50mm

I got out with my new lens today for a bit. Decided to get a good workout in since we were cooped up in the house all day yesterday. Aaaah, that was good thing to do for myself. Before I headed back home, I decided that it was time to unleash my nifty fifty.

And wow, an incredible amount of light comes into this lens. Especially when shooting brightly lit water paired with a white overcast sky. My first two shots were pure white images on my screen. I also realized that without a zoom, there is a lot more movement. To get a close-up or a distance shot, I had to move around to get the frame that I was looking for. But it's a good thing. I think that it will be good for new perspectives and angles. I decided to go with this simple little sprout of new growth because I find it fascinating how much different the DOF is now with this lens.

Day 2 with the 50 and I am very pleased. I still can't figure out why the little switch on my lens will only let me get to the 2.8 fstop, instead of the 1.8 since it is a 50mm 1.8 lens. When I unlock the lens, I can turn the dial to select different sizes but I can only lock it back into place on the 2.8. Just little trouble shooting things that I can only figure out with more practice and some helpful tips. The problem is, I don't totally understand all of the technical lingo at this point, so I think that it's time to check out some books at the library and get a clearer sense of what all these numbers mean.

This is the way that I am with things. I figure it out. But I don't take the time to figure out the 'why'. For example, I played the trombone for years up through high school. I was good at it but I never took the time to learn the notes. I taught myself to see the note as the slide position. I never learned the notes. My fellow tromboner's would whisper the note names to me whenever I was in a bind because of a pop quiz from the teacher. I definitely don't want to do that with my camera. Right now, I am figuring out how to let in the light while getting the right shutter speed. I just couldn't explain to anyone in technical terms how I do it. And I most certainly have trouble understanding what all of the numbers do. But I am learning and I'm doing the only thing that I know to continue to improve. And that is to get out my camera and photograph something every single day.