Today was the first chance I had to try it out. I went out exploring the yard planning to use it to get some bird shots. I filled the feeders and waited. While I was waiting I noticed our recent rainstorms had knocked the dogwood flowers down and there were several on a shrub in the back yard. What the heck, I had my camera and 300 lens so I decided to see what I could get. Now this is not how I would have taken this shot if I had planned it. I would have had my tripod, macro lens, and cable release to get as sharp a picture as possible. Being too lazy to go back in the house I shot the flower petals handheld about 9 feet away with a 300mm lens.
1/400 second, f/5.6, ISO 640 using Canon 7D
I'm pretty excited about the way this came out. The best part is I tried something new.
I've traveled great distances to many interesting places to photograph. I've attended workshops and learned a great deal at each one. One thing I have learned is you don't have to go to a workshop or travel to exotic places to improve your photography. One of the best exercises is to limit yourself to a small area and only one lens. It forces you to use your eye to look for interesting subjects and compositions right under your nose and to think differently when composing a shot. It makes you move past the obvious and easy shots. As with anything else, the only way to improve is to practice.
It's starting to look like rain again. I may be back out taking this shot again shortly with rain drops of the leaves and petal.
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