Some Candids [All shot handheld at 300 mm]

elfving73

Hello friends!
Snapped a few candids today, using my new lens (Sigma 70-300 mm f/4.0-f/5.6 DG Macro). I really begin to like this lens! When asking/reading about it, I got the impression that it was more or less impossible to take sharp images without tripod at 300 mm with it, so with that in mind, I'm very happy with the result. Here is a few samples, all shot handheld without any support. I've done some cropping, level and contrast tweak and some USM.

Regards / Matty


300 mm, 1/100s, F10, ISO 400




300 mm, 1/125s, F10, ISO 400




300 mm, 1/160s, F8, ISO 800
[She was interesting! I think she "caught me" (like most of'em do) because suddenly she begun to strike poses! *Haha*]




300 mm, 1/3200s, F5.6, ISO 800





300 mm, 1/1000s, F8, ISO 800

adrian_k

Not Bad. Not bad at all.

Just when I was beginning to think that portraiture almost *had* to be b&w.
Very striking.

elfving73 wrote:

Hello friends!
Snapped a few candids today, using my new lens (Sigma 70-300 mm f/4.0-f/5.6 DG Macro). I really begin to like this lens! When asking/reading about it, I got the impression that it was more or less impossible to take sharp images without tripod at 300 mm with it, so with that in mind, I'm very happy with the result. Here is a few samples, all shot handheld without any support. I've done some cropping, level and contrast tweak and some USM.

Regards / Matty

Dixie

Very nice street shots. I really like them all.

elfving73

Thank you, Adrian! )
Both color and B/W has it's benefits! : :

Matty

adrian_k wrote:

Not Bad. Not bad at all.

Just when I was beginning to think that portraiture almost *had* to be b&w.
Very striking.

elfving73

Thanx Dixie!

Dixie wrote:

Very nice street shots. I really like them all.

JimFuglestad

Hey Matty,

What impresses me the most here is that you weren't even taking advantage of the widest aperture possible and you were still able to handhold. I mean, one of these is at f10, telling me that you coudl have had it handheld with even considerably less light. Very intriguing.

The first two really demonstrate the sharpness especially well. Love the smoke coming off the cigarette.

Thanks,

Jim

Harryb

Nice shots Matty. I always enjoy your candids.

PeterGar

These were taken handheld at 300mm at 1/100 and look great. But I'm confused. How's this possible considering the photography rule that states the shutter speed should be no slower than 1/x sec where x=focal length? According to this rule, the shutter speed on these should have been a minumum of 1/300 sec to minimize blur.

Have I misunderstood this rule? These are outstanding pictures, so I'm really confused.

DRT-Maverick

How do you manage to not get introuble for taking photos of people? I actually had a cop tell me I couldn't do that.

Nikolai

Awesome!
You get me some hope! Now that i know it's possible I have a need to try smth like that with my Tamron 70-300 LD..:-)
Thanks!

JimFuglestad

PeterGar wrote:

These were taken handheld at 300mm at 1/100 and look great. But I'm confused. How's this possible considering the photography rule that states the shutter speed should be no slower than 1/x sec where x=focal length? According to this rule, the shutter speed on these should have been a minumum of 1/300 sec to minimize blur.

Have I misunderstood this rule? These are outstanding pictures, so I'm really confused.

Peter, It's really not a "rule". It's a guideline. Some people can handhold a camera at very low shutter speeds. Some people drink too much coffee. There are techniiques that can be used to minimize camera shake as well, i.e., bracing yourself agains a polse, stance, pulling the camera firmly against your head, etc...

I'm more surprised by the shallow dof of these at rather smallish apertures.

Jim

colourbox

I like candids. I love these. The smoking man's background looks like a painting. The only thing I don't like is that it makes me want to spend money I don't have, on a longer fast lens.

JimFuglestad wrote:

I'm more surprised by the shallow dof of these at rather smallish apertures.

Would that be because of the long 300mm focal length, since the opposite is true, that if you have a short lens, it's nearly impossible to get shallow dof?

Yuri Pautov

Priviet, Mattias!
I find them very good (composition, colors, mood), but only acceptable in sharpness...
I think you see it yourself...
Are there any lens that can give you the quality of your sons portraits at 300?
And how much do they cost?
Spasibo,
Yuri
P.S.
Does anyone here can post examples with such lens ?

Nappalonia

Nice work!

I bought that lens a couple weeks ago, so its really nice to see those the pics.

You make me want to leave work and see if I can get some shots like that :uhoh

auraflora

Hi Matty...


These are excellent candids with a wonderful variety of characters. Great clarity , color and sharpness.

I especially like the image of the man with his smoke and the cigarette ashes .

All the best

michal

Higgmeister

Nice set of candids Matty. I always look forward to your posts and enjoy them immensely.

Thanks for sharing these,
Chris

DavidTO

DRT-Maverick wrote:

How do you manage to not get introuble for taking photos of people? I actually had a cop tell me I couldn't do that.

Download and print this flyer.

G K

Dontcha know
rules are meant to be broken . jokes apart, as with all rules it is a generalization and is designed to produce consistent results. if your hands are steady enough and/or you can brace yourself, there is no reason why you cant produce a good on-off shot with a little practice and tries at slower shutter speeds.

~ gaurav

PeterGar wrote:

These were taken handheld at 300mm at 1/100 and look great. But I'm confused. How's this possible considering the photography rule that states the shutter speed should be no slower than 1/x sec where x=focal length? According to this rule, the shutter speed on these should have been a minumum of 1/300 sec to minimize blur.

Have I misunderstood this rule? These are outstanding pictures, so I'm really confused.

G K

this is not a very fast lens - working between f/4 and 5.6 but i think it is really good value for its price. i picked up mine for $115 shipped used at FM and really like it.

~gaurav

colourbox wrote:

I like candids. I love these. The smoking man's background looks like a painting. The only thing I don't like is that it makes me want to spend money I don't have, on a longer fast lens.



Would that be because of the long 300mm focal length, since the opposite is true, that if you have a short lens, it's nearly impossible to get shallow dof?