Tamron Blog: Angle of View

Low Angle

By Mike Mainhart

Sixty miles from home, three miles upriver, waist deep in water and only one lens to do all the shooting. I can’t say it enough; there is only one lens that I have the confidence in to get the job done. The Tamron 18-270mm, time after time, it gets the shot.

I photograph for several outdoor publications. Sometimes I have the luxury of carrying several lenses to a shoot but there are a lot of times that it’s just not practical, this is when the compact, all-in-one 18-270mm comes in handy.

Freelance outdoor photography is very competitive, especially fishing photos. There are literally millions of grip-n-grip shots for editors to choose from. In order to stand out from the crowd, you need get creative. When shooting a fishing event, I stay close to the action, whether it means around the water, on the water or even in the water. Another good technique for fishing photos is to keep low. I always kneel down when possible, even in the water.

I recently photographed a smallmouth bass fishing trip. Fishing for river smallmouth is a favorite late spring pastime in the Midwest. Smallmouth fishing, especially in a river, is demanding; hiking for miles, wading swift currents, negotiating slippery rocks and yes, even falling in the water if you’re not careful.

These conditions are not favorable to camera equipment. I have in the past carried loads of gear upstream just to get a great shot. A backpack full of heavy lenses makes for a long day. Not to mention, everything needs to be in a waterproof bag. This makes it just about impossible to get an action shot.

Smallmouth love to jump, especially when they are first hooked; by the time you get the proper lens out of the bag, attached to the camera and start shooting, the action is over. That is when the Tamron 18-270mm shines.

I use a Sony Alpha DSLR, a full size camera. With the 18-270mm attached, the camera and lens fits in a waterproof bag and tucks neatly in a small shoulder camera bag. In seconds, I have the camera ready and shooting.

The lens is great for all around shooting. That’s what it was designed for. Yeah, the 18-270mm is not a specialty lens but, with a little practice, the lens is capable of capturing just about any shot.

Some of the action shots that I captured of jumping smallmouth would have been challenging if it weren’t for a few quick adjustments on the camera. A bright sunny day and this fish just happened to put on its aerial display in the shadows. With only seconds to react, a widest possible aperture (f5.6 at the zoom range) and a quick dial to 800 ISO was the only way to stop the action.

The action ended with the fish being landed. Next came the hero shots, always wear a colorful shirt for fishing photos. My wife had on a bright orange shirt just for the occasion. Again, the 18-270mm is the perfect lens for capturing great color. All that was needed to fill the shadows on the sunny day was the pop up flash on the camera.

Last was a low angle photo of the fish being released, this was the perfect shot to (illustrate a story) with a handful of pictures.

Macro Flowers Part 2, Keep it Simple

By Ken Hubbard

 

Some orchids can be very complex flowers with curving lines overlapping one another and colors galore. Having so much to work with, in such a small flower, sometimes it can be difficult to find a point of focus. So I am going to keep this blog nice and short with a simple technique I use to keep myself from getting frustrated.

Keep it simple

We all go through periods where we look at something we want to photograph but just don't know where to start. When I have a tough time finding an interesting image with the more complex orchids, I turn to the very simple ones. A perfect example is the image above, what caught my eye was the perfect curve of the fuzzy stem leading to the slightly opened bud which revealed just a little bit of pink color. That's it, nothing more, so I framed the flower nice and tight accentuating the curve and size of the bud.

I captured this image using Tamron's SP 180mm 1:1 Macro lens with the following settings: ISO 400, F/32 at a 1/2 sec. shutter speed. This was shot in one of Parkside Orchids (Ottsville, PA) greenhouses, so the sunlight was nicely diffused by its translucent roof. I placed a yellow piece of craft paper about 24" behind the flower to add some color and a white panel reflector to bring in a touch more light.

Macro Flowers Part 1: Backlit Painting with Light

By Ken Hubbard

 

A little while back I was capturing some images for a macro photography seminar and I was thinking of some different ways to light my subjects, which in this case was a variety of flowers. At first I headed outside with a diffusion panel and some reflectors to work with the natural sunlight. Then I headed back inside to work with some nice soft window light, using sheer curtains as a diffuser. After capturing some nice traditionally lit images I decided to change things up a bit and started to capture some images by painting with light, using an old maglite flashlight in a completely dark studio. The image above was captured by painting with light, but with a small twist.

