A Photographers Secret Weapon

In the past I've posted some photos, wrote a little blurb and have enjoyed a great response from past clients and friends and fellow photographers.
Today though, I would like to change the format and talk about something near and dear to my heart...photography. Specifically the 50mm f1.8 lens. This is an awesome lens and probably the best valued lens out there. Seriously, If you have a digital SLR camera (the one where you can change lenses-aka DSLR) then this needs to be in your camera bag. If you are thinking about buying a DSLR than this lens should be your second purchase.
Lets look under the hood of this baby and see what it can do.
I recently did a shoot for my still in law-school friend with her gorgeous daughter. Check it out!

The 50mm is a "prime" lens. Which means NO Zoom capability. It stays at the same magnification level the whole time. Which means moving around a lot.

In this picture, I simulated a telephoto lens by moving in close...real close. By the look in Maddie's eye maybe too close.
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This is more of a wider shot accomplished by backing up.

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This lens can be opened up very wide to allow a very large amount of light to enter. This opening or aperture is how photographers can get a nice fuzzy (tech term) background. We refer this as "Shallow" depth of field.



In this picture the blurry background as well the converging lines put the focus (pun? yes.) on the subject. Also look how easy she makes climbing those bars look. I remember when I could do that.
Here is another example.



Notice how the background is nothing but a wash of color. This is what makes Ryan stand out.

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The remarkable thing about this lens is that it's under appreciated by a lot of photographers. This is good news because one can go to EBay and pick up this beauty for under $100.

Here are more shots from that day.

Simultaneous silly faces.

"Imagine your asleep and the next day it's Christmas..."

" It's now morning and you wake up"

Next to some of it's contemporary lenses the 50mm or "Normal" lens looks wimpy. My Nikkor version is made of plastic, is short in stature and makes sounds when it focuses. But it's performance IMHO, rivals any Pro lens out there and makes beautiful pictures.

I hope you enjoyed my demonstration of how to maximize the 50mm f1.8 lens. If you love photography as much as I do and you want to colaborate or if you have a question, feel free to contact me and we can discuss it.

Kevin