We attended The Light Fest in Houston and it was amazing! The lanterns were so beautiful in the sky and the weather was perfect. We had a great time and it was just so picturesque. (Next event info is located at the bottom!)
I think one of the best things about this event was the people watching. Everyone had fun, no one was too rowdy and the kids had a blast. The organizers sold glow in the dark toys and bubble machines and the kids there had a lot of fun.
The hashtag for this event was #whatlightsyou and it really was fantastic.
The next event is October 19th, here:
Magnolia Garden Park 12044 Beach St Houston, TX 77044
The Antique Rose Emporium was totally worth the trip! It is so gorgeous and has tons of flowers and plants for sale. They also do private events such as weddings. There’s no admittance fee or anything like that, it’s basically just a large nursery. There’s a lot to see and take in. I cannot recommend this place enough! We each took our Nikon cameras. I exclusively shot with the Sigma 105mm Macro lens. Since receiving it, I’ve been slightly obsessed. It’s a true 1:1 macro lens and I love photographing flowers with it. My husband used the Sigma 18-250 with is also a macro lens but a 1:2. I’d highly recommend either!
We had a fantastic day at Brazos Bend! We hiked Live Oak Trail, Pilant Sough Trail, Spillway Trail and part of 40 Acre Trail Lake. The weather was great, it was a little overcast and sprinkled rain for just a few minutes but the breezes were cool. Here’s a link to the trail map. The birds and gators did NOT disappoint. We even saw a snake which completely grosses me out.
Brazos Bend is located at 21901 FM 762 Rd, Needville, TX 77461 and adult admission is $7. I can tell you the admission fee was completely justified as soon as we photograped the owl and owlet. It was a dream come true! Brazos Bend State Park is a 4,897-acre state park along the Brazos River in Needville, Texas, run by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It has bathrooms, benches, water bottle fill station, playgrounds, fishing piers, camping and more.
I can’t stress this enough – please be so careful around the alligators. GIVE THEM ROOM! We have YET to make a trip without witnessing an overzealous parent pushing their child towards an alligator for a photo opportunity.
Check out our photos, we’d love to know what you think!
I wanted to compile a simple list of all the birds I’ve seen in Houston. Trust me, there’s more than you ever thought! I would have never imagined that birding could be so wonderful and fulfilling – most of which I can photograph in my own yard or backyard. This so far has been an AMAZING journey and we’ve only just begun. I’m running a Nikon D3500 with a Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary for most of these photographs.
American goldfinchAmerican robinAmerican pipit Bald eagle, femaleBald eagle, juvenileBald eagle, maleBlack-capped chickadee Black vultureBlue jayBrown-headed cowbirdCarolina wrenCedar waxwingsCommon starlingCoopers hawkDowny woodpeckerEastern bluebirdEastern phoebe Great blue heronGreat egret (white) and a Double-crested cormorant (black)Great-tailed grackleHouse sparrowNorthern cardinal, femaleNorthern cardinal, maleNorthern crested caracaraNorthern mockingbirdPine warblerRed-bellied woodpecker Red-shouldered hawkSnowy egretTufted titmouseTurkey vultureWhite-winged doveYellow-rumped warbler
Edited on 3/7 to add the American pipit, Black vulture, Brown-headed cowbird and a White-winged dove
Edited on 3/15 to add Downy woodpecker, Bald eagles, Black-capped chickadee and American goldfinch.
A few weeks ago we went out to Huntsville State Park to get a chance to take some shots with the Sigma 150-600mm. It was awesome and we got some great photos. I thought it would be a great opportunity to use the 500mm manual lens I bought from Amazon a while back for the lunar eclipse. The day started out a little rough getting used to a lack of autofocus but was much smoother toward the end. I really wanted to do a comparison of this lens against one that is ten times the cost, and see just how good can a person do with a $100 lens. Is it really the way everyone says and the key is not having the best equipment, but to be the best with the equipment you have?
We started out in a bird blind and that gave me a great opportunity to put my camera on a tripod and get used to how the lens operates. I found it very difficult to get decent shots of the birds we were looking at. Perhaps the 2x magnifier will help? It really didn’t and just seemed to add edge blur to everything. It was always like you were right on the edge of getting a crystal clear photo but the lens just couldn’t do it.
Mike’s @ 1000mmMike’s @ 500mm Sigma @ 600mm
We moved from the bird blind and drove to a trail head for a little hike. We had hoped to see some different birds that one wouldn’t necessarily find next to a body of water, but alas they were not to be found. Not to let a good photo opportunity go to waste we began to take photos of the trail, and each other taking photos of the trail, and that’s when I had an epiphany.
Mike’s @ 500mmSigma @ 600mm
At the bird blind the subjects were pretty far away, somewhere between 100-150 yards. The images were ok, but lack the detail you would really want from those types of photos. On the trail, subjects were much, much closer. I noticed my images suddenly had more detail and clarity. So naturally, I began to experiment. I found this particular lens, on my particular camera, it may be different from user to user, has a sweet spot around 75-100 ft. It does have an EXTREMELY shallow depth of field, even with the aperture stopped down.
Mike’s @ 500mmSigma @ 500mm
If you have the patience, or maybe you want to get better as a photographer, you can certainly get this lens dialed in for some great shots.
Mike’s @ 500mmSigma @ 600mm
I found the lens to be very easy to use handheld at 500mm because the lens weights almost nothing. With the 2x magnifier on you need a tripod, or at the very minimum a monopod. After a few hours using it I was actually pretty proficient with it and was able to get some birds in flight. It seemed to do better with more light, the day was somewhat cloudy at times, so it’s probably best on sunny days or with great lighting.
Mike’s @ 500mmMike’s @ 500mm
If you are looking for a telephoto lens that doesn’t break the bank, you have the patience to learn how to use this lens and plan out where you will be able to take the best photos for this lens, I would highly recommend it. Of course, I don’t expect to see any photos in National Geographic using this lens, but for social media, I think it will do just fine. All images provided are the RAW file and HAVE NOT been edited for proper comparison.
