My name is Heather Larkin, and I am a professional photographer in Athens, Georgia. I do portraits for a living, but I also need my “zen time” with macro photography when I’m not chasing toddlers. I have a total love affair with jumping spiders and dewdrops… but what happens in the winter when the bugs are all gone and it’s too cold outside for most flowers? Macro options abound and I’d argue that winter is one of the best times to pick up a macro lens because of how much variety you can get from what’s around you!
Even when it’s cold and bleak outside, there’s always an opportunity to shoot macro.
For macro beginners and enthusiasts alike, I highly recommend the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art lens, made for mirrorless cameras (Sony E-mount and L-Mount systems). It tends to be the most forgiving because it has the most working distance, meaning you don’t have to be right on top of whatever your subject is.
SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art lens mounted on SIGMA fp L with 1.4x Teleconverter attached.
SIGMA also still makes a great 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM MACRO lens for DSLR cameras, which can be converted to mirrorless bodies with mount adapters. I also own the 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art, which is available for various camera systems. I started out on a SIGMA 50mm macro lens that’s now discontinued, so I like the 70mm sometimes for things that aren’t scared away by my lens because it’s closer to what I fell in love with originally.
Soooooo… what CAN you macro in the winter?
Go outside anyway!
In Georgia, it gets cold-ish – down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit overnight in the deep winter – but we rarely get snow, so I call this “dead stick season”. So while I can’t photograph freezing bubbles or snowflakes, there definitely are really neat things to point a macro lens at.
Frost is obviously a great choice, especially in places where the air is humid (like Georgia) and there is plenty of moisture to freeze overnight. It usually forms very nice frost crystals on the edges of leaves and other objects, which makes for wonderful macro subjects.
Another icy condition we get is something called “frost flowers“. They form when water is sucked up the stem of a particular plant and then freezes when it reaches the outside air. It keeps doing that for however many hours it’s frozen overnight, so in the morning you get these hairy-looking ice formations all over the ground!
Plenty of flowers bloom in the winter or very early spring as well. Camellias, hellebores, daphnes… plus loads of winter fungi. I’ve yet to find a frosty mushroom, but it’s on my list to hunt down this coming winter. Plus there are curly leaves still hanging around on a lot of trees, perfect for the close-up treatment. The winter textures of evergreens or lichens are also lovely.
Quick bit of gear talk… the focus limiter switch on the side of the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art is a big advantage. Being able to tell the lens itself how close it should focus is pretty critical when it’s below freezing outside and you are shivering trying to focus on something blowing in the wind.
Both SIGMA 105mm & 70mm F2.8 MACRO Art lenses have focus limiter switches, which are extremely useful in macro photography.
And don’t forget a lot of parks and gardens have winter light displays! See how I used my macro lens last year in this article:
What is winter time without the holidays? No matter what occasion you celebrate, we can all agree that the holidays are meant to be a time of light and laughter in the middle of deepest, darkest winter.
All the light and glitter lend itself perfectly to macro photography! For me, cooking on Thanksgiving day is perfect for food prep macro like sliced peppers and mushrooms. Christmas is lovely for lights and ornaments and cookie close-ups, and New Year’s Day is ideal for taking photos of sparklers and bubbly champagne!
105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | ArtFood prep can be the perfect time to take photos. Virtually any food can take on a completely different look when viewed through a macro lens.105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | ArtFrom exquisite ornaments to delicious confections, there’s no shortage of unique things to explore during the holiday season.105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | ArtThe new year brings celebratory sparklers and bubbly, both of which are fun to photograph before they are gone!
Capturing these small details reveals another reason I love macro lenses. Because you can focus so closely, they deliver a razor thin area of sharp focus, especially when shooting wide open. This definitely comes into play when photographing the bubbles in a champagne glass, for example. As always, I was definitely myself and poured some all over table and out of the glass. Thank goodness the 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art is dust and splash resistant!
Oh, Heather… *shakes head*
I’m also quite glad for the sparkler pictures that this lens has internal focusing and the front element does not extend closer to the subject. I was worried about burning the lens and SIGMA would scold me for that repair. Heather, you did… what?!? Luckily, I can still get close with this lens and not melt it.
With some subjects, like skittish insects or white-hot sparklers, it’s wise to utilize the longer working distance of a lens like the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art.
Tabletop indoor macro
Since you’re using a dedicated macro lens, why not set up a dedicated macro area and do some tabletop work with tiny subjects? Coins, jewelry, food, crystals… you can photograph anything you want without needing to put on a coat!
I especially love picking up some grocery store flowers or decorative feathers and using a needle to place water droplets exactly where I want them, or simply spray them with some water for faux dewdrops.
In fact, bringing all kinds of “outside things” indoors allows for dramatic lighting that wouldn’t usually be possible in their natural state. Fungi, fruit, feathers, flowers… the possibilities are virtually endless.
Even in controlled lighting conditions, many macro photographers use a tripod to keep their camera completely steady. But since the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art weighs just 1.6 pounds, it’s easy to handhold when doing tabletop photography, making it possible to get a variety and angles without needing to constantly reposition a tripod.
If you still need to feel like you’re outside in the summer, why not go to your local botanical garden and visit the hothouse area? Lots of farms have winter greenhouses with things growing as well. Tropical flowers are abundant there and can add a pop of color to your life when everything outside is too chilly to grow.
70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art
And don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be all about flowers. Leaves and succulents can also be great textures for plant portraits. Also, since they have to water daily, you’ll usually find some nice droplets to photograph. There may even be some critters or frogs hanging around!
70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | ArtOnce in a while, you find more than you bargained for!
Making the most of winter with a macro lens
Let’s face it… the darker, colder winter days can make it hard to stay motivated, no matter what type of photography you enjoy. But when you’re facing a creative rut, or you just want to practice lighting and composition when subjects are scarce, macro photography is a great way to stay active and discover that “zen” feeling I mentioned at the top of this article.
Even when the weather is chilly, go outside anyway and photograph the frost, document your favorite tiny things about the holidays, set up some lights on a table and get some feathers out, or go visit the warm air and orchids in your local greenhouse. Or find something else that really interests you and find a completely new perspective! Macro photography truly can change your entire outlook on virtually any subject.
If you’re someone who enjoys browsing through cookbooks, food magazines, or restaurant menus, you surely have noticed the importance of food photography in capturing your attention. But what is it that sets a magazine spread apart from say, food photography on packaging? Editorial food photography is a type of food photography that emphasizes the storytelling aspect of food. It’s a way to bring the viewer in and sell them on more than just the food, but a feeling and the whole culinary experience so you can feel like you were there or excite you to recreate the experience for yourself.
But your images don’t have to end up in a magazine to take a page out of the editorial food photography book. (Let’s be honest, we all secretly want to be on the cover of our favorite food mag, right?) Editorial food photography is less about where the images are published and more about the stories they tell and the connections they create. By leaning into the story, editorial food photography appeals to our imagination and invites us to linger a little longer before turning the page.
I believe that everyone, from hobbyist to professional, can add an editorial flare to their food photography. With the principles of editorial food photography, and at least two types of camera lenses, you can capture everything from the bread and butter to the intangible dishes brought to the table: kindness, generosity, happiness, and love. So in collaboration with SIGMA, we conducted a virtual workshop full of food photography tips to show you how!
Want to watch the full virtual workshop? Check it out here.
Your favorite macro lens (some great options below)
Dapple Pro
Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera with Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R
Manfrotto Aluminum 4-Section Tripod
Tether Tools Tether Cord
Flashpoint XPLR 600 Pro Strobes
EZ Glow 48″ Softbox
C-Stands
V-Flat World Foldable V-Flat
Capturing the Hero Image with a 40mm Prime Lens
We wanted to go all-out, telling the story of a holiday meal with a showstopping first course: a bountiful winter salad. Our graphic designer created templates for a four-page magazine spread, complete with the recipe, flavor text, and headings. This way, we were able to compose our image with the magazine layout in mind. In fact, we imported the template as an overlay in Lightroom so we could see exactly how it would look in the finished product.
When I want to focus on storytelling while photographing food (which is a lot) I make sure to use multiple types of camera lenses. I tend to favor prime lenses over zoom lenses, but both have their strengths. Using more than one prime lens helps me capture the highest quality, widest variety of images from a single shoot.
I can get a wide angle of the whole set to establish an environment and then switch to macro food photography for the smaller, more delicate features of the dish. This results in an abundance of content and a fuller picture of the scene.
To start, we set up our hero shot. In our layout, this image would likely end up as the cover and/or the first page of our magazine spread. To capture the whole atmosphere of our holiday feast we mounted our camera overhead with the SIGMA 40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens attached.
