bokeh

Hummingbird shares a flower

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Hummingbird shares a flower

Hummingbird in Cloudcroft, New Mexico

While I was in Cloudcroft, New Mexico on a rural land photography assignment, I took notice of these very unusual flowers that I thought looked like rocket popsicles that a hummingbird was having breakfast at.  I had my excellent new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP lens on my Nikon D750.  There was no way to track this fast moving bird through the air.  How to get this shot then?  Pre-focus on a flower you hope the hummingbird will land on, and wait.  I studied the bird's flying patterns a bit, noticing it kept coming back to this particular flower.  I approached slowly, very slowly, and then froze waiting for the hummingbird to return.  The focus point is not perfect, and I wish the hummingbird had chosen a prettier flower to drink nectar from, but I like the bokeh enough to share this photo with you.

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New Mexico Whiptail Lizard in Valley of Fires

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New Mexico Whiptail Lizard in Valley of Fires

A whiptail lizard friend among lava

I met this new friend in the Valley of Fires.  It was hanging out on a metal grill by a picnic table (see photo below).  I only now learned it is a New Mexico whiptail lizard.  Let's just say the lizard was female for convenience sake.  She was on the aforementioned metal grill first, which is not the best backdrop to photograph a wild creature on.  I got a few quick shots though because I wanted to fly my drone over the lava fields.  When I was done flying, the lizard had moved onto to some twigs -- a much better background!  I was using my new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Macro lens for the latter shots, which can focus less than a foot away from a subject.  I just kept getting closer and closer to the lizard, and she did not move at all!  Thank you friendly whiptail for hanging out and letting me make your portrait!

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Flowers Like Rocket Popsicles in Cloudcroft New Mexico

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Flowers Like Rocket Popsicles in Cloudcroft New Mexico

On a recent overnight photo shoot trip to Cloudcroft, New Mexico the excellent true bed & breakfast I stayed at, The Crofting Inn, had this wonderful flower garden.  Being still totally enamored with my recent purchase of the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Macro lens, I am always looking for opportunities to use it.  These flowers on their own would have been beautiful to photograph, but the color of the bokeh really makes this macro flora image.  Then upon further exam, I thought these flowers looked like the classic rocket popsicles I used to enjoy on hot summer days growing up!  Tell me what you think in the comments below.

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Old Town Albuquerque New Mexico Macro Flower Photography

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Old Town Albuquerque New Mexico Macro Flower Photography

Last week I invested in getting a macro lens, the new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP.  For those of you with really good memories, you will have realized this is my third Tamron lens in the past 9 months.  Tamron is just simply producing the best lenses available for Nikon right now.  I had the Nikon 105mm VR Micro (they use micro not macro in the name) lens from 2009 until about 2013 and loved it.  It was such a fun lens to shoot with, as making macro shots always had a sense of wonder at showing a hidden world the naked eye cannot see.  It had very creamy bokeh and was very, very sharp.  I also loved it for portraits and just as my walking around lens.

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Photography Tip - do not photograph flowers in harsh light

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Assuming you have a good subject, then light and background are the two make or break factors for any photograph.  Both flower photos above have complimentary backgrounds.  However, only one of them works due to the light.  The top flower photo was made in harsh light.  Even with a large amount of digital editing to try and recover detail in the flower, it was not possible.  In contrast, the bottom flower required very little editing as it was photographed in good, soft light.  

No matter how pretty the flower may be, if it is not photographed in good light, then it will turn out looking ugly in a photograph.  Look for soft light for flowers.  This can be done by photographing flowers in shade and basically avoiding the strong mid-day sunlight times.  Early morning or late evening are often prime times for this kind of light.  Then remember to make sure the background is good too!

Photography Tip - use a telephoto lens for subjects that are close to you, not just far away

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Many of the 155+ photography tips I have posted on my site come from the over 300+ one-on-one photography lessons I have taught over the past five years.  From a photography student's question, or from something I teach in the field, I find things that can make for a photography tip blog post.  Such is the case with the subject matter of this photography tip.  During a recent 1-on-1 photography lesson I had a student switch from a wide angle lens to a telephoto lens to help fill the frame with a subject and to make the background disappear and become bokeh.  This is something that I have had every photography student do during lessons, but only upon reading email feedback from this particular student did it occur to me that it may not be obvious to use a telephoto lens to photograph subjects that are close or even very close to you.

Using a telephoto lens for subjects that are close creates bokeh easily and adds another use for a long lens.He told me that he had not thought to use his 70-300mm lens for subjects that were close to him before, but only rather for subjects that were far away.  He went on to say this changed his entire perspective on using that lens.  Thus, I decided to make it a photography tip so that in case anyone else has not necessarily used their telephoto lens for close subjects before can do so and get the benefits of using a lens with a long focal length on a subject close to the photographer.

In the above portrait example, the model was very close to where I was standing, but I still used the lens' maximum focal length of 200mm to create a more personal composition and also of course bokeh in the background.  So try going out this weekend with your telephoto lens and photograph close by subjects and let me know the results.