Weekly Rundown: The 50mm Lens

Last Saturday I ordered a shiny new lens for my Canon DSLR camera the expected delivery date wasn’t until Friday so I didn’t imagine that I’d have much to say about it in this week’s weekly rundown post.

Then it showed up on Wednesday, completely unexpectedly, giving me lots and lots of time to play with it and figure out how to use the damn thing. It’s a 50mm f1.8 lens which basically means that it has a fixed focal length and can’t be zoomed; the f-number refers to the size of the aperture which affects your depth of field. This lens is great for portrait photography because you can get a nice sharp image, with the background all blurred.

I’d class myself as an enthusiastic amateur, when it comes to photography. I’ve played around with different settings on my camera, I know how to change them, and most of the time I can work out what settings I need to change to get the effect I want. But this knowledge has largely been acquired through trial and error (and the occasional tutorial online). And ever since I got my camera, I knew I needed to get one of these lenses.

I did briefly put my camera into the Full Auto setting when the lens arrived, took two photos, realised how little control I had over what I was doing and switched out of it. I’m still learning, but I’m in love with this camera lens already.

The above photos are amongst the first one hundred that I took, but I’m very pleased with them (they’re not even my favourite ones, I’m saving some for my upcoming Wordless Wednesday posts). Tara has always been a willing victim, half the time you point a camera or phone at her she’ll pose for you (my labrador is a diva) and I love how that photo of her came out. The focus fell on her nose instead of her eyes (which I’ve got the hang of fixing now) but I think it’s a cute photo nonetheless.

You can probably expect to see a bit more of my husband’s ugly mug on here while I practice my portrait photography (one of my reasons for getting a 50mm lens). It’s so easy to use (since you don’t have to worry about the zoom) that I’m hoping to train him up so he can take photos of me. This means I might make an appearance on my blog occasionally!

I’ve also found it great for photographing my ratbags. Wicket is scared of most noises and Yoda is very fast-moving so I don’t normally get many pictures of them, something I’m hoping to remedy now I’ve got this lens. Wicket’s still not a fan of the noise the camera makes, but he’s tolerated a few photos. Yoda on the other hand is quite the little ham. It’s such a fast lens that most of the time he’s in the frame and I’ve even managed to get him in focus a handful of times. ;-)

I know that I’ve still got an awful lot to learn about using this lens to its full potential. I’ve taken it to the beach already and I’ll be going away to a local festival soon so that’ll be another chance to practice with it. I’m also hoping to find some more victims volunteers to help me practice my portrait photography. For now I’ll carry on making do with Mr Click and Tara:

This is officially my new favourite photo. I know it's not perfect by a long way, but I still can't help feeling a bit proud of myself every time I see it.

I hope you haven't minded this week's slightly photographic interlude. Let me know which pictures are your favourites and if you've got a 50mm lens, share your tips and tricks in the comments.