What is SteamPunk portraiture? According to Wikipedia “SteamPunk is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.” It also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions or Victorian-era fiction and films from the mid-20th century. That, being said, there are apparently no boundaries as far as how to portray a SteamPunk person or fashion: it is a wildly creative form of CosPlay that lends itself perfectly to photo portraiture!

©Judy Host 2018 Sigma 105mm F1.4 DG HSM Art | F/1.4, 1/800 sec, ISO 160 | Manual mode. Natural light. Hand held.

Photographically speaking, how fun to have that kind of freedom—and with that in mind, I have pretty much gone crazy with my styling of SteamPunk design imagery!

Our friend Dion Scoppettuolo recently returned from an epic Safari and adventure in Etosha National Park in Namibia, Okonjima Game Reserve in Namibia and the Namibian Desert. The Sigma 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM and 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lenses were along to document his travels. Were these lenses up to the challenges of capturing the magnificence of these remote locations? The photos speak for themselves! Be inspired by this great gallery of images!

© 2018 Dion Scoppettuolo | The Namib stretches over large areas of western Namibia. Sigma 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary

© 2018 Dion Scoppettuolo | Stalking a herd of impala. Okonjima game reserve, Namibia. Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary

The Sigma 105mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens has just begun shipping, and our crew of bloggers and pros have had a few days to get a feel for this amazing new fast-aperture tele prime Art lens. See what they’ve got to say and check out some of their first shots with this fantastic addition to the Art line!

Judy Host

All I can say is WOW! The sharpness and bokeh at F1.4 for outdoor work is simply stunning, and in the studio, stopped down to F8—mind-blowing. At nearly four pounds, you do get an arm and shoulders workout, but when you see the images, it is well worth it!

Image © Judy Host 2018. 1/200 F8 ISO 160 on a 5D Mark IV

Image © Judy Host 2018 1/800 F1.4 at ISO 160 on a 5DMIV

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It is officially summer 2018! Beaches, lakes, fireworks, road trips, picnics, family adventures—whatever you’re doing with your Sigma gear, share it right here with the #SigmaPhotoSummer tag on Instagram!

We’ll be sharing some of our favorites all through summer and will select five eligible* posts with the hashtag to get some cool Sigma swag at the end of August!

*Eligible Posts definition: US-based photographer, 18+, captured with Sigma lenses, cameras, and/or accessories, posted to Instagram with the #SigmaPhotoSummer hashtag with caption describing the details of the photo and camera gear used posted between June 26, 2018 and August 31, 2018.  Creators of selected photos will be contacted through Instagram by September 15, 2018.

Sigma Lens Workshops are sweeping the nation, and attendees are having a blast. These two-part workshops combine lecture based learning with a hands-on photo shoot. Attendees learn from Sigma technical representatives, and get firsthand experience with Sigma lenses!

© Pamela Stukenborg

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Every time I take a photo on the Sigma Quattro system it blows my mind. I download the image to my computer, open it in Lightroom, full screen that bad boy and just zoom in with the largest child-like grin on my face. If you are a photographer, you will know that feeling I’m talking about. You kind of feel like you just leveled up – or discovered a whole new realm of possibilities. Sometimes it even feels like you are cheating – like is it really this easy?

© Adam Elmakias 2018 | Sigma sd Quattro H | Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art Lens | 1/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100

About ten years ago I upgraded from a point and shoot to a DSLR. I remember reviewing every photo at 100% on the computer just so I could bask in my newly discovered 12 megapixels of solid sharp imagery. Fast forward 10 years, I haven’t really done that in a while. Everything I shoot has been pretty similar in quality regardless of camera  – until recently.

There’s an unshakeable feeling that rises at certain times—that it’s been just a little bit too long since your last photo outing. It could be a week, or month—or horribly, even longer—but  once that feeling gains a foothold, there’s only one thing that you can do: check your calendar, block out some time and head out to a favorite photo spot to spend a few hours outside with eyes through the viewfinder.

