New Lens

It's been an absolutely crazy summer--crazy year, actually. And while I've been home for the past few weeks, I thought I should treat myself to something. So I sold off a lens on ebay (my heavy Tokina 50-135 f2.8) and bought a Sigma 100-300 f4 on sale.

So what did I shoot in test-driving the new lens? A nice buck was kind enough to pause for a few photos in my backyard before moving along (I helped in that process, of course). Unfortunately, no butterflies and no hummingbirds were available for additional shots, but there as a cute little moth at least...

How sharp is the lens? Pretty sharp. This is a 100% crop from my Canon 60D:

Another step

Last night I entered a photography contest for the first time. Outdoorphotographer.com posts themed assignments every week; the one I entered is on "heat." In thinking how to approach this, I chose to get Scarlett taking a drink after running amok. CJ helped with the shot. My entry can be found below, or here if you'd like to vote for it.

Storm clouds

This one looked really nasty. But does the photo properly show the intimidation factor?

At the fountain

I took this at a big fountain close by over the July 4 weekend. Given the coming heat wave, we may be making a return trip soon!

First attempt at panning...

As CJ led her friends in doing laps around someone's backyard, I tried to experiment in panning the shot: tracking the action and shooting with a longer exposure while staying focused on the subject.

I was somewhat successful; the picture below is more abstract than I wanted but successfully shows some of the motion, along with the joy of being five and running around in circles.

A weird bug visits out butterfly bushes

Undoubtedly, I'll be able to figure out what type of bug this is (some type of moth was our guess). At first I thought it was a hummingbird. It was pretty neat though. And Scarlett didn't really bark too much despite how excited we were to look at it. Will wonders ever cease?

My butterfly bushes are now peaking

The only thing better than looking at these bushes is smelling them. Until smellovision comes to the internet, you're just going to have to take my word for it.