Like a kid with a new toy...

[GDVS]

...why? Because I'm a kid with a new toy

I indulged myself in a Sigma 70-300 APO today, I'll be taking it and my camera out for a proper run tomorrow (where depends on the weather, I have plans for all contingencies) but for now I took a couple of flower snaps (new macro lens in being pointed at flowers shocker, news at 11!).



Then the same thing plant backlit by the sun



Clearly a master of bokeh I'm most definitely not, I do rather like the pastel effect of the backlit one though and I don't think I blew the highlights. The two leaves top centre rather spoil things a little but I'm getting better

The lens is as slow to focus as the reviews say it is (infinity to close up takes an age) but for this price I don't expect lightning reflexes.

[SingingOrange]

congratulations m8, I dont know about cameras and add ons, but the picture looks nice

[Syd]

Lovely Macro shots, have you any thoughts on my dilemma????

- What compact camera for 300 pounds

[GDVS]

What compact camera for 300 pounds

I found your thread and posted

[Splash]

Just been out on a shooting session with GDVS which has been great fun (though I am shattered now!) - I'm a mere whelp at this kinda stuff but if any of the shots turn out ok I'll post up. GDVS has produced some great stuff from what I saw on the LCD.

[GDVS]

Just been out on a shooting session with GDVS which has been great fun (though I am shattered now!)

Shattered appears to be the word of the day. It's been a long time since taking my trainers off and sitting down felt so good!

One of the reasons for buying the camera was to get me off my fat arse and outside, I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty that today has been the most exercise I've done in years and despite being shattered I kinda feel good about it

Now to sort through the 600ish shots I took looking for a few keepers

[shiato storm]

cool, lets see the results guys!

[GDVS]

cool, lets see the results guys!

Ok, images coming up

It's amazing how talented I am when it comes to blowing highlights, a lot of the ones I took either have blown out clouds or the clouds are exposed perfectly and the subject is too dark. Possibly a polarising filter is in order?

However, I did get some shots that I quite like so here goes...

Pickering castle is a motte and bailey type and this is the motte framed/obscured by a couple of trees, a sort of nature gradually reclaiming it's ground idea.


Next up is the steam railway in Pocklington, I was gutted that the sky blew out in all versions of this pic as it had everything going for it otherwise (the station controller and an engineer climbing down from onto the track add interest I think). Handheld at F/11 with a 1/40s shutter I couldn't really close it down any more and not get horrible blur so the depth of field may be a little short for the engine.


The train coming back, nothing exciting to say about this one really.


I took over a hundred shots of gulls and was overjoyed that some of them turned out well. The sports photography adage "If you saw it in the viewfinder, you missed it" now has a whole lot more meaning to me

This one is 2 gulls in silhouette and I rather like it, especially as it was taken with the kit lens (they were pretty close). I have another similar one but I prefer this.


This gull (herring gull?) was taken using the Sigma 70-300 APO at 300mm and is a 100% crop (I was quite some way away).

The next two are probably my favourite shots of the day, both with the Sigma and both at 300mm with a 1/1000s exposure. I didn't think I'd get any pics like these two but I guess if you snap enough then some of them have to turn out ok




Last but not least, we have a lone gull contemplating the vastness of existence. Or possibly looking for food but that doesn't sound as good.


Biggest disappointment of the day was forgetting to take my pictures of the Hole of Horcum in manual, I took them in AP and while individually they're fine they won't stitch very neatly into a panorama as the exposure changes halfway round. Oh well, I'll get it next time!

Criticism and comments gratefully recieved (and get your pics up Splash you lazy git!).

[Syd]

Cracking photos chap, I agree the two gulls are fantastic in formation
the things you can do with an SLR

EDIT : and some skill

[Splash]

Ok here goes - my kit is waaaaaaaaaay inferior (Fuji s5600) and clearly I'm just a hobbyist but I got some images that were passable. First my fave (and GDVS will confirm I spent bloody ages trying to get this shot!)



Believe it or not these were different gulls and a different time to GDVS. I know they're dark and that the sky is blown, but I like it anyways.

Next my second fave (not sure why, I just thought it looked interesting)



and a b&w shot of the same thing



Another B&W of an ignorant seagull (refused to be shot from a different angle!)



A shot of a swan in Pickering Beck



And an imposing Whitby Abbey - again I know the subject is too dark and the sky is shot to pieces but I just like this one



There's also a couple of B&W shots across Whitby harbour which have a certain postcard quality, but I think I've bored you enough now... Seriously considering an upgrade to a DSLR now though (I have camera envy) and my legs mysteriously don't hate me today!

[GDVS]

Firsft my fave (and GDVS will confirm I spent bloody ages trying to get this shot!)

Oh yes

Believe it or not these were different gulls and a different time to GDVS. I know they're dark and that the sky is blown, but I like it anyways.

Oh for an extra few mm on my kit lens, I like mine but this is the shot I wanted.

A shot of a swan in Pickering Beck

Nice angle. My swans didn't work out too well, I stood too far to the right

And an imposing Whitby Abbey - again I know the subject is too dark and the sky is shot to pieces but I just like this one

It's better than most of my abbey shots, I have a similar one but instead of looking like the sun's behind the abbey the sky is a sheet of white (even at -1EV).

Seriously considering an upgrade to a DSLR now though (I have camera envy)

Do it, shiny things are good

Seriously though, I've seen some of your shots and you're a better photographer than I am. You get some great shots with a P&S so I imagine you could do wonders with a dSLR.

and my legs mysteriously don't hate me today!

Ditto, I'm seriously considering whether mine are up to a trip to Elvington despite my intent yesterday to not move much today

[SingingOrange]

hmm, very tempted now to get new camera.

what do you recommend guys, and any advice on taking pictures, my skills sucks at this

[Howard]

Nice shots! I've been looking for some decent "real life" shots with this lens for a while and these have just sealed the deal... Ta

[GDVS]

hmm, very tempted now to get new camera.

what do you recommend guys, and any advice on taking pictures, my skills sucks at this

If you have the cash and want to put some work into learning about photography (I have so much to learn!) then I'd say go for the Nikon D50 (£400ish), I'm loving mine and having a ball with it. Point and shoot I don't know so well so any advice I give would be limited and probably wrong.

As for learning about photography, I have a great book called Understanding Exposure which has taught me a lot but I think the best way to learn is to go out and take photos. I learnt a lot yesterday about what works and what doesn't, some of it reinforced the book learning and some of it was new.

One thing I will say about photography books is that there seems to be a lot of photographic masturbation sessions going on, books that can best be summed up as the author saying "Look at all these great pics I took round the world, you'll never be able to afford to go to these places". They're very pretty but the content is almost non-existent, annoying to say the least.

[jamena]

I've been hunting for a compact with good manual features and I'm down to a list of about 5 - got a thread in here somewhere...much as I'd love to go dSLR I like the convenience of being able to dump my camera in my pocket too much. I've been using a sony DSC-P8 for a few years now and although it's a fantastic little camera it lacks the finer manual controls that might be made available... Currently looking at a few canons (s70, s70, a700), a fuji (e900), and an olympus (sp 350), possibly others like the panasonic dmc-lx1 or the pentax optio SVi. All seem to have their pros and cons, and there's quite a variation in price.

[SingingOrange]

thanks for the book link, although I might give it ago and read how to take photos.

although I was thinking that its much easier than this.