A New Lens!

This past Thursday my new lens came in...it's a 50mm f/1.8.  I've read of so many photographers who have a similar lens, and how much they love it, and finally I couldn't take it anymore.

Now, first let me say, I love my zoom (75-300mm).  I use it all the time, because it lets me put some distance between the scary camera and nervous little kiddos, and I have so many options, near and far.  I feel less invasive in family space. Plus, I'm just plain comfortable with it.


That being said, I now know why others love a 50. I can take much closer shots with greater depth-of-field that help blur out the messy background - or create beautifully blended backdrops....and in not-so-ideal lighting conditions (I did that with my zoom, I just had to be so far away!).  And WOW are the pictures crisp.  Today has been the first day that I could really spend playing with the Nifty Fifty, and as you might expect, the dogs were my subjects.  Tomorrow I'm taking pictures of real people :).  Thank goodness they're my friends, because I need time to work with both lenses, to see if I will develop a new favorite!  So although I usually reserve the dog pictures for the Dog Page, they've been upgraded to the main page today...

Lighting in my house is terrible - this picture would not have been possible with my other lenses.

New favorite of this guy....

Again, an indoor shot that my other lenses just didn't allow enough light for...this is where they sit and wait for someone to come in the door :)

And this was my submission for Week 4 of Paint the Moon's Project 52...the theme was "unexpected perspective" and while plenty of people take pictures from above their dogs, I usually don't.  So today I teetered on a stool to get those shots of the dogs looking up, and here's my favorite of one of my girls: