Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD Lens Sample Pictures

A male mallard duck creates high frequency ripples in the water with its bill. The back lighting makes the water bright and allows the iridescent colors on the head to show.
 
I used the rule of thirds for this image. The frame border remain clean with the water-framed duck positioned about 1/3 into the frame and facing toward the 2/3 remainder of the frame.

The unique color in this 309mm photo of Fairmont Falls (by the Philadelphia Art Museum) is thanks to mixed light sources. Getting interesting color from a monochromatic scene on a heavily overcast day involved carefully timing this shot. The image is custom white balanced using the falling water, which leaves the rest of the photo blue and red toned. The blues are from reflections of a late day cloudy sky. The reds are reflections of street lights. The motion-blurred water is thanks to a 30 second f/11 exposure.

An interestingly and evenly patterned reflective ice surface on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia reflects another pattern – green steel supporting a bridge. There was a lot going on at this location, but with careful framing, I was able to carve somthing out that I like. I used the brighter reflection of the side of the bridge (bottom left) to balance the dark cloudy sky reflection (top right).

The Philadelphia Art Museum has plenty of detail to focus on. For this composition, I used increasingly long vertical lines to support the angled horizontal lines.

Getting a high key picture of a shaking horse is not easy. One of the easiest ways to get a high key horse picture is to shoot a back-lit horse in the snow. Then, with a short exposure dialed in to stop the motion, wait for the horse to spontaneously shake. Or simply have the fortune of the horse being in the right position when you and the camera are properly setup to catch the shake.
 
A 1,200 lb (545kg) animal violently shaking (at about the frequency we shiver at) is quite impressive – and much more so to a rider fortunate enough to experience the event from the saddle.
 
I framed the shot too close to the mouth in-camera, but since the background was pure white, it was very easy to add white space on the right side by extending the canvas.

This photo was taken from the top of the "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I combined two separate frames for this photo. I liked the included traffic blur from another capture better than in the frame that had the airplane landing behind the city hall building.

A male mallard duck rests on the iced-over Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The unusual head position is due to the duck watching something flying overhead. Even a sitting duck can present a challenge to the photographer - a challenge to get a unique look in this example.

With a lens having long focal lengths in your hand, you can find photo targets in locations you may not be regularly looking at. The top of the Philadephia Art Museum is one such location having telephoto lens targets available. An unusually flat sky color gives the weathered sculpture a unique background.

Boathouse Row, near the art museum in Philadelphia, is home to many rowing clubs and the year-around-lit buildings housing them. A near-dark timing of the shot leaves some light in the sky while the warm-colored lights reflect in the Schuylkill River.

While it is not too hard to find a human-tolerant Canada goose, getting a nicely-framed and in-focus head shot of one of these birds is much more challenging. The head and that long neck are constantly moving and at this distance, depth of field is shallow. So, the person behind the camera must be quick to focus and shoot before the head goes out of focus.

As a generalization, the longer the focal length lens you are using, the easier it is to fill the frame with colorful sky at sunrise or sunset. Even a modestly beautiful sunrise or sunset can make a pretty image at long telephoto focal lengths.

I don't know what this duck was disturbed at as I was concentrating on getting the shot when it started acting up. Shooting from an above vantage point is not my preference when photographing birds, but the icy river was not going to permit otherwise. So I was looking for interesting behaviors to capture.