Close ups with a Bigma at the short end.

[glsammy]

Recently I've been rather depressed about my photography, I decided I needed a break from my usual routine, so for a couple of months I've hardly touched my camera.
I've also had to make a hard decision.Due to financial pressures I had to choose which one of my two telephoto lenses I would sell. In the end I chose to let my Canon 400mm F5.6 L lens go, and I duly sold it last week.
This week I've been wondering if I did the right thing. Too late to worry about that now.
Today I went out with my 40D and my Sigma 50-500mm, the other lens I decided to keep. The main reason I chose it was its flexibility, and today's shots show some of that advantage. The subject matter was nothing special, just a load of Black headed Gulls.
All of these shots were taken not at the 500mm end of the lens but closer to the other end, most of them were around 57mm, so just about any camera could have taken these shots.
I've also been very unhappy with the performance of my 40D. Its focusing is a joke, especially when shooting on the faster of the two continuous settings, it's so bad I actually preferred to use my 20D. Today I just used the slower of the two shooting rates and the success rate of my shots increased dramatically.

Any way, here's just some of the shots I got. Most of them are full frame, a few have been cropped very slightly.





















Normally I'd hardly ever take shots at the 50mm end of the lens, and obviously for many subjects it simply wouldn't work, but for greedy gulls it's an ideal setting to try. These gulls were so close, I could have easily reached out and touched them. All you need is someone with some of that dreaded bread to throw in the air, and the gulls do the rest!

[Ollie]

Some great shots Graham and a good example of how versatile the bigma is.

Although I only use my bigma now and again for dragonflies that are difficult to approach etc I will never sell it.

I will probably be using it shortly when I get over to Donna Nook for the seals as they can be a little to close for the 400mm sometimes.

[Gill Catton]

These shots are excellent Graham - I particularly like the 'thee bird pile up' they look like they're auditioning fro sme sort of avian bollywood fim!!

But these are crisp and beautiful I hope you're pleased?

I only wish I had been out today with my camera - but I seem to have lost my battery charger in the move (AARRGGHhhh ) and am saving my last fully charged battery for my birthday when weather permitting - I shall take the day off and be out taking pictures.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

These shots are excellent Graham - I particularly like the 'thee bird pile up' they look like they're auditioning fro sme sort of avian bollywood fim!!

But these are crisp and beautiful I hope you're pleased?

I only wish I had been out today with my camera - but I seem to have lost my battery charger in the move (AARRGGHhhh ) and am saving my last fully charged battery for my birthday when weather permitting - I shall take the day off and be out taking pictures.

That's one of my favourites Gill. Yes, I was quite pleased with these, and the fact the darn camera actually managed to get something in focus for a change!

[John D]

Once again Graham you have illustrated just what an excellent lens the 'Bigma' is. All of these images are superb. I'd say you have made the right decision under the circumstances.
Keep up the good work!

John D

[Ukwildlifeo]

Great photos Graham, good to see you back to your 'photographic ways.'

Its also refreshing to see someone picking a 3rd party 'inferior build' sigma lens over 'top' brand lens.

[acherontia]

Congratulations on getting interested in birds again!! LOL

BIFs are never easy and these show more of the skill of the photographer than the performance of the lens .

Those gulls are quite obliging as long as one has some tempting grub
I especially like #8 - a lot more than the others. The cropping and position has much more dynamism than the others and wins on the artistic front as well as clarity of image. Just a tad more blue at the bottom of the image would have weighted it out a bit better - my only criticism (IMHO of course)
They all have a rather 'painterly' effect - almost like artwork. Is this due to post processing or the camera settings?

Cheers for posting these !

Acher

[DavyG]

It's good to see you're using your photography kit again Graham, sorry to hear you had to part with a lens though.

I don't think you're the only person who's been doing less photography recently, I think 2009 has been a distinctly "odd" year for a lot of people.

Let's hope 2010 provides us with more opportunities.

Dave

[Gill Catton]

Actually Dave's got a point - I've not taken nearly as many photos this year as in previous years. Wedding planning took up a lot of weekends but I don't think that's entirely it. Weird....

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by acherontia

Congratulations on getting interested in birds again!! LOL

BIFs are never easy and these show more of the skill of the photographer than the performance of the lens .

Those gulls are quite obliging as long as one has some tempting grub
I especially like #8 - a lot more than the others. The cropping and position has much more dynamism than the others and wins on the artistic front as well as clarity of image. Just a tad more blue at the bottom of the image would have weighted it out a bit better - my only criticism (IMHO of course)
They all have a rather 'painterly' effect - almost like artwork. Is this due to post processing or the camera settings?

Cheers for posting these !

Acher

Thanks for your comments.
All of these shots were all taken without any possible thought re composition, I just counted myself lucky if I managed to get any bird fully in frame!
Re the look, it's a mixture of my poor editing (over aggressive and lazy neat image applied!) and also our sites compression of the image. When I look at that shot 8 in my editor, I can see far more feather detail which has been "smoothed" out during the uploading process.