Shag, Starfish and Diver for C&C

[RobNZ]

So my "real" job has been seriously hit by the recession, so yet again I found myself with little to do today, so while I was in between jobs I went to the beach as you do..........don't you?

It was mid morning, 10-11am, sun was strong, not a cloud in the sky, so not the best light to work with, but then again that just makes you work harder.

I decided I would use one lens, EF-S 55-250mm kit lens on my 500D, with CPL of course.

My reasoning was that I want to really learn each lens I have inside and out and if I force myself to shoot with just the one lens, I have no choice but to get very familiar and learn exactly what its limitations and strengths are.

A Question: I would like to get into surf photography and nature/animal shots and I have done some research and I am seriously considering buying a Canon 300mm f4 L USM (non IS) which will end up costing me about $650 US (bought locally though), I cant seem to find many of these bad boys on the net for pricing comparisons, does that pricing sound ok?

I would eventually also buy either a 1.4 or 2 x teleconverter. There is an IS version available but I really cant justify the extra $400 US, will be mainly used on a monopod or tripod so meh, thoughts?

So this is what I ended up with from today.

1. Seaweed on a rock (abstract)

1. again, hopefully underexposure corrected.

2. Starfish No.1

3. Starfish No.3

4. Shag No.1

5. Shag No.2

6. Diver returning to shore.

Cheers.

 

[scorpion_tyr]

1. Looks underexposed to me. What makes it abstract?

2. I like the colors, but it's not enough of the starfish.

3. Much better. I really like this one!

4. Nothing bad. I like it.

5. Not a big fan of the birds looking backwards. These shots hurt my neck. You did a good job catching the color in his eye.

6. Slightly underexposed, and the diver seems to be saying "Why the hell is that creep taking a picture of me?"

 

[dak1b]

1) underexpsure...too many shadows
2) cool shot love the colors!
3) my personal favorite! great capture! cool detail and colors!
4) ok....
5) ok again....
6) not bad..i like hes expression....errr

 

[gsgary]

Some nice shots there Rob, you can't beat a good shag , The old 300F4 non IS is a brilliant lens sharper than the IS lens, i had one for about 3 years and used it on an old 10D with a 1.4X
Here's a few shots

 

[RobNZ]

1. Looks underexposed to me. What makes it abstract?

Abstract because most people wouldnt know what it is exactly unless i told you?

How is this one for exposure? I didnt notice the underexposure until you and dak1b pointed it out, thanks for that.

1) underexpsure...too many shadows
2) cool shot love the colors!
3) my personal favorite! great capture! cool detail and colors!
4) ok....
5) ok again....
6) not bad..i like hes expression....errr

Haha cheers. Yeah the diver shot was added for the expression more than anything...lol. Slightly underexposed in the shadows, but I was too lazy I guess to apply a quick correction.

Some nice shots there Rob, you can't beat a good shag , The old 300F4 non IS is a brilliant lens sharper than the IS lens, i had one for about 3 years and used it on an old 10D with a 1.4X
Here's a few shots

Thanks gsgary, nothing like a good shag alright , and thanks for posting the examples taken with that lens...wow.

The price sounds pretty good when you look at what it allows you to do. Love my 50mm prime, means you have to move more, but the final result is well worth it.