Rodney Campbell's Blog

As I mentioned in a recent blog post I recently acquired yet another new lens – the Nikon AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED.

These are the first shots with that lens – they were taken in Hyde Park in the city one lunchtime.

Note: Click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay gallery viewer.

Shot at high noon I was aiming for a sort of vanishing point effect with these silvery carved and leafless trees all lined up and shot from a distance and compressed by the telephoto lens.

“The Line”

Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm @ 185mm, 1/640 sec at f/5, ISO 200

The next shot is a high dynamic range (HDR) image created by merging multiple (3) different exposures of the same scene to create the final image and look. The individual frames are taken at 0, -2 and +2EV.

“Roots”

Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm @ 122mm, 1/125 sec at f/4.8, ISO 200

The next shot is a pretty good example of a small depth of field and what the lens can do to throw out a very busy and colourful background. We get this sort of Monet watercolour feel with this image.

“Poppy Watercolour”

Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm @ 110mm, 1/2500 sec at f/4.5, ISO 200

This next isn’t a great shot of the ibis but there were a few just walking about near the fountain so I figured I’d better try for a shot with the long lens racked out to maximum zoom to see how sharp the lens might be at it’s least optimal focal length. I am quite happy with the smoothness of the out of focus background (bokeh) and the sharpness of the bird is actually pretty good at 300mm (450mm equivalent).

Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm @ 300mm, 1/1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200

The next few shots were taken a few days later when the girls and I went for a long walk to town (and eventually dinner) late one afternoon.

The sun was almost setting and was very low near the horizon. This gave a beautiful golden glow diagonally from behind where we were walking up this street. The girls were walking away from me up the street and when I called they turned to give me this cheeky look.

“Cheeky Sunset”

Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm @ 145mm, 1/200 sec at f/4.8, ISO 200

It was now quite late in the day (5PM) and the sun was essentially below our horizon at this stage. This meant I had to use both a slow shutter speed and higher ISO to grab this shot (even wide open for this focal length). The shot is noticeably not as sharp as I was hoping for and also has some noise but you can see what I was aiming for.

“Faces”

Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm @ 180mm, 1/60 sec at f/5, ISO 560

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