Photography is defined as "Drawing with Light" and in this image that is a literal definition, I used a maglite flashlight as my sole light source and "drew" the light where I wanted it. First, with the lights on I set up my subject (the flower) on a black background sweep, I set up my camera on a tripod and framed then focused the camera on the flower. I then set my camera using the Tamron 180mm 1:1 Macro lens to F/22 with a shutter speed of 30 seconds and an ISO of 200. Next I turned off all the lights, with flashlight in hand so I could see what I was doing. I fired the cameras shutter using a release cable (to prevent camera shake). Once the shutter was released I started to paint/draw the flower with light, continuously moving the light across the flower. Making sure not to stop in one spot for too long which would cause a hot spot in the final image. My first few shots were taken by painting the light only on the front of the flower, which looked nice, but wasn't what I was looking for. The small twist with this image was that for most of the 30 second exposure I was backlighting the flower to make it glow and only about 5 seconds of painting of light on the front red center of the flower to make sure I get some detail there as well. This is a fun way to capture some really unique looking images of flowers, just remember there will be some trial and error to getting the correct setting on your camera and how and where you want the light on your subject.

The Unexpected Guest

by André Costantini

This year the Christmas tree came from the backyard and on the evening that we put it up I noticed a gigantic spider or rather a gigantic shadow from a tiny spider as it walked over the tree lights. But with so many lights trying to find the actual spider became an exercise in futility. And I went to bed knowing that at least the spider was tiny. The next morning I heard some rustling towards the top of the tree and my mind immediately drifted to those urban myths of cactuses exploding with thousands of spiders. So I was somewhat surprised to see a butterfly, who apparently found it warm enough to emerge and thus our Christmas butterfly was born or maybe more accurately had arisen.

My internet detective work led me to believe that the butterfly is an Eastern Comma, on account of the comma like slit in the wings and the coloration. He or she, as I am not in the business of distinguishing the gender of butterflies, was quite cooperative as a subject landing on the finger of my fiance and exposing the innards of it's wings. The butterfly has taken a liking to the bedroom window in the afternoons and the outside of the window curtain in the evenings. She has been with us for four weeks now and seems quite content, especially when some birds unsuccessfully attempted to eat her through the window. But I digress, on the first day of our acquaintance, I was compelled to photograph my new friend. And of the 120 or so images I shot, came a collage, a portrait and an abstract of the butterfly in the tree.

All images were taken with the Tamron SP 60mm F/2.0 macro lens. The collage images were taken at 1/100-125th of a second at 1600 ISO f3.3. The images themselves are not manipulated other then erasing the edges to soften them and laying them out together. Because of the depth of field and the movement of the butterfly with respect to the shutter speed, some blur occurred, resulting in an image that resembles painting. The portrait was 1/125 ISO 800 f3.3 and is two images combined together to increase the depth of field and create more planes of sharpness. Butters in the tree was 1/80th ISO 8000 f4.0. I focused the lens to its closest focus point to get the tree lights to blur into nice round circles and then moved around to get the butterfly silhouette in the foreground.

Sometimes the unexpected guest can become the center of attention, especially when it is a butterfly in your living room in mid December in the northeast of America.

Beautiful old south setting, big, exciting, wild animals, and great weather...

By John VanSteenberg

It's no secret that the first hint of winter has been signaling its onset. So, last week, we did what most cold sensitive folks do; we headed south, to work in warm weather one last time.

We had three major objectives: 1) Do a presentation for the Greater New Orleans Camera Club. 2) Spend a day shooting images and loaning out lenses to practice what we discussed at GNOCC and just to have fun. 3) To visit dealers around town who were starting the holiday sales season.

Thursday night, Jeff Allen and I presented a two hour seminar about making the final image you capture match the image in your head when you are in the excitement of the moment at the scene. (Sort of a 'Beyond the 11 Simple Secrets'.) Friday we visited stores and scouted the fabulous location where we would meet Saturday (The New Orleans Audubon Nature Institute).

Here is a shot of us just before we opened up Saturday morning. We had planned a group photo, but right from the start, we were so busy and the participants so anxious to get started, we couldn't get it done.

Saturday, we had about 70 photographers show up and they borrowed over 200 individual lenses to try (an average of 3 each). The situation was ideal. The Audubon is visually spectacular and the weather was perfect.

The old live oaks, dripping with moss, created a beautiful 'deep south' backdrop to the event. The animals were active and entertaining. The photographers probably entertained them, too. The exhibits were easily accessible ad permitted great access to good vantage points.

by Jean Francis

by Linda Vinsanau

by Tom Longmire

by Tom Oelsner

by William Pino

We are presenting just a few of their images here. They have an entire gallery going up on "www.myphotoexhibits.com" too.

