Macros (big ol' dial-up warning)

[JeffR]

Many weeks after getting it, today I finally tried out my Tokina 100mm f/2.8 macro. Verdict: wow!

[Blue_In_AK]

1. These are beautfiul, JeffR...

Maybe I should get out and take a few pix of my flowers before they say good-by for the summer. You've inspired me. :)

[JeffR]

2. Thank you. Hard to believe we're a third of the way through August.

Rainy and pretty cool here today, with just enough of a break in the rain for me to get out and fill up most of a card and get home before it really started to pour. And the light was perfect even though some of my exposures weren't.

[Itchinjim]

3. All are great, especialy 4, 6, and 7.

I love playing with macros, it opens up a whole new world.

[JeffR]

5. Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with 4.

I'm looking forward to shooting a lot more with this lens. Just like the Tokina wide-angle, it handles well and is built to withstand an earthquake.

[mth44sc]

4. Good stuff Jeff

Loved 'em all!

[JeffR]

6. Thank you!

:hi:

[ConsAreLiars]

7. Ooh!....Ow!

Well, together that says WOW.

And the Ooh! is obvious. The Ow! aspect is the reminder of my many failed attempts to get something close to any of these. I'll single out the Ferns shot, because getting that kind of composition and soft/sharp focus is way harder than one might guess.

And for those learning the difference between "this is a pretty whatever" and "this is an intriguing image," look at these carefully. Look for diagonals; look for points of interest being off-center; look at how empty space is used, and so on.

[JeffR]

8. Ow! You're too kind.

I think the credit goes to the lens, which is really exceptional. Even the manual focus shots made me feel like a passenger, not a driver. I'm happy just to tag along for the ride.

[ConsAreLiars]

9. Well, I must disagree.

Unless the lens has some sort of metal-detector analog built in that beeps insistently until you point it exactly where it demands, the responsibility and credit all goes to you. Some credit to the lens, of course. Cheap plastic lenses will not give good results, generally speaking, although some great photos have been done with crap gear. And, to be fair, a good macro lens gives one the opportunity to see in new ways. Any here who have a macro setting on the camera/lens set-up they use should spend some time trying it out.

Just on the Ferns shot, the lighting there was something you noticed and saw. The lens let you share it, but not to find or compose it. Give me a high end well-tuned Gibson guitar and the very best I'd do would be to bore anyone in hearing distance. More likely I'd be beaten to a pulp for instrument abuse. It's not the gear.

[JeffR]

10. No, it's not the gear

but perhaps just feeling sympatico with it, and getting a day where the light was so special. This lens handles very much like the Tokina 12-24, right down to the AF/MF clutch mechanism I've become so used to, so I didn't feel that I had to fight or fiddle with it.

Not to protest too much, I really appreciate your kind words. Thank you.

[suninvited]

11. Wow

great photos.

[JeffR]

12. Thanks!

:)

[NashVegas]

13. Lazy Susans

Wonderful contrast & comp. Sweet stuff.