A Collection of works

All shots taken with:
Cannon ESO 400D
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro lens
Tripod (both the 055XPROB + 322RC2)

Flower

f16, ISO 100, 1/60sec

f16, ISO 100, 1/5sec

f16, ISO 100, 1/15sec

f16, ISO 100, 1/320

Not sure what to think of this shot. I like the textures and colours, I think it would have worked better if the front petal was not in the shot and the depth of field just a few mms further back to bring the pollen at the base into focus.

Insect

f16, ISO100, 1//160sec

100% crop of the centre!

An example of what the sigma can capture when everything goes right! A sharp insect shot – a shame his full body was hidden, but as it with nature its hard to get your subject to always appear where you want them to! The 100% crop shows the details and sharpness at full size on the main photo – very pleased with this result!

Birds

f8, ISO 400, 1/800sec

f8, ISO 400, 1/500sec

Two low shots of a duck on the grass – taken with the tripod at its lowest height. I must say I prefer the second shot – the first, I think now, is a little closely cropped

f5.6, ISO 400, 1/200sec

Another try at the song thrush in the tree and whilst I think I am shooting right, I think the light is just a little too lacking at this time of day – I think waiting for a really bright evening or for him to take to song earlier in the evening when its brighter would help a lot with the shot.

Lessons learnt:

1) Evening shooting is too dim for my sigma, even at low apertures. I could get it to f4, but that would mean working at the 70mm end where I don’t think I will get the close up detail of the bird.