Fast enough to stop!

Well, I have just acquired a new lens for my Nikon D50. It is a 50mm f1.8D Nikkor lens. 50mm on any Nikon Digital SLR is actually 75mm due to the digital sensor size.

Anyway my main attraction to this lens was that it had an aperture option of f1.8. What his means is that aperture of iris of the lens can be opened really wide, allowing a lot of light into sensor allowing for shooting capabilities in lower light situations.

These pictures below are some selections from numerous photos taken during this game of ping pong. My camera settings were 1/500 sec shutter, f1.8, 50mm, ISO 1600. If you notice, the subject maintains a very similar pose between the shots. It is almost like there was 2 photographers who took the photo at the same time.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think of my new lens.

Strength in numbers

Quantity is a real factor in taking nice pleasing candids. Even really good and experienced photographers don't get good photos 100% of the time, however they may get a higher percentage. The answer then is to shoot and keep shooting. The other night at a a local benefit talent show, I shot over 335 photos and out of those pictures I recovered 13 nice shots.

Senario:
The lighting was poor and flash was not a possibility. The only available lens that was fast enough for that lighting condition was a manual focus 50mm f1.8. Focusing manually can be a little difficult. specially when the camera it is attached too doesn't provide a focus aid. The majority of my problem was in focusing, however I did have some exposure issues as the lighting varied from act to act. The other factor to the night was I was confined to a single seat, it would have been weird to get up and move about for better angles and such.

Here are a few of my winners.







DP