New Lens and New Growth

I got a new lens for my camera (Canon T4i) at Christmas and I’m still trying to figure it out. (Actually, I’m trying to figure out the whole SLR Digital camera in general by not using the auto setting all.the.time, but that’s another story for another day!) This new lens is a 50mm 1:1.8, which means that it doesn’t zoom in or out at all. What you see is what you get. And if you don’t like what the viewfinder is showing, you move yourself. For example, while I was trying to get the exposure right on some of the pear blossoms, I heard the hummingbird come to the feeder. I quietly turned to get the shot, but since I had this particular lens on the camera, this is the shot I got.
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Can you spot him? This is definitely NOT the lens to use if you want to get good bird close-ups! But it did do a nice job of capturing the door with just a bit of the greenery from the pear tree, didn’t it? I figured the best way for me to ‘get to know my lens’ was to take it for a walk to the pond – there always seems to be lots of photo ops along the way.
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One of the nice things about this lens is it lets you pick your focal point, and then the rest of the picture becomes blurry.
So I can have the rock in focus and the pond fuzzy-
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or do it the other way around – rock fuzzy, pond in focus.
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(Technically, that’s called “depth of field” and it’s lots of fun to play around with as I practice with the different settings and lenses.)
I loved these tall ferns with their different shades of green –
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Whether I was looking down toward the pond
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or up toward the cabin – what beautiful new growth!
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Actually, the different ferns were all pretty amazing in their spring colors!
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The trees are just beginning to leaf-out (is that a word?)
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and even the rocks seem to be sprouting new growth!
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So many shades of green! So many different shapes!
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I’m not sure that all of this new growth is a good thing, but it certainly does make for an interesting texture!
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Even the contrast of the spring green with the well-aged fence post seemed to catch my eye!
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It was a great little get-acquainted walk with my new lens, and while I know I still have a lot to learn about that lens and my ‘big girl camera’ in general, I think it was a good start. Now if I could just figure out White Balance and Noise. 🙂

PS – there are a couple more New Growth pictures here if you’ve a hankering to see more!

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