The full setup including a SIGMA 40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens mounted above the table.
The 40mm is a moderate wide-angle lens which gives you a wider field of view and helps capture the environment or setting in which the food is being served without the camera having to be super far away. The silverware, jar of vinaigrette, and red pear and cranberry fizz all add to the festive place setting, allowing the viewer to imagine the rest of the holiday table.
With the help of our overlay, strategic areas of the composition are left open to accommodate text. It’s a win-win in editorial food photography, because the text will be clean and legible, and we won’t lose any of our composition or vibrancy to a scrim or other graphic design to be able to read the article.
SIGMA 40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art on Canon EOS R5
We also styled a spray of fresh ingredients to help fill out the frame, continue the color themes, and increase appetite appeal. Obviously, If this were my real holiday table, I wouldn’t have the fruit spread out like this. But part of the joy of editorial photography is its freedom from realism. Were this my real holiday table, I may have arranged a centerpiece of red pears, pomegranates, blood oranges, and cranberries. To tell the story I was reaching for in this one frame, we chose to add those elements in while leaning into beauty and away from realism.
Our other big storytelling device is the light. I decided to set our scene in a dining room with a lot of windows, on a bright, clear, snowy winter day. To achieve that, I made a couple of choices:
I wanted a clear mix of hard and soft light so I am using two strobes.
The key light is diffused with a large softbox, creating a soft, even light.
The second light is a bare-bulb strobe to achieve the hard, almost glaring winter sunlight.
Our second strobe is shooting through the Dapple Pro Cucoloris to create long, impactful shadows across the set.
As a result, the image has a blend of soft ambient light with beams of glaring hard light, imitating the reflection of the snow through the trees and windows. The hard light creates highlights that really bring out the fresh, juicy quality of the blood oranges, the shiny richness of the cranberries and pomegranate seeds, and lends visual interest to the glassware.
A Quick Lens Switch for Photographing Food and People (Me!)
Between the overhead hero shot and the handheld macro detail shots (coming up next!) I wanted to make sure we had a human element for our editorial spread. Using people when photographing food can help to personalize your shoot, making it more realistic. If you’re incorporating editorial food photography into your own holiday meals, you will have plenty of available models in your family and friends!
A zoom lens, especially the SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art zoom lens that I used here, is a great option for the lifestyle elements of your editorial photo shoot. It is versatile, which is important when you’re working around an active holiday table, and not in a controlled studio space. The agility will come in handy to catch little hands reaching for Christmas cookies in the same breath as capturing Grandma passing the traditional mashed potatoes.
For the demo, the lifestyle element I chose to capture was a process shot of me washing the greens we used for the salad. Since this was a controlled environment, and I was wearing two hats as photographer and model, we set up the camera on a tripod. In our space, we had the zoom set to 70mm to get nice and close to the action without interfering with the light and our set.
With the help of my assistants, I was able to set the focus on my hands held above the bowl. Then, switching to manual focus, we were able to ensure our focus was right where it needed to be, even as I moved in the frame, trying to catch the falling water droplets.
SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art on Canon EOS R5
If you don’t have a willing model or the ability to rig up a lifestyle shoot with you as the subject, there are other ways to add the human element that enhances the storytelling without an actual human.
Crumbs, or other small elements like extra sprinkles or seasonings.
Taking a scoop out of your casserole or a slice out of your cake and styling a serving on a separate plate.
Movement in the photo, whether that’s a drizzle of dressing, pouring a glass of wine, or steam rising from the dish.
Silverware “in use” like a butter knife with butter on it or a fork on a plate.
Depending on your circumstances you may have more actual people in your images, or subtle hints of the people involved, but either way your whole story is going to be easier to connect with.
Once we were satisfied with the hero shot, it was time to switch it up, and capture the tiny details that the hero shot may not fully emphasize with macro food photography. In editorial terms, these would be supporting images to complete the layout. It’s a chance to direct attention to other parts of the story. In this workshop, that included:
The red pear fizzy drink to highlight another recipe
Close ups of the salad itself to catch smaller details that the wide shot misses
A macro shot of the dressing with some pouring to showcase movement
Beauty shots of our fresh ingredients
If you’re a professional photographer, these images make great potential upsells to clients and more shots for your portfolio. For the hobbyist, this is the chance to capture personal details that help flesh out the story. Maybe at your holiday meal you always get out grandma’s dishware, or the napkins were a handmade gift from a favorite aunt. All of these extra touches while photographing the food will help you remember not only the meal, but also the love, connections, and stories that accompany the experience.
I didn’t have my SIGMA macro lens with me for the workshop, but this gives you an idea of what a macro lens can do to boost your image set.
For these additional images, I like to use a macro lens, and I usually hand hold my camera. Macro lenses are favorites of mine. I use one at almost every shoot to get in close and capture the pretty details for sharp, crystal clear macro food photography. I love using a shallow depth of field in these shots for maximum effect, and a SIGMA 105mm macro lens, for example, creates a creamy, soft background.
Looking for a macro lens? SIGMA’s got you covered:
Since we already perfected our composition and lighting for the hero shot, I usually don’t have to make too many changes during this stage to capture beautiful images. I like to walk around my set, finding new, exciting perspectives, and shoot as I go. I snap whatever strikes me as beautiful and then review the images in Lightroom every so often to ensure my focus and settings are where I need them to be.
Switching between types of camera lenses was essential for this part of the process. I simply would not have been able to capture the same stunning details with the 40mm lens we used for the hero shot. It’s the range of images we were able to take that captured the totality of the experience, from the big picture to the tiniest most special components of our bountiful winter salad.
A Photojournalistic Editorial Visual Feast
To wrap up the demo, I took screenshots of my favorites and sent them to Mercadees, our graphic designer, to drop them into the layout of the recipe and food photography tips we had already created. It was so nice to see everything put together. It was quite the visual feast!
An example of how you can put together various elements into a simple, but visually engaging two-page spread.
I hope you enjoyed this brief demo in editorial food photography and are inspired to try out some of the techniques in your own work! You’re going to love what it does for your images. Let us know in the comments if you have other story-enhancing food photography tips.
Jena ready to photograph another delightful spread with her SIGMA 40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens.
Keep in Touch and Learn More About Food Photography!
Interested in more high-level food photography education? Check out my signature mentorship program, Portfolio To Profit for photographers who want to book more commercial food photography, or my intro course Inspiration to Portfolio if you want to highly improve your skills as a food photographer.
Looking for an experienced visual storyteller to connect with your audience on your next food photography campaign? Find more of my work and book a call with me at jenacarlincreative.com.
I am excited to hear from you! In the meantime, don’t wait for a special occasion, create one!
My name is Meggan Joy, and I live and work in Seattle as a professional artist, primarily making digital collages with every piece of flora, fungi, and fauna I can get in front of my camera.
The medium of digital collage is relatively new as far as the history of art is concerned. It mixes the analog photography and collage techniques we know and love with its digital successors’ approach and unrestricted means. Same idea, just digital. For me, that means I get to spend all day knee-deep in macro photography, focusing (literally) on the tiny details we can often overlook, intending to bring all those small photographs together to make something big.
Meggan Joy – self proclaimed “weirdo flower artist” – combines thousands of meticulously photographed natural elements to create one-of-a-kind collages.
How a digital collage begins
An idea can sometimes start three or four years before completion; a quick sketch of the pose, a few words describing the context for a title or a hint of a concept that I believe lines up with the medium.
Usually, this is how it all starts. A quick sketch gets the ideas flowing, and then it’s off to the garden!
That’s all it takes to get me excited; from there, I dive into my research to see what I can find. Is there a famous historical portrait people associate with this theme? Is there an old wives’ tale about a particular herb that could be tucked into the piece? Is there a seed-dispersal mechanism that is thematic to add?
Ultimately, my art practice is rooted in cultivation, beginning with the new growing season. Each year, I select plants with particular characteristics, from the fruit they produce to the shape of their flowers to their qualities to attract certain insects and birds, etc. All this is done with my artwork in mind as I tend to my garden. (I’m lucky enough to steward a community garden plot here in Seattle.) For any subjects I can’t cultivate in my garden, I either take a hike with my portable studio on my back or purchase from my local co-op flower market. Then, I mash my daydreams and realistic goals together, and photograph all these beautiful tiny things in glorious detail.
Both my garden and my community help to provide what I need to make my ideas come to life.
