Tag Archives: macro

Work on Good Friday

Apr
06
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

I’m still new to the photography world so I was thrilled when I was asked to do company portraits for Oyova!  I spent a little time this afternoon taking pics of the guys standing in front of a white wall.  Several months back I had done the images for the President so I was excited that he thought enough of it to have me come and do the rest of his team.

They are a great set of guys and seemed to have a little fun giving me profile shots, and randomly making faces. I used my best/only portrait lens, my 105MM to take the pics.  Due to the focal length I had to be a ways away.  I can’t wait till Adorama has a 50MM back in stock for me to order.  A fixed lens of that length will be perfect and not require me to be so far away.  I’ll be able to make the experience a more comfortable one as well.

I got the images all converted over (color, black and white), updated, and resized.  They are back out my door and the team seems happy with them!  Hopefully this will lead to more opportunities in the future!

Share/Bookmark

Flowers for a Brighter Day

Apr
03
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

It’s only Tuesday and it’s already been one of those weeks.  Do you know what I’m talking about?  It’s those weeks where you are getting several days worth of work completed in a single day but there is no end in site.  It seems as though these are very prevalent during holiday weeks.  Yes, Friday is Good Friday, and I’m excited to have it off to spend some time away from the computer and with family and friends.

Last night while I was out playing ball with the dogs I noticed my roses were blooming!  No only did I get to play with my dogs but I ran in the house to grab the camera and get a few shots of the roses.  I think they came out very well and helped to brighten my day a bit…and my week.

These were taken with my Nikon 7000 and my macro 105MM lens.  Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Pink Rose

105MM ISO 400 1/45 sec at f/4.8

White Rose Pink Tips

105MM ISO400 1/45sec at f/4.8

Share/Bookmark

Blue Orchid Bud

Feb
12
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

While at Lowes the other day picking up things for our garden I found these amazing blue orchids.  I am a fan of orchids and always seem to kill them but I have learned a new secret from a friend to keep them alive.  I decided maybe these orchids are the ones that will survive, so I’m trying.

This is an image of the bloom and buds on the end of the orchid stem.  I kept turning myself, camera, and plan to ensure the bokah was strong and the tile produced a nice smooth tan in the back to not distract from the amazing color of these orchids.  I took this image with my 105MM Macro on my Nikon D7000.  I didn’t use any amazing lighting or anything, this was actually taken in the evening on the floor in my entryway.

Blue Orchid Bud

D7000, 105MM, ISO 1000, 1/10 sec at f/3.2, no flash

Share/Bookmark

Nikkor Lens 105MM #2 – Lens Review

Oct
22
2011
by Jessy | 0 Comments

As promised my Nikon (Nikkor) 105MM f/2.8 G ED AF-S Micro arrived in the mail!  It took a few days before I had time to play with this but I was out front taking a few images this morning.

Upon receiving the lens I did work with it a little in the house and found a few things that created a few questions.

1. Most of my Nikkor Lens’ are from Japan,  that said since I ordered this from Ebay I was concerned it may be not of the same quality.  Upon review and searching online I found that nikkor lenses are made in Japan, Taiwan, and China.  Each factory follows the same training, quality control, and standards as each other factory.

2. While focusing the lens appeared to randomly “click”, this odd noise really concerned me as none of my other lenses do that.  I did some searching on this as well and on the nikonian.org site I found that this is also normal and that it’s at standard f-stops across all of the 105MM.  This is not an issue as the lens still performs well!

When on auto focus the lens does hunt a little while trying to determine how to focus and this takes longer than on other lenses.  The hunting will take a bit to get use to but I really prefer manual focus thus far on this lens anyway.  This mixed with the breathing may cause issues for some people, but for me it servers the need and quite well I may add.

Below are a few of the images I took this morning, the only editing that was done to these was cropping in Adobe LightRoom but with extra work they may be made more dramatic and impressive.  I will continue to post about this lens with updates of things I learned as well as more images as I learn to better use this lens.  These images in raw form will give you an idea  of what you can get out of this lens with little to no experience with Macro work.

Pink Hibiscus Stamen Macro Image

Dimensions: 4928 X 3264 Cropped: 3638 X 2939 Exposure: 1/250 sec at f/3.3 ISO: 100

I have included the dimensions, cropped, exposure, and ISO of each of these images to provide an idea of the settings and any changes.  The impressiveness of images of the stamens is the little hairs that you can see in some of these images.

Pink Hibiscus detailed pollen

Dimensions: 4928 X 3264 Cropped: 956 X 973 Exposure: 1/500 sec at f/33 ISO: 100

The image above is cropped in very closely as I was impressed with the shapes of everything on the stamen.  The detail that you can see with each piece of pollen.  For those of you with macro experience I am sure this is all normal, but for people like me this is still all new and exciting!

yellow hibiscus ants

Dimensions: 4928 X 3264 Cropped: 3512 X 2875 Exposure: 1/250 sec at f/3.3 ISO: 100

 

This image shows the detail and color in those tiny ants that are on the flowers.  I was shocked when I was looking through the view finder and was able to see the color in the ant even.  Those ants are tiny and I know I would be able to see details on small items but this was amazing!

Share/Bookmark

Nikkor Lens 105MM

Oct
15
2011
by Jessy | 0 Comments

Super excited and decided to share.  The other day I managed to win an ebay auction on a Nikkor 105MM f/2.8 G ED IF AF-S VR Micro!

The 105MM is rumored to be one of the best current Macro and portrait lenses if you look around online and read some reviews.  Per Ken Rockwell there are some minor focus breathing issues but for the cost this cannot be beat.  The option to solve the breathing issues is the 70-180MM Macro which is at a much greater cost.

I am very excited to finally have a great lens to really get into macro work as well as some of the portraits that I have scheduled to complete soon.  I think this lens is going to be a great addition to my collection and provide me with some photography options that I have not had previously.

The lens typically goes for about $934 but if you watch amazon.com and ebay.com then you can win some auctions for the lens brand new or slightly used at a much lower price.  I know purchasing on ebay and buying used lenses always seems to concern us but I did get my wide angle on ebay and it was very used!  The lens is  a Nikkor 12-24MM f/4G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom and as you can see from the link this typically averages in cost from 1,100 to 1,200 and I managed to purchase the lens for half that.  This lens is probably my favorite lens and has a lot of wear on the body.  The glass and function though is amazing!  For the cost savings that I have managed to get from purchasing on ebay I will continue this until I get burned.

Once the lens is here (another 5-10 business days) I will be sure to start posting images and my review of the lens.

If there are other places that you purchase lenses at a discount or other lenses that are your favorites let me know.  I would like to hear about them and rent one to try it out.  I can always learn more from other individuals and continue to improve based on your feedback.

Share/Bookmark