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Papal photographs comprised just part of Mike Hullett’s portfolio during an overseas pilgrimage with the Tamron 18-200mm XR Di II lens. |
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| AF18-200mm
F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II by Jennifer Gidman Zumpano |
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It’s not every day that you get to hold court with the pope—unless you happen to be among the throngs of admirers who congregate to St. Peter’s Square every Wednesday morning to catch a glimpse of the head of the Catholic Church. This is exactly where photographer Mike Hullett found himself last November, on just one leg of a multimetropolis pilgrimage that led Hullett, his wife, and his church group through the capital city, Venice, Florence, and Assisi. |
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Along with his Nikon D50, Hullett packed the Tamron 18-200mm XR Di II lens, ensuring that he would be able to capture any image he came across during his Italian travels. “The main thing about this lens is that it covers such a large and varied focal length,” he says. “When you travel, you want to go as light as possible, and this is probably the most ideal travel lens— I can’t think of another lens that I would have taken on this trip. I knew I was going to be in some tight street situations where I had to take pictures of large cathedrals, but would only have 30 feet or so to move back into the street. I also knew I wanted to get as close-up a picture of the pope as possible, which I also accomplished.” |
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| Hullett was pleased with the image quality the 18-200mm provided on his European excursion. “On this trip, I was all over the place in terms of what aperture I was using,” he says. “I pushed the lens to its limits, and I didn’t find any noticeable distortion. The corners in all my images were sharp and in focus. I also got plenty of detail in the shadows and in the highlights.” | |||||
Pious Photography |
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Since this was a religious-themed expedition, Hullett and his group found themselves viewing many of Italy’s sacred churches and cathedrals, complete with centuries-old mosaics, Renaissance artwork, and handcarved pulpits. One of his stops included the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence. Hullett shot this edifice at 18mm (Image 5) to capture the elaborate front entranceway. “This was a great day for taking photos,” he says. “It was overcast a little bit, and there weren’t a lot of shadows. It was like it was lit just for this picture. A lot of times, when you have a lens that has this type of focal length, your lines will be curved. With the 18-200mm lens, the lines came out perfectly straight—very important for architectural shots like this one.” |
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The 14th-century Duomo di Orvieto (Image 1), with its gold-adorned exterior and decorative bas-reliefs and frescoes, gave Hullett another chance to put the lens to the test. “Obviously this church has beautiful detail and color, as well as incredible carving around the doors,” he says. ”I was looking for a dramatic effect, and I wanted to get some blue sky in there as well, so I moved right up almost to the base of the church and took this shot at 18mm. I thought the lens did a beautiful job of rendering the sky. Whenever I shoot with this lens, I don’t need a polarizer. I don’t even put a protection filter on the front, because I don’t want it to affect the image at all.” |
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| Even capturing interiors, such as Hullett’s shot of the inside of the Basilica of St. Peter’s, was facilitated with Tamron’s versatile 18-200 lens. “One of the things about being inside these churches is you can’t go everywhere to get the images you want—they rope off certain parts,” Hullett explains. “So you need a lens where you have versatility, so you can reach other spots, and this lens helped me with that. I saw that ray of sunlight coming through the window and just had to nab it.” |
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Make Way for the Popemobile! |
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Hullett was also able to use the 18-200 at a couple of Italy’s main attractions, including Rome’s imposing Colosseum. “You can see the religious influences even here, such as the cross at the bottom of the image I took at the Colosseum,” he says. “I thought this shot was framed very well by the arch I was shooting through. I’m outside shooting in, and yet it looks like that wall is 50 feet away (it was really like 350 feet away).Using the lens at around 150mm gave me a condensing effect. What’s really nice is the way this picture was exposed—you still see detail in those shadows, even though what’s at the far end is extremely bright.” |
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Hullett’s money shot, however, was his well-timed capture of Joseph Ratzinger (more popularly known these days as Pope Benedict XVI). “Every Wednesday morning, about 40,000 people converge on St. Peter’s Square in Rome to make up the pope’s weekly audience,” he explains. “He comes out in the Popemobile, which drives up and down the aisles so people can see him and take pictures. I really wanted a good picture of him. He got to within 40 feet of me, and that’s where the picture was taken. It was difficult, though—I had the lens all the way out to 200mm, and he was moving so quickly. There were a lot of people in front of me, so I was standing on top of a chair, shooting over people’s heads. If I hadn’t brought that lens, I would not have gotten that shot. I felt ultra-prepared with my 18-200!” |
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Tip Box Cathedral Condensed By shooting at 200mm for this exterior shot of the Orvieto Cathedral (Image 2), Hullett was able to obtain an interesting positioning perspective. “I love this shot, because it brings in a lot of the sky, which was brilliant that day, and those two statues were so interesting,” he explains. “The lens condenses this image somewhat, and makes the sculptures look like they’re right next to each other, even though they’re not. I pushed the lens all the way to f/22, and by doing that, the depth-of-field was great—everything was in focus, both the close-up features and the faraway ones.” |
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