Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm F2.8 ED VR

I have finally purchased a macro lens the Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm F2.8 ED VR.  I have in the last couple of weeks been shooting macro shots and practising portraiture as this lens is excellent for portrait photography.

I need to purchase a remote control because just using my tripod is not enough to eliminate camera shake when using a macro lens.  I have been using my phone as a remote control and have connected this to my laptop via bluetooth but this is only an option if my laptop is close by so when going out and about I will need to invest in a remote control.

1/6s F9 ISO 250

This image of Cola Bottle Sweets was taken indoors with limited overhead light using my Nikon D90 with Micro lens.  The slow shutter speed of 1/6s and the aperture of F9 ensured the correct exposure.  The aperture ensured that almost all the image was in focus without being to small to cause the image to be underexposed.  I used a small torch shining under the sweets which has created the glow effect in the clear part of the sweets and caused them to light up.  The ISO was set on 250 which I should have taken a few shots with a higher setting to see what difference this would have made to the image.



1/4s F6.3 ISO 640

 I have taken so many images of Macro Flowers and found it to be a little tricky before I used my phone via bluetooth as a remote control.  In this image I wanted to focus on the tiny petals around the stigma.  I set the ISO on 640 as I was indoors but I was near a window so there was some natural light from the window.  The slow shutter speed of 1/4s ensured exposure with the F6.3 aperture.  I need to start altering the ISO on my images to see the difference in the image quality.  I have found using a macro lens tricky but I am improving with practise.






I have found that this macro lens is really good for portraiture if I can get enough distance between me and my subject.  These images were taken with my phone connected to my laptop via bluetooth so I did not have to touch the camera and for my first attempt at portraiture I am quite pleased with the result.  I have turned them to black and white in photoshop as I seem to be doing with everything at the minute to practise monochrome vision.



1/5s F3.5 ISO 250



This image was taken indoors near a window so lots of natural light.  The shutter speed of 1/5s and the aperture of F3.5 ensured the exposure but I wish I had more time to play around with the camera controls to see the differences. I should have used an higher ISO when shooting indoors. Children will not stay still for long and you can see what has happened here "Mum says if I stand here and look gorgeous she will give me some sweets" and he did it so well.  I did set up the camera controls beforehand but I need to practise on an adult who will sit still for a while.  All that said, I am still really pleased with this image I set the aperture on F3.5 and focused on his eyes as I did read somewhere that when shooting portraiture always focus on the eyes.  The white background is a door and I have cropped it slightly in photoshop to cut out the door

handle.

This Image was taken at the same time as the above image and I have used all the same camera controls.  She was playing an handheld game at the time which I have cropped out of the image but this has allowed her to sit still for long enough and concentrate.  I did want to get more of the fur hood in the image like David Baileys image of Mick Jagger because I like the texture fur can create in a black and white image.  I am looking forward to learning about lighting and how this can be used to create shadows and light in only part of an image with the rest being low key. I am also interested in using lighting to create mood.

This blog entry sums up what I have been doing over the last few weeks.  I have taken many shots with Nikon D90 and Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 105 F2.8 ED VR lens to practise focusing on a subject.  I have learned that just a tripod is not sufficient enough to eliminate camera shake and have produced much better images after setting up my phone and laptop to act as a remote control.  I have also bought a few books about photography to try and learn more about different techniques used.

Books I have bought for Research, Techniques and Inspiration

Digital Photography Step by Step by Ben Owen

The Photographers Practical Handbook by Paul Harcourt Davies

Twiggy A life in Photographs

Advance Digital Photography by Tom Ang

David Baileys Look Book

The Photographers Eye by Michael Freeman

Paris Mon Amour by Jean Claude Gautrand

Landscape Photographer of the Year Collection 4

Travel Photographer of the Year Journey three