Right after the holidays, we are going to start a series of about 30 free in store classes to help people get the most out of their 2012 picture taking opportunities. Look for one of us at a store near you. We will also be at WPPI, Imaging USA several PSA camera club councils and PSA's National Convention and many other events around the country. Stop by and visit us, if you can. A complete and evolving list of our attendance is located at:"www.tamron-usa.com/events"

Looking forward to seeing you all in 2012.

John

My Little Buddies

By Mike Moats

I always shoot early in the mornings at the nearby parks, but yesterday I went out in the middle of the afternoon. Part of the reason I always shoot in the mornings this time of year is because I can't take the heat. Yesterday was in the 70's and the humidity was low so it felt pretty good. I decided to hit the swampy areas and check out the floating leaves. One thing I miss when shooting very early in the morning is the frogs, usually they are still sleeping when I go out, but in the afternoon they are everywhere. Most are long gone before I get close but there are always a few that will let you get fairly close. This is where your Tamron 180mm lens comes in handy, as the extra working distance gives you some extra room between you and your subject, so not to scare off the frogs.

This one jumped up on a mossy stump which made a nice background, and was good enough to sit still while I set up my tripod and took my time shooting.

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This frog was really friendly as he sat still and watched me shoot his portrait, and then watched me work my tripod within a couple of feet from him while I was shooting moss on a stump. When I processed the image I darkened down the areas around the frog, and I call this image, Moonlight In The Swamp.

Most frogs are not as friendly as these two, but if you run across enough frogs you'll usually find a couple that wanna be a star in your portfolio.

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The State of Maine is a State of Mind Part 2, Shooting Vertical

By Ken Hubbard

For most people new to photography it is only natural for them to pick up their camera and hold it in the horizontal perspective, for one it's the most stable and comfortable way to hold the camera. So, in turn, all their images are horizontal even though some may have looked better vertically. The question from most new photographers usually is, "how do I know when something may look better in a horizontal or vertical orientation"? I answer them first by saying, "when you have the time, photograph your subjects both ways, this way when you go back to review your images you can choose what looks best to you”. This may seem like a simple solution, and it is, but the first step is to train your photographic eye to see your subjects both vertically and horizontally, and the only way to do this is to actually take the images and review them. Of course there are a few subjects that generally work out better vertically, and you can start with these in mind if you don’t want to shoot everything both ways. Vertical lines, trees, flag poles, tall buildings all work well vertically, of course it is not a “rule” that all vertical lines must be shot vertically, just a starting point to get you to turn your camera vertically. Portraits are a second type of image that may look better in a vertical orientation. For me it depends on how many people I’m working with. 1, 2 or 3 people I will shoot vertically more often than a larger group which I will shoot horizontally.

Below are three vertical images all shot with the Tamron AF18-270mm VC PZD lens. The first is a group of very tall sailboat masts shot vertical to show off their height, I cropped out the boat because it was docked in an area that was crowded and it got lost amongst everything around it. The second once again, I used the vertical line of the flag pole and the vertical lines of the water being shot out of the boats engines to create a strong vertical image. Lastly, my interpretation of a portrait, which of course, doesn’t always have to be human. I went on an Eco Tour where the guide held up (with the help of one of us) a lobster to show us how to recognize if it’s a male or female (still don’t know) lobster. I will be honest, I shot this both vertically and horizontal, I ended up liking the vertical better because of the way the arm coming in from the bottom left leads you up to the (vertical) lobster, which then leads you to the arm on the right. The key is to experiment and shoot your images many different ways, the more ways you shoot them the better your eye becomes.

 

What A Difference A Little Snow Makes

 By Ken Hubbard

According to the calendar on my phone, laptop, iPad and even the one hanging on the door that leads to my cellar, it's spring. I think mother nature is on vacation somewhere and forgot to turn on the warm weather, and put the snowy cold conditions in the attic till next winter. With that said, this past weekend Tamron hosted a workshop at Lakota Wolf Preserve and once again we had our eye on the weather channel watching an impending snow storm. Lucky for us it dumped about 10 inches of snow on the Columbia, NJ area early enough in the week so we were able to hold our workshop with out any problems. I'll be honest, I wasn't as worried about the snowy conditions as much as being excited to photograph the wolves in a beautiful winter scene. I have been to Lakota many times and never experienced it in the snow. Snow can really play tricks on your exposure, especially if you have a very bright & sunny day. Because snow is so reflective it will sometimes fool the metering system of your camera and you end up with dark & muddy under exposed images. So to brighten up your images you will have to tell the camera to add more light, this is done by using the exposure compensation feature on your camera. Luckily for us there was a nice balance of shadow and sunlight and the matrix metering on my camera handled the conditions just fine. All three images were taken with Tamron's SP AF70-300mm VC USD lens, which is an ideal focal length for Lakota.