It is birds—shorebirds in particular—that call to me. I grew up on a thumb of land between two tidal ponds that fed into the Manasquan River along the Jersey Shore. Gulls, ducks, pipers and all of the stilt-legged pointy-beaked things are lifelong friends. Any chance I can get to spend a few minutes to a couple of hours alone among these winged sea-loving birds is always time well spent for me.  Salt water course through my veins. When the call rises, I usually head for Sandy Hook, a spit of land jutting into the Raritan Bay, across from New York City, the northernmost point of the Jersey Shore, the nearest shore bird hotspot to my home base.

There’s nothing like a walk along the shoreline, is there? I love to hear the whistling calls of the American Oyster Catchers while they fly in tight groups. Sigma 150-600mm C lens paired with a 6D. 1/2500 F6.3 ISO 400 at 600mm.

Walking gingerly into the saltmarsh, feeling with each step for where the raft of cattail straws strewn along the intertidal zone goes from sandy to boggy to a surprise tidepool while the laughing gulls cackle, terns trill, oyster catchers give a shrill whistle while on wing, a hint of sedge and dune grass on the salted breeze, the muffled roar of distant ocean waves and the more delicate and precise lap of bayside wavelets, the cool air and goosebumps of a foggy patch giving way to a warm kiss as the midmorning sun finally claims victory over the morning fog, the declarations and protestations of Red Wing Black birds perched atop poison ivy branches, the squeaking wings of a mourning dove alighting, and the impenetrable silence of a snowy egret on the hunt fill my senses.

Just a few weeks ago Sigma made a huge announcement. They would be making lenses natively compatible with Sony FE-mount in the very near future. At first it will be the Art prime line and later all the zoom Art and Sport lenses will be available too. This raised a lot of eyebrows, mine included.

It’s no secret that mirrorless cameras are growing in popularity and performance! Companies like Sony, Olympus and Panasonic have been putting out highly refined mirrorless cameras for some time now and Sigma has been offering prime DN lenses for either the APS-C or micro-four thirds image circle for several years now. But the introduction of the full-frame Sony E-mount system has been a major game-changer.

© Liam Doran 2018 | Arch and granary. Sigma 24-70 f2.8 A lens and MC-11 converter. Three shot HDR merged in LR 6.

If you like the wild west and country music then you have to visit The Stockyards in Fort Worth, TX. There are beautiful photography opportunities around every corner, and the smell of smoked meat fills the air. I took three Sigma lenses to accompany me on this trip: the brand new 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM | Art, 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art, and 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary lenses.

14-24mm | 24mm | 1/40 sec & 1/500 sec (Multiple exposures combined in Photoshop), f/11, ISO 1000 | © Danielle Rischawy 2018
Getting up early to capture this sunrise with the 14-24mm Art lens was totally worth it. The light spilling through the clouds is breathtaking.

The Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art is the first 1:1 magnification prime lens in the Art line. And it is the successor to the world-renowned 70mm F2.8 EX DG Macro lens. Just hearing the combination of this focal length, “macro” and “Art” all put together should get close-up photographers excited, and rightfully so! Cutting right to the point, this lens has huge expectations as both the first Art lens to be introduced in the Macro category, and as the follow-up to one of the sharpest macros ever produced—and it totally delivers!

The Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art lens is amazingly sharp, even wide open. Nine rounded aperture blades give amazing bokeh. The detail and sharpness of this lens is outstanding! This ring is captured at 1:1 magnification, 1/180 @F2.8 ISO 100 with off-camera strobe. The depth of field is razor-thin, allowing for creative focal plane detail shots.

Stopping down to F11 gives a bit more depth of field at maximum magnification.

Backing up a bit, and stopping down to F/11, there’s a bit more depth of field.

In the hands, the lens is compact. The barrel extends to achieve greater magnification; but even fully racked to true life-sized 1:1 magnification, the barrel stays protected inside the lens hood. There’s a new optical design with 13 elements in 10 groups, a new motor that’s much more quiet than the previous version. While not totally silent, it is unobtrusive in all but the most sterile sound environments.

A brussel sprout and water spray droplets at 1:1 magnification with hard directional strobe via off-shoe cord. 1/20 F14 ISO 100.