Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens Sample Pictures

Roses are arguably one of the most beautiful flowers on the face of this planet. They don't smell so bad either, which makes working around them even more pleasant. Buy the wife (or yourself) a bouquet of roses and you have days' worth of photo subject for your macro lens (and presumably a happy spouse).
 
For this image, I attached a Rogue FlashBender softbox to a forward-facing Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite. With this setup, I was free to shoot handheld as I worked on finding pleasing compositions – with deep-reaching soft light following me. This turned out to be my favorite image from this shoot. A nearly centered rose's petals curve outward into and subsequently out of the frame in a balanced manner.
 
Later, print one of your rose pictures to gain even more return on your small investment.

You may have seen this moth in some other sample photos on the site. I brought this moth and the large stump it is on into my studio and used it for testing a group of macro lenses. The moth had just come out of its cocoon and was content to hang out with me long enough to create a large inventory of Promethea Moth photos.
 
A large softbox made soft light easy.

Cake/cookie decorating candies/sprinkles are brightly colored, inexpensive and come in vast quantities. This makes them useful for macro photos and in this case, I was using them as a subject while evaluating the very-useful Rogue FlashBenders.
 
I placed the candies in a small plastic cup and tipped them over on a black back-painted glass desk. A Canon 600EX-RT flash fitted with a Rogue FlashBender Softbox was positioned on both sides of the candy and a third flash and softbox was used on-camera for fill. A piece of black velour fabric was draped over a box sitting on the desk in the background.
 
This example also shows the shallow depth of field delivered by f/2.8 on a 105mm macro lens.

Multiple Dahlia flowers touching results in petals coming in from the outside of the frame. A narrow aperture, close focus distance and a full frame DSLR create a soft blur throughout the frame.

A Luna Moth competes with a climatis flower for your attention - both being extraordinarily beautiful subjects.
 
When shooting a closeup of a moth, butterfly or other similarly-shaped subject, select a shooting position directly perpendicular to the wings to keep the entire surface within the shallow depth of field this shooting distance provides - even at f/11.

Do you like flower photography? Talk to the manager of your local greenhouse. They typically have an overwhelming selection of subjects in beautiful lighting all day every day.
 
The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM Lens works great for shooting in these venues. For this shot, I used a wide open aperture and shot straight down on the flower. Greenhouses are nearly shadow-free.

Yellow petals spring from a ring of purple and dots of orange. Using a shallow depth of field effect makes the center of the flower pop from the frame. Soft lighting is courtesy of a greenhouse roof.

Once a year (though always well after its namesake Christmas holiday), our Christmas cactus blooms. The plant itself is nothing special to look at, but the flowers are quite beautiful.
 
The biggest challenge for this annual photo opportunity is finding a pleasing background to go with the flower. I've done the easy on-white and on-black options many times and I've used various color cards behind the flower. I needed a new option and the Rogue Flash Gels provided just that.
 
I placed the cactus pot on my shooting table (I'm using an Elinchrom model). This table has a white Plexiglas surface with a large sweep up the back. An off camera Canon 600EX-RT with a Rogue FlashBender Softbox installed was placed on the table in front of the selected flower and a second 600EX-RT was positioned to light the back of the table independently. Both flashes were sitting on their shoe stands and the flashes were triggered by an ST-E3-RT Remote Transmitter.
 
By placing a Rogue Flash Gel on the background flash, the white shooting table background became the gel color. The background color could be changed by simply replacing one gel with another and the currently selected color could be made brighter or darker by simply adjusting the flash output (done directly on the ST-E3-RT). I worked through various color options provided in the gel kit and decided that the pink color complemented the Christmas Cactus flowers best. As you see here.