The photographic process with the SIGMA 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art
I try to photograph every aspect of the life cycle using my specialized studio setup. This primarily consists of a LED desk lamp, a spray bottle, repurposed florists and baking tools, and of course, my ride-or-die SIGMA 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art lens. Think of each image as a single brushstroke in a painting, but beyond just giving color and form, it provides context as well, and all of that has to be meticulously planned before I can start on a piece.
To make these large-scale collages, I first think small. My purpose in the studio is to get as much data as possible so that when I head into Photoshop, I can think unrestrictedly big. When photographing the considerable amount of material I need to do my work, I want all the details caught, and these images must be consistent.
Any time I’m in the studio, the SIGMA 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art is by my side.
I need my shadows compatible with each other, the focal length to be roughly the same, and I need the image quality to be perfect, meaning a tiny alpine strawberry in the center of my frame needs to look crisp, but also the hairy leaves branching off to the side of my frame as well. And I want that color to be exactly as it is, as I may use strawberries photographed over many seasons in a single piece.
Whether I’m photographing fruit or flowers, consistency is the key, and my SIGMA 70mm Macro lens is an important part of the process.
Using this same setup repeatedly means that each image I take will blend seamlessly with the next. After years of doing this, I know the kind of focus falloff I’m looking for, so I don’t mind changing my settings as I handhold (a lightweight lens like the 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art is crucial for this), so I can physically move back and forward for unique shapes outside of the norm – that said, I generally land on 1/100s, F10, ISO 600.
I’m always trying to get 90%-95% in focus, getting as close to that near and far focus limit as I can and allowing no more than about 10% fall off, as a bit of DOF helps create the illusion of cohesive depth in the collage. Sometimes, I even orchestrate some calculated movement blur that adds to the chaos I want my figures to have, as a living garden or a living person is never truly still.
If something is larger, I’ll lower my f-stop and move back; if something is waxy and more reflective, I’ll dim my desk lamp or tape some glassine around it and bump up my settings a touch; if it’s an insect that can move fast – I change just about everything including my shutter speed and say a prayer for the patience I will surely need. (I once photographed butterflies for a piece for the Pacific Science Center and have sworn off living butterflies ever since.)
Once photographed, I catalog these images using my personal methodology. Each specimen’s color, texture, shape, and qualities are noted and searchable within the metadata, along with any historical meaning, folklore, or scientific references that I want to include in my final collages.
Carefully cataloging each separate, unique piece of a collage makes it possible to find exactly the right flower or critter, exactly when I need it.
Incorporating these elements, however inconspicuous they may seem on the surface, is important to infuse each final piece with a deeper meaning. For example, I’m currently working on a piece for my next solo show, Fever Dream at J. Rinehart Gallery in 2024. This piece requires nourishing commodities representing the final harvest’s abundance and weight.
So I headed to my florist co-op and picked up some gourds, keeping my color pallet of pastel pinks, burgundy, and greens in mind and looking for unique shapes and various sizes. While photographing my haul in my simple but mighty desktop studio, I invited a few snail friends to munch on the squashes to further illustrate the narratives of overabundance.
Plump gourds and snails gorging on them illustrate the concept of abundance, which will be a main theme of the final piece.
My favorite macro photography techniques
While the photography process might sound simple, creating images that can be used to build intricate collages requires some special techniques that I have developed over time.
Creating dew drops for highlights
For example, I frequently mist each specimen so the “dew drops” create a scattering of glittering highlights across each subject. My SIGMA 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art lens captures the details of that specular highlight beautifully, adding texture and detail to the final pieces. However, it is also helpful in post-production. The angle of light can be referenced to align the light source of the many other items I photographed while I’m zoomed 600-800% while post-processing. (Zooming in and out too much slows the process considerably.) So even though they have been photographed at different times (sometimes years apart), they still will look fresh and alive next to each other, with the analogous light source harmonizing them.
Dew drops add a lovely sense of depth, freshness, and they provide a handy reference when matching light sources.
Rotate subjects to get the most out of your materials
I have to get as many images from one piece of material as possible because otherwise, it’s just too costly of a process, both time and financially. However, I also need the images to look unique, or the illusion disappears. That is where my handy little Lazy Susan comes in, wrapped in gaffer tape and a number on each corner. When I pop that flower on my tabletop, I rotate and photograph it four times to get every last bit of use. With this technique and a bunch of 24 off-season garden roses (which is costly), I would end up with at least 96 unique images.
Same flowers, two entirely different images that can be used in different parts of a collage.
Examine the beauty in damaged, wilted, and dried plant life
For a long time, I only photographed the vibrant, unbruised florals that could be just as likely in a wedding bouquet as my art; and I was becoming bored. I would browse my catalog and feel like it was missing something that I could feel was in my garden but not the final pieces.
One day it clicked; everything I had was too perfect; you couldn’t see how beautiful it was without seeing the in-between stages or the scaffolding holding the flower. Old botany illustrations are attractive not because they aren’t flawless but because the whole is examined.
So after I finish photographing whatever is in my studio that day, I start slicing into it, tearing at it, even offering a bite to my dogs – looking for a view of the internal structures that could add storytelling to a piece. I also put some of the blooms aside, waiting another 3-5 days until they start looking past their prime or go to seed.
Often, showing life in states of decay can bring a whole different meaning to the art being created.
After all, a branch of fresh pomegranates is beautiful and elegant, but a sliced open pomegranate, with seeds tumbling is of an entirely different significance. More so, an aged pomegranate so past its prime that its dehydrated frame is cracking; that’s the final moment of resilience before rest. Finding a balance between what feels right to the piece and what is also interesting to look at is becoming an art in and of itself, so I always try to step back from what I have and see how I can push it. I’m attempting to document the concepts and the physical beauty that make the finished artwork richer.
Why shoot with a macro lens?
When I was little, my family had to have a tree removed from the front yard. Which meant I had to stay in the back yard. I hated being told where I could and couldn’t go, especially if something cool like a tree falling is happening, and I was livid (some things never change!). In my temper tantrum, I face planted into the ground, and when I opened my eyes, I was face-to-face with a batch of blooming clover, buzzing with bees. If you have never looked at it up close, clover is a cluster of tiny little orchid-shaped florets; the more I looked, the more I saw. I spent the rest of the afternoon going through the grass and finding more things to examine. I don’t remember the tree finally coming down, but I won’t ever forget that clover.
Many decades later, I still like to get close. And a 70mm macro lens is close enough to the human eye to feel familiar but just a bit beyond that. It makes me feel like I did when I was a kid. With this lens, you’re taking in more than what you can see with your eye, but it doesn’t feel like a microscope where you lose all sense of self. The SIGMA 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art delivers the sweet spot I’m looking for, and it’s like visiting a memory of when I realized the world wasn’t just big; it was that I was big to parts of my world.
When shooting with the SIGMA 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art, I’m able to achieve levels of detail that enrich every inch of my collages, including this piece entitled Judith.
Putting it all together
This final phase involves layering each element together until my version of a “ghost” emerges. My immortal figures are made of these once-living things, held in time eternally – due to the mechanics of photography and a bit of Photoshop magic.
I have this broken down into a system I follow, a checklist I complete before moving on to the next stage. I won’t bore you with every step, but roughly, it starts with an outline of whatever shape I’m going for, usually with notes on where to emphasize shadow and which way the light should be coming from.
A basic outline, carefully organized layers, and a VERY large digital canvas is how the collage comes together in Photoshop.
That “map” layer gets turned on and off as I work. I fill it as a puzzle, keeping shapes and movement in mind. I add as I go, keeping my groups organized by location (i.e., left hand) or by material (i.e., daisies). Once I am happy with the final layering, I systematically check and edit the entire collage with the help of a grid overlay, square by square, zoomed in as much as 800%. That way, I know that no matter how close you, the viewer, get to the physical printed piece, you won’t find any peculiar digital fragments that can pop up when thousands of images are layered together.
I check every one of these grid squares — twice — and mark the items that need adjusting in red (right) before I finish each piece.
Once she’s done, printing is my last big job. And, of course, I’m picky about it. I have two printing options right now; smaller work gets printed on my favorite paper, Moab Juniper Baryta Rag 305 – or a similar Hahnemühle paper, but I like the tooth of the Moab a bit better; it’s just always sold out locally. These days, my work is typically printed by Sandy King of Photographic Center Northwest, who does an amazing job.
For larger works, I work with another local printing service named Bumblejax. They handle the huge prints and mount them to Dibond and Acrylic. They are a great team, and every piece they made for me exceeded my expectations.
