Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Birthday Lens

In theory, this new lens that Reid gave me for my birthday (which was on backorder until a couple weeks ago) should help my photos look less like this:
and more like this:which is much easier to figure out with flowers than it is with small children.
It also allows me to choose to focus on either the creepy Barbie head

or the obnoxiously loud Thomas train
I secretly was hoping that with this magical lens all my pictures would automatically just be amazing. But my sister-in-law keeps reminding me that "cameras don't take good pictures, people do"...and i think she's right!! Blast!!
Soooooooo, anybody know of any really awesome book i could check out about photography? cause my whole plan to get-a-fancy-camera-and-save-on-professional-photos is really $tarting to add up!!
BTW, this is the lens i got, and I bought it from this local Mom and Pop store. They were AWESOME to work with, and even threw in a filter!!

9 comments:

merathon said...

i'm STILL trying to decide which SLR to get, but now i obviously need to start looking for a good book too! which camera do you have again?

emilyaaa said...

mer--i've got the Canon Rebel. my SIL has the nikon equivalent. we both love them.

Em Russ said...

Johnny says "The Digital Photography Book" by Scott Kelby. They're are two of them and they're the number one selling photography book. They're really easy to read and have lots of good tips. (It's true, I read them.)

Good luck!!

Johnny said...

The 50mm F1.8 is a nice lens to have. We love ours. And as Emily said Scott Kelby's books are great. He is a total dork, but his information is really helpful and really easy for an average person (or seasoned pro, like myself ;-)) to be able to understand and use.

Emily and I did the same thing about the indoor lighting. We first got a faster lens just like yours. But even at F1.8 it still wasn't quite enough light for fast moving kids with only indoor lights. So we got an external flash. We use it constantly. You just turn it up and bounce it off the ceiling. That way you get soft, directed light that looks natural and you can take all the picture you want inside.

Johnny said...

Oh, one more tip. None of these cameras can do a good job with automatic white balance with incandescent lights. It will tend to make everything look yellow inside. If you are shooting with out a flash inside, change your white balance setting to the light bulb. Try taking another shot of those flowers and you will see what I mean.

emilyaaa said...

johnny--you rock my wannabe photographer world!!!! A flash that can point to the ceiling has just been officially added to my wishlist for Santa!! And I've got that book on hold for me at the library. THANK YOU!!!

Melissa Snyder said...

I love camera lens don't you? They make a huge difference in your picture. I am working on my own photography buisness. It should be awesome.

Amy Brown said...

mmm... I agree with the others and the Scott Kelby books. I have several by him, and the Digital Photography ones by him are good. The other thing I found helpful is to get a book on your specific camera. Like this one: http://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs-Canon-Digital-Photography/dp/1598635786/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253196372&sr=1-3
I have this same book for my 50D, and it's been helpful. The better you know your camera, the better the pictures come out:) Can't wait to see more photos Emily!! xoxo

carie said...

hey! I have that lens too. I got it for last Christmas. I have been able to take some cool pictures with it, but not so many. I haven't used it for the last 6 months. Let me know if your book helps...