Towards the end of September 2019 I was feeling more confident with photography. I was finding what I liked and learning how to do it better. By this point I had felt the pull of seriousness about this hobby and kept coming back to it. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I have had a habit for most of my life for diving in head over heels to a hobby or project and either not finishing, or getting distracted and never coming back to it.
Photography was different, no matter how much I went out to take pictures I found myself wanting more. I never got bored with it, even when it can be quite boring itself. Like waiting for hours to get a shot of wildlife. But the results were getting better and it was encouraging me to keep going. Which of course leads to more spending. I wanted to try macro photography, I wanted to replace the mid range telephoto I had given to my dad, a cheap canon 75-300. And I really wanted a wide angle that wouldn’t creep when I held it downward.
So on the 21st of September after many weeks of watching prices, adding up the totals, putting things into a cart and comparing the total to my bank account. I finally pulled the trigger on several purchases, and this time some were the L series. Which is top quality Canon lenses.
For the wide angle I wanted to get the 24-70 F2.8 L. Because my brother has one and was telling me all about it. But the price for one of those, even used as I buy all my gear, is quite a bit. More than double the price of the 24-105 F4 L. Which I picked up a great condition one for $452.
For macro, although I did want to get another L series I just couldn’t justify that and the other lenses I purchased. I went with a Tamron 180mm for $278 the first time. Because I had to return it and get another as the buyer sent a Nikon version. The actual Canon EF version was only 10 bucks more.
And then finally to replace my mid range telephoto and because I desperately wanted that 2.8 aperture, I purchased a Canon 70-200 F2.8 L. Just the first version, no image stabilizer unfortunately. But even without that it cost me a pretty penny, $825.99 pretty pennies to be exact.
I also picked up some cheap filters for all of the above lenses, as I am quite afraid of going out without a lens. If anything happens and I scratch the lens I want a filter to go first. Alongside these filters I picked up a new flash. I had enough of trying to balance that 15 foot cable for an off camera flash. I wanted wireless. So the Godox TT600 and a Godox X1T wireless control got added to the purchase.
Armed with all of these new toys I started putting them through the paces. The flash and macro combination was tricky at first. Handholding is extremely difficult as it turned out. To eliminate the shake I would need to raise the shutter speed but now I had a problem with the flash sync. Too high and you get an image like this.
Canon 5D Mark II w/Tamron 180mm - 1/400 Sec - F3.5 - ISO 2500
So if I’m to take a macro photo inside, where the light is only going to be good enough with a flash. I would need a stable tripod, adding more to the complexity. Thankfully I already have that gimbal head, which is so much easier to use than the ball head the tripod came with.
Let’s take another shot at some macro, with a different subject. A ring that my significant other gave me from one of my favorite book series and author.
Canon 5D Mark II w/Tamron 180mm - 1/25 Sec - F3.5 - ISO 3200
A much better subject, but the plain for focus is just so small. How do people get so close to a subject and still get the entire subject in focus? Would have been my thoughts back in September. Eventually I would learn about focus stacking. But not on this day. Instead I turned to something more flat that I could shoot with more of just one dimension.
Canon 5D Mark II w/Tamron 180mm - 1/200 Sec - F3.5 - ISO 3200
How about some really close up peppercorns inside the grinder? Yeah that’s cooler, still couldn’t do a great job with getting them all in focus. But closing that aperture would really cut down on the light I could get, and my ISO was already cranked up. Or again, shutter speed. This one was a bit faster since I was just playing around in the kitchen without the tripod.
After this it was time to head outside, for the biggest light source we have.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105 @24 - 1/400 Sec - F8 - ISO 800
This tree caught my eye, and looking closer I found something pretty neat.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm @95 - 1/400 Sec - F8 - ISO 800
Little seeds inside these pods, which you can see through when the sun hits them just right.
I also managed to find these little… berries? Some research leads me to believe this is the Callicarpa.
Canon 5D Mark II w/70-200mm @200 - 1/200 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Then as the sun started to set, I popped on the flash and played around with it and the macro lens for a bit. Really had some fun by putting a colored gel on the flash, red to be exact.
Canon 5D Mark II w/Tamron 180mm - 1/125 Sec - F4 - ISO 1000
It’s wild to take a photo with that kind of setup and see the color change entirely. This dried up flower was mostly yellow, I am wishing now I took one without the flash for comparison.
Canon 5D Mark II w/Tamron 180mm - 1/200 Sec - F4 - ISO 1000
That was enough for one day, plus I was just about entirely out of light. Time to head home, backup all the photos and get to editing.