Sony f2.8 90mm – Rons life through the lens

Living in Paradise

When i look outside and see the dull cloudy day it usually means a day in doors, but when you live in the country its totally different and my mind just fills with challenges i can try. Having trees grass woods streams and meadows filled with wild flowers just becomes a photo heaven for me.

Everywhere you look there is something of interest and having different styles of photography and having the lens and camera to take such a image is a great tool if you can call it that. So with this in mind i ventured out with 2 camera’s and a ND filter which can be used for all types of things but i wanted it to cretae a nice stream image with silky water. It is still something i need to work at but the scene was lovely so i tried a few shots.

The last image was taken using the Sony A7r4 with 61mp so to get the true colour image resolution and whole scene you should really see it on a HD Tablet or TV screen to see the pure beauty of it. I have it as a screen saver and its Stunning. Only downside to the world and image veiwing is that most people will see this on a 5 inch Mobile phone screen.

So i then triwd a few Bluebell images using the Sony 90mm Macro lens another type of photography that requires hours and hours of practice. Because of the magnification of the lens its very hard to get the whole subject sharp.

In Amongst Bees

When I snapped my tendon in my ankle last year my ability to get out and film birds was hammpered by where I could go. So Ruth would drive me to locations where I could sit down with my plaster on. On one of these outings we found a cafe and next to it a wild garden full of beautiful flowers.

A new challenge hit me as I looked at all the bees and wasps flying in to collect nectar from the flowers. I made my plan but looking at my lens choice was difficult and I needed something I could get in really close with.

It was then I thought of the Sony 90mm 2.8 Macro lens, a lens they say is the sharpest lens have made. Well the plan was made and with my foot in a protective boot I was dropped off by Ruth and left to find a place where I could film.

Sounds easy but as I wanted to be as close as I could I had choice other than to sit bang in the middle of the plants and shrubs. Then it was a case of watching where the bees came from and left. The moved from plant to plant very fast and it was then that I realised my shutters speeds were going to pushed to the limit if I was to capture the body and small fragile wings all in focus.

Being in amongst nature listening to the high pitched buzzing was just brilliant and at no stage did any insect come near me, sitting in their world. Just shows you that you can invade their world and they don’t feel threatened. I quickly learned this was a challenge that would take a few visits to Nail one in flight.

Using my Birds In Flight techniques I set my shutter speed to 1/3200 and my aperture wide open at 2.8 but this was when I learned to get the whole bee in focus my aperture had to be at least f11 meaning the ISO had to be pushed to enable me to get the bee in focus.

Using High Speed Burst Plus gave me my maximum 10 frames a second and after an hour it looked like I was getting a few in focus so it was time I headed back to look at my images and see where I could improve.

So as the week went on there were a few tings that I came across with this one of hardest challenges to date.

First was the light as most of the shrubs were overhanging so the sunlight never reached the flowers where the bees were collecting nectar. So with light a massive issue I found shrub that had good light on and just waited for the bees to visit it.

Birds in flight.

Using the same principle as I do for birds in flight I used a panning motion to capture the bee in flight but I will disclose that it was frustrating at times as you thought you got the image in focus

So after 5days I reckon I got 10 good images from about 500 images. But the ones I got I was over the moon with as this was my attempt.

My Buddy and the Loft

After 2 crumpets with lashings of butter on and a strong coffee we headed up into the loft to do some portrait photography.

Chas my mate from the 80s is a special mate and after a good laugh we set about trying to capture him with the Sony 90mm then the 85mm. The lighting was done with the Godex 40011 Moonlight Strobe. Using different positions we just had some fun by moving the light round and at different heights. I am very chuffed with the 400ll as it can be used by turning ceiling lights off.

This image is with the 90mm 2.8 macro lens.

Then i changed to the Sony 1.8 85mm

I am over the moon with the results and cant wait to do more work as this is all new to me and will take many hours of practice.

What More Is To Be Said.

The Sony 90mm f2.8 is just a beautiful amazing stunning piece of glass. The images it produces are breathtaking. The versatility this lens has covers many subject matter and therefore is a must for a photographer.

Indoors or out, you have a lens that will capture fast moving objects like a Bee in flight.

Then try some water in a glass.

We then go to the sea front.

Into the living room with a Bluebell and some water droplets, flowers.

Try to be creative a leaf or a ring from the wife’s collection.

Then a close up of my African Grey Parrots eye.

Find a Dandelion and use fine water droplets the size of a pin head. Sit it gently on top of the Clock and use manual focus and capture it from the start to when the weight gets to heavy and it lies just on the surface