Late bloomers

The Gladioli were the last flowers to bloom in Faye's garden and even those are a bit past their prime. I did however find some that were still fresh and in full bloom so I shot those this morning. Back to my 105 macro lens that I always used in the past for this kind of work, but had been playing with my 35mm macro limited and new DA*300 for most of the garden shots.

Those were the days....

Is anyone else old enough to remember the 120/220 folding camera of bygone days? Well they are back, this one is brand new and I would love to own a copy, but the better part of $4000 is just out of my reach.

Summers end

I think summer is officially over on September 22nd this year, but much of the flora, both cultivated and natural, are beginning to show they are nearing the end of their life. Flowers are losing their petals, the fireweed and grasses are turning to seed. However, some are still in full bloom and the sunflower is still reaching for the sun.

Still playing with my new 300mm lens and these shots were all taken with it.

A different perspective

People tend to think of telephoto lenses as being of use to take a photo of a distant subject that can not otherwise be approached close enough to photograph. However, lenses of different focal length each have their own perspective. In most DSLR cameras, a standard focal length is about 35mm, a 16mm lens therefor would be a wide angle and a 70mm a modest telephoto, and each lens with a unique perspective - wide angle lenses tend to stretch and telephoto lenses compress perspective. Also the depth of field (the area front to back that is in focus) is greater with wide angle lenses and less with telephoto lenses. This means that telephoto lenses are useful for isolating a subject by their narrow angle of view and shallow depth of field.

The first set of pictures I took of Faye's garden were shot with a 35mm lens, one offering a natural perspective. I wanted to try out my new 300mm lens, so back to the garden as it is the handiest location, just out the back door. This new lens can focus down to 4' 7" and most of the above images were shot at between 5 and 6 feet, not a range one would normally think to use a telephoto lens. But, as you can see, it does offer a totally different perspective than that of the 35mm lens in the first batch of images.

New Lens: DA* 300mm F4ED[IF]SDM

My new lens, that I traded for my Sigma 100-300 F4 EX, arrived today. I can not locate the (generic) plate for mounting the lens on my tripod, which uses an Arca Swiss style quick release shoe into which the plate fits. Had to order one that should arrive next week, but will test this lens free hand for now, though mostly it will be used with a tripod.

Midsummer garden

My wife's hobby is gardening, mine is photography, this post is a marriage of our hobbies. Normally I would shoot this kind of subject using a tripod, mirror lock up, manual focus and a cable release. However, I could not get my tripod into positions that would allow me the composition and framing I would like without trampling her flower beds, so I used my 35mm macro lens and hand held the camera for all but one of these shots.

I am really beginning to use this lens consistently for this kind of work, and I really like the perspective and rendition it provides.