Great Florida Birding Trail – Photographing Wildlife

 By Rob Moody

In Florida along the Gulf Coast birding is very popular. The Great Florida Birding Trail encompasses over 2000 miles of highway and 489 sites to view and learn about birds. During a recent trip to the Gulf Coast I decided to visit sites along the panhandle section of the trail to photograph birds. I chose Big Lagoon State Park and the Gulf Islands National Seashore Perdido Key area.

There are several things to keep in mind when photographing birds or wildlife in general. It is important that you understand the potential hazards of being in close proximity to wildlife. For your safety as well as the animal you intend to photograph, please do not stalk or chase wildlife. I have heard more than one story about an unlucky photographer spooking wildlife. In one case, an elk turned on the photographer and aggressively charged him. The photographer dove out of the way but the camera strap got caught around the antlers of the elk. The elk and the camera along with the lens and tripod attached disappeared into the forest and haven’t been seen since. Besides this, you will get images of the backsides of animals as they evacuate the area you just inhabited if you attempt to follow them.

For best results, place yourself a safe distance from where you know the wildlife will eventually be and then wait for them to show up. With remote and wild animals the difficulty of getting the shot is greatly increased. In some cases you might have to research a particular animal’s migration habits, use a hunting blind and camp to get the image. In other cases like in national parks where wildlife frequently comes in contact with humans you can openly photograph animals without spooking them. In all cases before shooting wildlife I prepare and check my equipment at the point of entry. Make sure you and your equipment are as quiet as possible. Test this by mounting your camera on your tripod and shouldering your equipment. Walk around listening for noises that would warn wildlife of your arrival. Remove straps and deal with other potential noise makers like change in your pocket, jewelry and items knocking together in your bag. Practice until you can walk quietly while holding a tripod.

Stability and shutter speed are the two main concerns when using the longer focal length lenses necessary to photograph wildlife. It is important to use the appropriate tripod for the equipment. For a 500mm or 600mm F/4, you will need a substantially larger and heavier tripod than I used to support the Nikon D700 and Tamron 200-500mm telephoto-zoom combination when photographing the included images. If your lens comes with its own tripod mount, use it. If your subject stays in one place and doesn’t move around a lot, you can use slower shutter speeds to get the job done. If your goal is to freeze animals running or wings in motion, you will need shutter speeds like 1/1000th of a second or faster depending on the subject and your physical relationship to it. Use your drive mode to shoot several frames per second to greatly increase the chances of getting a great image.

On this day after landing in Pensacola, I drove directly to the Big Lagoon State Park. I noticed a Grey Heron in the water as I walked the nature trail. I carefully and quietly positioned myself for a few minutes to study the behavior of the bird so I could photograph it. You want to study the wildlife so you can guess where the wildlife might go to. It is very difficult to see wildlife and then aim your long lens at it. Chances are good that you will be noticed setting up and spook the animal. While it’s not impossible, I have had better luck setting up, aiming at an area and waiting. With my Nikon D700 and the Tamron 200-500 lens mounted on my tripod, I was prepared for action.

As I waited, I noticed that there was a commotion coming from smaller birds over in the grass to the right of my first image. This caught the heron’s attention and soon he began to survey the area. I figured this would result in the heron moving to the area for a look around so I quietly moved there and prepared. In hindsight, it was apparent that the flock of little birds chirping and raising a commotion indicated to the heron that there was a potential meal in the area. I gathered this because, soon after the heron checked into the situation, it was lunch time. The second image shows the heron with its meal. I was able to get this image by moving into the area before the heron. I was setup, still and quiet for several minutes before capturing the image.

 
On another day I visited the Gulf Islands National Seashore Perdido Key Area. About a mile from the car on a nature trail, I noticed a hawk nest high in a tree. I could hear the hawk in the nest, but couldn’t see it. Taking good pictures of wildlife takes patience and I waited for over an hour just for the opportunity see the hawk. For all I knew it may have never left the nest while I was there. I basically gambled that it would. A little over an hour after I was setup, quiet and about to give up, it did. I took just a couple of images and then the hawk flew off. I waited for about another 30 minutes and then decided to give up and leave. I picked up my tripod and started walking away from the nest. As I proceeded to do so, another hawk flew right overhead toward the nest. It was at this point that I decided to stay for the duration of the light and it paid off.

