Big lenses and Jellybeans

Hey Surfers,

I am finally back with a new blog post! Sorry about the delay, I have have completely stumped for ideas to post so my cameras have been being neglected.

Luckily, one of my colleagues in the office recently lent me a 55-300 mm zoom lens to try out with my DSLR. I was quizzing them about whether I should purchase one of these lenses myself, as I only own a 18-55 mm, and they very kindly offered to lend me their Tamron Zoom lens for a week so I could decide if I really wanted to invest.

Of course I had to take advantage of this new piece of equipment and write up a long overdue blog post!

Comparison of lenses 

The lens felt enormous as I was used to my much smaller 18-55 but I was excited to try it out. One of the reasons I wanted to pick up a zoom lens was due to the harvest moon which was out recently. It was so beautiful and many photographers around the country got amazing pictures; however my little lens couldn't cope and I got terrible shots. After being lent the Tamron  the moon was beginning to wane but I did manage to get the below image.

Waning Harvest Moon

After getting a picture like this I was looking forward to testing the lens out again but the week got away from me and before I knew it I had almost no time left with it! I had honestly given up being able to try it out properly...however, on the way home from work today, I was demolishing some jelly beans when I came across one which had an interesting shape. I was just going to take a silly picture for Instagram but, after getting an image on my phone, I remembered that my colleague had told me that this particular lens had a macro mode. A few minutes later I had set up my camera and tripod and snapped this"delicious" (forgive the pun) picture.

Cat beans

I wanted to try more macro shots so grabbed a packet of colouring pencils left over from my cousin's second birthday party and, after tying them up with my hair band out of fury, got these images.

I really love the soft blur in these images. I had never been able to manipulate the focus so easily with my other lens and it was something which used to drive me crazy! Below is a "behind the scenes" picture taken with my phone so you are able to see the set up and distance I had to use to get these shots.

Now that autumn is rolling in it is getting darker much earlier but I wanted to try out the zoom capabilities again so went into the back garden to try and find something to shoot. I had intended to capture the Red Kites and wild rabbits which live around my house but they were nowhere to be found so I had to make do with what was nearby. Enjoy.

I was using manual mode for this shot but it came out much too light so I have had to use Photoshop to correct the image.

Now for the final image

This last picture, whilst showcasing the Tamron's fantastic zoom capabilities, I found quite boring so

I had some fun with the effects on Photoshop. The field in the picture is actually quite large and from where I stood the cows were pinpricks.

My final opinion on the Tamron lens is this: I was very impressed with all of its capabilities, however without a tripod and self timer on your camera it is incredibly easy to blur these images (which my colleague did warn me about).

 I'm a little undecided if I will be purchasing a 55-300 mm zoom as my next lens as part of me would like even greater zoom functionality, though the price does then sky rocket. The lens I have been looking at (which is a 55-300 mm) is just under £150.00. It may well be a case of getting a smaller  lens and becoming more adept with this type of photography before moving on to something with telescopic capabilities XD

Anyway, thanks for reading, Surfers. I'll be back the next time inspiration strikes; sorry that I can no longer promise weekly posts.

Enjoy your weekends!

Love E