Steve Chesler Archives

Sigma Lenses for Wedding Storytelling

As a wedding photographer, it is my responsibility to deliver exceptional photos, every event, without fail. Every wedding is a ballet, telling a love story through emotion and the subtleties of light. Carrying a case full of Sigma lenses, such as the extremely versatile 24-105mm f4 Art, along with a few primes like the tack sharp 85mm f1.4 Art and the indispensable 12-24mm f4 Art wide angle lens, I can capture that love story, creating something magical. I recently had the opportunity to document the wedding of the Grammy Award winning couple Kate and Forrest O’Connor, and build a video slideshow featuring their own music.

© Steve Chesler | 2017 Armed with a collection of Sigma lenses, such as the 24-105mm f4 Art lens, I have the tools necessary to create spectacular images at every wedding. Exposure 1/200th second at f18 iso 500. Focal length 24mm

The wedding took place at the magnificent Belhurst Castle, perched high above the shore of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. Weddings by nature involve constantly changing conditions with both lighting and setting. My lens of choice to capture a large portion of the wedding due to it’s versatility and sharpness is the Sigma 24-105mm f4 Art lens. That being said, I have several lenses in my arsenal that I use for specific purposes throughout the day.

© Steve Chesler | 2017 The Sigma 24-105mm f4 Art lens is my primary lens at every wedding for it’s versatility as a wide angle, telephoto and light gathering ability with a constant f4 aperture. Exposure 1/200th second at f16 iso 500. Focal length 24mm.

Continue reading Sigma Lenses for Wedding Storytelling

BMX Riders with the 18-35mm F1.8 Lens

With it’s introduction back in 2013, the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 DC HSM | Art lens took the photography world by storm as the first wide angle zoom with a 1.8 aperture. A wide angle has it’s place in sports photography, albeit on a more limited scale than my go to sports lens, the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 DG OS HSM lens.

As one of the Sigma Pro’s, the 18-35 was high on my list of lenses I wanted to shoot with. It’s an outstanding lens for wedding photographers, street photographers, landscape photographers and more, but as a sports action photographer how much use would I get out of a lens like this?

Recently I had a rare free afternoon so I made my way down to the local skate park armed with the 18-35mm and a few strobes. My objective was to get as close to the action as possible short of taking a skate board to the jaw. I set up one of my Strobies STR-200 strobes opposite the setting sun at the base of a few of the ramps and let the skate boarders and BMX riders go to town giving me their best stuff. Getting my vantage point down low put the action almost directly over head giving a huge sense of height to each of the aerial tricks.

© 2016 Steve Chesler Heading down to the local skate park with a few strobes and my Sigma 18-35mm f1.8, I wanted to play with this exceptional wide angle lens for sports action.

Continue reading BMX Riders with the 18-35mm F1.8 Lens

Big Field, Big Lens – Shooting Professional Baseball with the Sigma 150-600mm Sport Lens

As a member of the Sigma Pro Team, it’s always Christmas with new lenses arriving for me to play with. When the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports lens showed up at the door like a baby being delivered by a stork, I couldn’t get it on my camera fast enough. My son had a little league game later in the afternoon, so I was very eager to give the lens a work out of it’s own. As with many things in life, like ice cream, you can have too much of a good thing. With such a small field, I was right on top of the action which was too much for such a strong lens. Instead of switching to a shorter lens, I decided to switch to a bigger field, so I contacted the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple A farm team of the Minnesota Twins.

© 2015 Steve Chesler | Rochester Red Wings pitcher Lester Oliveros tosses a pitch to the plate against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. With the exceptional pulling power of the Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens, none of the action was out of reach.

Continue reading Big Field, Big Lens – Shooting Professional Baseball with the Sigma 150-600mm Sport Lens