Nifty Fifty First Attempts

[rh1944]

Following Santana007's thread on the kind of lens he might need for portraits, I took the hint and bought a nifty fifty for my Canon 400D. Here's some of my test shots - mostly flowers (colour, texture and stillness helping). I found that there was a need to crop more than I would with a zoom lens. I know the universities tell their students that you never need crop a photograph as the composition should do the job. Good job Ansell Adams never went to one of our universities as he did a lot of cropping.

As I don't know the names of any flowers, I'll just the shots numbers.

#1 - this looks lovely in our garden and I hope the shot does it justice

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/2489258935_b604b02344.jpg

#2 - I was happy to capture the flower and its shadow

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2409/2490075368_a64ea34bb4.jpg

#3 - it's white and difficult to shoot in the sun

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/2489259415_754e0fdb6d.jpg

#4 - a rose, well I do know the name of one flower

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2326/2490076126_91d0b5754d.jpg

#5 - another rose

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/2490076466_96149f5021.jpg

#6 - another white one, but at least it was in the shade

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2312/2490076898_60d5c7baec.jpg

#7 - just hanging about on our landing

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/2489261455_3f378a4cab.jpg

Many thanks to all who recommended this lens. Its wonderful value for money and can obviously give good shots to those who know what they are doing. I still have a lot to learn about its use - going to try some buildings next.

rh1944

[EdinburghGary]

Wow I think you and your new lens are going to haave a lot of good time together :D

My nifty is my fave lens.

[rh1944]

Wow I think you and your new lens are going to haave a lot of good time together :D

My nifty is my fave lens.

Thanks for the reassurance - constructive criticism is a valuable learning aid.

My difficulty is knowing when to pull the nifty out in preference to the FZ18 with its 28 to 504 mm zoom or in preference to sticking a 70 to 300mm zoom on the 400D.

I'll have a go with the nifty at a derelict chapel near here; it's lovely and no one seems to know it exists so you can take loads of photos with no one in shot. In fact I must have driven past it a thousand times without seeing it. But now I know it's there.

rh1944