100-300mm lens

Todays walk included the 100-300mm lens. I've been focusing on a lot of macro stuff so I was curious as to this lenses limitations in that field. It certainly takes great pictures at a distance but also can do some close up shots without having to get right up close and personal with it. I shot a couple of things that I have shot before and you may recognize them. Just so I could compare the shots with the earlier ones.

Macro and the 90mm Tamron f/2.8 lens

Auto Focus 1/125sec f/2.8

Manual Focus 1/125 f/2.8

Manual Focus 1/125sec f/2.8

Auto Focus with wind gusts 1/500sec f/5.6

Today I went to an old favorite lens! It's one of the ones I have for sale and I wanted to compare how it felt to yesterdays 100mm. This is a fantastic lens - much easier to drop into manual focus than the Canon. The Auto focus does tend to focus reach for the back of something when you are in real close for a macro shot though. I still really like this lens! It's been an old faithful of mine that is going to be hard to let go of.

Macro and the 100mm f/2.8 lens

Finding colorful subject in the middle of February here in Canada is not all that easy - especial after the 6 or so inches of snow we got a few days ago. It's just now melting and a south wind  is gusting up nicely so it should soon disappear. These shots were all taken on our walk just after lunch. Where did I find the flower? In Nestors' grocery store of course - we had to pick up some juice and it was one of the cut flowers they had for sale for Valentines Day. Each of these photos were taken at extremely close range - as close as I could get with the lens. The Oregon Grapes turned out very nicely and I am surprised at the color still present in one of last years snapdragons in our front yard. I'm pleased with todays shots!

Dogs

100mm f/2.8 

24-105mm lens (60mm f/4.0)

Two of my favorite dog pictures taken during our walks over the last few days. Both are nameless because their owners had left them waiting as they went inside a store to shop. The poodles was given a stuffy to keep it company...you can see the price tag by its foot.

Manual Focus and the 50mm f/1.2 lens

Today I challenged myself with manual focus - which is something I have never played with. I have always figured that the camera could see better than I could - especially since I wear glasses and am at the point where I will probably have to get new ones this July when my annual check up rolls around. I used the 50mm f/1.2 lens on our morning walk and went back to the berries. I know getting a bit repetitive but I am finding it fascinating to see the differences in each of the photos. I am also going to go back and make the pictures a bit larger on each post. I like this format better.

My personal favorite is the minimalistic first one in which you can see my shadow actually taking the photo.

Mountain Ash Berry Comparisons

24-105mm lens

50mm f/1.2 lens shooting at f/4.0

18-55mm lens

100 mm f/2.8 lens shooting at f/3.2

100mm f/2.8 shooting at f/2.8

The last few days I've been trying to head out the door for a walk with a different lens on the 7D every day. It will help me get the feel of what the different lenses can do and are capable of. These Mountain Ash trees are close to the house - as a matter of fact the two bottom photos are of the same tree that I took the night shots of. The two shots of a mass of berries are a tree thats just a block away and the first one was taken yesterday   at the top of suicide hill. I'm still working at my shooting from the hip project - but didn't really get any great shots today that I know of. It's been a busy day and I haven't gotten around to downloading them yet. What I do know is that I have some fantastic dog shots. I 'll just keep accumulating them for a while and then upload some of my favorites in the next little while.

Shooting from the Hip

Todays project was all about leaning to shoot from the hip. Finding a way to point the camera at your subject so that you can take candid and unnoticed photographs while you are out and about. It definitely takes practice! I missed way more shots than I managed to get and have lots of pictures of snow, walls, and power lines. I've uploaded a few of my successes - although they are not necessarily great pics - it's a start. I started by standing still and shooting at Mike until I managed to get a feel for where to point the camera. The great close up shot happened while we were moving and he was walking next to me.