Tedious as it all is, I love this. The longest days of my summer are spent pulling weeds in the morning, chatting with farmers and my fellow gardeners at lunch, harvesting blooms in the late afternoon, and photographing into the evening. Better yet, as my mind shifts from collecting to utilizing, I spend my winters curled up with a blanket, a dog, and Photoshop. It is the best of both worlds.
While hours camped in front of the computer might sound tiresome, this is when my art really comes to life!
But the best part can be summed up with one interaction I will never take for granted. A few years ago, a woman bought some of my art after what she described as “a rough few years.” She wanted to celebrate her new beginning by having one of my ghosts, Armistice, watch over her as she navigates this new chapter. She later told me she had another piece, An Attempt Was Made, as her phone background for the last year or so. An Attempt Was Made refers to saving yourself, even when difficult. Armistice depicts choosing even a tenuous peace over war. I couldn’t have planned two better pieces for her at that moment.
I love that my images reach the right people when they may need them. When someone emails you and says, “I’m doing better in my life and want to celebrate with your work,” they are saying more than they simply like it; they are saying that they truly understand it.
Final collages printed and displayed on a gallery wall.
Tips for the ambitious artist in you!
It took years to inform and create the process that serves as the foundation of the art I want to make. And through a lot of trial and error, I built this art practice that suits me so well that only I could do it.
I hope that you have found the balance between method and process for yourself. And if you haven’t yet, here is my unofficial guide – one being the easiest and five being the hardest.
Make whatever fills you with satisfaction.
Eliminate any tools that don’t serve you.
Work hard enough that you outgrow what does serve you.
Be unrelenting in finding a system to support #1, especially if it means #2 and #3 are daunting.
Repeat. (You’ll never get it perfect, just closer to it.)
Do that a few times, and you’ll hit what my gallerist Judith Rinehart and I call that the “ooey-gooey” – when an artist dives so deep into their practice that it becomes conjoined to the part of them that makes them, them. We’ve seen a lot of talented artists with great use of a medium, but they just haven’t hit that ooey-gooey center… yet.
You deserve a creative practice, a mix of methods and processes, a formula of art-making that is so distinctive to you that you get lost within it. So if my version interests you, please, borrow from it and apply it to yourself. I, for one, want to see what you make when you do (seriously, please show me!)
My name is Heather Larkin, and I am a professional photographer in Athens, Georgia. When I am not shooting Fairyography portrait sessions, I enjoy taking macro photos. They’re usually nature macro photos of things like jumping spiders and flowers, but I decided to make good use of a morning in New York City and go macro hunting on the streets instead of a garden.
The SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art would accompany me to New York City for a quick macro adventure!
For my gritty sojourn through Manhattan, I used the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art lens. I usually use the 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art, but I didn’t bring it with me on this trip. I admit, I struggle to decide on a favorite between the two.
The sights (and smells) of the city
I decided to take a leisurely stroll (is there such a thing in downtown?) and just took pictures of whatever caught my eye. When I ventured out of my hotel room, it was a somewhat cool morning, but the heat arrived faster than I’d like. It was dry, and there had been no rain or street cleaners. I quickly discovered that I didn’t want to be anywhere close to any bar that had been well-visited the night before. Yuck. There were a good number of people out, but I quickly got over my shy nature and just stopped anywhere I wanted for a picture as long as I wasn’t in the way of anyone trying to get somewhere fast.
As always, I used the heck out of the focus limiter switch. I don’t think I could shoot macro without it. Being able to tell the lens itself how far it should focus makes close-up photography much easier.
The focus limiter switch is an indispensable feature of modern macro lenses.
The area of the city I was in is just covered in iron fencing and cool architecture. There were also loads of construction sites, giving me plenty of opportunities for fun compositions. I love how I don’t have to get as close with this lens, but I can still see all the tiny details I want to see.
Fencing and architectural elements can be appealing thanks to their intricate patterns, and years of wear and tear.
One of the things I found myself doing a lot of is angling myself to get just a tiny sliver of the frame in focus, and letting the rest fall off into bokeh. From door pulls to glass, construction fencing to wires, I feel like it all looks pretty neat under the right lighting and angles.
Macro lenses – because you can focus so closely – can deliver razor thin areas of sharp focus.
I expected to find more broken down things like rusty metal and chipping paint, but the city is extremely well taken care of in that respect! That doesn’t mean it was clean, though. Literally everything was covered in a fine layer of dust or grit. I was in shorts due to the heat, but I had to brush the grit off of my knees after every shot. Thank goodness the 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art is dust and splash resistant!
Surprisingly, everyday grime and patina can make even the most mundane things look interesting.
There were a lot of repetitive elements and subjects on the street. I could walk five blocks and see the same fire hydrant on each one of them. The challenge turned from “find neat textures” into “find something unique”! Garbage ended up being quite the find, actually. Construction trash in a dumpster, a bright orange straw that had been trampled enough to unwrap it, a broken bike that had been left to rust, it was all unique enough to catch my eye.
Random junk? Not quite, when you have a macro lens in your hands.
Since I normally photograph flowers and I enjoy watching birds, I was naturally drawn to every fence or carving that looked like a plant or animal. I think I found every bird or dragon or flower in a five-block radius of my hotel. I really had no idea there were so many! I thought the buildings would just be plain and boring (they certainly are where I live) without any effort into making them pretty. To the contrary, I found so many beautiful things on my walk!
Flowery details of ironwork help connect the city to nature in a small way.
Experimenting in low light
I stopped into a library to cool off and get some lunch (they had a little café inside) and the stained glass windows and book spines made for quite interesting photos. Thank goodness this lens is light! At one point I literally flipped over upside down to catch a view of a particular book spine and had to take that picture one-handed. It could have been quite painful if I had a beast of a lens on the camera, but thankfully the 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art only weighs 1.6 pounds. I’m also happy that it does so well in low light. The library was lit with only a few LED lights and was quite dark, but this lens can handle it well without hunting too much for focus.
Old books quite often have intricate details that most people will never see for the little works of art they are.
I also went to the American Museum of Natural History. I started in the dinosaur rooms of course, but ended my trip looking at the gemstones. I took full advantage of the fact that the front element of the 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art does not extend when it’s focusing. With internal focusing, I was able to lightly rest the front of the lens on the display glass and get pictures of things inside. And since there’s no front element moving back and forth, the lens is also noticeably quiet. Good advantages for staying unobtrusive in the middle of the museum.
Crystalline formations beg to be photographed with a macro lens!
Making the most of any situation with macro
Seeing the detail and beauty in the everyday (or even the downright ugly) is an important part of slowing down, and I think it helps build a photographer’s eye. Try going to find something ugly yourself and make it interesting, or even pretty!
And what about the lens? The 105mm focal length means this macro lens not only takes great close-up photos, but it can also be used for portraits. Simply put, the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art worked perfectly for me inside, outside, upside down (how many 80’s kids get that reference?), and it would make a great addition to any photographer’s lens collection.
There’s literally a padlock or ten on every corner, but for some reason, they make such cool macro subjects.
Want more macro? Take a look at this video I made for SIGMA if you would like to learn more about macro photography, how I shoot and what I look for when exploring my surroundings.
It’s not often that a photographer looks at a long telephoto zoom lens normally used for wildlife as a potential macro lens, but that’s exactly what I did with the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports. In fact, this lens has amazing close focusing capability that makes it perfect for macro, as well as birding, wildlife, sports, and so much more.
Extreme close-ups with a 150-600mm telephoto zoom! This is something no other lens in its class can do.
First Impressions
When I got it out of the box, the first thing I noticed is the size. It’s big. Anyone who considers the 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports is going to know this already, but I am a little-lens shooter and this is probably the biggest lens I’ve ever used. However, it’s not as heavy as I expected it to be. No, it’s not a tiny, I series lens, but I thought it was going to be harder to heft and use than it really is. The weight actually makes it a bit more stable, which is an advantage when you’re shooting macro subjects. Since this one is designed for mirrorless camera bodies, SIGMA re-engineered and squeezed the same range (and improved sharpness) into a lighter lens. At just 4.6 pounds, it’s quite a difference from the 6.3 pounds of the original 150-600mm Sports lens for DSLRs.
While it’s a large lens for macro, the excellent Optical Stabilization system makes handholding pretty easy. A sturdy tripod is still a good idea for best results.
