Sharp Little Lens

[Blake Shadle]

This is about the lens as much as the image for me. I wanted everyone to take a look at an image that was created with the Tamron 70-300mm in Macro mode, at 300mm... sharp? I think so ;) This piece of foliage was tiny!! I ended up heading off into the woods while waiting for my dad to show up for an afternoon out on the Hooptie Duex. This is what I came up with.

Shooting Solution
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Tamron 70-300 @ 300mm
Manual Exposure, 1/320 @ f/20, ISO 800 (no noise reduction)
Hand held

Thanks for looking!

Comments welcome and much appreciated :)

[Gus Cobos]

Nicely done Blake,
Composition and exposure is dead on. The black background makes your leaf pop. I also like the detail...:cool:

[Robert O'Toole]

That is way sharp, wow :eek:
The light is really good and it makes the details really stand out. Impressive for a 3rd party zoom, **** I think it would be impressive for a macro lens :D

I like the comp and the black BG also. Did you use the built in flash?


I would crop a tiny bit from the right but it works as is. Oh and get rid of those little brown specks!

Robert

[Blake Shadle]

Just natural light through a tree canopy. Sunlight was hitting only this piece of the fern (??)... Their dedicated macro lenses are even better... seriously. I have the 90mm f/2.8 and I'm amazed by the sharpness. I'll have to start making more images with it, and posting them here. I feel ya' on the crop from the right... it's OOF (out of focus) and doesn't fit the rest of the image.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Blake, very sharp looking image. like the slight diagonal position.

[James Shadle]

Like this Robert?

I prefer the crop ratio Blake had in the original image.
And the brown spots don't really bother me, just part of nature.

I do prefer the upper right corner to be sharper ( being parallel to the image plane is critical for macro sharpness).

Well done Blake, good optics with outstanding technique will result in sharp images.

Dad

[Blake Shadle]

I do like it better with the brown spots though :D

[Robert O'Toole]

Like this Robert?

I prefer the crop ratio Blake had in the original image.
And the brown spots don't really bother me, just part of nature.

I do prefer the upper right corner to be sharper ( being parallel to the image plane is critical for macro sharpness).

Well done Blake, good optics with outstanding technique will result in sharp images.

Dad

Well yeah, I really had in mind just enough to crop out the OOF section. Looks good though.

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

Just natural light through a tree canopy. Sunlight was hitting only this piece of the fern (??)... Their dedicated macro lenses are even better... seriously. I have the 90mm f/2.8 and I'm amazed by the sharpness. I'll have to start making more images with it, and posting them here. I feel ya' on the crop from the right... it's OOF (out of focus) and doesn't fit the rest of the image.


Yeah I used to own the Tamron 90 and the IQ was up at the top for even macro lenses.

Robert

[John Cooper]

Hi Blake, when I first opened your image something didn't appear quite right to me but the repost has made all the difference. The composition is now much stronger and the OOF end has been been given the axe :)

[Blake Shadle]

I do like it better with the brown spots though :D

OOPS! I meant to say without the brown spots!

[Bob Allen]

I don't mind the debris (brown spots) but do prefer the right side cropped out.

ISO 800 and no NR? I'm impressed.