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I took this shot at Melb Botanical Gardens.

Just wondering how I can get sharper shots I took these with tamron 70 - 300

what other lenses will help get more detail especially around the eyes...

This I took this one out the front of my flat....

olrac,
looking at the EXIF info from the first pic you posted, you shot this with your lens set to 220mm @ 1/50th of a sec. (I'm assuming handheld as well ??).

The light levels when you took this shot (6.05pm) would have been very low and even in good light, 1/50 sec. is way too slow a shutter speed to be using. This will be the reason for a soft and blurry photo.

With your 70-300, you need to make sure that the shutter speed (at least) matches your focal length, if not compensate a little more for good measure (to factor in the x1.5 crop factor).

At 220mm, you really wouldn't want to shoot under 1/200th sec. preferably 1/300th (or more) if you have enough light.

You will soon realise that this is virtually impossible with this lens at those light levels. To try and combat this, you can:
a) bump up the ISO - which probably won't help enough
b) use a tripod, slow shutter speed to expose correctly and perhaps even self timer or remote shutter
c) save your pennies for that 70-200 f2.8 VR lens
d) try using flash if the subject is close enough
e) keep taking grossly underexposed photos...

Depending on the subject/scene, I usually try D and/or B 1st, then A. (I'm not allowed to try C )

When you shoot, you should always note in the viewfinder what the exposure meter is telling you. If it's a little off centre, a fine adjustment will help you, but if it's way over to the left or right, the shot ain't gonna come out good (under most situations).

Learn to read this and it will save you lots of heartache when you upload your prized shots to see darkened images....

Hope this helps

I recently figured out how to get better shots with this lens.

- put the camera into Shutter Priority mode and change the shutter speed to about 1/400 or so if you're going to be using it at full zoom.

- put the camera into ISO Auto mode, this way it will adjust the ISO level until you have the correct exposure at 1/400th of a second.

- don't expect miracles as this is a pretty cheap lens, however it can give pretty good results.

Are there any other lenses I should look at other than the 70 - 200 VR?

What is a good price for the VR lens?

olrac wrote:What is a good price for the VR lens?

You're looking around $2300 imported, plus any GST applicable. Vanbar have it locally for $2940.14. I won't suggest alternatives as I might seem biased.

let me guess a AF Nikkor 80-200 1:2.8 D ED

hahahaha

I am considering this (also trying to convince the better half)

As mentioned before, if it's getting low light, use a tripod or bump up the ISO for the duck photo...unless you manage to find a way to freeze the duck in motion for about a second or so

The city photo is fairly sharp, and I'm guessing you used a tripod? Otherwise you have some pretty steady hands for a 1" exposure.

The city photo would benefit greatly if it was a pano-style crop...remove the cars down the bottom as these don't do much for the photo. I'm not sure what result you were trying to achieve, but if you wanted the buildings to be brighter without blowing the sky, I'd suggest taking two photos and merging it together in photoshop. 1 - meter for the sky (buildings in silhouette), 2 - meter for the buildings (blowing the sky).

I like photos that look the way that i see them,

The city photo is basicly what I wanted. The thing i lik about the cars is that the colors of the sky are reflected on the side....

About 4 hours later (becuase I have to take the photos from the middle of the road to get the best view) I tried geting a pano of the city but that didnt work out too well i metered off the buildings so they would be well exposed but the luminated signs were all blown out i will have to try again on another clear night. BTW the duck shot was on a tripod.