Like any other SIGMA lens, it is sturdy and well-constructed. I am an avid Art lens user, so I’m definitely used to sturdy lenses, but the Sports lenses take it to a whole other level. I tend to beat up my lenses a little bit and I am sure that this lens could survive me! If you’ve read my other reviews for SIGMA, you might remember that I am a little bit of a klutz. I think I’ve dropped every lens that I own (and some loaners that I don’t own) in the grass at some point. When I’m changing lenses at my sessions or out teaching, instead of putting my lens in a bag, I will just place it on the ground and pick it up later. I’m thrilled to report that for the first time ever, I didn’t throw this lens on the ground or sit on it. At one point I was carrying this lens through some very tall grass and it was a wet morning, so both the lens and I were completely soaked. But it didn’t bother the lens since it’s dust and splash resistant.
Some morning dew — or even summer showers — are no problem for this Sports line lens.
The controls on this lens are familiar except for one. This lens features a new Zoom Torque Switch (Lock, Tight and Smooth). The “Tight” setting keeps the lens from zooming in or out unless you push it yourself. This was ESPECIALLY handy when wearing it on my Spider Holster, as the “T” setting kept it from unwinding to 600mm while hanging vertically from my hip.
The “T” setting of the Zoom Torque Switch keeps the lens from creeping, but still allows me to adjust the focal length if needed. Setting it to “S” makes the action fluid again.
This brings me to the next thing I noticed, which is the focus limiter switch. I think this is completely crucial to macro photography. Being able to tell the lens itself how far it should focus is what makes close-up photography possible. So while this isn’t necessarily a macro lens, it can behave like one in a lot of ways. The switch can limit the lens to work only within 10 meters of the lens, so while that’s still 30 feet away, it helps keep the lens from trying to focus on things far away.
The focus limiter does exactly what it says, which really helps when you only want to focus on things at close range (less than 10m)
This lens is also fast and smooth when focusing. It’s quick to focus and will catch things like bugs or lizards without taking so long to focus that they’re gone, plus it’s virtually silent so it doesn’t scare them away.
The minimum focusing distance changes with the focal length you’re using, and at 180mm, it’s about 23 inches. Since the lens is a little over 10 inches long, that’s about a foot from the front of the lens. Zooming in to 600mm makes that minimum focal distance a lot further away from you. Since this lens focuses so close, I was excited to try it out for “macro” photos. Now, strictly speaking, a macro lens is one that can reproduce the image on the sensor at 1:1 ratio, or life-size. I normally shoot macro with the 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art or 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art. This isn’t a true macro lens because it doesn’t go 1:1, but it’s pretty close at 1:2.9 at 180mm!
Telephoto zooms just don’t focus this close to the subject… but the SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports does!
I tend to pixel peep a bit more than I should, especially on my macro images. This lens surprised me with how sharp it is. Not that I wasn’t expecting a sharp lens, but that I compare everything to my macro Art lenses. The 150-600mm is brilliantly sharp as long as your shutter speed (or handholding skills) are sufficient to freeze motion.
The bokeh is also really important to me. The out-of-focus areas in a picture can add to the story and help separate the subject from the background, so how it looks is something I pay attention to. I am picky and I don’t care for “crunchy” bokeh, where I can see edges to things in the background, so I was quite pleased to see that the bokeh for the 150-600mm is nice and smooth.
Let’s put it to the test!
I decided to take the 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports out for a test drive in my front yard, a friend’s garden, the local botanical gardens, as well as to the farm where my husband works. Lots of fun places to see new things!
One thing I love with my usual macro lenses (the 70mm and the 105mm) is trying to photograph the dew at the end of grass blades. It’s always a challenge because it requires you to be patient and hold very still, so it’s always a great way to begin any nature photo walk. It’s humid in Georgia, and the local gardens have sprinklers running in the mornings as well, so the opportunity isn’t hard to come by. So I set the lens to 150mm, switched on the focus limiter so it would only go for what was close, and did my best. I was actually surprised at how well this lens handled this job. It’s important to remember that it’s not a macro lens, so I had to look at grass blades two feet away from me instead of a few inches, but WOW did 150mm ever deliver! The separation from the background is something I always look for and getting that with my 70mm macro lens is sometimes difficult.
Something as simple as wet grass can become a frame-worthy photo.
Since it did well on grass blades, I knew the next test to give it was flower “portraits”. This means getting a picture of the whole flower instead of just a bug or a petal or tiny dewdrops. I usually use my 85mm F1.4 DG DN | Art or my 105mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art for pictures where I want a full flower, separated from the background, but the 150-600mm lens did it beautifully!
Flowers present so many possibilities to play with color, composition, lighting and more.
I always find tulips hard to make interesting. They’re so plain, and getting them separated from whatever is going on in the background is pretty crucial to allowing you to appreciate the beauty of the flower itself without incorporating the rest of the scene. But at 600mm, I was able to remove all the distractions of the background and achieve stunning results.
Backgrounds can be distracting, but with a long focal length, simple flowers like tulips can really pop.
Another thing I’ve had a hard time capturing in the past is a nice shot of rose leaves with dewdrops on them. I can get close and get part of it, but the depth of field required makes it tough to show the magic of an entire set of leaves with water droplet jewels shining in the sun. Another shot nailed with this lens. I like this a lot because it means I can carry just one lens to effectively do two jobs: macro, plus flower portraits.
Often, my favorite part of a rose to photograph isn’t the flower!Flower portraits not only look pretty, but techniques practiced here can also help your human portraiture.
Next, I wanted to test backlighting, so I turned to the trees… dogwood trees in bloom. They were covered in dew as well. I handheld the lens above my head (the good light was even higher than my 6-foot self) and used my flippy screen on the back of my camera to compose. There was no banding or flare, which is pretty impressive! It also turns out that the tripod foot is a nice place to put your hand when taking pictures over your head.
Dogwood flowers are gorgeous, but rarely appreciated since they are often out of reach.
For the morning in my friend’s garden, I enjoyed looking around for pictures I would normally have trouble with using a regular macro lens. I deliberately looked for flowers with a lot of front-to-back depth to them like azaleas and poppies.
There is so much detail and so many beautiful shapes to capture in virtually any flower.
With a typical macro lens, I usually focus on one part of the plant, but the 150-600mm was able to give me more depth of field, so I was able to capture single images that had whole flowers, front to back, in focus! I also spotted an anole lizard in the leaves of a canna lily, and because of the longer focal length, I was able to get a picture from far enough away that I didn’t scare it.
Keeping your distance and staying quiet are both important when tracking down small critters. The 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports makes it all possible!
For my morning at the farm, I was looking for subjects I don’t normally find, and I was super excited to find five frogs there. Even one per year is pretty good for me, so to see five was the best day ever! Four of them were green tree frogs like I expected to find, but the last one was actually one I’ve heard but never seen – a spring peeper! I was able to get an overhead photo of this guy by getting the lens right up to the iris leaves where he was sheltered. I wouldn’t have been able to get this shot with a shorter lens because I would have moved the leaves and scared him away. I did try to pick him up to put him somewhere better for photos, but he jumped away before I could get to him. Though I was excited for that find, I think my favorite frog photo (say that five times fast) of the day was one of a very well-fed green tree frog hanging on some leaves close to a yellow iris flower.
The aforementioned favorite farm frog photo!Further amphibious fun from the farm.
I repeated the same trick of putting my camera over my head to get carpenter bee butts in a rhododendron on the farm.
It’s all about the bee butts.
I was also able to easily focus on a pollen-covered spiderweb on a fence. The focus limiter switch helped again here, telling the lens to focus on only what was close. Despite its huge focal range, the lens had zero trouble getting that web in focus quickly and it didn’t have to hunt all over for it.
This rather well-worn spiderweb came into crisp focus quickly and easily.
I also loved the results for the farm’s chicken-coop-eating rose bush (her name is Bertha). They’re soft on the back petals, but I was able to achieve greater depth of field with this lens, making the center of the flowers pop with crisp details.
Sharpness where I want it, beautiful background separation everywhere else.
Will you shoot macro with this lens?
While the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports isn’t a true macro lens, it can certainly be used as one! Not only does it get amazing close-up photos, but it’s ability to zoom out and get flower portraits makes this a hardworking multi-job lens. It’s quick and sharp and not as heavy as I expected. It was easy for a seldom-zoom girl like me to use, and I love the images I was able to capture with this. Maybe you’re looking for a longer macro or perhaps you already own this lens for wildlife and didn’t know it could go close too!
Whether you photograph wildlife, sports, landscapes… this lens does incredible double-duty as a macro lens, perfect for close-ups of small animals, flowers, and other beautiful, tiny things.
Recently, I challenged myself with only using one lens — the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports — on all my shoots. The goal of this project was not only to give myself a fun challenge, but also to demonstrate the incredible versatility of this lens, and as you’ll see, it did not disappoint!
