always use the Canon 100-400mm L for outdoor sports in daylight, but thought I'd stress test the Tamron and see if the manufacturer had really fixed the AF issues that dogged the initial release of this lens at the end of 2013. I had returned my first copy earlier this year as it did not focus accurately and consistently, especially above 400mm on both my 5D and 7D bodies. Since then Tamron has issued a firmware (and maybe hardware) fix, but I haven't seen any action shots hence.

My intention for the Tamron is more bird and in-flight captures as that kind of extensive focal range makes it challenging for any lens to effectively capture action that moves quickly near and far and back again for 45 minutes straight. Getting 600mm for under $1100 is a true bargain. I owned the 50-500mm Bigma for Pentax, and its quality pales compared with this lens.

Overall my expectations were exceeded and I can see the value of the lens for shooting matches played on regulation-large pitches where 400mm is more limited. Compared with the 100-400L, I'd say that my keeper rate with the Tamron at this point is noticeably less, but I'm not drawing any definitive conclusions yet. I'm still new to the lens, I've never shot sports with it prior, and the heat wafting off the artificial turf was very much slowing my aging shooting reflexes.

Some other good things: the lens is very handholdable if one uses a grip, the VC (IS) works quite well, and I think Tamron has fixed the problem. A damn shame it's not in K-mount as the K-3 would blow people's socks off with it.

The bad news is that I've encountered a Error 1 message about the lens and body not communicating which is a new experience for me with this camera. I don't know if it is just my problem or one that will emerge with more stressful use by others. It could also be a symptom of my using a third-party grip that provides power. It doesn't happen with my 7D.

Examples--All shot at 6.7 and about 1/2000, ISO 800, cropped 15-35%.

1. 428mm



2. 400mm



3. 300mm



4. 375mm



5. 500mm



6. 483mm



7. 213mm



M