Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Beauty of 1.8

I meant to blog about this weeks ago, but time is just getting away from me. Shortly before leaving for Chicago I bought a new lens. I wasn't planning to buy it and never even thought about owning it, but something came over me to compel me to do it. Gee, I can't even blame this on my buddy Gary, who normally gets blamed for all such purchases. I guess the idea of going to Chicago is what prompted me wanting a new lens. I dread the thought of dragging a tripod around and I wanted to be able to take pictures (hand held) in low lighting conditions. Hence the fast 1.8 lens. I was able to get some cool pictures like the one above, along with lots of nice nighttime skyline pictures. I really do love the look, but I gotta say, shooting with a fixed focus (50mm) prime lens was a big challenge. Good to step out of your comfort zone though. Forces you to be more creative.

The other big reason for wanting it was to take indoor pictures of the hounds. Cooper has impossible-to-photograph eyes. Those suckers are reflective marbles and up until now I haven't gotten one single decent picture of him. But this lens really does seem to do the trick nicely.


I took a few other test shots indoors and so far I'm sold on the lens. It was a good investment and I'm happy to have it in my bag.

3 comments:

tina said...

thanks for the lens lesson and i love the photo of cooper, so cute.

lgaumond said...

I was wondering what you were using for those great night shots. I love my 50mm, too! It's my favorite for parties and indoor shots.

Unknown said...

Ooops, I just realized that my new lens is a 35mm, not a 50mm. Too funny. I didn't even know what I got.