We're getting down to our final hours/day(s) before our trip, I think beside the packing (or more accurately deciding what needs to be packed), we're in pretty decent shape. It's time to start letting go of the pre-vacation frenzy and start just letting it happen... it's not like we're going away from civilization (in fact, just the opposite), so if there's anything we need (other than being conversation in French!) we should be okay.
One of my impulsive decisions last week was to get a new lens for my camera. The one that came with it is fine, but having researched and learned more about the "bells and whistles" of my camera, I made a quick decision to get a better lens. These video workshops have been extremely helpful to me (and it was also very nice that the camera used in these tutorials was mine... or close enough).
I won't embarrass myself about why this new lens is better ... still working my way around all the lingo... but it's an EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens... the key being the f/1.4. I get all giddy about depth of field shots, and the f/1.4 will allow me to do that... and should also be quite helpful with night photography (though since I'm not lugging a tripod, I'm hoping for conveniently placed walls, ledges, stationary objects that will allow me these shots that won't work being handheld due to camera shake... and believe me, I can shake even on a good day).
I played around with the DOF a bit over the weekend and here are some shots w/ the new lens.
In the above picture, I focused in on the clay cat... and purposely left some "clutter" behind it so that I could test blurring it out. With the f/1.4 the focus is so much on the cat's face that even it's back lets and tale are slightly out of focus... pretty nifty.
The next shot, I did the opposite...
Focusing on the green "thumbs up" button on the TiVo remote... this time, I had to learn how to change which of the 9 focal points thru the lens I wanted to be used.... and got a pretty dramatic DOF both in the background and the foreground. I impressed myself!
The challenge will be to remember how to do all this stuff while I am out and about... and also not screw up shots by keeping some of these settings on when it comes to subsequent shots! These shots are sort of semi-automatic... with me making some decisions and the camera doing the rest.
And if you don't remember how do all the steps when you're out and about... you can always fix it in photoshop!
Have a great trip!
Posted by: Steve | Monday, May 12, 2008 at 06:34 PM