Me, Myself and My Lens ~Telephoto Tuesday !

"As If Out of a Dream"

(1/200 sec.@ F/5.6, 68mm fl, 55-200mm zoom vr, ISO 100, fill flash, bright sun)

Bright light is a must if using the telephoto lens I have if there's anything even remotely close to a breeze. And Ontario seems very windy this spring. When zoomed in close on tiny flowers, I do all I can to make it work fast enough to eliminate blur because the closer and tighter you get to your subject, the longer it takes to get the shot, even opened up to a wider faster aperture.. It is not a very fast lens. But you work with what you have right?! Last week gave us some sun, and so I specifically went out to get cherry and apple tree blossoms at the nearby park. And my telephoto lets me get the prime blossoms farther up into the trees. The shot today was one of those perfect blossoms, totally isolated from the rest.

What I do love about my rather mediocre telephoto zoom though, is it gives some lovely DOF at it's larger apertures, even in bright direct sun. I can open her up to an F/5, and get a perfect soft background. And instead of blowing too much of the shot out, things have a glow where the light hits. Then the only trick is to watch the breeze, and when I sense it dying down before another current comes along I steady the camera and snap the shot. For this one, since the light was more or less behind the blossoms, I also used some fill flash. It helps to freeze any motion from the slight breeze and balanced out the light underneath the flowers.

There were a lot of tries before this one worked. We'll leave it at that.

And since I have other purchases as top priority, a fast telephoto (gosh, most priced for an arm, a leg, and your first born) is at the bottom of the list for now. So, it's a case of working the best with what I already own, knowing it's quirks and flaws like the back of my hand, and still producing images that will excite me, and hopefully others as well.

I guess what I want to say is know the limitations of whatever gear you have and work with it. It'll make you a better photographer. Usually more than replacing the lens will.

Thanks for the ramble folks! ... And have an amazing day.