New lens and book recommendation?

[DeeZee]

OK, I totally blew out the light because this was taken at high noon in a sunny field without a filter. But I just had to play with my brand new lens, and this was the first shot out of it! And I am LOVING the dof I can get with this! YAYYY!!

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/185163793/512/null/image.jpg


But even better, I think I know why I wasn't getting the hang of the whole dof/shutter speed stuff ... I've always shot with a zoom, never a fixed lens, so the variables introduced by the zoom were always in play (in theory, I understand that the wider zoom lets in more light in theory, but it taxed my poor brain too much to be able to be comfortable manually adjusting my settings.

So gals, now I need a good photography book. What's the best one out there??

[seebee]

For learning stuff like apeture/shutter speed/etc., the book I usually see recommended is "Understading Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. I just bought it about a week ago, and I really think it's helped! I shot a photo in a dark hallway without flash totally in manual mode, and it turned out fine. :D The big test will be when my new DSLR arrives tomorrow.

Even though your lens is a fixed & not a zoom, you should still have apeture settings, right? For instance, the Canon Nifty Fifty goes from 1.8 to 22 in terms of apeture/f stops. The wider your apeture (a.k.a. the smaller the number, like 1.4, 2.8, 4) then the more light you'll be letting into the lens. You can therefore use a quicker shutter speed. The wider apeture is what also gives you the shallow depth of field. If you use the largest f stop/apeture, like f/22 for instance, you would have more things in focus and you would need to use a longer shutter time. I try to think of it this way: it takes more time for the camera to "write" the information with the lower f stop (larger number) because it has more in-focus information to process. That's not really a spot-on technical explanation, but it's how I came to understand things better & remember the formula for apeture vs. shutter speed.

Congratulations on your new lens!

[DeeZee]

Perfect explanation SeeBee .. I think what I was trying to say (my lingo is never right!) is that because I kept changing my focal lengths, hitting the right combo between shutter speed and aperture was like shooting a moving target. With this lens, I finally "feel" it... with my zooms, I was always guessing (particularly since I was often shooting sports shots in a darker arena). I'm hoping once I get the hang of it with this lens, using my zoom will get easier too.

I'm off to look for that book. I've heard that title pop up again and again so I'm thinking you're right on with the recommendation.

[seebee]

It really is a good book. My mind had a problem wrapping around a few details the first time I read it, but once I reread some things, it made more sense. I'm glad I decided to buy it. I had thought about trying to borrow it from a library but it occurred to me that I might want to always have it on hand to look up information. :)

Gorgeous pictures in there, too!

[Hom74]

lol - I don't have any books so no recommendations, but totally understanding blowing a shot. When I 1st got my 50mm I was so excitied that I had it at 1.8 like all the time. hee hee...those 1st shots outside in the summer sure were blown out lol. Luckily it wasn't too bad and I actually didn't mind the effect.

[LDesjardin]

I second the Understanding Exposure book. It's fabulous, simple explanations, great photos and not overwhelming to read.

[AngelaPowers]

What an adorable photo...but the best part about digital is you can probably fix that one right up, lol ;) I will "third" Understanding Exposure! It really is a staple. I read through it ALL the time. Especially when I have a photo shoot coming up and I want to try a new technique or just brush up on a few tips.

[JenniferKK]

I bought a DVD training video for my camera, a Nikon D200, at wolf camera. I have always had a hard time understanding the technical details. This video is extremely helpful. It is good to read and talk to everyone you can.

I also just bought digital Photography Simplified eBook http://www.scrapgirls.com/store/product.php?id=7004 book at Scrapgirls. It is not technical, but very basic and broad. This is good from me because this is my learning style.