My work encompasses many different areas, many different environments, and ever-changing light conditions. The 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports did remarkably well in ALL areas and did not let me down.
From the snowy woods to the comfort of my living room, the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports is a lens for all locations!
This amazing lens has easily become a new favorite. The lens is so versatile that I can capture all areas of photography. From macro to landscapes, portraits and wildlife, the 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports can be a go-to lens on all shoots! I have been truly astounded by its capabilities in capturing my mind’s eye.
All images shot with the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports lens on a Sony A7R IV camera body.
Backyard Birding & Wildlife
Long-range capability is a MUST for bird and other wildlife photography. Due to the nature of wild animals, it is difficult to sneak up on them, so a long range is very important. You never want to spook a wild animal or cause it unnecessary stress, especially while they are foraging or eating. The range of the SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports allows you to bring the wildlife to you, without disrupting their activity.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 600mm, 1/2500s, F6.3, ISO 2000SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 600mm, 1/5000s, F6.3, ISO 1250A White-breasted nuthatch stares up at a nearby tree, and a Black-capped chickadee sits on a pine branch. The compression and bokeh of this lens give my bird images a magical look.
The autofocus performance is stellar. I was excited not only by how quick it locks onto my subject, but also the tracking of a moving subject within the frame. This feature is my absolute favorite, when photographing small, swiftly moving wildlife. The AF does superbly on small birds who are constantly moving and rarely stand still. The AF locks onto them and tracks their movements within the frame to easily shoot off a series of frames that are sharp.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 407mm, 1/8000s, F6.3, ISO 2000SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 600mm, 1/1600s, F6.3, ISO 2000A red squirrel spots me in the distance as it tries to make its way to my bird feeders… but my presence didn’t stop this little seed thief from finding his prize!
Many of the animals I photograph are small, which means they are usually fast moving. Because of this, a tripod is not always feasible and handholding is more practical. The weight of this lens is very manageable, compared to other lenses in the range. Hiking around with it or holding a position for a long time (while watching birds through the lens) is incredibly easy, no arm fatigue issues at all!
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 600mm, 1/5000s, F6.3, ISO 800SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 600mm, 1/5000s, F6.3, ISO 800These images of a Dark-eyed Junco and male Hairy Woodpecker were made possible by both the reach of this lens and its excellent stabilization at long range.
With its wonderful Optical Stabilizer system, I know that slight camera shake will not be an issue! Overall, the AF locking, tracking and OS is the best I have ever used. To say I am very pleased with the AF/OS capabilities of this lens would be an understatement. It is a game changer in my wildlife photography.
Landscape & Nature
Landscape photography, you got it! The SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports has no issue beautifully framing and capturing some of the gorgeous locations I visit. This saves me time, where I would have to change my lens to get a landscape shot. Not with this lens! The compression it gives a landscape image is by far one of the best when compared to other telephotos within its range. Quick and easy focusing even on trees and horizons at quite a distance puts me at ease knowing the images will be sharp and beautiful.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 150mm, 1/3200s, F6.3, ISO 400The golden sunrise and icy snow falling made it look like gold glitter falling from the sky!
When photographing landscapes, a tripod is always a good idea. The attached tripod mount is fantastic! Not only does it assure you a stable lock, but the collar also rotates which makes different positions very easy to achieve, all while securely mounted on a tripod.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 150mm, 1/2500s, F5, ISO 400An Old Order Amish homestead. Different from other Amish in other parts of the country, the Old Order Amish are much stricter. I ALWAYS respect their faith and lifestyle and NEVER photograph the people of this Amish order. Photos of their people are prohibited.
The weather sealing of this lens makes me stress a lot less when I am out in the field. Snow, rain, fog… nothing is going to penetrate it and I can rest easy knowing that I will not hurt my lens in these weather conditions. That means the weather is no excuse not to get out and shoot! In fact, photographing in inclement weather does have its advantages, and you can often capture beautiful images you might otherwise miss due to worrying about your gear handling the conditions. With the SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports, I can be out in the field, rain or shine, cold or warm, and this lens can handle it all!
Getting out in the elements is more fun when you’re confident in your gear. The 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports is well-sealed and works perfectly despite the cold temperatures.
Macro & Still Life
Macro anyone? With a telephoto? YES! The 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports makes capturing macro photographs a breeze at around the 180mm range with a minimum focus distance of less than 23 inches! I wanted to push past the typical applications of a telephoto zoom lens, so what better way than to shoot macro images?
I set up a makeshift studio indoors (one cold wintery day) and photographed a feather. The details and image capabilities for macro left me speechless. Insanely sharp and beautiful macro shots were easily achieved, even in low-light conditions.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 221mm, 1/4s, F8, ISO 200SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 183mm, 1/4s, F8, ISO 200It’s amazing that I can use the same lens to photograph tiny birds from a hundred feet away, and then shoot detailed images of their feathers from less than two.
I decided to keep the momentum of my little indoor shoot going and gathered up some household items and shot a few “still life” images. Again, so excited to see what this lens allowed me to capture. I used only indirect overcast light from a window and a small light bar to light my subjects. The 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports had no issue locking onto my still subjects, even in the low light.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 150mm, 1/13s, F5, ISO 400SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 205mm, 1/10s, F5.6, ISO 200Household items gathered and put together to create pleasing, almost paint-like still lifes.
Often when I am out in the field, I come upon beautiful plant life, which just screams for a macro image. There is NO need to change your lens and chance missing a sudden wildlife opportunity! You can easily achieve your nature macro shot with this lens.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 177mm, 1/400s, F7.1, ISO 800SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 180mm, 1/500s, F5.6, ISO 800SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 174mm, 1/400s, F7.1, ISO 800Outdoor macro, handheld, early morning light. Absolutely beautiful detail, texture and sharpness.
Even Portraits!
Portrait sessions with this telephoto, yes! The beautiful compression (and beautiful bokeh) the SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports allows is magical. It gives my portraits that pop and sharpness I see in my mind’s eye. And can I just talk about the eye AF lock?! It finds the subject’s face and locks onto the eyes, so you can rest at ease knowing your eyes are tack sharp and your background has a beautiful bokeh! This lens is 100% compatible with this feature, and it tracked my subject’s eye with no difficulty at all.
SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 229mm, 1/1000s, F5.6, ISO 800SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 150mm, 1/1000s, F5, ISO 800SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports – 150mm, 1/1000s, F5, ISO 800I love environmental portraits, especially in nature. Autofocus and bokeh quality were particularly impressive when taking this lens into the field for a portrait session.
All in all, the 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports is truly wonderful lens for portraits. Plus, if you are on a shoot and come upon some wildlife, you are covered! No fumbling around to change that lens hoping the wildlife stays put. You already have it on the camera for your portrait session, so boom… you captured that wildlife image too! A bonus for sure!
I am so impressed with this lens and I know you will be too!
Why? If you enjoy capturing all different types of photography, but do not want to carry a ton of lenses with you into the field, the SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports is the lens for you! Its lightweight, weather-sealed design, plus the quick focusing and tracking capability make it a dream to work with. Also, its close and long range focusing capabilities makes it an amazing tool to capture everything you come across, whether it be landscapes, wildlife, macro or even portraits.
The SIGMA 150-600mm DG DN OS | Sports is all-encompassing, ultra-versatile lens that will allow you to capture those winning shots, time and time again!
Recently, I had a chance to experiment with the SIGMA fp L camera at my home in Georgia and while I was preparing for a macro photography class at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and WOW do I ever have a lot of feelings about this tiny beast! When I say tiny beast, I mean it!
Getting Acquainted with the SIGMA fp L
The SIGMA fp L the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera. Since it features a completely electronic shutter, which means it’s absolutely silent (if you turn off the sound, of course). As a macro photographer, I liked this a lot because it doesn’t scare away little critters like lizards or bugs with a loud clicking noise. The fp L is also a huge 61 megapixels, so it makes for big files for big prints, plus I can crop in at 100% for even closer macro details and still get good images out of it.
All manner of tiny creatures were unbothered by the fp L and its silent shutter.
The controls are easy, the buttons can be programmed, and I could easily set it up how I like with back button focus. The focusing system itself is very robust for such a small camera. It’s incredibly fast with the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art lens, and had zero trouble finding the eye on the lizards I was taking pictures of. Of course it helps that this 105mm lens is one of the fastest focusing macro lenses ever made for any camera, but the software that drives it has to be quick too, which the fp L has covered.
From tiny drops of dew to the eye of a scampering lizard, autofocus was fast and accurate.
