Nifty 50

I had forgotten just how flexible and useful a 50mm (or 35mm on DX format) lens really is.  Also just how much I missed working with one on my DSLR.  I've recently rectified the situation and picked up a Nikon 35mm f1.8 lens and it's already my favourite lens to shoot with.  It's like welcoming home a long lost friend and finding out you should never have parted ways...we just "clicked"! 

If you don't have a 50mm or equivalent lens in your arsenal I would really recommend you get one and see for yourself why it's the most popular lens in photography.

I have been busy getting reacquainted with the lens (35mm on DX) and have a lot of selective focus photos with shallow depth of field, which is a great by-product of the focal length, combined with the wide maximum aperture.  This does show up one drawback of the Nikon lens...the aperture diaphragm is not truely circular so the bokah is slightly irregular.  It's a minor detail that won't stop me from using the lens.

The only downside to all my recent photo taking is that my MacBook Pro is out of action, so I haven't had the opportunity to check out all my photos.  I do have everything backed-up though, so everything is safe.  Just need to get it serviced, which will be covered by my extended warranty.

All in all it's been a fun time and I'm glad to finally be back using a "nifty" 50.

Sent from my Motorola Smartphone on the Now Network from Sprint!

Another pet portrait

I'm still testing out the capabilities of my new camera and taking more pet portraits, while trying to decide on a self assignment subject to work on.  Some may not view pet portraits as a subject of value but I disagree and think that it is a subject that deserves consideration.

Once more I turned to my stand-by subject of Merlin, my tabby cat.  This time I used my Nikon 55-200mm lens, with my SB-600 on camera with a diffuser dome, set to bounce at 45 degrees.  It was also set to -1.0EV and zoomed out to 24mm to give a little pop of fill without over powering the ambient light.

~Merlin

New updates - changes

It's funny what can influence your creativity and productivity if you let it.  New things definitely has a positive effect, be it a camera or a puppy...or both.

First change is the arrival of a new puppy into the family, a rat terrier we called Amber to match the colour of her eyes.  Of course, this also means I have another "captive" photo subject, or to be more accurate it means I have to practice photographing a fast moving subject.  She's fast!!

~Amber

My previous "captive" photo subject was/is my grey tabby cat Merlin.  He's put up with my continuous annoyance of putting a camera in his face and the popping of my flash gun as I practice fill-flash techniques.

~Merlin

Both photos were taken with my "new" camera (new to me) a used Nikon D2x, with a Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Micro lens and SB-600 Speedlight providing some fill-light.

I've also been experimenting with another new purchase I made recently - a SU-800 Speedlight Commander unit to allow the use of off-camera TTL flash for either fill-flash or full lighting.  Works fantastic with the D2x.