Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens Sample Pictures

Image stabilization provides great assistance when handholding a camera in low light. While IS can help with panning motion, general subject motion cannot be stopped with image stabilization. Use the subject motion to your advantage - to show action.
 
Never stop watching the background - it is important to your composition. Note the dog coming over the horizon in this shot.

The eye is that of a black American Quarter Horse.

The woods takes on a new look when it is raining. One example is the tree bark that gets dark, making the Lichens really pop.
 
It was actually raining when I took this shot. This camera and lens are not weather sealed so my weather protection solution was to use a large re-sealable bag. By positioning the lens at the opening, I could open the bag when I wanted to take a picture. Looking through the bag to see through the viewfinder did not offer the greatest visibility, but it worked. And the price was right.

A colorful image requires a colorful subject. Where do you find a colorful subject? Look no further than your local candy store (or candy aisle in the supermarket). As a generalization, candy not sold in individual wrappers is brightly colored – eye candy inviting consumption. Another benefit to this subject is that it is usually not expensive – and that you get to eat it after you are done photographing it is a benefit that cannot be overlooked.
 
To arrange the candy, I simply dumped it into a large dish and pressed the top level. Finding the right composition of the randomness was a bit more challenging. Most options worked, but in general, I liked when the candy not fully contained in the frame was mostly out of the frame. The color of the eggs could have been arranged, but I went with the default as-they-landed pattern.
 
Lighting this subject was easy. Rogue FlashBender Softboxes were mounted on a pair Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT flashes that were sitting on the floor on opposite sides of the dish. The flashes were supported by their shoe stands and their heads were directed straight up. A hot shoe-mounted Canon ST-E3-RT triggered the flashes. The result of this setup was an even, soft light across the entire dish. I was able to move closer or farther away and could photograph at various angles with no change to the lighting.

Bright yellow daffodils bend over in the rain. I oriented the camera from an aerial view so that all of the daffodils would fall within the sharp plane of focus.

When shooting car pictures, be sure to move in and capture the details along with the big picture.

For a pleasing look at your subject, do not shoot from a position too close. Although this lens can focus close enough to frame the subject much tighter than in this example, you will start seeing usually-not-desired perspective distortion.

It is hard to take an ugly picture of an anemone flower.

Early spring is the toughest time of the year for landscape photography where I live. A lens that focuses closely will allow you to capture the earliest spring arrivals.
 
This image represents the minimum focus distance of this lens with a widest-angle-available focal length.

Water drops cling to this white pine tree during a rain storm.

Hyacinth flowers are filled with attractive compositions. Move in and take advantage of them.

Looks like wild garlic is on the menu at the Pallet House. And someone is happy about that.

A slightly-motion-blurred Golden Retriever moves along a trail in the woods. The distant mountaintop is level in the frame with just a small amount of the gray sky included. The tree on the right helps frame the image. The trail leads into the composition about 1/3 of the way into the frame and a large lichens and moss-covered oak tree anchors the other side.

A blue hyacinth adds background color to this just-opened spring flower.

During a rain, the lichens and moss on the oaks in our woods appears vibrant. In this picture, I aligned two small white pine tree trunks between the three larger tree trunks.

One of the easiest ways to get an attractive image is to include only the sky in the frame. An infinite number composition possibilities exist up there. Pick a day with good clouds. Then adjust contrast and saturation during post processing.