I also love that it’s weather sealed! I live in Georgia, so the humidity or a surprise rain shower is nothing to this little-but-powerful camera, making it the perfect lightweight hiking buddy.
If you’ve read my other reviews for SIGMA, you might remember that I am a little bit of a klutz. I think I’ve dropped every lens that I own (and some loaners that I don’t own) in the grass at some point. I now change my lenses sitting down so they have less room to fall. This camera’s durability was definitely tested in Heather fashion, because I sat on it. No, really. I was trying to get down to eye level with a lizard, and managed to slip in the mud, turn my ankle underneath me, and sit directly down on the entire camera. I got myself a nice little pointy bruise on my hip, but the camera was none the worse for wear. I simply wiped the mud off of it and kept going.
SIGMA also let me test out the 1.4x (TC-1411) and 2x (TC-2011) teleconverters for L-mount with this camera. Holy wow am I ever impressed with those! These are utterly solid add-ons for any lens. Instead of an extension tube, which is just empty air in the middle of the tube, these babies have an actual magnifying glass in there. It was amazing how much more detail I could see with them on the camera. I was able to use the autofocus on the camera along with these teleconverters, making them seamless with the rest of the SIGMA fp L experience.
Using a teleconverter helps you get even closer, uncovering those truly remarkable details.
A Truly Small and Light Macro Combo
So now let me talk about weight. I am not a muscular person. I’m 6 feet tall, so I’ve never been called “dainty”, but I also physically cannot haul around 20+ pounds of gear and not be utterly exhausted later. When I go out for a macro photography walk, I usually stay out about 4-5 hours or so in the morning. It’s Georgia, so it’s 90 degrees by the time I’m ready to stop at around noon in the summer. It’s humid, it’s hot, and I don’t enjoy making that combination worse by trekking along with my entire gear kit. Lightweight and sweaty hands-free is the name of the game for me.
The SIGMA fp L camera and 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art lens combination was so small and light in my Spider Holster that each morning felt like an effortless stroll instead of a slog through the pea-soup humidity here. Not only is the fp L and 105mm MACRO Art lens combination lightweight to begin with, but with it off of my neck and at my hip instead, the walk is even more enjoyable. I walked around with nothing in my hands! Such freedom. Extra batteries and cards in my pockets, and the teleconverters in a lens pouch on the holster, and the entire thing was less than two pounds. I probably could have just worn it messenger style on a cross-body strap and felt nothing on my shoulder.
The additional HG-11 hand grip makes it even easier to handle. I have big hands and long fingers and it was very compact yet comfortable for me to use (but there’s a bigger HG-21 for meatier hands). If you miss having a viewfinder (the screen works just fine for me), you can easily attach the EVF-11 electronic viewfinder, which is available bundled with the SIGMA fp L.
I trucked the fp L and 105mm combo around my yard, the local Georgia State Botanical Gardens, and then I traveled with it to the Philadelphia Flower Show. During the flower show, the weight and heat was even more of a factor as the show was held outdoors for the first time in its hundred-year history, and Philadelphia was in the grip of a record heat wave at the time. The day before the show officially began, I toured the gardens under a blazing sun, wearing the SIGMA fp L on my Spider Holster for the entire day. I drank five bottles of water, got 20,000 steps, and I was VERY thankful for my sunscreen, but at least I wasn’t sore at the end from carrying around heavy gear all day.
A few selections from the Philadelphia Flower Show
Excellent Image Quality and Smooth Post Processing
As a macro photographer, my love is in the tiniest of details. The image quality from the SIGMA fp L camera is so stunning and so sharp that I found myself challenged to keep getting the tiniest bit closer and turning up my aperture. This meant turning up the ISO, which the fp L handles with ease! I kept expecting to see a lot of noise in the background with higher ISOs, but none of that seem to happen with these images. It was amazingly wonderful to just be able to focus on getting closer and closer to my subjects and not have to worry about how crunchy the photos would be later. This is certainly not to say that the final images are in any way soft, except in the buttery bokeh behind the subject. Each image has amazed me with its sharpness on the areas of the image that I wanted to be sharp. The hairs on a bee, its legs covered in grains of pollen that you can see individually. It was all stunningly sharp and real in the final images.
That’s one sharp-looking bee!
The bokeh produced by the fp L and 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art is definitely something that I wanted to address. When I first started pulling images off the cards I was struck by how smooth the colors are in the background of each of my images. I am really super impressed with the amount of color blending behind the subject in each of these. No matter what I took a picture of, the background colors and the way they blended into each other with the light was astonishingly beautiful. It’s not noisy in any way, and it doesn’t get crunchier with post processing. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of each image and the smoothness that I saw. Even at higher f-stops, it remains gorgeously un-sharp in the background of each image, making sure that the viewer’s attention is on nothing but the subject!
Busy backgrounds simply melt away and colors blend together beautifully.
Another thing that made me super excited about the fp L camera is its rendition of color. I had no trouble with the hottest of hot pink or light purple flowers, which can be troublesome on other cameras. The fp L rendered them all perfectly, and I love that I didn’t have to spend more time in post processing fixing those colors.
No matter which colors I encountered, the fp L rendered them just as I intended.
Macro with the SIGMA fp L – Overall Impressions
Dew drops, gorgeous colors, smooth backgrounds, fun shapes… a piece of art from a square inch of space.
Overall, I’d say the SIGMA fp L camera is an utterly perfect camera for someone wanting to carry something lightweight and small, yet still get stunning final images with amazing bokeh and color. If you are looking to not be completely wrecked carting around tons of gear on a photography walk, give this camera your full attention and you’ll love it.
My name is Heather Larkin, and I am a professional photographer in Athens, Georgia. When I am not shooting Fairyography portrait sessions, I enjoy taking macro photos, especially as a way to unwind when I’m feeling stressed. It never fails to help relax me. I personally think it’s important to go out and “breathe the green” as I tell my husband. Our world tends to keep us moving a little too quickly, and macro photography is a great way to slow down. You see much more when you just sit and look around you for a few minutes.
I have shot with several SIGMA macro lenses throughout my photography career. When I’m out with a macro lens, I tend to gravitate towards insects, lizards, flowers, and dewdrops, but I’ve also used them to take detail shots of my portrait clients. I love seeing the tiny details of something so small made large enough to see. So when the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art lens was announced, I was beyond excited to give it a try. The excellent70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art is already a part of my kit, and I was very interested to see how the two lenses compare to each other.
Unboxing the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art
When I got the lens out of the box, I was first struck by how great the construction is. It’s a great combination of lightness and durability. I tend to beat up my lenses a little bit and I am sure that this lens could survive me! In fact, I later tripped over a chicken on the farm and fell into the wet grass while taking pictures, but I picked up the camera, dried everything off, and didn’t worry about a thing because I knew the lens was totally weather sealed and would be fine!
I especially enjoy the new aperture ring on the lens, which reminds me of the 85mm F1.4 DG DN | Art, another lens I enjoy with the same feature. Being able to click through the aperture manually like my old film cameras feels nice in my hands. I also like that I can set it to automatic and change the aperture within the camera settings like I’m used to. The versatility of the choice of either is amazing!
I also noticed right out of the gate that the front element of the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art does not extend when it’s focusing. This is a huge advantage when taking pictures of small critters. With internal focusing, tiny animals won’t get scared away by the lens coming towards them. And since there’s no front element moving back and forth, the lens is also noticeably quiet. This is also a big benefit when you’re trying to avoid scaring away lizards or bugs. Since my Sony camera body has a silent shutter option as well, the whole setup can be truly silent!
This brings me to the next thing I noticed, which is the focusing speed and smoothness. Since the lens motor is not driving a front element back-and-forth, it is probably the fastest macro lens to focus that I have ever used! It also doesn’t jump or stutter at all when focusing. It’s like butter! This lens also has a focus limiter switch that I find completely crucial to macro photography. Being able to tell the lens itself how far it should focus makes close-up photography much easier.
One of the reasons I love SIGMA lenses the best is their attention to optics. Like every macro lens, because the focal length changes in tiny increments, as you get closer to your subjects the exposure can become darker. This does happen with this lens, but it’s barely noticeable, so you can just up your exposure compensation or ISO a bit. There’s even a handy chart in the owner’s manual for you!
The 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art fits on a full-frame Sony mirrorless camera well, and I very much enjoy the feel of it in my hands. As far as size, I was also surprised that it’s so small! It made me laugh that it is nearly exactly the same size as the 70mm macro, and only slightly heavier, but barely noticeable.