 
I quietly walked back and setup positioning my lens on the nest area. A great deal of time passed and I was leaning toward giving up again. Just before I did however, I noticed one hawk in the distance viewing the nest from a tree branch. For several minutes I held perfectly still with my hands on the camera composed on the nest area. Finally the distant hawk started the flight toward the nest. I was prepared and waiting as the excitement was building inside knowing I would have another opportunity. As the hawk circled, the other left the nest and I was able to photograph both of them in flight above the nest. I was able to make several good images before the hawks again flew off.

 
When shooting in this type of a situation you want to get everything locked down and ready as soon as possible. Birds in flight move fast! Get the composition and settings in the camera taken care of or you will be fiddling with your camera while the action unfolds. More than once during this shoot I was making an adjustment just as something compelling happened causing me to miss potential shots. Shooting birds is difficult and takes lots of practice. I have several frames like the cropped image below where the tip of a wing is clipped off at the side of the frame. While I feel some of these images are good, having the entire wing would have resulted in many more usable images. Even after several years of shooting, I’m constantly reminded that the repeated practice of the fundamentals and refinancing of your processes are the keys to success. Enjoy!

 

Spring Macro - Butterflies on display

 By Rob Moody

Spring is a great time to use that macro lens. In gardens all over, the butterflies are starting to appear. You might already live in a part of the country where butterflies visit your backyard. If not, local botanical gardens might have a butterfly pavilion or event that happens in the spring time each year.

Of all the creatures or animals you could photograph, butterflies are one of the easiest to get good pictures of. They spend their time flying around gracefully visiting flowers for nectar. Early in the day they are less active and spend more time in one place. Butterflies are very colorful and make excellent subjects to sharpen your macro skills.

Using a more open f-stop like f/2.8 or f/4 will cause the background to be out of focus. I like an f/stop that will let you know what is in the background even though it is out of focus. I found that the images with the head and the antenna in focus were the most interesting.

 
In order to get more of the butterfly in focus, try arranging the composition so that the wingspan is on the same plane as your sensor. In this case, because the wings are flat and on the same plane as the sensor, most all of the butterfly is in sharp focus, while in the other two images the wings are only partially in sharp focus because the depth of field plane is not the same as the wings. This is like the difference between shooting a page of text strait on or from an angle.

 
Migrating from Mexico through the United States to southern Canada, the Monarch butterfly is the most common butterfly most of us see. While there were several of these butterflies for me to photograph, it was difficult to find perfect specimens without tattered wings. With a little patience and moving to change the surroundings, I was able to capture a few decent images.

If you would like to take pictures like the ones included in this blog, continue to read the macro tips area below.

Macro Tips

A macro lens inherently has a narrow depth of field (DOF). This shallow depth can be used to help separate the subject from the background. Many zoom lenses come with some macro capability.

 
See Macro Dime Diagram above - These zoom lenses typically offer one-half (1:2) to one-quarter (1:4) life-size reproduction. This means a dime in front of the lens creates a dime one-half (1:2) to one-quarter (1:4) of the actual life-size on the sensor in your camera.

Lenses sold as macro specific often times are fixed focal length and have the capability of capturing true life-size macro (1:1). This means a dime in front of the lens results in an image of the same dime life-size on the sensor in your camera.

 
See working distance graphic above - Something else to think about when selecting a macro lens is the working distance. The working distance is the distance in which the macro lens will obtain focus at 1:1 or life size reproduction. In the graphic, the Tamron 90mm macro lens has a working distance of 11.4 inches and the Tamron 180mm macro lens has a working distance of 18.5 inches away from the sensor in your camera. If your subject interest is spiders, snakes or other dangerous subjects, you may want to consider using a macro lens with more working distance for the work.

 
See Maximum Magnification above – In order to achieve maximum macro magnification, manual focus is best. Turn the focus ring until you see the 1:1 designation on the lens. This is the opposite of infinity. Lower the whole camera setup with your head onto the subject until focus is achieved. This is 1:1 macro. As stated, use a tripod for sharpest results.

When using a macro lens in auto focus mode, it is unlikely that you will obtain the maximum macro magnification of the lens. In order to obtain maximum macro magnification, follow the directions above.

I often times use a macro lens to get close to subjects, but in these cases maximum magnification is not the goal. While I believe it is important to understand the maximum magnification capability of a macro lens, I will often shoot the macro lens in auto focus mode to freely compose as I did in the butterfly images included. In these cases you are creating an image at less than 1:1 macro magnification, but it is still a close-up type macro image.

I created the images included in this blog with a Nikon D-700 and a Tamron 90mm 1:1 Macro lens. While the Tamron 90mm macro is one of my favorite lenses, I would also check out the Tamron 60mm f/2.0 macro 1:1 lens if I owned an APS-C sized sensor camera body. For more information on macro photography, investigate the Tamron Learning Center