Capturing gorgeous flowers with an ultra-zoom

Capturing gorgeous flowers with an ultra-zoom is made easy with Tamron’s new 18-300mm lens, but it doesn’t stop at macro. Tamron’s obsession for getting in close to your subject with an ultra-zoom lens means that you can shoot from as little as 19mm, making it perfect for capturing macro (1:2) flowers.

But it really doesn’t stop there. I took the new 18-300mm APS-C (Sony E-mount) lens out for a test drive at my local Botanic Gardens.

What you need to know

The thing is with using a zoom lens, is it has fantastic lens compression making for beautiful bokeh. Beautiful bokeh means soft, dreamy, gorgeous floral images. You don’t necessarily need to be 19mm close to achieving it either. Even at 200mm or 300mm away, you can still zoom in to capture flowers as full-frame you may not have been able to reach with a dedicated macro lens.

Using the 1:2 Macro

You can get as close as 19mm from your subject at the 18mm focal length end of the lens. You cannot get that close with 300mm, but that’s OK. Getting that close means you can capture some lovely details up close, roughly 1:2 macro. It’s terrific for flowers. However being that close means you can occasionally block the light, so be wary of this. Either move out of the light or use a macro light ring, or a reflector with you to bounce some light where you need it most.

The details are crisp, the bokeh is subtle to non-existent at this distance, I also found it to be a little textured. As I am frequently full frame at this distance that’s not such an issue. The minimum aperture at 18mm is f/3.5, but working this close I actually used f/5, as the depth of field is quite shallow at this distance. I really think that f/5 was a little sharper than the f/3.5. I used the autofocus, but I also tried manual focus and both worked a treat. These images are all shot at 18mm focal length and approx 19mm from the subject.

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Extend your reach

Having a zoom that goes out to 200mm or even 300mm like this one, enabled me to extend the reach. Getting close up shots of flowers (or indeed birds) that I would not have been able to shoot with such details with a 90mm macro lens or even a 50mm prime. Being able to shoot through foliage can add an ethereal feel and a nice touch to your floral portraits.

These images are all taken 300mm focal length and f/6.3 which is the minimum aperture at this focal length. There is still a lovely drop off in focus on the edges and some delightful bokeh.

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Shoot for the blur

The best thing about shooting flowers with a zoom is the lens compression. All that lovely blur and bokeh, even at f/5 through to f/6.3. I think the sweet spot on this particular lens is 70-150mm.

Oh, that divine bokeh and blur. Just gorgeous. I discovered shooting flowers with a 300mm lens last year and have been doing this ever since. There is something magic about shooting with that sort of lens compression with hard to reach subjects. The below images were captured at between 72mm-192mm.

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Beautiful, fast and very versatile

The Tamron 18-300mm really is a beautiful, fast and very versatile lens. The perfect walkabout lens, when you’re not quite sure what lens you’ll need. From up-close macro to 300mm zoom. So next time you want to capture gorgeous flowers, or even great landscapes, don’t forget about adding this Tamron ultra-zoom lens to your kit.