Photobytes

Bugs in Macro

kbyte — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:05:31 +0000

Since I bought my Tamron 100-300mm lens, I have been taking lots of macro pictures of things. My favorite, however, is bugs. Those little guys are so beautiful. God put more work into our bodies than theirs, but the intricacy of their skin, wings and so forth is amazing. Bugs are super colorful and great on film, plus they sometimes pose better than humans, eh?

Here are some macro photos of some butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and other little insects crawling, flying and moving about in the garden across the street from my house.

For fast moving animals and insects, I try to set the focus in advance so the camera takes the photo exactly when I want it to without having to wait for the focus. Of course, I could upgrade to a better camera with a faster focusing speed, but that would cost money, and that I don’t have.

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Tamron 100-300mm Macro Photos

kbyte — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:58:29 +0000

Here are macro photos taken with my Tamron 100-300mm lens on my Pentax ist DL2. Most of the time, the photos come out sharp and clear.

Macro Photos

Macro shots I've taken over time!

36 Photos

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Sunets

kbyte — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:37:36 +0000

Two of my favorite things to shoot are sunrises and sunsets. I love the color of the clouds as the sun comes up and goes down. The sky is filled with brilliant blues, yellows and reds, the three primary colors that make up so many other beautiful colors.

Not only are the clouds and sky amazing at sunset, but the foreground images against the backdrop of sunrises and sunsets make great silhouette pictures, or if a flash is added images almost look as if they were photo-shopped into the picture.

I love silhouettes because they make us wonder exactly what the person or thing in the foreground actually looks like. They make us use our imagination, something everyone should use from time to time and often many just don’t.

Here are a few simple sunrise and sunset shots, some from as long ago as 2001 in New Zealand.

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Tamron AF 100-300mm F/5-6.3

kbyte — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:11:36 +0000

Just got an older model Tamron lens from a camera shop today and immediately put it to use around the sanjo area of Kyoto. It focuses quickly on targets and the photos come out very nice. In order to focus on a subject, the main object has to be about a meter or more away. (I haven’t measured the distance yet, so this is just a guess from when I tried focusing on some things today!)

Here are photos from this lens:

[Show as slideshow]

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More Shots with Bokeh

kbyte — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:02:27 +0000

Here are some photos I took outside fully zoomed in at 55mm. My favorite one is the snail crawling across the wall of the garden.

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Creating a Bokeh

kbyte — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:07:46 +0000

Bokeh is a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas outside the main image of focus. It is the blurred area behind the main object the lens focuses on.

There are several ways to create a bokeh. One way creates a slight bokeh, while the other creates a much more blurred background.

Set your camera shutter speed to a very slow speed dependent on the amount of light on your main object. In direct sunlight, you may want to put your film speed at 200 ISO, the shutter speed at 30 and then set the aperture (f/stop) at 32 or so…if your camera allows you to go that high. Then take a photo. You may have to play around with the speed of the shutter or raise or lower your f/stop depending on the amount of light.

Here is a picture taken using a similar setting on my Pentax ist DL2. The film speed was ISO 400, shutter speed of 1/20 of a second and the f/stop (aperture) was set to f/32. Notice the area behind the flowers is not that blurry.

Now here is a picture with the same ISO of 400, but the shutter speed has been increased to 1/750 of a second and the f/stop has been lowered to f/5.6. Notice how the image behind the flowers is more blurred.

Here are two more photos doing the exact same process.

A stronger bokeh is best used in portraits and objects you want to add more emphasis to.

A weaker bokeh is good for objects you wish to have more detail which is created by adding more depth to the main object in focus. This is a great setting for photos of people when you want more detail in the objects behind and in front of them to be sharper and more noticeable.

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