Sorry, no ducks.

One of the photography forums I read has a little running joke.  When someone goes out and buys a new lens it seems the first images they take are of ducks.  I imagine the reason for this is two fold.  Ducks are usually easy to find and most spouses and children have about had it with a camera being pointed at them.

There is a lesson in that.  When you get new equipment it is important to go out and learn how to use it.  All lenses have their quirks.  Learning them before you need to rely on them should be a top priority.

This last week I received a little goody in the mail.  I picked up a used Canon 100mm F/2.  This lens could really be called the Rodney Dangerfield of lenses.  People offer the free advice of it being to long for a crop body and that you should really spend nearly $2,000 on an 85mm f/1.2.  Many opt for the less expensive 85mm f/1.8.  Fortunately I've never been one to listen to other people.

This weekend we had a nice event in my little town called Key Fest.  There were activities for the kids and lots of talent being showcased.   Perfect oportunity to go out and test my new prime.

I really enjoy going out taking pictures of people.  With no two alike they are certainly more interesting than your generic duck.  I captured over 500 frames over the span of two days.  By the end of the second day I was finally getting the hang of working with my gear.

One thing I wanted to concentrate on is shooting wide open.  The 100mm at f/2.0 promises to provide a very shallow field of focus.  This lens handed that up in spades.  So much so that I had to really work on focusing technique.

Autofocus cameras by default pick a focus point based on some black box formula.  I find about half the time the camera gets it right.  When you are shooting at a small aperture it is not real important.  According to the depth of field calculator at 15 to 20 feet I have between 6 and 10 inches of area in focus.  Not much wiggle room.

When taking pictures of people the thing that absolutely has to be in focus is the eyes.  If the camera focuses on a chest or shoulder the eyes can get fuzzy.  Since people are always drawn to the eyes it makes the image appear out of focus.

The technique I found that works the best takes some getting used to.  I set my camera to center focus point only.  If I know I'm just going to be working vertical I will use the top point with the camera vertical.  Then the process is to keep the focus point on the eyes.  The process then becomes focus, compose, click.  You have to be quick.  You might look like a bobble head running around, but it works.

The images in todays post are all from KeyFest 2010.  Exposure data:

1. 1/3200 @ f/2 ISO 100

2. 1/1600 @ f/2.2 ISO 100

3. 1/200 @ f/2 ISO 100

4. 1/400 @ f/2 ISO 100

There are many more images up in my FaceBook albums.

In case you didn't notice I changed my titles.  I have a ton of stuff I want to pass on in the blog.  The plan is to start posting a couple of times a week.