I decided to take this lens out for a test drive in my own front yard, as well as to the farm where my husband works. I go with him every once in a while when I have time, because it changes every day, and I can always find something new and interesting to see and photograph.
On the way out, I stopped for a few moments to get up close with some of the flowers in my front yard. I love how I don’t have to get as close with this lens, but I can still see all the tiny details I want to see.
But flowers aren’t all that I want to take pictures of. Seeing the beauty in the everyday (or even things that other people might find ugly or just walk right by) is an important part of slowing down. Bringing this lens to the farm offers so many unique opportunities. Vines growing into a paint-chipped wall, a broken clothesline with lichens growing on it, rotting wood posts, or an old rusted cement mixer all make for great subjects.
The farm cats and chickens make great subjects, too. Because they don’t hold still, they’re always a challenge to photograph, and macro shots aren’t really possible. But switching the camera’s Eye-AF to “animal” made shooting sharp, candid images a breeze. The 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art has zero problem picking up the smallest details in the eyes of cats, chickens, and other animals. It’s also fast enough to snap into focus while they’re running around and get a clear, sharp result.
You can see in the photos of Frankie the cat that his eyes are sharp, despite his unfortunate habit of nosing through the dirt or hiding behind shrubs. The camera and lens combination had no trouble finding the cat’s face even with things in front of him. The same held true for the chickens on the farm. Both of the chicken photos below were actually taken through a fence. Even though the fence was closer to me, the AF system detected the chicken and the 105mm was very fast to focus on what I wanted.
I found a dew-covered bumblebee sleeping in some goldenrod next to the chicken coop. Because the bee had not yet warmed up that morning, I was able to get very close and focus on its eyes covered in the dewdrops. I wish I could have gotten more of the bee in focus by using a higher aperture, but it was a little too dark on that side of the chicken coop and I couldn’t hold quite still enough for that.
I also found a wolf spider in one of the greenhouses. She was very large, and the thing about wolf spiders is that they can see you coming. They are notoriously skittish and will run away if threatened. I think this lens helped me get the best photo of a wolf spider that I have ever shot, because the usual noise and sight of a lens coming towards her didn’t scare her away. That internal focusing really helped me here. She stayed right there on a leaf and watched me as I brought the camera closer and closer. But thanks to the longer focal length, I didn’t have to get so close that I frightened her.
I even tested this lens on the fresh eggs that we took home that day. Some eggs have a lot of texture, and some are very smooth. I wanted to see what the 105mm Macro made of both of them! The texture of the eggs is apparent, and the lens was even able to focus on the spots of a different egg through the top of the plastic container!
Overall, I very much love this lens! It’s light and easy to use. The durable construction, the speed and silence of the focusing system, and the sharpness all come together to make this a great lens. Not to mention that a 105mm focal length means this macro lens not only takes great close-up photos, but it can also be used for portraits. Simply put, the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Artworked beautifully for me at every opportunity, and it would make a great addition to any photographer’s lens collection.
Take a look at this video I made for SIGMA if you would like to learn more about macro photography, how I shoot and what I look for when exploring my surroundings.
SIGMA has a long history of great macro lenses. I’ve used and loved the 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM MACRO, the 150mm EX DG and the 180mm EX DG since they were released. They’re each great lenses, but the latest release from SIGMA, the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art, is almost certainly the best macro lens the company has ever designed.
When SIGMA asked me to test out the new lens, I couldn’t resist. I set up shots in my dining room the day I received the lens, because it was pouring down rain outside. Once the weather cleared and the ground dried out a little, I went in search of what flowers might still be in bloom near me. A few of the local gardens did not disappoint. Neither did this new lens.
Before the new 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art, there was a gap in macro lens options for mirrorless cameras. The 105mm EX would fit on a Sony camera with the use of an adapter, but it couldn’t take advantage of all the features of the camera body. SIGMA then released the 70mm F2.8 DG MACRO | Art, which is available in native Sony E-mount. 70mm is a great focal length for a macro lens when shooting larger subjects or at less than maximum reproduction. It’s perfect for wedding rings, large flowers and the like, but the working distance can be a little tight when shooting at 1:1. I still wanted a slightly longer focal length, and I must not be alone… SIGMA has responded with this incredible new lens, designed specifically for mirrorless cameras.
For a lot of what I shoot, working distance makes all the difference in the world. A greater distance from the front element of the lens to the subject can make or break a shot, particularly when a bug you’re photographing doesn’t want you to get any closer. The new 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art focuses internally, providing a working distance of just 5.55 inches, more than half that of the 70mm MACRO Art. When shooting up against a glass terrarium, that greater distance plus a front element that doesn’t extend can mean the difference between nailing the shot and missing it entirely.
This new lens sets a new standard for optical performance in a macro lens, with sharpness comparable to the best Art primes from SIGMA. That alone is an amazing accomplishment. The bokeh is as beautiful as we have come to expect from a SIGMA Art lens. Chromatic aberration is virtually nonexistent. The focus speed and accuracy on a Sony A7R III was incredible, snapping from close to far and back with ease. It handled exotic frogs in a dark environment that required ISO 3200-6400, with no issues at all.
SIGMA’s lens designers have even managed to make the new 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art smaller than its EX cousin. It’s very similar in size and weight to the 70mm DG MACRO Art, but with the added benefit of greater working distance and an aperture ring, which can be de-clicked by a switch on the side, to allow complete control over exposure and depth of field for macro or video work. The aperture ring can also be locked in the “A” position for auto setting to let the camera take control, or the F2.8-F22 aperture range for full manual control.
The lens looks and feels great in the hand – rugged yet light and compact. The lens hood is solid and locks on tight. The focus ring is large and perfectly placed. Using the focus-by-wire HSM, coupled with the Sony A7R III, I could make big focus changes quickly, and tiny changes precisely. In addition, there’s the usual AF/Manual focus mode switch (allowing quick changes when the situation dictates), a Focus Limiter switch, as well as an AFL button on the side that can lock the autofocus or be programmed through the camera body for alternative uses. Plus, the dust and splash-proof construction makes the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art perfectly suited for shooting in less-than-ideal circumstances, which always seem to arise when least expected.
During presentations, classes and workshops, I’m frequently asked how to achieve greater than 1:1 reproduction when shooting extreme macro. It usually requires a complicated setup or compromises in equipment. For L-Mount cameras like the SIGMA fp, the 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art was designed to work with SIGMA’s new 1.4x TC-1411 and 2x TC-2011 teleconverters, without decreasing the working distance! These combos can then achieve 1.4:1 and 2:1 reproduction ratios while still being just 5.5 inches from the subject.
I was absolutely delighted with this new macro lens. The designers have clearly considered each and every detail thoroughly, solving every issue and creating the best macro lens I’ve ever used. It was such a pleasure to shoot with and to see the images this lens can produce. I’ve always considered 105mm the best focal length for an everyday macro lens, and this is now the one to get. Whether you want to shoot flowers or rings, people or bugs, collectables or everyday objects, the SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art is the lens for you!
When new gear arrives from Japan at the Sigma America office, it doesn’t take long for our employees to start ransacking the boxes to get their hands on some new toys. And right on cue, when the new SIGMA 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro Art showed up, a few of us immediately took the lens out for some stealthy testing in the field. Our team was truly impressed with the results!
Click on the images in each gallery to browse large versions.
Jim Koepnick – SIGMA Ambassador
1/125s, F16, ISO 2500.6s, F16, ISO 2001/640s, F6.3, ISO 16001/50s, F8, ISO 10001/400s, F2.8, ISO 5001/400s, F5.6, ISO 16001/800s, F5.6, ISO 16001/500s, F7.1, ISO 16001/320s, F2.8, ISO 10001/800s, F2.8, ISO 10001/640s, F2.8, ISO 1000
Nick Vrona – SIGMA Marketing Specialist
1/250s, F6.3, ISO 1601/125s, F8, ISO 4001/250s, F5.6, ISO 1601/1000s, F4, ISO 1001/125s, F8, ISO 4001/250s, F5.6, ISO 32001/125s, F5.6, ISO 1251/250s, F8, ISO 16001/250s, F8, ISO 2501/125s, F2.8, ISO 2001/250s, F2.8, ISO 250
Jack Howard – SIGMA Public Relations Director
1/320s, F3.5, ISO 16001/200s, F5.6, ISO 5001/250s, F5, ISO 5001/200s, F5.6, ISO 5001/125s, F6.3, ISO 16001/60s, F10, ISO 16001/400s, F7.1, ISO 1600
To learn more about the lens, check out our First Look blog post from SIGMA’s own macro enthusiast Brett Wells!
